March 15, 2014: Volume LXXXII, No 6

Featuring 346 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction and Children's & Teen

KIRKUS VOL. LXXXII, NO.

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REVIEWS

Jeri Parker's memoir about an unexpected friendship becomes a love song to language. p. 140

CHILDREN'S & TEEN

The Great Greene Heist

by Varian Johnson A middle school operator has a hard time going straight in this fast and funny caper. p. 100

NONFICTION

Supreme City

by Donald L. Miller An award-winning historian surveys the astonishing cast of characters who helped turn Manhattan into the world capital of commerce, communication and entertainment. p. 67

FICTION

on the cover In Boy, Snow, Bird, her modern retelling of "Snow White," novelist Helen Oyeyemi allows magic, in narrative and language alike, to happen on its own. p. 14

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

by Joshua Ferris This smart, sad, hilarious novel shows a writer at the top of his game. p. 13

a note from the editor

Awards Season B Y C la i b orne

Chairman H E R B E RT S I M O N

Smi t h

# President & Publisher M A RC W I N K E L M A N

Photo courtesy Michael Thad Carter

Must every note that begins “by the time you read this…” be melodramatic? “By the time you read this, I will have bid this harsh world goodbye,” for example. Or “by the time you read this, the aliens will have eaten all of us….” Let me try to strike a less anguished tone using the same words: By the time you read this, the recipients of the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Awards will have been announced, on March 13. The beginning of the year ushers in a bevy of book prizes of national significance— Claiborne Smith the Caldecott and Newbery, the PEN/Faulkner, the finalists of the Lambda Literary Awards, the National Jewish Book Awards, the Pulitzers in April, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, also in April.

We’re a little partial to the National Book Critics Circle Award, not only because Kirkus Reviews has been publishing book criticism for 81 years now, but because two of our senior editors are heavily involved in the NBCC. Kirkus’ fiction editor, Laurie Muchnick, is the president of the NBCC board of directors, and our nonfiction and managing editor, Eric Liebetrau, serves on the board.

Although the NBCC is adding a special award, the John Leonard Prize, to be given to an outstanding debut in any genre (it’s going to Anthony Marra for his novel A Constellation of Vital Phenomena), the NBCCs have not supersized themselves this year—unlike two other major book prizes. The National Book Awards began releasAlice McDermott was one of the ing a long list of books under consideration, in addition NBCC’s fiction finalists this year. to the usual finalists and winners, and the Man Booker Prize is now open to anyone writing in English rather than just citizens of the British Commonwealth.

There are valid reasons why both organizations have expanded their mandates.

But there are consequences to expansion. “The more overlap there is, the less distinctive each prize is,” Laurie said to me. “I think it benefits the whole community of books to have a greater variety in prizes.”

If the juggernaut of winter and spring awards isn’t enough for your horse race– loving soul, man, do we have the novel for you! Check out our review of Edward St. Aubyn’s Lost for Words (which will be published on May 20) on p. 29.

Photo courtesy Epic Photography Jamie Schoenberger

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

Chief Operating Officer M E G L A B O R D E KU E H N mkuehn@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 Assistant Editor 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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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 Helen Oyeyemi’s trouble with mirrors...............................14 Teju Cole wanders between past and present.............. 24 Mystery.............................................................................................. 33 Science Fiction & Fantasy..........................................................41 Romance............................................................................................41

nonfiction Index to Starred Reviews..........................................................43 REVIEWS...............................................................................................43 A Rockefeller’s tragic quest...................................................58

children’s & teen Index to Starred Reviews..........................................................77 REVIEWS...............................................................................................77 essay: Pity the poor publicist.................................................94 interactive e-books.................................................................. 128 continuing series.......................................................................131

indie Index to Starred Reviews.........................................................133

Frances Mayes returns with a captivating memoir recalling life growing up in a small Southern town and how the region permeated her psyche. Read the starred review on p. 66.

REVIEWS..............................................................................................133 Jeri Parker blows her own cover......................................140

Appreciations: Octavio Paz......................................................151 |

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

Put on your dancing shoes—things are about to get funky with Nelson George. The author’s latest venture, The Hippest Trip in America: Soul Train and the Evolution of Culture and Style, is a history of the music-and-dance show Soul Train and its impact on America at large. When the show premiered in 1970 on a local Chicago TV station, the “landscape of black images…was pretty barren.” Whether or not mainstream (white) culture realized it at the time, the country was in need of a new account of black life in America. Enter Don Cornelius, the opportunistic and passionate DJ who sensed that Americans were ready for the black version of American Bandstand, a show where up-and-coming soul and R&B acts could showcase their talents for audiences, black and white. Those familiar with George might be surprised that a writer known for his serious take on AfricanAmerican culture would delve into a fun topic, but his love for the show makes this a passion project, and he pulls off a moving account with a mix of narrative and oral history. George will share more about the experience of working on this transcendent book with us online in the coming weeks.

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

Karen Russell has got things going her way. She’s a recent recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, and our recent review called her one of America’s finest writers of fiction. Russell talks with us about her success and that latest work, Sleep Donation: A Novella. Russell is clearly having fun, using the novella form for an Orwellian use. As we might expect from Russell, the world of the book is both familiar and strikingly different. The story takes place in a near future so overcome by the 24-hour news cycle that insomnia has become a lethal plague. Luckily, there are sleep donors; the best are those without cause for nightmares, like babies. And like blood donors, there are specific types that must be accounted for.

Our narrator, Trish, convinces a family to donate the sleep of Baby A, a universal donor. But the strain on the family and the physical toll on the child are great. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum is Donor Y, whose nightmare-infested donation (an act of terrorism? An accident?) causes an international crisis, with people preferring suicide by sleep deprivation to the terrors that come when they close their eyes. Look for more about Russell and the novella at Kirkus. com in late March.

9 And be sure to check out our Indie publishing series, featuring some of today’s most intriguing self-published authors. 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.

Photo courtesy Carrie McClean

Ted Thompson has a particularly American debut novel, a sharp-eyed narrative about the wake of the economic fallout. The protagonist of The Land of Steady Habits is Anders Hill, a Southerner who charted a nonconformist life and at age 60 finds himself disgusted with his background in finance and his culpability in a variety of economic collateral damages. His solution? A sort of slash-and-burn response to his life in which he gets early retirement, asks his wife for a divorce and stops paying the mortgage. All this leads to an unlikely friendship with a teenage rebel and some casual PCP use. The story manages to be both dazzling and immeasurably sad.

Ultimately, Thompson weaves together an intriguing portrait of crossgeneration America, full of people who have the instincts of dissidents but lack the imagination to follow through. Look for our interview with Thompson on our website later this month.

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fiction ONE HUNDRED NAMES

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Ahern, Cecilia Morrow/HarperCollins (480 pp.) $14.99 paper | $10.99 e-book May 6, 2014 978-0-06-224863-3 978-0-06-224864-0 e-book

BITTERSWEET by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore............................... 6 TEAM SEVEN by Marcus Burke............................................................8 ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr.....................12 THE TRAIN TO WARSAW by Gwen Edelman....................................12 TO RISE AGAIN AT A DECENT HOUR by Joshua Ferris................... 13 ALL THAT IS SOLID MELTS INTO AIR by Darragh McKeon............22 RED OR DEAD by David Peace.......................................................... 26 THE VACATIONERS by Emma Straub............................................... 29 CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION by Peter Robinson.......................38 OTHERWISE ENGAGED by Amanda Quick...................................... 42 THE VACATIONERS

Straub, Emma Riverhead (304 pp.) $26.95 May 29, 2014 978-1-59463-157-3

Telling other people’s stories isn’t just about entertainment or news. Reporter Kitty Logan is about to learn that it’s about love, too.

After she publicly accuses an innocent teacher of having sexual relations with two students, Kitty’s journalistic career lies in tatters. TV show Thirty Minutes has dropped her, vigilantes are vandalizing her door every day, her landlord wants her out, and her best friend has accused her of being a self-centered bully. Worse, her mentor, the brilliantly idiosyncratic Constance Dubois, is dying of cancer. Constance and her husband run Etcetera, a magazine devoted to real stories, not fashion trends or celebrity gossip. Without Constance’s support, Kitty will likely lose her job there, as well. But just before she dies, Constance sets Kitty on a mission to write the story she never got the chance to write herself. It’s the journalistic chance of a lifetime, but all Kitty has is a list of 100 names. Constance left her no direction, no thesis, no idea of why anyone is on the list, much less what they might have in common. When Kitty begins to call them, no one on the list has ever heard of Constance, either. Determined to honor her friend’s memory, Kitty diligently continues the interviews, and soon she finds herself immersed in their extraordinarily ordinary stories. Her world quickly populates with a sweet old lady, a painfully shy butterfly expert, a hairstylist besieged by marriage proposals, an ex-convict with a mysterious new talent, an extremely dedicated gift buyer and two displaced workers seeking fame. As she staves off inquiries from her editor, Kitty buys just enough time to let this quirky crew help her fix not only her moral compass but also her love life.

Ahern (How to Fall in Love, 2013, etc.) once again spins a charming tale of redemption and romance.

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THE TARGET

Baldacci, David Grand Central Publishing (432 pp.) $28.00 | $14.99 e-book | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-4555-2123-4 978-1-4555-2123-4 e-book Baldacci picks up where he left off with CIA assassins Will Robie and Jessica Reel in this no-holds-barred tale of perfidy and murder at the highest level.

The president, the director of the CIA and the president’s national security adviser meet in secret to hatch a plot to kill the dangerous and unpredictable leader of North Korea. Evan Tucker, the slimy CIA head, decides to use Robie and Reel, whose last mission ended in the deaths of other agency personnel. But first he sends them to the Burner Box, a training facility in rural North Carolina, where they’re subjected to everything from near-fatal waterboarding to food and sleep deprivation. When a North Korean operative discovers the mission and blows it out of the water, Robie and Reel are sent to clean up the mess. Meanwhile, Julie, a young girl they know from a previous mission that’s never fully explained here, is captured by a group of Nazi sympathizers intent on getting to Reel. Baldacci’s prose crackles with urgency, and both spies, although psychological messes, are at the tops of their games.

But this novel’s construction proves both puzzling and distracting: Baldacci spins a compelling, although much of the time improbable, tale revolving around the failed strike at North Korea, taking up about a third of the book. The second third veers into Reel’s neo-Nazi past and takes the story so far afield that they seem like different novels. The final third returns to the Korean storyline, with the results being oddly fragmented.

Some scenes set in a Korean concentration camp prove the most compelling by far, especially with their heartbreaking descriptions of lives that are almost too terrible to contemplate.

Robie and Reel fans will thrill to see their favorite spies back in action, no matter what the setting.

BITTERSWEET

Beverly-Whittemore, Miranda Crown (400 pp.) $25.00 | May 13, 2014 978-0-8041-3856-7 As a young woman struggles to read Paradise Lost, she faces her own temptation. Is she brave enough to choose good over evil?

Mabel Dagmar, a scholarship student at an East Coast college, is mismatched as roommate to the glamorous, privileged Genevra “Ev” Winslow. For months they lead separate lives, until Ev’s mother invites Mabel to Ev’s 18th birthday party—held at the school’s museum, where Ev has just donated a Degas. Despite their seemingly insurmountable social differences, Ev and Mabel become friends, and 6

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Mabel is invited to spend the summer at the Winslows’ summer estate on Lake Champlain, made up of cabins ranging from rustic to luxurious and a communal dining hall. She’s eager to go, especially given that the alternative is working at her parents’ dry cleaners, silently observing her mother’s bruises and enduring her disapproval. Mabel and Ev keep house together in Bittersweet cottage, while Ev’s domineering parents, Birch and Tilde, rule from Trillium House. Ev’s oldest brother, Athol, arrives with his tall, athletic, refined family. Second son Banning is close behind with his more disheveled brood. The third son, Galway, is an enigma. Up only on weekends, he keeps his distance, but his eyes rest on Mabel.

After a chance meeting with Ev’s eccentric aunt Indo, Mabel is plunged into mysteries. What does Indo think she can find amid the old Winslow documents? Why did Ev’s cousin Jackson kill himself? Why is Ev hiding her romance with John, who works on the estate? And why are so many doors locked with heavy bolts?

As she uncovers evidence of dastardly deeds—some deliciously improbable—Mabel comes face to face with her own secrets.

Beverly-Whittemore (Set Me Free, 2007, etc.) has crafted a page-turner riddled with stubborn clues, a twisty plot and beguiling characters.

CHESTNUT STREET

Binchy, Maeve Knopf (304 pp.) $26.95 | May 6, 2014 978-0-385-35185-0

A variable posthumous collection of loosely linked short stories from the much cherished Irish writer who died in 2012.

Thirty-six tales of differing length, predictability and quality, generally focused on female characters—wives and mothers, partners, singletons, daughters and friends—make up this late addition to the Binchy oeuvre and explore domestic problems ranging from cranky relatives and problem children to unexpected attractions and, most often, insensitive and/or faithless men. Binchy’s wise insights and wicked humor are visible now and then, for example in the cheerily sparring dialogue of “Fay’s New Uncle” and the teacher looking for mischief in “A Problem of My Own,” but too often there’s a sense of datedness, superficiality or simple fairy tale. Homilies are delivered often: about freedom in “Liberty Green,” about finding a real father figure in “A Card for Father’s Day,” about being overorganized in “Flowers from Grace.” Nevertheless, the author’s compassion extends widely, notably to the many cheated-upon wives, girlfriends and children, as in “Taxi Men Are Invisible,” when a driver finds himself observing an affair, or “Reasonable Access,” which views divorce from the confused child’s point of view, or “The Gift of Dignity,” one of the few longer, more emotionally complex stories, which contemplates, from a friend’s perspective, a silent wife’s possible collusion in her husband’s adultery. Chestnut Street itself, a semicircle of 30 small houses in Dublin, plays a minor but constant role, as safe harbor to the nurse, the window cleaner, the couples, families and loners, and

in “Madame Magic”—a typically tidy offering—a substitute fortune-teller who turns Melly’s empty house into a busy home.

For Binchy aficionados, a late indulgence; for others, slim pickings.

CAVENDON HALL

Bradford, Barbara Taylor St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $27.99 | $14.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-250-03235-5 978-1-250-03233-1 e-book Life—and melodrama—upstairs and downstairs at a Yorkshire stately home, as World War I nears.

Sound familiar? Cavendon, however, lacks the tension that launched Downton Abbey to such acclaim. The estate is not threatened: Primogeniture is working just fine, given that Charles Ingham, sixth Earl

of Mowbray, has two sons in addition to his four daughters; and the fiefdom is certainly not broke. Moreover, the Inghams have another advantage the Crawleys lack: the Swann family, whose members have, for more than 160 years, sworn to protect and serve them. Now, Walter Swann is the Earl’s staunch valet; his wife, Alice, and daughter Cecily see to matters of décor and wardrobe; Swann matriarch Charlotte (the Earl’s friend from childhood) is de facto estate manager; and her nephew Percy supervises Cavendon’s extensive grounds as gamekeeper. Into this latter-day feudal utopia some trouble must fall, and it’s introduced when Daphne, loveliest of the Earl’s daughters, is raped by Richard, the eldest son of a neighboring family of country squires. At first advised by the Swanns to say nothing of her violation, secrecy is no longer possible once Daphne realizes she’s pregnant. To avert scandal, plans are made to send Daphne abroad, which are soon mooted when second cousin Hugo Stanton—a vastly wealthy, good-hearted tycoon once wrongfully exiled from the family—returns and falls in love with Daphne at first sight. A hasty marriage ensues. Other conflicts emerge almost as afterthoughts to swathes of pages

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“Burke's tale moves like a locomotive right to the end.” from team seven

devoted to Bradford’s usual meticulous inventories of gracious living. Although Richard is clearly behind a number of sinister events, the motivation for his villainy is never explored. Such a vague antagonist does nothing to undermine the book’s deep conviction that no crisis is insurmountable given loyal friends, splendid furnishings and unlimited funds.

Not even the Great War can jar this novel out of its stalwart complacency.

TEAM SEVEN

Burke, Marcus Doubleday (272 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-385-53779-7 A wonderful debut novel that moves with the rhythm of the streets.

Andre Battel’s Jamaican grandfather calls him “champion,” after the winner of a TV show they watch every morning over breakfast. Pa-Paw teaches him to cook eggs and tries to keep him on the level. That’s a tough goal for a 10-year-old whose father smokes weed to fuel his fantasies of being a reggae drummer. The streets of Milton, Mass., come alive in these pages, thumping with music and the smell of burning blunts. Andre dribbles through the crowds on the corners and past the girls showing their stuff at school, on his way up the basketball ladder as a winner, a champion. But there’s much that’s beyond his control. His father disappears for months at a time. School becomes only a measure of his powerlessness as he questions authority and its consequences. He starts running errands for Team Seven, the local pot-selling gang he joins at age 11, making the “munchies run” for the older guys. He earns money for these errands and learns what is cool and what is not in a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone’s business. Andre narrates most of the book in the first person, and as he ages, the rhythm of his speech gains steam and he speaks more and more the street code of Team Seven. He graduates to dealing drugs and smoking his product for a continuous buzz.

Burke’s words meld with Andre’s progression into hell until “the dark cloud over my head exploded, it was like the perfect storm and felt like watching a nurse jab a needle into my arm.” The deluge is a shooting that can make or break this young man’s life.

Burke crafts a street-smart tale of the possibilities and temptations of growing up. There is power in his words, and the tale moves like a locomotive right to the end.

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THE GIRL IN THE ROAD

Byrne, Monica Crown (336 pp.) $26.00 | May 20, 2014 978-0-8041-3884-0

Byrne’s debut novel may be the most inventive tale to come along in years.

Decades in the future, two young women begin their separate journeys in parallel storylines: Mariama travels east across the Sahara, while Meena walks west from India to Djibouti on a trail that crosses the Arabian Sea. That high-tech construction is designed to harness the sea’s energy and is technically off-limits to the public, but a few people travel on it and never return. Have they all perished? Meena will take the risk, since she feels compelled to find the place where her parents were murdered, perhaps to confront their murderer; Mariama’s goal is less clear. That the two women will eventually meet is obvious, but the outcome and its significance are not. Meena is running away from people whose identities are as unclear as the reason for the five snakebites on her chest or the kreen that lives inside her—perhaps a snake, perhaps a demon. The story gets confusing as reality alternates with vivid hallucinations, but it’s easy to shrug off the confusion and enjoy the wild ride. Byrne’s wonderful imagination makes the trek across the open sea appear almost plausible, as Meena carries such items as desalinators, a protective pod and diapers cleaned by the sun. In vivid scenes, both women become intensely aware of their sexuality, an important aspect of their stories. The writing is often brilliant, as Byrne paints wholly believable pictures of worlds and cultures most Westerners will never know.

Slightly less believable is the dramatic conclusion, even though Byrne does not stint on imagination.

This is engrossing and enjoyable despite its minor flaws.

Strong, appealing protagonists and an unusual plot make Byrne’s literary invention well worth the reader’s while.

THE TRIDENT DECEPTION

Campbell, Rick St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-250-03901-9 978-1-250-03900-2 e-book Informed that Washington, D.C., has been leveled by Iranian nukes, the crew of the ballistic-missile submarine USS Kentucky prepares to launch a retaliatory attack on Tehran—not knowing in its locked-down, incommunicado state that there was no attack on Washington and the U.S. government issued no such order.

With Iran mere days away from assembling a nuclear bomb, and Israel lacking the ability to do anything about it, a rogue faction inside Mossad concocts a secret scheme to get the U.S. to bomb Iran without knowing anything about it. The Israeli prime minister initially opposes the plot but signs on after his daughter

is killed in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem. It will take the Kentucky, which is in the Pacific, eight days to get to its appointed launching spot. That may or may not be enough time for U.S. national security adviser Christine O’Connor, after she finds out what’s afoot, to sink the Kentucky or otherwise prevent the nuclear launch. Various duplicitous characters do their best to stand in her way. This is breezily written—Campbell, a retired Navy commander, has firsthand knowledge of nuclear-armed subs but never bogs down in technical details. But the story doesn’t have the breathless intensity suggested by its countdown-style chapter headings: “6 Days Remaining,” “5 Days Remaining,” etc. Without giving anything away, it can be said the climax is too neat.

For Battleship players, this will be an entertaining read.

For those who require at least one or two compelling characters in their doomsday thrillers, the book will disappoint.

HYSTERICAL Anna Freud’s Story

Coffey, Rebecca She Writes Press (360 pp.) $18.95 paper | May 13, 2014 978-1-938314-42-1

EVERY DAY IS FOR THE THIEF

Cole, Teju Random House (160 pp.) $23.00 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-8129-9578-7

A Nigerian living in the U.S. finds corruption, delight and ghosts on a return visit to Lagos in this rich, rougher-edged predecessor to Cole’s celebrated debut novel (Open City, 2011).

First published in Nigeria in 2007, this novella records the unnamed narrator’s impressions of the city he left 13 years earlier. His observations range from comic to bitterly critical, playing off memories of growing up in Lagos and his life abroad. Cole paints brisk scenes that convey the dangers and allure of the “gigantic metropolis” in prose that varies from plain to almost poetic to overwrought. The narrator says a woman holding a book by Michael Ondaatje “makes my heart leap up into my mouth and thrash about like a catfish in

Anna Freud’s fictional memoirs reflect a far-from-normal upbringing.

Blurring fact and fiction, with a dollop of shtick and long explanations of Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual theory of behavior, this debut novel examines the life of Freud’s youngest daughter, Anna. A loner whose mother makes little impression on her childhood, Anna spends much of her time at her prominent father’s side. By 13, she’s knowledgeable about psychoanalysis and conversant with many of her father’s patients and colleagues, including Carl Jung, who attends a meeting of Freud’s Wednesday Psychological Society and attempts to psychoanalyze his host. Anna spends her formative years struggling with episodes of depression and anorexia and closely examining her own sexuality. She becomes one of her father’s analysands, takes her place on his couch and describes a recurring fantasy about a boy with golden curls who’s beaten by a man. She feels betrayed when her father treats her as a subject and publicizes her fantasy at a psychoanalytic congress. Although she ends their sessions, her attachment to her father remains strong, and she eventually returns to analysis. Freud’s theories famously emphasize the role of sexual desires and repression of childhood memories. He encourages Anna to work with children, and she rises to prominence for her work as a child psychoanalyst. She also engages in a long-term relationship with Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham, the married daughter of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Coffey has created a stimulating interpretation of the Freud family through Anna’s eyes while eliciting an occasional chuckle; but sometimes she seems torn between being funny and attempting a more traditional telling of her story.

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a bucket.” Bribe-hungry police, a vibrant street market, perilous bus rides, brazen home invaders: From the locally commonplace emerge sharp contrasts with the West. Coming to the market, for instance, he recalls an 11-year-old boy burned alive for petty theft. In the city’s many new Internet cafes, a “sign of the newly vital Nigerian economy,” teens write emails to perpetrate the “advance fee fraud” for which the country has become infamous. The returnee laments the dilapidation and skewed historical record of the National Museum before admiring the world-class facilities of the Musical Society of Nigeria Centre.

It’s a graphic contrast that billboards questions bedeviling the narrator: Why did I leave? Should I return for good? What have I gained? Or lost? Such an exile’s catechism could serve with slight variations the many displaced people Cole writes of in the “open city” of New York.

And as with the novel, the influence of W.G. Sebald arises again here, not least in Cole’s addition of photographs that are much like the novella’s prose: uneven yet often evocative. (Agent: Andrew Wylie)

THE MAPMAKER’S DAUGHTER

Corona, Laurel Sourcebooks Landmark (400 pp.) $14.99 paper | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4022-8649-0

Corona’s latest historical novel is a sprawling saga of Jewish identity and religious freedom in 15th-century Spain.

In Seville of 1432, Amalia Riba is the daughter of a renowned mapmaker to the Spanish court. Her family’s favored status is dependent on their being Conversos, Jews who have converted to Christianity. Amalia and her mother still observe the Sabbath, however, secretly maintaining their Judaism.

When Amalia’s mother dies, she and her father go to Portugal, where he’s employed by Henry the Navigator in the race to map Africa. Though she’s still a child, Amalia is given precocious freedom in Portugal: She translates for her father and is befriended by the Abravanels, the most powerful Jewish family on the Iberian Peninsula. When she comes of age, Amalia marries Diogo Marques, a dashing explorer, but their marriage is a disaster. Diogo is gay and has drunken orgies downstairs, and the source of his considerable wealth turns out to be the African slave trade. Amalia is relieved when he dies in a storm, and she retreats a wealthy woman to the Abravenel compound, pregnant with daughter Eliana. For the first time, she lives openly as a Jew, and the richness of this life is a revelation. Then she falls in love with Jamil Hasan, an Islamic courtier from Granada. Though they cannot marry, Amalia accompanies Jamil back to Granada, where she tutors the grandchildren of the caliphate. The Alhambra is a paradise, as is the open secret of Amalia and Jamil’s relationship (they compose Rumi-like verse to each other), but he must marry, and so eventually she returns to Portugal. In Amalia’s middle age, Portugal too becomes an impossible place for Jews; she and the Abravanel family leave 10

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for Spain, where they raise money for Ferdinand and Isabella to drive the Moors from Granada, earning amnesty for themselves. Though the novel lags by the time we reach Amalia’s old age (which revolves around her grandchildren, losing focus), the depth and detail of the previous chapters make up for the finale’s shortcomings.

A rich, exhaustively researched portrait of Spanish Jews at the birth of the Inquisition. (Agent: Meg Ruley)

WHEN THE CYPRESS WHISPERS

Corporon, Yvette Manessis Harper/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-06-226758-0 A stressed-out Greek-American restaurant owner visits her grandmother on a Greek island seemingly untouched by time (or Greece’s economic crisis) in this romantic tribute to her own roots by debut novelist Corporon, a producer of the syndicated TV show Extra.

Tragedy stalks 35-year-old single mother Daphne. Her immigrant parents were murdered in their Yonkers diner, and her husband died at the hands of a drunk driver. She now owns a flourishing high-end restaurant in Manhattan and is engaged to rich banker Stephen, who has reluctantly agreed to hold their wedding on the island of Erikousa, home of Daphne’s beloved Yia-yia, where she’s spent countless happy summers. So Daphne arrives on Erikousa with her remarkably well-behaved 5-yearold daughter, Evie, to organize the occasion. Despite her life as an assimilated American, complete with nose job, Daphne soon falls back under the spell of the island’s slow-paced magic. Yiayia retells the classic Greek myths—which pointedly parallel aspects of Daphne’s life—and reads the future in coffee dregs.

Daphne finds herself relaxing and enjoys spending more time with Evie, but she’s unsettled by her hostility toward the ruggedly handsome, well-educated fisherman who has befriended Yia-yia since Daphne’s last visit. That hostility melts when he shares the truth about his Jewish family’s connection to Yia-yia, who saved them from the Nazis during World War II. But by now, Stephen has arrived. Poor WASP-y Stephen. Yia-yia voices her disapproval even before she meets him, and readers’ suspicions that his engagement to Daphne is doomed are cemented when he complains that there’s no business center in the local hotel! Except for a mildly refreshing twist at the end, Corporon depends on easy sentiment and a predictable plot that has Daphne reconnecting with her Greek heritage, her faith and the special fate that rules the women of her family.

Despite Corporon’s obvious love of Greece, her manipulative storytelling is exasperating.

APOCALYPSE

Crawford, Dean Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (416 pp.) $24.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-4516-5949-8 In his latest adventure, former Marine Ethan Warner—who investigates weird occurrences for the feds when not chasing down bail jumpers in Chicago—probes the disappearance of an ex-NASA physicist who possesses a certain kind of second sight.

The physicist, Charles Purcell, has just fled his home in Miami, leaving behind his brutally murdered wife and daughter.

Despite appearances, he didn’t kill them, as becomes evident through the text messages he sends to Warner and his revvedup young partner, Nicola Lopez. The texts, which announce with eerie precision what’s going to happen next, and when, implicate big-time Florida philanthropist Joaquin Abell, head

of a dark conspiracy. Behind a supposed commitment to helping disaster victims, Abell is devising evil schemes to gain unheard degrees of power and wealth. In his research facility deep beneath the Bermuda Triangle, he’s conducting shocking experiments with the space-time continuum—carrying on research his father and Purcell’s were keenly involved with in the mid-1940s. Warner, whose fiancee disappeared without a trace in the Middle East, is driven by the possibility he can look through time and find out what happened to her. More pressingly, the feds are wondering what happened to a private jet that apparently fell from the sky. Crawford (Immortal, 2013, etc.) is an able storyteller who smoothly orchestrates the plot’s twists and turns and creates some solid characters. But Apocalypse falls short of the blockbuster promised by its title. In the end, knowing the future becomes almost ho-hum.

Time is of the essence in this techno-thriller, which boasts a nifty premise but doesn’t go far enough with it.

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THE SNOW QUEEN

Cunningham, Michael Farrar, Straus and Giroux (272 pp.) $26.00 | May 6, 2014 978-0-374-26632-5 An apparition spotted in Central Park has a man marveling at the place of magic in our lives. Or is it all just a trick of the light?

November 2004: Middle-aged Barrett, bright but aimless, has just been dumped and has hit the skids professionally. He’s moved into a Brooklyn apartment with his songwriter brother, Tyler, who hides a cocaine addiction and fumes at Dubya-era politics while caring for his fiancee, Beth, in rapid decline from Stage 4 cancer. Amid all this, Barrett is struck by a vision of “pale aqua light” in the night sky that suggests something bigger and more transcendent. Fast-forward a year: Beth’s in remission, Barrett is settled, and Tyler’s career is looking up. This study of fickle fate from Cunningham (By Nightfall, 2010, etc.) has its share of virtues.

Since his debut, A Home at the End of the World (1990), he’s masterfully characterized ad hoc families, and he’s superb at highlighting the ways that small gestures (a finger pressed to a lover’s lips; a shift in the way two people sit together) reveal deeper emotional currents. Here, he deftly allows Barrett’s vision its power of wonderment while keeping the story firmly realistic.

(References to fairy tales, magic and miracles are sparingly but strategically deployed.) Still, none of this keeps the novel from being somewhat slight, particularly in comparison to his debut and The Hours (1998): Life changes, we’re all a little open to spiritual suggestion, and why is this surprising? Barrett begins attending church, but Cunningham treats this more as a dash of characterization than an exploration of faith. A drama involving Tyler energizes the closing pages but feels distant from the book’s central concerns.

A stellar writer working on a small canvas; Cunningham has done greater work.

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE

Doerr, Anthony Scribner (448 pp.) $27.00 | May 6, 2014 978-1-4767-4658-6

Doerr presents us with two intricate stories, both of which take place during World War II; late in the novel, inevitably, they intersect.

In August 1944, Marie-Laure LeBlanc is a blind 16-year-old living in the walled port city of SaintMalo in Brittany and hoping to escape the effects of Allied bombing. D-Day took place two months earlier, and Cherbourg, Caen and Rennes have already been liberated. She’s taken refuge in this city with her great-uncle Etienne, at first 12

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a fairly frightening figure to her. Marie-Laure’s father was a locksmith and craftsman who made scale models of cities that Marie-Laure studied so she could travel around on her own. He also crafted clever and intricate boxes, within which treasures could be hidden. Parallel to the story of Marie-Laure we meet Werner and Jutta Pfennig, a brother and sister, both orphans who have been raised in the Children’s House outside Essen, in Germany. Through flashbacks we learn that Werner had been a curious and bright child who developed an obsession with radio transmitters and receivers, both in their infancies during this period. Eventually, Werner goes to a select technical school and then, at 18, into the Wehrmacht, where his technical aptitudes are recognized and he’s put on a team trying to track down illegal radio transmissions. Etienne and Marie-Laure are responsible for some of these transmissions, but Werner is intrigued since what she’s broadcasting is innocent—she shares her passion for Jules Verne by reading aloud 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A further subplot involves Marie-Laure’s father’s having hidden a valuable diamond, one being tracked down by Reinhold von Rumpel, a relentless German sergeant-major.

Doerr captures the sights and sounds of wartime and focuses, refreshingly, on the innate goodness of his major characters.

THE TRAIN TO WARSAW

Edelman, Gwen Grove (208 pp.) $24.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8021-2244-5 An aging couple, survivors of the Warsaw ghetto, revisit Poland after a 40-year absence.

Edelman’s short second novel (War Story, 2001) unspools in telegraphic paragraphs signifying a journey both physical and spiritual for the two protagonists. Jascha, a celebrated author best known for a Holocaust novel, and his wife, Lilka, live in London and, against Jascha’s better judgment, are traveling by train back to Warsaw, where he has been invited to give a reading. Both are torn between their trepidation at returning to a homeland they last saw as escapees from the Warsaw ghetto—where they first met and became lovers—and their desire to recapture the luxury of prewar travel, complete with much consumption of chocolate, cigarettes, vodka, bread and butter.

They find their train and the once-opulent Warsaw hotel they check into sadly faded. The reading audience reacts to Jascha’s novel with indignant defensiveness. As they continue to drink, smoke, make love and sleep, Jascha and Lilka confront memories of their existence in the ghetto, many long suppressed.

They both benefitted from lucky connections that they later contemplate with guilt. Jascha, a resourceful smuggler, was the right-hand man of the Accountant, the ghetto’s corrupt kingpin, who engineered his escape to the “Other Side” (of the ghetto wall) with forged identity papers. Lilka escaped

TO RISE AGAIN AT A DECENT HOUR

deportation, and the ghetto, through the intervention of her mother’s Nazi lover. Separated after the war, they encounter each other by chance in London when Lilka translates Jascha’s book. His sudden renown and intractable narcissism almost sever them again, but their marriage endures as a function of mutual fascination, shared history and shared secrets. Edelman skillfully reveals the characters’ deepest misgivings and regrets, as both realize they will never be at home in this world, except—and only sporadically—with each other.

A fine rendering of tormented souls. (Agent: Gail Hochman)

Ferris, Joshua Little, Brown (336 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | May 6, 2014 978-0-316-03397-8 978-0-316-32913-2 e-book A bizarre case of identity theft forces a dentist to question his beliefs in this funny, thought-provoking return to form

by Ferris (The Unnamed, 2010, etc.).

In 2011, Paul O’Rourke has a thriving practice on Manhattan’s Park Avenue and a throbbing sense that things could be a lot better. His nights are troubled by insomnia and a bed cooled by a recent breakup. His days feature patients who don’t floss and three staffers—including his ex—who unsettle him in their own curious ways. As the novel opens, Paul’s world quickly goes from bad to weird, and it’s clear that Ferris is back in the riffrich, seriocomic territory of his first novel, Then We Came to the

THE UNWITTING

Feldman, Ellen Spiegel & Grau (304 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | May 6, 2014 978-0-8129-9344-8 978-0-679-64551-1 e-book A conspiracy-theory novel about spies, lies and personal loyalty set within the insulated world of left-liberal New York intellectuals during the Cold War era.

Feldman (Next To Love, 2011) begins her novel on the day Kennedy was shot in 1963, tying narrator Nell’s personal marital drama to national events. Something bad has happened to Nell’s husband, Charlie, but before revealing exactly what that something is, Nell relives their relationship: The two meet in 1948 as college students (Barnard and Columbia), both attending on the GI Bill. From the beginning, Nell, who joined the military to escape a difficult home life, is more the leftist firebrand than Charlie, whose Jewish awareness of the Holocaust has strengthened his patriotism. After Charlie lands a job at the (fictional) magazine Compass, an avant-garde, anti-Stalinist, left-leaning intellectual journal not unlike Commentary or the Partisan Review, he and Nell marry. Before long, he becomes editor in chief; Nell becomes a staff writer. They rent a big apartment on the Upper West Side, send their daughter to private school, attend literary soirées with the likes of Mary McCarthy and Robert Lowell. While Nell pushes Charlie to be less timid as an editor, they survive the McCarthy era and subsequent Communist witch hunts only mildly scathed.

They support civil rights; Charlie is the first to publish King’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” By Kennedy’s election, cracks have appeared within both their marriage and their intellectual circle. It’s to Feldman’s credit that until Nell jumps to the aftermath of the 1963 tragedy, readers will suspect without being sure which of several characters, including Charlie, are not exactly who they seem. Perhaps the strongest section of the novel is Charlie’s journal, in which he struggles through moral dilemmas without Nell’s penchant for self-righteousness.

While the role of what Charlie calls “the left-wing Jewish intellectual mafia” during the Cold War remains fascinating (at least to liberal intellectuals), the schematic quality of Feldman’s plot and characters limits the reader’s engagement.

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Helen Oyeyemi

The novelist allows magic, in narrative and language alike, to happen on its own

By Jenny Hendrix making for an inventive—and socially engaged—retelling of “Snow White.” “Nobody ever warned me about mirrors,” begins the flaxen-haired Boy, who, in the first of the novel’s many reversals, is in fact a girl, born on “the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the year nineteen hundred and thirty-something.”

The novel follows Boy as she flees her abusive, ratcatcher father to the Massachusetts hamlet of Flax Hill, a town of craftsmen set oddly out of time. (“My film diet of golden age Hollywood makes me all too comfortable in imaginary America,” Oyeyemi—the British-raised daughter of Nigerian immigrants— says of her novel’s setting.) There, Boy eventually marries the widower Arturo Whitman, becoming a stepmother to his beautiful fair-skinned daughter, Snow. But when Boy’s own daughter, Bird, is born, the child’s dark skin reveals the Whitman family’s great secret: They are in fact African-Americans, passing for generations as white. The aesthetic preoccupation of “Snow White” is applied to the question of race, and the mirror’s judgment takes on a broader, more urgent meaning.

“The characters in ‘Snow White’ keep trying to read each other and deciding friend or foe based on inevitably superficial surfaces,” Oyeyemi says.

“What Boy, Snow and Bird seem to have in common is that they either have or want other criteria for deciding where their loyalties lie.” In the past, Oyeyemi has used this juxtaposition between appearance and truth to generate a sense of the uncanny—the double of the Icarus Girl, for instance, or the shapeshifting Mr. Fox—but here, the “Snow White” dilemma—who determines what beauty means? What secrets won’t the mirror show?—addresses perception from a more sociophilosophical point of view.

“In social contexts, these things play out as awkward

Photo courtesy Piotr Cieplak

As Helen Oyeyemi tells it, the trouble with mirrors began once upon a time in a flat she kept in Prague—which, for whatever reason, happened to have a lot of them on its walls. “I must have felt a bit bullied by all my reflections, because I became hostile toward them,” Oyeyemi, who was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists last year, says via email from Prague. “And then I remembered that one of my biggest problems with ‘Snow White’ is the way everyone just believes what the mirror says.

A more modern heroine, say post-1920s, would be asking a few questions about the ‘fairest of them all’ statement. For instance, on what criteria is the mirror basing this judgment, and what’s the source of the mirror’s authority?”

The trio of modern heroines in Oyeyemi’s fifth novel, Boy, Snow, Bird, asks many such questions, 14

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and occasionally sad, I think,” Oyeyemi says: “that need to determine characteristics on sight, seeking out hooks to hang assumptions on.”

The mirror, of course, is a recurring metaphor for this misguided form of sight—it is, as Boy defines it, an “inscrutable personality (possibly impish and-or amoral), presenting convincing and yet conflicting images of the same object, thereby leading onlookers astray.” A trouble with mirrors afflicts the novel’s other titular characters as well: Neither Snow nor Bird, mysteriously, seems to show up in mirrors at all. When they do, their reflections appear to act for themselves. Of course, whether this is literally the case is, like most things in this novel, a matter of perception. Boy, for instance, staring at her reflection, might be vain or just surprised to see herself smile.

The Whitmans, once their secret is out, might be only superficially “fair,” just as the rat catcher might be evil or else deeply misunderstood.

Since fairy-tale morality is dependent on just such skin-deep “readings”—good, bad, beautiful, ugly—Oyeyemi’s use of the form to examine and question complex social constructs tends to complicate such easy messaging, even, and perhaps especially, when it comes to creating a villain. “I’ve often found myself in sympathy with fairy-tale villains,” Oyeyemi explains, “because they’re often there in the interests of misrule and/or alternative values, which balances things out.” And so her characters slip in and out of the roles that seem prepared for them: the wicked stepmother, Prince Charming, the widowed father, even Snow White.

And yet fairy tales, many of which Oyeyemi embeds in her novel, tend, in their contextual blankness, to reveal certain aspects of truth. In Bird and Snow’s correspondence—a kind of epistolary novel within a novel that represents one of Oyeyemi’s effortless experiments in form, the girls exchange versions of a story called “La Belle Capuchine,” one involving a black slave who emulates her white mistress and the other, a poisonous garden that destroys the world. The stories—though it’s hard to believe given Belle Capuchine’s easy fit in the fairy-tale pantheon here—are Oyeyemi’s invention, and she explains that the two versions are used to reveal differences in the girls’ priorities. “Beauty,” she explains, “is either the deadliest facet of the sublime or it means nothing at all.” And yet Oyeyemi admits that she found such cutand-dry logic surprising coming from her characters’

mouths. “As I wrote it, I thought, gosh, there’s no inbetween with these girls.”

The tendency to be surprised by her characters seems to delight Oyeyemi, who writes with a lively curiosity about her world’s hidden possibilities. In fact, she comes across, both in her writing and in her (at any rate email) conversation, as somewhat impish and inscrutable too, if uninhibited and irrepressibly herself. “When something catches your attention,” Bird instructs in one of the letters, “just keep your attention on it, stick with it ’til the end, and somewhere along the line there’ll be weirdness.…A whole lot of technically impossible things are always trying to happen to us.”

This strikes one as an apt description of the effects of Oyeyemi’s writing itself. The fantastical emerges in acts of attention so organic as to cause little fuss, filling the work with tiny discoveries unearthed from the real: a talking spider, a “tyrannical” road, invisible kisses arriving scented in lemon peel. Oyeyemi, like Bird, merely allows magic, in narrative and language alike, to happen on its own and seems to see her role as mostly reportorial. “I don’t separate their experiences into fantastic or realistic elements,” she says of the characters in Boy, Snow, Bird. “They’re simply saying what happened. Except,” she adds impishly, “for the times when they’re lying.”

Jenny Hendrix is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn.

Boy, Snow, Bird received a starred review in the Jan. 15, 2014, issue of Kirkus Reviews.

Boy, Snow, Bird Oyeyemi, Helen Riverhead (320 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 6, 2014 978-1-59463-139-9

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“Fiorato nimbly weaves cultural, religious, architectural and medical histories into this captivating romance.” from the venetian bargain

End (2007). A confirmed atheist who sustains a ritualistic devotion to the Boston Red Sox, Paul’s romances have exposed him to the tempting fervor and trappings of Catholicism and Judaism. Still, he resists fiercely when a website, a Facebook page and blogging comments mysteriously emerge in his name and he discovers that the man behind them fronts a quasi-Jewish sect founded on the value of doubt: “Behold, make thine heart hallowed by doubt; for God, if God, only God may know.” With almost Pynchon-esque complexity, Ferris melds conspiracy and questions of faith in an entertaining way, although his irreverence and crudity in places may offend some readers. Full of life’s rough edges, the book resists a neat conclusion, favoring instead a simple scene that is comic perfection—an ending far sweeter than the Red Sox had that year.

Strangely astray in The Unnamed, Ferris is back on track here. Smart, sad, hilarious and eloquent, this shows a writer at the top of his game and surpassing the promise of his celebrated debut. (Author tour to New York, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Ann Arbor, San Francisco, Austin, Seattle and Portland)

THE VENETIAN BARGAIN

Fiorato, Marina St. Martin’s Griffin (416 pp.) $15.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-250-04295-8 978-1-4668-4089-8 e-book

In 1576, the bubonic plague ravages the Ottoman Empire. Still stung by his defeat at the Battle of Lepanto, the sultan of Constantinople decides to wield the vicious disease as a weapon against Venice.

Doctor to the sultan’s harem, Feyra is a skilled, compassionate, beautiful young woman. Yet she fears for her life when the valide sultan is poisoned. On her deathbed, the valide sultan reveals that she is not only Venetian, not only the Venetian doge’s daughter, but also Feyra’s mother, taken from her seacaptain husband—Feyra’s father—by the sultan for her great beauty. Reeling from the news, Feyra is even more startled to learn that her father has been coerced into sailing a ship into Venice—a ship with deadly cargo: the plague. Desperate to escape being forced into her half brother’s harem, Feyra stows away on the ship and quickly falls ill with the plague herself.

Once in Venice, the sailors abandon Feyra and her father, who soon dies, leaving her to find her way to the doge. The doge, meanwhile, has commissioned the great architect Palladio to build a magnificent cathedral to urge God to save Venice, and he seeks a great doctor to keep his architect healthy. Clad in the customary medical uniform of the day—including voluminous oiled cloaks and a long-beaked mask—the handsome Annibale Cason is anything but a conventional doctor. He despises the quack cures of the day, seeking instead a place to quarantine his patients and try the latest medical theories. Feyra pleads for an audience with the doge, but as soon as the guards realize she is 16

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a Muslim infidel, she is chased into the streets. She finds refuge with Palladio, and soon her fate and Cason’s intertwine.

Fiorato (Daughter of Siena, 2011) nimbly weaves cultural, religious, architectural and medical histories into this captivating romance.

THE GIRL WHO CAME HOME A Novel of the Titanic

Gaynor, Hazel Morrow/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $14.99 paper | $10.99 e-book Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-06-231686-8 978-0-06-231687-5 e-book

The fictionalized saga of 14 Irish immigrants from a single parish who sailed on the Titanic.

The year is 1982. Maggie, 87, has never discussed the voyage with any of her descendants, including her great-granddaughter Grace, a journalism student at Chicago’s Northwestern University. Grace has been offered an internship at the Tribune—if she can pitch an original angle for a feature story. But when her father dies unexpectedly, she drops out of Northwestern to assist her mother, who has multiple sclerosis, also leaving her boyfriend, Jimmy. Two years later, Maggie jolts Grace back on the career path by deciding to finally come clean about her experience as one of the few third-class passengers who survived the Titanic. The historical sections cannot help but pull focus from the heartwarming frame story. A pastiche of journal entries, letters, telegrams and other archival material, some real, some convincingly faux, relates how 14 parishioners from the village of Ballysheen, County Mayo, decide to emigrate. Once aboard the revolutionary new ocean liner, Maggie and her giggly teenage girlfriends charm Harry, a Liverpudlian third-class steward, who devotes himself to making their passage pleasant.

He helps Maggie send a “Marconigram” from the ship to Séamus, the love she left behind. Unfortunately, a certain iceberg intervenes. Her transmission is interrupted, altering its meaning. Harry manages to get Maggie on the last lifeboat; 12 of her fellow travelers are not so lucky. Gaynor wisely avoids the usual Titanic tropes (Astors and Strauses are scarcely mentioned), imagining the recollections of ordinary passengers and of the people anxiously awaiting news of them. Once Grace’s article goes the 1982 equivalent of viral, the parallel stories wrap up a bit too neatly, especially in the romance department.

Still, as the disaster’s 102nd anniversary approaches, Gaynor’s account surpasses, in subtlety if not in scope, so many flashier treatments.

VINTAGE

Gloss, Susan Morrow/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-06-227032-0 Lost souls find new hope in a Madison, Wis., resale shop, in Gloss’ debut.

Owning Hourglass Vintage, which sells estate clothing and other high-end castoffs, has helped Violet reconstitute her life after divorce from alcoholic husband Jed. But now her landlord, hoping to cash in on a real estate boom, is forcing her to either exercise her option to buy the building (unlikely at the seven-figure price tag) or vacate.

Other characters enter the store with their own dilemmas, represented by the items they choose to sell. April, a teenage momto-be, brings in her wedding dress, never worn—her mother died recently in a car crash that might have been a suicide, and her fiance, Charlie, has called off the wedding after his snobbish parents threatened to disown him. Amithi is selling jewelry and saris which carry unpleasant associations since she learned of her husband’s infidelity. (She had always thought her marriage, though arranged by parents in India years ago, was a happy one.)

April, who exhibits a knack for figures and computing, wangles an internship at Hourglass and begins to organize Violet’s hopelessly haphazard inventory system. Successive crises test the women’s mettle and the bonds between them. To raise money, Violet mounts a fashion show featuring Madison’s trashiesttalking drag queens and a surprise guest appearance. Unfortunately, too much exposition-laden dialogue slows the pace, and the novel’s ending is anything but surprising.

A likable but lackluster debut, not likely to stand out in the crowded field of fiction about women united by a common pursuit.

the ages. “You’re everything,” Ashley tells her. Well, not quite.

There’s a war going on, damn it, and the newly minted officer must join the troops in Northern France, after the obligatory tense farewell at the train station. The brute realities of trench warfare crowd out their romance, which now seems ethereal.

Ashley is badly wounded; a pregnant Imogen travels to France.

He urges marriage; she insists he leave the army first. She’s an irrational 19-year-old, causing disaster. Her father decrees she have the baby secretly, in Sweden; it will be raised by her sister Eleanor as her own. There’s a further complication when Ashley, who survives the war, stipulates his fortune must go to Imogen and her descendants. This opens the door to a second storyline, on a parallel track. It’s a trifle. Tristan, a young Californian, is told by a London lawyer the fortune is his if he can prove Imogen was his great-grandmother. The guy is a windup toy; Go sends him on a document search, traveling from Sweden to Paris to Berlin to Iceland to beat a seven-week deadline. On the other track, Ashley is part of a 1924 Everest expedition, braving the howling Himalayan wastelands, still bolstered by his love for the lost Imogen.

THE STEADY RUNNING OF THE HOUR

Go, Justin Simon & Schuster (480 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4767-0458-6

Young love in old Europe; 80 years later, the search for a fortune.

Debut novelist Go splices two stories in his extravagant, superficial debut.

First, Ashley Walsingham meets Imogen Soames-Andersson in 1916 London. You know Ashley’s type: the laconic upper-class Englishman who works better on the screen than the page. Here, he’s heir to a shipping fortune and a mountaineer, loosely based on British folk hero George Mallory.

Imogen has a Swedish father, a stuffy diplomat, and an English mother. She’s a bohemian who reads the French symbolists and smokes in public. Their attraction is immediate and intense.

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Go is a maximalist (lofty emotions, extreme settings) punching above his weight.

THE MARRYING OF CHANI KAUFMAN

Harris, Eve Black Cat/Grove (384 pp.) $16.00 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8021-2273-5

Not just love and tradition, but rules and expectations shape the relationships of two couples from an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, in a British novelist’s engaging debut.

No touching, no television, no immodesty of dress or behavior. The strictures of the North London religious community Harris evokes in her Man Booker Prize longlisted first novel make an extreme contrast with the norms of secular life. In this contained world, in 2008, Chani Kaufman and Baruch Levy are getting married after a mere three dates. Opening with their wedding ceremony, the story loops back to the couple’s first encounter, the matchmaker’s involvement, the courtship, the parents’ reactions (his mother doesn’t approve) and the proposal. Shy but smart, virgins both, Chani and Baruch seem to be well-matched. But so were Chaim and Rebecca (now Rivka), the rabbi and his wife—parents of Baruch’s friend Avromi—who met in Jerusalem in 1982, fell in love in freer, more vibrant circumstances, yet now live lives shaped by piety and conservatism. Harris’ simple, sympathetic, sometimes-comic portrait of a tight-knit world gently illuminates its anxieties and tensions, and through Avromi’s secret relationship with a fellow college student she exposes the sacrifices and choices its members make out of loyalty and belief. As Rivka, who’s responsible for preparing Chani for her new role as wife, reaches a crisis in her own life, Chani experiences the excitement of her wedding and the two women’s paths diverge, following their sharply distinct trajectories.

A readable, compassionate portrait of roles, especially women’s, in a Haredi community that only occasionally strays into stereotype.

THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL

Hashimi, Nadia Morrow/HarperCollins (464 pp.) $25.99 | $14.99 e-book | May 6, 2014 978-0-06-224475-8 978-0-06-224477-2 e-book Three Afghan sisters walk home from school, menaced by a boy on a bicycle.

They escape, but the damage is done: no more school.

Rahima and her sisters are devastated, but without a brother they have no one to chaperone them, no one to protect their honor, no one to discourage insults from other men.

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Rahima’s aunt has an idea and begins telling her stories about her great-aunt Shekiba, who was viciously taunted after her face was scarred by an accident with cooking oil. When her immediate family died of cholera, Shekiba was left to the mercy of her scheming relatives, who practically enslaved her and then traded her away to serve another family. Desperate for a measure of freedom, she seized upon the cultural practice of bacha posh, which enabled any family without a son to dress a daughter as a boy. Of course, even a bacha posh must return to being a girl once she reaches maturity. Nonetheless, Shekiba’s tale inspires Rahima to pass as a boy, too. Cutting her hair and donning pants lets her barter at the market, attend classes and play soccer with the boys. Everyone accepts her new position as a son. Even her parents exempt her from certain household duties better left to girls. Unfortunately, Rahima’s opium-addicted father is indebted to a warlord, who has taken an interest in the 13-yearold. After having tasted freedom as a bacha posh, how can she return to the oppression inflicted upon women? Does Shekiba’s story offer any answer? Hashimi’s debut novel nimbly alternates between Shekiba’s and Rahima’s tales, drawing disturbing parallels between two women separated by a century.

A lyrical, heartbreaking account of silenced lives.

THE ANARCHIST

Higgins, Joanna The Permanent Press (384 pp.) $29.00 | Apr. 25, 2014 978-1-57962-356-2 Listless historical novel that centers on events in a particularly turbulent era in America’s past, a time of bombs, bullets and ample deaths.

It’s been a matter of historical speculation for generations just how much influence the pioneering anarchist and labor organizer Emma Goldman had over Leon Czolgosz, the possibly mad farm boy who assassinated President William McKinley in 1901. Higgins (Waiting for the Queen, 2013, etc.) explores that influence while depicting the world of labor activism in the age of Haymarket and the Pinkertons, a time when it was not especially good to be Jewish, foreign-born and radically inclined even as law enforcement agents were insisting that the unrest was all the fault of—well, radical, foreign-born elements. (Czolgosz was born on a Midwestern farm, but never mind.) Alternating points of view, Higgins never quite inhabits the minds of either Czolgosz or Goldman, and too much of the book is given over to rather flat, talky dialogue: “And if a son avenges a father’s death by killing his father’s murderer, is he acting out of a sensitive nature?” asks Nellie Bly, the great journalist, who wanders late onto the scene. Answers Goldman, “Some actions are more impersonal than others.” What happens to poor Czolgosz is anything but impersonal; about as much reverie as can be found in these pages issues from the executioner who’s assigned to electrocute the young man, “sitting there like he’s on a train going somewhere.” The story throughout

THE BLESSINGS

is full of such promising elements, of which too little is made, and one can only wonder what a master such as Joyce Carol Oates or Philip Roth might have done with them.

Serviceable but not at all memorable. The reader new to this history will be better served reading Goldman’s own autobiography and Wallace Stegner’s like-minded, much superior novel Joe Hill.

Juska, Elise Grand Central Publishing (272 pp.) $24.00 | May 6, 2014 978-1-455-57403-2 Juska explores the collective experiences, traditions and loyalties of a close-knit family and the perspectives of individual members as they journey through a span of 30 years.

Like many other middle-class Philadelphia Irish-Catholic clans, the Blessings are tight. They celebrate every holiday in time-honored fashion (men in front of the television or tending the grill; women preparing side dishes and cleaning up), rally together during crises and proudly acknowledge important milestones. It’s not surprising, then, that when oldest brother John succumbs to cancer shortly after his father’s fatal heart attack, his illness and death become the definitive reference points in the Blessings’ lives. Widow

THE VALLEY / ESTAMPAS DEL VALLE

Hinojosa, Rolando Arte Público (256 pp.) $16.95 paper | Apr. 30, 2014 978-1-55885-787-2

Reissue, in one volume, of the stories that inaugurated Hinojosa’s (Creative Writing/Univ. of Texas) long-running Klail City Death Trip series.

Set along the Mexican border in South Texas, the series has a title that echoes Michael Lesy’s book about faraway Wisconsin, while its epic ambition seems to owe to William Faulkner, Gabriel García Márquez and Edgar Lee Masters in roughly equal measure. As Arte Público publisher Nicolás Kanellos notes in his too-brief but illuminating foreword, it is one of the foundational texts of Chicano literature, curious publishing history and all: Estampas del valle appeared in Spanish in 1972 and was published in English, much revised and reorganized, as The Valley in 1983, even as the series was moving forward, conjuring Hinojosa’s fictitious Belken County into being. In these and the other 20-odd installments of what Kanellos shorthands as KCDT, Hinojosa limns a realistic—and, unusually for its time, not magical realistic, either—world of imagined small towns such as Relámpago (lightning) and Jonesville-on-the-Rio, where everyone knows everyone else. That familiarity, of course, doesn’t prevent bad things from happening: Confesses one young man, “I killed Ernesto Tamez, and I did it right there at the Aquí me quedo....He’s laid out there somewhere.” So speaks Balde Cordero from the workhouse, owning up to his part in a crime of passion that, really, is very ordinary in this place, where friends love and kill each other. Hinojosa’s text is full of the casual wisdom that people in small towns will offer (“God’s truth it is when it’s claimed that nicknames are powerful friends or enemies; I mean, they’ll sweep names and characters away”), and it is as revealing of the odd politics of rural Texas life as John Nichols’ later, and much more lighthearted, Milagro Beanfield War was on northern New Mexico.

Acquiring full force in the context of the story cycle to which they gave birth, Estampas del Valle/The Valley are essential texts for students of borderlands and Mexican-American literature.

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Lauren, the mother of two young children, is an only child and relied on John to help her feel comfortable among the Blessings. She faces the death of her husband as many widows do— by withdrawing from others—but as time passes, she helps another family member and becomes an integral part of the clan. Her sister-in-law Kate is married to the youngest Blessing, Patrick, and blames his grief over his brother’s death for her initial failure to conceive; later, Patrick evaluates the direction his life has taken. John’s sisters cope privately with problems as their children grow older and the family continues to commemorate John’s life on the anniversary of his death. Ann and her husband, Dave, become increasingly alienated and finally divorce; their eldest daughter pursues life and love in NYC, their academically gifted son does the unexpected, and their youngest daughter battles an eating disorder. Sister Margie has tried to stifle anxiety over a confession her husband made years ago, but now her eldest son is in trouble, and although she knows taking certain actions will only cause her more pain, she insists that her husband unbury the past and help him. Juska’s story is like leafing through an old family photo album, where

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typically unremarkable moments are captured in black and white. What makes the album unique isn’t its contents but the way each photo abuts or overlays the next.

The author (One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, 2007, etc.) has created an ordinary fictitious family and stitched together a multilayered, sympathetic account of its members’ lives.

KILL FEE

Laukkanen, Owen Putnam (400 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 20, 2014 978-0-399-16552-8 Minnesota state cop Kirk Stevens teams up once more with the FBI’s Carla Windermere to put a ruthless murderfor-hire scheme out of business.

“Business” is indeed the word for Killswitch, the assassination bureau that defense-contracting executive Michael Parkerson runs on the side. Clients go to killswitch.com, type in their requests, wait for Parkerson to establish their bona fides, and pay half his hefty fee before their targets are terminated, half afterward. The dirty work falls to a series of dead-eyed “assets,” military veterans Parkerson has brainwashed to travel the country executing their targets until the assets themselves inevitably wear out and must be retired and replaced. When the latest target, media mogul Spenser Pyatt, is felled by a sniper outside the Saint Paul Hotel only a few yards from where Stevens and Windermere are sharing coffee and conversation, the two friends and sometime colleagues (Criminal Enterprise, 2013, etc.) give chase, and the chase widens, accelerates and continues for 400 pages. The man who pulled the trigger, Malcolm Lind, is so resourceful and unflappable, such a perfectly engineered killing machine, that he’s impossible to catch—until a chance encounter with softhearted airline clerk Caity Sherman begins to reawaken his humanity.

For his part, Stevens, who’s consistently drawn to Windermere, isn’t eager to tell his long-suffering wife, Nancy, that he’s working with the younger African-American agent again, but he’s caught up, like everyone else Killswitch has touched, in the relentless action.

Proficient, professional, pulse-pounding nonsense. If you can accept the outrageous logistics of Killswitch, you won’t put this third installment down unfinished.

THE BOY IN HIS WINTER An American Novel Lock, Norman Bellevue Literary Press (192 pp.) $14.95 paper | May 13, 2014 978-1-934137-76-5

The latest from distinguished elder statesman Lock, winner of the Aga Khan Prize from the Paris Review, is an eclectic hybrid of literary appropriation, Zeliglike historical narrative, time-travel tale and old-style picaresque.

It’s narrated in 2077 by an octogenarian Huckleberry Finn, who meandered down the Mississippi alongside his stalwart friend Jim for 125 years, from 1835 until 1960, remaining miraculously unchanged by time. Along the way, they drifted southward through the Civil War (Tom Sawyer has a cameo as a Confederate officer, and Jim is photographed at Vicksburg); the uprooting and massacre of Native Americans (they play a role in allowing Cochise to die with dignity); the electrification of the country (which they encounter when they enter the 20th century around Baton Rouge); and the Jazz Age. Jim, trying to wait until racism has either passed away or grown less virulent, leaves the raft in 1960; after a brief excursion into the world of To Kill a Mockingbird, he discovers there’s no outlasting that particular viciousness. Huck, who’s followed his old companion, ends up having to stand by helplessly as Jim is lynched. He staggers back to the raft and meanders for nearly another half-century, until Hurricane Katrina spits him ashore in a storm-battered south Louisiana necropolis, a landing that at last jars him back into time. Over the next seven decades, an aging Huck serves as an accomplice to a group of marijuana smugglers; lands in juvie; becomes a flashy, globe-trotting yacht broker; marries an African-American woman who writes novels for children; and makes a late-life return to Hannibal, Mo., where he exacts a kind of revenge on his “creator” by playing the elderly Mark Twain, “river pilot and raconteur,” at a riverside amusement park.

The philosophical and literary musings are inventive, and Lock manages to make the combination of brevity and tall-tale looseness mostly work. But for all its charms, the book ultimately seems pretty diffuse.

and fuels an overactive imagination reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies rather than The Mysteries of Udolpho. Nevertheless, home schooling and a rural upbringing have kept her almost as naïve as Austen’s 17-year-old heroine. Cat’s big shot at longedfor adventure comes when some neighbors invite her to accompany them to the Edinburgh Festival for the summer. There she meets brash Bella Thorpe; her boorish brother, Johnny; and the refined Tilney siblings, Henry and Ellie. Cat moons after Henry, Johnny pursues Cat, and Bella has a thing for Cat’s older brother, James, who unexpectedly visits. As romantic intrigue thickens, the novel’s plot sticks doggedly to the original. This does McDermid no favors. Though brisk, her prose lacks Austen’s zingy insights and tart dialogue. Henry and Cat’s conversations about literature feel forced, and incessant references to social media are as glib as the girls’ OMGs and WTFs. When Cat finally escapes Edinburgh for the Tilney family pile of the title, she stumbles upon what initially promises to be a gruesome mystery. In other circumstances, this would play to McDermid’s strengths. Here, it only adds to the feeling of being trapped in a teen movie.

“Indirect, subliminal magic.”

—The New York Times

“Oscar Mandel’s present-day, tongue-in-cheek fables are worthy descendants of Aesop and La Fontaine.”

—The Hartford Courant

NORTHANGER ABBEY

McDermid, Val Grove (352 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8021-2301-5

ISBN: 978-1-938849-21-3 $16.00

In the second installment of the Austen Project, which has contemporary writers updating the classic novels, McDermid (Cross and Burn, 2013, etc.) strives to reinvigorate an overlooked Gothic parody with a 21st-century makeover.

Clergyman’s daughter Catherine Morland is known as Cat in her latter-day incarnation. She posts selfies to Facebook

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“The Chernobyl disaster serves as the dramatic backdrop to this thoughtful and serious novel.” from all that is solid melts into air

Northanger Abbey is frequently thought of alongside Austen’s juvenilia. Too often, this oddly literal reimagining comes off as simply juvenile.

ALL THAT IS SOLID MELTS INTO AIR

McKeon, Darragh Perennial/HarperCollins (432 pp.) $14.99 paper | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-06-224687-5 This debut novel is set in 1986, the year of the catastrophe at Chernobyl, and that disaster serves as the dramatic backdrop for the unfolding of action and character.

First we meet Grigory Ivanovich Brovkin, a Moscow physician whose marriage to Maria has recently failed. Maria has a nephew, Yevgeni, her sister’s son, who, at age 9, shows great promise as a piano prodigy, though his poverty militates against his success. For example, except when he goes for lessons at the house of his teacher, Mr. Leibniz, he has no piano to practice on but only a keyboard that makes no sound. Despite his promise, Yevgeni occasionally (and understandably) loses heart, especially when physically tormented, as he frequently is, by his gym teacher and fellow students. After the Chernobyl debacle, Grigory’s medical skills are called on, for he must treat those who have been exposed to massive amounts of radiation. He feels dispirited by this as well as by official attempts to cover up the extent of the ecological and human disaster. McKeon takes the title for his novel from The Communist Manifesto, and everything solid does indeed seem to shift and evanesce as the events at Chernobyl reshape character and landscape. Eventually, Grigory pays a terrible physical price for his conscientious attention to duty, and Yevgeni, in a grace note of a conclusion set in 2011, receives a state prize for his virtuosity.

A leisurely paced novel intended for those who like serious and thoughtful fiction.

THE LAST KIND WORDS SALOON

McMurtry, Larry Liveright/Norton (256 pp.) $24.95 | May 5, 2014 978-0-87140-786-3 Prolific novelist and pop historian McMurtry (Custer, 2012, etc.) offers another pleasing yarn for fans of the Old West, none of whom will hanker for a trip to the dentist after reading it.

It was a just a matter of time before McMurtry returned to Lonesome Dove territory and, having written about Calamity Jane, Billy the Kid and other such epic characters, turned to perhaps the most famous of all, Wyatt Earp and company.

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His newest oater brings Dove background character Charles Goodnight to the fore. Hard-living but oddly retiring, he and his dusty-chapped cowpokes are in their element in the country into which Earp and Doc Holliday have newly ridden, embarking on a cowcentric career that, by book’s end, will take them to destiny in Tombstone, where the inhabitants endure the job of trying to “meet the tower of dust created by nine hundred cattle as they passed through a town that was dusty anyway.” McMurtry’s tale is short, but he packs a terrific lot of action into his pages; in between gunfights and extractions, the constant bantering between Earp and Holliday echoes that of Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call (“Irascible, clean out your damn ears”). A nicely turned running joke has Holliday and Earp never quite certain of just where they are; as Wyatt says, “[t]his is Long Grass, which is nearly in Kansas, but not quite. It’s nearly in New Mexico, too, but not quite. Some have even suggested that we might be in Texas.” If they are, it’s the Texas of McMurtry’s imagination, a place full of tough outlaws and tougher Comanches and, refreshingly, a place where the women are just as strong as the men and just as involved in the story. A nice touch, too, is the subtle frame provided by an object that, like the clan that made it, staggered out of the High Plains and Tombstone into Hollywood, with plenty of dents and dings to show for it.

Not quite in the class of Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, or other top-shelf McMurtry, but still a lot of fun.

YOUNG GOD

Morris, Katherine Faw Farrar, Straus and Giroux (208 pp.) $24.00 | May 6, 2014 978-0-374-53423-3

A bleak novel of poverty and drugs in rural North Carolina, reminiscent of Flannery O’Connor but without a redemptive vision.

At the center of the action is 13-yearold Nikki, whose mother dies at the beginning of the novel. This leads Nikki back to her father, Coy Hawkins, recently released from prison and, not coincidentally, formerly the biggest coke dealer in the county.

Coy has taken up with Angel, a bleached-blonde teenager who dresses in high heels and see-through outfits; he pimps her out in cheap hotel rooms to earn money for his next big score. High on his list of resentments is another pimp, who, the month before, had tried to wrest Angel away, but Coy is able to track down his rival and slice and dice his face. If we need further evidence of Coy’s vileness, we get it when Nikki introduces him to Renee, another adolescent whose virginity should bring a high price. But Coy rapes her, shoots her and, with Nikki’s help, cuts up her body and leaves her where animals will find her. The Next Big Thing for Coy is black heroin, which he’s convinced will make him rich. Nikki is far more afraid of being discovered by the Department of Social Services than of being mistreated by her father, so she develops

her own drug business and shows herself more than equal to her egregious and slimy father. It is indeed rare to find such entrepreneurial spirit in a slightly post-pubescent teen.

Morris writes brilliantly in short, spasmodic chapters, but her vision borders on despair.

The women’s stories follow the same pattern of early passion evolving into long years of travail and sacrifice. Aging widow Catherine Blake remembers her life with prophetic poet William Blake: his yearlong courtship filled with letters she was too illiterate to read; their romantic early marriage; a miscarriage followed by the threat of Blake’s passion for another woman (a not historically proven event); their three-year stay in Sussex, Blake inspired by seeing a tiger and a comet. Catherine revels in being William’s student, his assistant and his succor against a public that thought him more madman than genius. Unlike Blake, Osip Mandelstam was recognized as a genius in his lifetime, but writing poetry in Stalinist Russia was a political act, and his words were considered inflammatory. In 1939, Osip’s wife, Nadezhda, waits in line to send the exiled Osip a package before her story bounces forward and backward in time to earlier exiles and tribulations the couple shared and to the future in which Nadezhda must survive alone while preserving Osip’s banned writing. Like Catherine Blake, the childless Nadezhda dedicates her life to supporting her husband’s genius, acting as his scribe and suffering his infidelities as minor irritants.

THE POETS’ WIVES

Park, David Bloomsbury (320 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-62040-524-6

In parallel but unconnected narratives, Irish novelist Park (The Light of Amsterdam, 2012, etc.) portrays the inner lives of three women—two historic, one fictional—who have devoted themselves to their difficult husbands’ creative needs and ambitions.

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Teju Cole

The wandering writer may be obsessed with history, but he is very much a voice of the present

By David Garza development, as well as the resilience of the suffering and the poor.

“The love is very deep,” Cole says of the bustling capital city of Lagos, the heart of the novel. “But there is an unwillingness to pretend that everything is fine. Lagos is very hard on people who live there.

It’s not simply tough; it’s just a little bit too far beyond the threshold of comfort.”

This discomfort is existential and pervades the novel, from the narrator’s early tangles with Nigerian bureaucracy as he attempts to secure his visa in the New York consulate office, to the ongoing attempts of the yahoo yahoo (online scammers) to extort money from easily suckered Americans, to a terrifying scene in which he and his family are held up and physically threatened by roving young men.

It’s also a discomfort that Cole knows firsthand, as he spent much of his youth in Nigeria before moving to the United States (where he was born) to attend college in 1992.

Like the narrator, Cole returned to Nigeria after having been away for a number of years, and it is that process of getting reacquainted, of being simultaneously native and foreign, that permeates the book: again, the discomfort. In every interaction, in every attempt to get from point A to point B, there is the need to pay the usual bribe, to circumvent touts and somehow maneuver a way to safety. Still, in the novel’s most moving scenes—a moment when a child appears to the narrator while he is shaving or a late scene in which the narrator recalls a street full of carpenters working on coffins—there is a sense of the country’s larger history. There is the awareness that the narrator, like Cole himself, is not simply observing Nigeria in the present, but is breathing the collection of presents that have piled upon themselves in one place.

Photo courtesy Teju Cole

Teju Cole is a master chronicler of passage, crafting firsthand accounts of narrators wandering not just through physical space, but through remnants of history seen and unseen, through television lights reflected on windows and fragments of prayer, through anonymous lives observed on the street and the forgotten curses of those who have died. His short novel Every Day Is for the Thief focuses on his nameless narrator’s return to Nigeria after having been in the U.S. for many years. True to Cole’s style, the journey reveals not only the narrator’s internal reaction to returning to his family and his homeland, but also profound lessons about a place like Nigeria’s relationship to technology and economic 24

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“I don’t know why it is, but there are some of us who are haunted by history,” Cole says. “Whether this is rooted in childhood psychology or something, some kind of inner loss, I don’t know. It is something that I experience every day….I love reading old newspapers and discovering lives that overlap in the exact same geographical space.”

This deciphering of the historical phantoms that linger in contemporary spaces is common to Cole’s work beyond Every Day Is for the Thief. His novel Open City, winner of the 2012 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for Debut Fiction, memorably features a narrator named Julius who is part flâneur, part cultural interpreter. In both works, Cole uses brilliant wit and a sharp sense of irony to deconstruct what he describes as “the dividends of democracy.”

In Open City, that means coming to terms with the hypocrisies and anxieties of a post-9/11 New York City as the United States rushes to war, in no mood for critical thinking or an examination of the blood in its own history. For the narrator in Every Day, it means examining a post–military rule Nigeria, which is simultaneously full of promise and shackled by its own habits. For Cole, as it is for his narrators, it is in the act of passage, in walking and breathing and observing, that these worlds reveal themselves.

“The weird thing that happens is that I have an epiphany where I am not 100 percent in the present,” he explains. “If I am walking on the Lower East Side, I don’t feel like I am in 2014 all the time. I am aware of the fact that there are immigrants, Italian families, always slipping into those spaces all of the time.”

What is perhaps most compelling about Cole’s work is that, despite his near obsession with the historical, he is very much a voice of the present, reflecting, for example, both the uncertainty of its unfolding narrative and its reliance on technology. He is a prolific user of Twitter, posting several times a day and using the medium to broadcast everything from brutal political observation to deft humor (“Please, ‘writer’ is so offensive. I’m a text worker”).

He also fashions miniaturized, but no less powerful, literary experiments, from ghazals to what he calls “small fates,” brief and knifelike summaries of often tragic and true events (“Joining the fight against AIDS, armed men in Edo carted away a shipment of anti-retroviral drugs”).

“You can still find a way to make your voice heard by the way you shape your sentences,” he says of his

attraction to Twitter. “There is a potent energy if they have the right shape.”

Perhaps that is ultimately true not only of Cole’s presence on a medium like Twitter, but of his work in general, with its shaping not just of language, but of images (Cole is also a successful photographer who has exhibited internationally) and of historical notions and voices. There is a constant sensibility and consciousness in his work that manifests itself across different media as it not only captures history, but becomes history itself.

“I think that there is such a thing as the creative human element that will never go away. It allows us to read the Iliad with pleasure and listen to Beethoven with enlightenment and allows us to enjoy Radiohead and Kanye West,” he says. “However, it is a guarantee that the forms will change.”

David Garza lives in New York City.

Every Day Is for the Thief is reviewed on p. 9 of this issue.

Every Day Is for the Thief Cole, Teju Random House (160 pp.) $23.00 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-8129-9578-7 |

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Fictional Lydia is the new widow of Don, a contemporary Irish poet who never achieved greatness before his fatal heart attack at their seaside cottage. Unhappily married for years, Lydia remains ambivalent toward Don as husband and poet. He was a womanizer and an uninvolved, resentful father to their son and two daughters. Now Lydia gathers with her adult daughters to spread Don’s ashes and deal with the maternal grief she had never been able to articulate over her son, who died years before.

The language is gorgeous, the tone exquisitely highbrow, but the result is disappointingly dull.

RED OR DEAD

Peace, David Melville House (736 pp.) $30.00 | May 27, 2014 978-1-61219-368-7 A story of faith, ambition, socialism and a last-place English football club, combining a true story with eternal truths.

English novelist Peace is no stranger to mixing fiction with the football pitch (The Damned UTD, 2006, etc.), and in this volume he tells the story of elegant and elegiac Bill Shankly, the legendary coach of the Liverpool Football Club who took a down-and-out team in a down-and-out town to the top ranks of English football. (You could think of him as a sort of British Joe Torre for the way he’s revered by fans.) This book is barely fiction—it’s more a fictionalized biography—but it’s a classic story about dedication, redemption and love, all set in a locker room and in football stadiums where tens of thousands, sometimes more, chant and cheer. It’s a story about struggle—against wind, rain, snow and mud; against Arsenal Football Club and Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden and UD Las Palmas; against a tradition of failure; against the limits of athletes and ownership.

But it’s above all a story of triumph—over other clubs, to be sure, but also over obstacles moral and financial—and a story about passage: one man’s (from the coal mines of Scotland) and one team’s (from the depths of the Second Division to the giddy heights of the First). Across its pages stride some of the greatest names in English sport, unknown on these shores but luminaries in Liverpool—and a cameo appearance by Harold Wilson, the one-time British prime minister. The result is a book to be savored with a cup of tea and a slice of orange—what the Liverpool players have at halftime.

A novel without a single quote in 736 fast-paced pages— but one that might be quoted for decades. (Author tour to New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Seattle)

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THE KRAKEN PROJECT

Preston, Douglas Forge (352 pp.) $26.99 | May 13, 2014 978-0-7653-1769-8

Preston’s (White Fire, 2013, etc.) third Wyman Ford adventure sends the investigator chasing after Dorothy, who happens to be an element of artificial intelligence gone rogue.

NASA plans to send a probe to an ocean on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Since the distance precludes instant communication, the Kraken Project employs artificial intelligence—code named Dorothy—to cope with unforeseen occurrences. Dr. Melissa Shepherd, wild child–turned–NASA computer nerd, codes Dorothy into AI. During testing, the probe (and Dorothy) are immersed in a liquid methane tank. Dorothy autonomously responds to a perceived threat and causes a fatal accident. In the chaos, Dorothy, 2 gigabytes of code, escapes into the Internet and soon begins communicating with Shepherd. Dorothy is angry, vengeful, frightened and, finally, “incomplete. Unfastened. Floating.”

In the formulaic chase-scenario plot, Dorothy evolves from threat to victim, becoming the target of the Feds, who’d like to weaponize her, and a psychopathic Wall Street market manipulator whose ambition is to control the stock market. From Page 1, it’s never-takea-breath action, believable enough given Preston’s interpretation of AI’s mimicking and acting on emotions without having emotions— until Dorothy develops a conscience. New readers get no back story on hero Ford, who plays only a small role. Shepherd’s double-smart, double-tough girl genius characterization is solid, and the Wall Street raider is fleshed out into a worthy villain. Preston does his best characterization with his layman’s interpretation of AI by slipping into Dorothy’s head for random chapters. As she moves from the savage ground of virtual-reality gaming to locations as exotic as the U.S. president’s pacemaker, Dorothy grows from chip-logic dualistic choices into humane wisdom, becoming a sympathetic character.

Something like E.T. roaming the Internet to save the world, complete with an empathetic kid on a bicycle. (Agent: Eric Simonoff)

LANDING GEAR

Pullinger, Kate Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (256 pp.) $24.00 | May 20, 2014 978-1-4767-5137-5 A very contemporary novel, opening in 2010 with the Icelandic volcano that disrupted air traffic in the U.K. for almost a week and ending in the spring of 2015.

The cloud of volcanic ash spewed out by Eyjafjallajökull created many disruptions for one London family. On the one hand, Harriet was briefly able to revive her flagging career as a radio reporter.

On the other, her husband, Michael, was stuck in the U.S. on a

business trip; since hotel rooms were sold out in New York, he traveled to Toronto to visit Marina, an old friend—though perhaps old flame would be more accurate, for he quickly rekindled the relationship into a weekend fling. At the same time, Harriet and Michael’s 14-year-old son, Jack, was also getting into trouble, going to parties with school friends and almost getting caught with drugs. The narrative then lurches somewhat awkwardly to 2012, and the focus shifts to Yacub, a Pakastani desperate to escape the poverty of his country; he literally takes flight in the wheel well of a plane. As it nears Heathrow, Yacub falls and, incredibly, lands on Harriet’s car. She understandably takes pity on him and takes him home. At first, Harriet tries to keep Yakub’s presence a secret from her family, but eventually he comes out to play video games with Jack, and he even makes peace with Michael, who (like the reader) finds his presence rather bizarre. Another subplot—as if one is needed— involves Emily, an erstwhile filmmaker convinced she’s Harriet’s daughter from an earlier relationship with a psychologically unbalanced Irishman. Unbelievably, Emily, who’s been filming Harriet due to her suspected family connection, has video footage of Yacub’s “flight” out of the airplane and onto Harriet’s car.

The outlandish subplots eventually lead to family reconciliation but also make it difficult for readers to suspend their disbelief.

number of lost souls can create earthquakes merely by moving around underground.

The author of Secondworld (2012) and Island 731 (2013) offers a fresh twist on the zombie apocalypse.

KEEP QUIET

Scottoline, Lisa St. Martin’s (352 pp.) $27.99 | $14.99 e-book | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-250-01009-4 978-1-4668-4204-5 e-book In Scottoline’s latest family-centered thriller (Accused, 2013, etc.), Jake Buckman lets son Ryan drive the family car on a back road. Very bad idea.

The car hits someone, and she’s dead.

Faced with the prospect of his teenager’s life being ruined, Jake tells him to get back in the car, and they drive away. “[D]on’t

XOM-B

Robinson, Jeremy Dunne/St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-1-250-03171-6 978-1-250-03172-3 e-book Earlier in the 28th century, a ruthless Master race killed billions of people it had enslaved, only to see the genocide victims arise as zombies and turn on their tormentors. Now able to overturn their captors, the still-living former slaves are threatened by both flesh-eaters and surviving Masters looking to retake power.

Yes, another living-dead tale. But to Robinson’s credit, he treats the genre with a light hand and even a touch of comic-book charm. At the heart of the story is a newly created quasi-human named Freeman. A curious combination of naïveté and supersophisticated nanomachine parts, Freeman can instantly differentiate among 76 different smells and call upon a full range of optical powers but knows nothing about simple feelings and sensations.

Drawing on elements of The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead movies, Robinson’s novel proceeds at a nonstop pace as the former slaves survive one cliffhanger after another.

Among those counting on Freeman to lead them into a new age of freedom are Heap, his loyal, heavily armored friend, who once worked on the Masters’ security force; Mohr, a peace-and-lovespouting councilman who programmed Freeman; and Luscious, a red-haired and red-shoed girl with whom Freeman discovers love and music. Certain tropes prevail: You still have to shoot zombies in the head to permanently kill them. But in this tale, the massive |

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tell Mom,” Jake warns; he loves his wife, but Pam has the personality you’d expect of a superior court judge (judgmental), and their marriage is still recovering from Jake’s decision to start his own business, which has made him a mostly absentee husband and father. He’s now “one of the top-ten ranked financial planners in southeastern Pennsylvania,” though his planning skills aren’t evident as Jake ineptly tries to cover their tracks. He also has a terrible time keeping his son from confessing once they learn that the dead girl is Ryan’s high school classmate Kathleen Lindstrom. It takes more than 100 pages for the plot to involve anything other than Jake’s nerves, Pam’s suspicions and Ryan’s guilty wails, all of which are believable but not very interesting.

Sleazy blackmailer Lewis Deaner livens things up, especially after he turns up murdered. If the police find those cellphone pictures Deaner had of Jake and Ryan at the scene of the crime, Jake will be a suspect. And once Ryan has blurted out the truth to his mother, furious Pam might be just as happy to see Jake in jail. The killer’s identity isn’t much of a surprise, since he’s the only character with any individual traits apart from the Buckmans and the cops, but the final twist comes out of nowhere, 10 pages from the end.

Very slow off the mark, though once blackmail and murder enter the picture, Scottoline moves things along with her customary professionalism, if scant credibility.

THE HEIRESSES

Shepard, Sara Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $25.99 | May 20, 2014 978-0-06-225953-0 Five privileged young woman, all heiresses to the Saybrook diamond empire, are blessed with every luxury.

But the family curse—or a vindictive villain—may end their lives prematurely.

Shepard (Everything We Ever Wanted, 2011, etc.), the architect of the best-selling Pretty Little Liars series, has created a PLL for adults. Variously related women (friends, sisters, half sisters, cousins, aunts) fret their way through man troubles, with a deadly mystery on the side. There’s Aster, the partying wild child, and her sister, Corinne, the perfectionist preparing to marry the wonderful Dixon Shackelford.

Their cousins include Poppy, the president of Saybrook’s Diamonds, who’s a happily married mother of two adorable children; Rowan, the brilliant in-house lawyer who pines after her lost love, Poppy’s husband; and Natasha, a yoga instructor, who curiously disinherited herself from the Saybrook fortune. Five years earlier, a beach party at the family’s glamorous summer house was the site of an executive’s mysterious drowning. An ominous website, appropriately titled “The Blessed and the Cursed,” details the family’s every misstep, from wardrobe malfunctions to drunken shenanigans. No one seems to know who supplies the website with compromising photos and tips on the women’s upcoming appointments. On the eve of Corinne’s wedding, it appears the family curse is back: Poppy has fallen 28

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to her death. Was it suicide or murder? Why was the seemingly faultless Poppy arranging private meetings behind her assistant’s scheduling book? Where was her husband, James, when she fell? Could the events of five years ago offer clues? As an FBI investigation advances, rumors, secrets and ex-boyfriends abound. Unfortunately, the romances are predictable and the sex scenes, tame.

Perfect for a light beach read, but anyone in search of witty chick lit, hot romance or taut mystery should look elsewhere.

ASTONISH ME

Shipstead, Maggie Knopf (288 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 11, 2014 978-0-307-96290-4 After satirizing privileged WASPs in her prize-winning first novel (Seating Arrangements, 2012), Shipstead investigates another rarefied world: ballet.

When we meet Joan in September 1977, she’s tired of her going-nowhere career in the ballet corps of a prestigious New York company, where she’s primarily known as the discarded lover of star performer Arslan Rusakov. She’s also pregnant after a summer visit to Chicago to seduce her high school pal Jacob. The rest of Part I depicts their tense marriage—scarred by Joan’s bereavement over leaving ballet—from son Harry’s infancy through the mid1980s. This strong setup is anchored by Shipstead’s sensitive portrait of the couple’s uneasy relationship and their complex friendship with Southern California neighbors Sandy and Gary Wheelock, whose daughter Chloe is Harry’s age. It’s a jolt when Part II jumps back to 1973 in Paris, where Joan is transported

by Arslan’s dancing and “wants some piece of the fearsome beauty he has onstage.” We already know she helped him defect from the Soviet Union, so it feels unnecessary to get a detailed account of it and of the subsequent unraveling of their affair in New York, partly because autocratic artistic director Mr. K judges (correctly) that she’s not good enough to dance with him. It takes a while for Part III to regain the lost momentum as Chloe and Harry study ballet, he becomes obsessed with his mother’s connection to Arslan, and it becomes clear that Harry is a major talent. Anyone who hasn’t figured out who Harry’s real father is long before the flashback that jarringly opens Part IV simply hasn’t been paying attention. Shipstead again recovers in excellent final chapters that allow Chloe to emerge from Harry’s shadow, put Harry and Arslan onstage together, and offer tentative hope for Joan and Jacob’s battered marriage. But the denouements provided for the novel’s many well-drawn characters would be more satisfying if readers hadn’t been distracted by flashbacks that serve no compelling artistic purpose.

Perceptive and well-written though marred by its peculiar chronology.

“And now for something completely different: St. Aubyn’s latest is a laugh-out-loud sendup of literary prizes.” from lost for words

LOST FOR WORDS

THE EXPEDITION TO THE BAOBAB TREE

St. Aubyn, Edward Farrar, Straus and Giroux (272 pp.) $26.00 | May 20, 2014 978-0-374-28029-1

Stockenström, Wilma Translated by Coetzee, J.M. Archipelago (220 pp.) $18.00 paper | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-935744-92-4

And now for something completely different: a broad farce from a British novelist renowned for his literary subtlety and command of tone.

Having finished his five-volume series of autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels (At Last, 2012, etc.), which have been hailed as one of the foremost achievements of modern literature, what could St. Aubyn do for an encore? Though a lethal sense of humor has been crucial to his skewering of the British upper classes, here he exchanges the darkness of hell and redemption among the coldhearted aristocracy for a laugh-out-loud sendup of literary prizes. Instead of the Man Booker, Britain’s most prestigious award is the Elysian Prize for Literature, determined by one well-meaning academic and a motley assortment of philistines, sponsored by a “highly innovative but controversial agricultural company” whose chief critics are environmentalists “claiming that [its products] caused cancer, disrupted the food chain, destroyed bee populations, or turned cattle into cannibals.” The judges for the prize generally have hidden (or not so hidden) agendas that don’t require them to actually read the books, and one doesn’t even bother to attend their deliberative sessions (he’s an actor on tour with “a hip-hop adaptation of Waiting for Godot”). The plot pivots around the promiscuity of a nubile novelist who has “averaged twenty lovers a year since she was sixteen” and who is in the process of juggling three or more through most of the narrative. Both the author and the reader have great fun with this, as the virtuosic novelist provides excerpts from nominated works, including a historical novel about William Shakespeare, a pulp page-turner and a scabrous (and hilarious) spew that the highest-minded judge dismisses as “sub-Irvine Welsh.” Through preposterous plot machinations, a cookbook of traditional Indian recipes is mistakenly submitted as fiction and becomes an unlikely contender, “operating as the boldest metafictional performance of our time.” The madcap climax involves an assassination plot and a stuck elevator at the awards banquet before surprisingly resolving itself with a (tentative) happy ending.

Like a long Monty Python sketch.

An early-1980s South African novel about a female slave living in a tree receives American publication three decades after it was written.

Written in Afrikaans by a prolific playwright and poet (The Wisdom of Water, 2007, etc.), this belated appearance will likely attract most attention due to its translator, the Nobel Prize– winning novelist Coetzee (who translated the work in 1983). It’s a densely detailed novella, without chapters or named characters, narrated by a female slave who has passed through various owners and who plays chronological hopscotch while blurring the lines among reality, dreams and imagination. “My dreams fill me and help me eat time,” she says. “It no longer matters to me that I cannot neatly dispose of time and store it away and preferably forget it; for now I perceive that dreaming and waking do not damn each other, but are extensions of each other and flow into each other.” Thus, there’s a hallucinatory quality to the narrative, addressed to an unknown reader by a writer that reader only knows through what she reveals, some of which she dreams. “Only when I am asleep do I fully know who I am,” she says, “for I reign over my dreamtime and occupy my dreams contentedly. At such times I am necessary to myself.” As she moves from the tree in which she has come to live through her memories of the past, she tells of how she was sold into slavery, how her sexual attractiveness gave her some power, negated by her ultimate powerlessness, how babies she birthed were taken away from her, and how she ultimately ended up on an expedition that led to a slaughter that led to her home in a tree. The result is a meditation on humanity, mortality and time.

A challenging, compelling work for readers who are willing to give it the concentration it demands.

THE VACATIONERS

Straub, Emma Riverhead (304 pp.) $26.95 | May 29, 2014 978-1-59463-157-3

Straub refreshes a conventional plot through droll humor and depth of character.

By now, the premise is so familiar it seems like such a novel could write itself, but it wouldn’t write itself nearly as engagingly as Straub has (Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, 2012, etc.). Starting with the somewhat generic title, she has all the predictable elements in place: family and close friends gathering at an exotic remove from their daily lives, reveal secrets (and articulate unacknowledged truths), learn how well they know each other and how well they don’t, |

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“Taylor does nail-biting work setting tension at a boil from the story’s opening moments.” from the stranger on the train

discover which relationships will endure—even strengthen— and which will dissolve. At the end of the idyll—in this case two weeks on the Spanish island of Mallorca—all will return transformed. The reason for this group gathering is the 35th anniversary of Jim and Franny and the high school graduation of their daughter, Sylvia. Franny is a successful journalist, specializing in travel pieces, and Jim had a career at a GQstyle magazine until he lost his job as editor for reasons that threaten their marriage. Sylvia is the novel’s most perceptive character, with a single goal for the vacation—losing her virginity. Joining them are their older son, Bobby, and his older girlfriend, whose lives in Florida are something of a mystery to the New York family, as well as Franny’s lifelong friend Charles and his husband, Lawrence. From the periphery, Lawrence observes that “[o]ther people’s families were as mysterious as an alien species, full of secret codes and shared histories.”

Yet even those who share that history remain enigmas to each other, as Franny discovers about Jim: “What did anyone know about anyone else, including the person they were married to?” Ultimately, the reader will savor the novel’s illumination of these characters, who are neither good nor evil but all too human. Will Jim and Franny stay together? Will Sylvia achieve her goal?

A novel that is both a lot of fun to read and has plenty of insight into the marital bond and the human condition.

THE STRANGER ON THE TRAIN

Taylor, Abbie Atria (352 pp.) $15.00 paper | May 27, 2014 978-1-4767-5497-0

Taylor debuts with a wired-tight psychological thriller dissecting a kidnapping.

Single mother Emma Turner is returning home from a London outing when her toddler son, Ritchie, becomes stranded alone in a subway carriage. Emma panics, but Antonia, a beautiful, stylish, 40-ish blonde already seated in the locked car, takes charge. She tells Emma through the closed door to meet her and Ritchie at the next station. Taylor does nail-biting work setting tension at a boil from the story’s opening moments, with young toughs loitering on the subway stairs and the ominous noise of the train approaching. Antonia meets Emma to return Ritchie, but Emma is confused by her controlling attitude. Then, while Emma makes a quick trip to the bathroom, Antonia and Ritchie disappear. Characterization is deft: Emma, a mid-20s underemployed university grad who seduced herself into pregnancy; police officers Hill and Lindsay, one a hulking inspector with cold blue eyes who immediately suspects Emma of harming Ritchie, the other a victim-liaison officer who vacillates between suspicion and empathy; and witness Rafe, a young man who resigned from the police force after his probationary year and now decides to help Emma find her son.

Telling the story chronologically with flashbacks to Emma’s 30

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troubled childhood and her ill-starred romance with Ritchie’s biological father, Taylor adeptly paints London, contrasting its immensity with its insular pubs and parks. Emma strays toward becoming a one-note character, “defensive...hostile and prickly and angry,” but Taylor gradually reveals back story explaining why she’s in a “rut of self-pity.” Antonia’s motive and actions are perfect—and logical in their own mad way—as are the police, trapped by bureaucracy and rigid preconceptions, but Rafe seems a bland hero without flaw.

An Alfred Hitchcock–like psychodrama drawn from a mother’s nightmare.

THE FORGOTTEN SEAMSTRESS

Trenow, Liz Sourcebooks Landmark (320 pp.) $14.99 paper | May 6, 2014 978-1-4022-8248-5

British author Trenow (The Last Telegram, 2013) methodically intertwines the lives of two women who live a century apart in a complex and poignant novel.

With understated eloquence and compassion, the author breathes life into the story of Maria Romano, a naïve young seamstress who’s spirited away from her job at Buckingham Palace to spend years of her life confined to a mental hospital. An orphan with exceptional needlework skills, Maria is pressed into royal service in 1911, when she’s barely a teenager, and falls in love with Prince Edward, the eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary.

Maria can’t believe her good fortune when he singles her out for attention—but then she gets pregnant. The young girl is scared but relieved when the housekeeper tells her she’ll be taken care of, and she’s instructed to gather her bag and get into a carriage.

Maria packs up all her worldly possessions, including the beginnings of a patchwork quilt she’s pieced together from scraps of fabric she lifted from a palace cupboard, and assumes she’s being taken somewhere safe to await the birth of her infant.

Rather than a regular hospital, however, she’s confined to a mental institution where she hazily recalls giving birth but is told her child died. As the reality of her situation sinks in, Maria attempts to run away, fails and retreats into her own soundless world until a volunteer’s encouragement rekindles her interest in stitchery. After 50 years of institutionalization, Maria’s childhood friend finds her and arranges for Maria to live in her home—and in 1970, Maria’s story is preserved by a student interviewing ex-patients of the mental facility for a research project. Years later, Caroline Meadows struggles with a recent breakup, termination from her banking job and her mother’s descent into dementia as she cleans out the family home. Inside a suitcase, she finds a beautiful patchwork quilt once promised to her by her grandmother, and she’s compelled to explore the quilt’s origins. As Caroline uncovers its secrets, she discovers the threads that bind her to Maria, begins to understand the meaning of home and summons the courage to consider new directions in her life.

LOVE AND TREASURE

Weaving together Caroline’s and Maria’s journeys, Trenow meticulously stitches each piece of this engrossing story into a unified—and heartwarming—whole. (Agent: Caroline Hardman)

AUTHORITY

VanderMeer, Jeff Farrar, Straus and Giroux (240 pp.) $15.00 paper | May 6, 2014 978-0-374-10410-8 Series: Southern Reach Trilogy, 2 After the chills and thrills of Annihilation, published in February 2014, this second volume in VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy—a science fiction/horror hybrid—is an altogether quieter affair.

It had to be once VanderMeer decided to change the venue from Area X to the Southern Reach HQ. Area X is a spooky no man’s land controlled by an unknown entity (aliens?); 1,500 people have died there since its emergence 30 years ago. The Southern Reach is the secret government agency monitoring it, so we get office politics. Its last director, leader of the expedition described in Annihilation, is missing, presumed dead. This volume is narrated by the newly installed acting director, John Rodriguez, who wants to be called Control. That’s ironic, for unlike le Carré’s same-named pooh-bah, this Control’s authority is tenuous. He owes the job to his mother, a powerful figure at Central, and the assistant director, Grace, is determined to undermine him. Moreover, after three decades of failing to solve the riddle of Area X, Southern Reach is a backwater and morale is low; Control’s mission is to shake things up. First he must get a handle on Area X. He interviews the biologist, a survivor of the last expedition and protagonist of Annihilation, but draws a blank. She is stubbornly tight-lipped. He visits the border, bathed in a strange light, and watches video from the doomed first expedition. He reports to the Voice, a person in Central whose gender is disguised by technology. There are some minor frissons, as when Control discovers an unhinged scientist creating a nightmarish mural, but these are slim pickings compared to the horrors of Annihilation (an essential introduction). Nor does he measure up to the biologist in complexity.

His background (Honduran sculptor father, multiple postings, multiple girlfriends) seems cobbled together, and the espionage elements, lackluster. Toward the end, there will be a spectacular development, a late reward after all the shadowboxing.

Will VanderMeer rally for a grand slam finale? Stay tuned: The last volume is scheduled for September. (Agent: Sally Harding)

Waldman, Ayelet Knopf (368 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-385-53354-6

A necklace with a peacock pendant raises provocative questions about loss, guilt and recovery in Waldman’s intriguing new novel (Red Hook Road, 2010, etc.).

The necklace is one of thousands of items confiscated from Hungary’s Jews and found on a train seized in Austria by the U.S. Army in 1945. Assigned to guard the train, Lt. Jack Wiseman falls in love with Ilona, a Holocaust survivor. When she leaves him for a new life in Palestine, the devastated Jack takes the necklace as a memento. In 2013, dying of pancreatic cancer, he asks his granddaughter Natalie to return it. But to whom? She learns in Budapest that the necklace was depicted in Portrait of Frau E, a lost painting by a Hungarian Jewish artist who died during World War II. Amitai, an Israeli-born specialist in the recovery of art stolen during the Holocaust, persuades Natalie to join his search for Portrait of Frau E in hopes of identifying the necklace’s rightful owner. Painting and necklace both wind up in unexpected hands, and the narrative rolls back to trace the history of “Frau E.” Her maiden name is Nina Schillinger, and in 1913 she is a 19-year-old feminist whose desire to study medicine has prompted her appalled parents to send her to a psychoanalyst. (His account of their sessions provides a wickedly funny satire of sexist, sex-obsessed Freudian analysis.) Waldman paints morally complex portraits in her three linked stories. Jack’s superiors blithely furnish their quarters with tableware and crystal from the Hungarian train; the appealing Amitai retrieves looted art for profit; Budapest’s prewar Jewish bourgeoisie places crippling constraints on its daughters. Yet all three stories also show love prompting people to transcend their limitations and behave with new compassion, though Waldman is too honest not to acknowledge that it’s not always easy to do the right thing—or even to know what that is.

No big points made here, just strong storytelling combined with thoughtful exploration of difficult issues.

PSYCHOS A White Girl Problems Book

Walker, Babe Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $16.00 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-1-4767-3415-6

Fictional author Walker is back for more privileged and outlandish adventures in this follow-up to White Girl Problems (2012), the faux memoir based on her Twitter feed.

25-year-old Babe is fresh out of rehab. Having theoretically recovered from a shopping addiction (her flippant tone suggests otherwise), she returns to LA to take up residence in the luxe |

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guesthouse on her father’s property. But Babe’s plans of being Zen, wearing only vintage and drinking only juice are interrupted immediately. Her closest friends throw her a raucous, unwanted welcome party (and have the audacity to have gotten on with their lives in her absence), a creepy, violent message shows up in black lipstick on her bathroom mirror (so not chic), and she reconnects with the recent love-of-her-life, Robert, who previously took out a restraining order on her. That’s because Babe’s love for Robert brings out her alter ego, Babette, a tacky, needy, marriage-obsessed binge eater, who promptly makes herself known again. Babe runs away to Paris to reclaim her true self, the unrestrained consumer of designer clothes and rosé wine. When the lipstick stalker strikes rather obviously again, Babe keeps running across Europe, having outsized, near-slapstick episodes along the way, all of which involve some combination of booze, drugs, shopping and graphic sex. The clueless rich girl is always a tricky heroine to root for, and Babe is no exception. She’s both refreshingly egotistical and childishly shallow. She sometimes seems genuinely psychologically delicate, but Babette is grotesque and hard to credit. Considering Babe’s start as a Twitter feed, it’s unsurprising that the book amplifies humorous antics and intense snobbery, but it comes at the expense of the sympathetic or the real. Without much resembling a conscience, Babe is a long way from her predecessors: Austen’s Emma or her more modern equivalent, Cher Horowitz.

Pithy, entertaining, inconsequential.

WHAT HAS BECOME OF YOU

Watson, Jan Elizabeth Dutton (352 pp.) $26.95 | May 1, 2014 978-0-525-95437-8

Vera Lundy’s had a little trouble letting go of her high school demons, so teaching 10th-grade English might not have been the wisest career choice.

When she was a student, Vera kept a notebook detailing all her unsavory thoughts about her classmates, particularly one: “If I could find a way to get rid of Heidi Duplessis, I would. I think first I’d duct-tape her to her car, and then I’d shave off her hair with a pair of clippers. If I could kill her and get away with it, I don’t think I’d hesitate.’’ Then Heidi was murdered. After one of the other girls stole Vera’s notebook, Vera started getting menacing phone calls and was even roughed up, causing her to retreat into herself. Years later, Vera is working on a book about the mystery surrounding Heidi’s death; unfortunately for her, the confessed killer, Ivan Schlosser, died in prison before he could be brought to trial. Now another girl has turned up strangled. She was a student at the posh, independent all-girls school that has hired Vera as a long-term substitute. Vera finds herself drawn to Jensen Willard, her smartest student, a talented if morbid writer who thrives on Vera’s assignment to keep a journal. Intended to help the students draw personal connections to Catcher in the Rye, in Jensen’s hands the journal becomes a window into 32

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dark thoughts, indeed. One night, while walking home through the dark park, Vera stumbles upon the body of yet another student—one with whom she had recently argued. As the police investigation proceeds, Vera tries to connect the dots but only succeeds in making herself look more suspicious. And then Jensen disappears, launching Vera on a quest riddled with allusions to Holden Caulfield’s lost days in New York City.

With a keen ear for the machinations of a teacher’s mind, Watson (Asta in the Wings, 2009) deftly ratchets up the tension in this riveting game of cat and mouse.

SOLSBURY HILL

Wyler, Susan M. Riverhead (304 pp.) $16.00 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-59463-236-5 “ ’Tis wutherin’ weather,” comments the implausible manservant in Wyler’s debut, giving the reader fair warning of this wispy, occasionally farcical reinterpretation of the Brontë family legend and classic.

With its cover announcing “a novel of Wuthering Heights,” this offbeat, sometimes-surreal romance makes no secret of its intentions, especially when introducing its hero, Meadowscarp Macleod. “You know a meadow is a heath and a scarp is a cliff.

Do you see?” asks Aunt Alice. But American clothes designer Eleanor Abbott doesn’t immediately see, being preoccupied with ghosts; the heartbreaking unfaithfulness of her too-goodto-be-true boyfriend-since-schooldays, Miles; and the imminent death of Alice, whose passing means Trent Hall in Yorkshire will be Eleanor’s. Her female ancestors are reputed to have a history/ curse of making the wrong choice when deciding between two competing lovers. Could Eleanor herself be about to make a mistake, opting between leather-and-heather scented Meadowscarp and smooth Miles? Wyler’s Yorkshire is a peculiarly unreal place, heavily detailed with furnishing fabrics—velvet and cashmere in particular—and where the locals speak a bizarre dialect. There is much striding on the moors. Not only does the ghost of Emily Brontë direct Eleanor to a cache of hidden letters contradicting literary scholarship by proving that the Victorian author knew all about passion, but Wyler goes a step further, granting her heroine a permanent place in the Brontë lineage, as well as enough selfknowledge to make the right choice.

A preposterous but at moments oddly beguiling love story blessed with very good shabby-chic taste.

m ys t e r y

once saved your life, and Leah Hendricks, an outdoor gear designer, as well as their respective daughters, so Heath can test the latest equipment Leah’s designed for other-abled campers. And if you’re Anna, things quickly turn violent. A gun-toting heavy dubbed “the Dude” confronts the party with three equally well-armed minions and announces his plan to kidnap Leah and Katie Hendricks and kill Heath and her adopted daughter, Elizabeth. Luckily for the women, Anna happens to have stepped out for a few minutes to spend some quality time alone with nature, and although the Dude has been informed that there’s a fifth woman, he’s easily persuaded that she canceled out at the last minute. So begins a prolonged game of cat and mouse in which Anna, unarmed and accompanied only by Heath’s elderly dog, Wily, stalks the oblivious predators and their victims, watching for her chance to disarm or kill the small-time thugs—leering Sean Ferris, witless Jimmy Spinks and gangbanger Reg Waters—or grab the brass ring by neutralizing the Dude. The formula guarantees nonstop suspense (though not so much if you’re convinced that Anna and her friends will survive), but Barr (The Rope, 2012, etc.), writing as usual with welcome delicacy and feeling, works a surprising number of variations on her theme, right up to the predictable but satisfying final twist.

A tour de force that’s both the most one-dimensional and the most satisfying of Anna’s recent adventures.

ANTIQUES CON

Allan, Barbara Kensington (240 pp.) $24.00 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-7582-6364-3 A fashion-obsessed team of sleuthing antiques dealers takes on the Big Apple.

Vivian Borne is a bipolar 70-ish drama queen; her daughter, Brandy Borne, is the divorced, Prozac-popping owner of a blind Shih Tzu named Sushi. All three are in New York City for a comic-book convention at the Hotel Pennsylvania, where they hope to sell a Superman drawing for big bucks. Their trip has been comped by convention organizer Tommy Bufford; after a little confusion over rooms, they end up in what was supposed to be Tommy’s suite, where they scare off an intruder the first night of their stay. Things go from bad to worse when they find Tommy with an award pen sticking out of his chest. The investigating officer is the brother of Brandy’s lover, Tony Cassato, who was chief of the Serenity, Iowa, police department until entering the witness protection program when the New Jersey mob put out a hit on him. Detective Cassato, who’s heard all about the duo from his brother, gives them a stern warning not to interfere in the investigation, but that’s a forlorn hope. Telling Brandy she’s going shopping, Vivian promptly sneaks off to New Jersey with Italian food, determined to get into the Badda-Boom Club, that well-known mob hangout. Her chutzpah pays off when she manages to meet the mob boss, who’s currently ensconced in a fancy assisted living residence. In the meantime, Brandy spends time at the comics convention learning all about Tommy’s enemies and putting herself in danger when she goes after the murderer, who’s just raised the stakes by killing Tommy’s assistant.

The exploits of the ditzy heroines (Antiques Disposal, 2012, etc.) remain endlessly amusing despite the rickety mysteries they often wade through. (Agent: Dominick Abel)

THE GORDIAN KNOT UNDONE

Benzley, Valerie Five Star (238 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 19, 2014 978-1-4328-2806-6

A sociopath finds her style cramped when her equally sociopathic mother is released from prison.

Jess Stranahan knows what it’s like to be raised by the mother from hell. She remembers all the alcohol-fueled fights between her parents. The promises of treats that never materialized. The meals she cooked herself because her mother was too busy chasing her next meal ticket. The shoplifting trips to the local department store. Too bad Jess doesn’t understand that her mother isn’t the only terrible parent in the family. Instead of thanking her lucky stars that she has a kind, if slightly boring, husband in Dan the dentist, as well as three charming young daughters, she brutalizes Amelia, her oldest, using an M.O. surprisingly like her mother’s: placing impossible demands on the child while belittling her for always falling short. Push comes to shove when her mother, who’s been serving time for killing Jess’ infant brother, gets out of jail. Unwilling to tell her family the truth, Jess introduces her mom as a down-on-her-luck aunt who needs a temporary place to stay. When “Aunt Mae” charms her way into the hearts of Jess’ daughters, Jess goes ballistic, plotting to give the old bag what she deserves while showing Amelia the price of disloyalty. An attachment between “Aunt Mae” and an ex–FBI agent named Teddy looks as if it might provide Jess with a way out. But when the affair blows up, Jess decides that she has to take matters in her own hands.

DESTROYER ANGEL

Barr, Nevada Minotaur (368 pp.) $26.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-312-61458-4 978-1-4668-4168-0 e-book Park ranger Anna Pigeon faces down— or, more accurately, hides from and bedevils—an unusually dangerous criminal in upstate Minnesota’s Iron Range.

When you work in the national parks, what do you do with your time off? If you’re Anna, you take a camping trip with your friends Heath Jarrod, a paraplegic who |

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Benzley’s repellent debut makes you want to call Child Protective Services at Chapter 2 and skip chapters 3 through 51.

MURDER IN PIGALLE

Black, Cara Soho Crime (320 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-61695-284-6

Even an unplanned pregnancy can’t slow down Paris detective Aimée Leduc (Murder Below Montparnasse, 2013, etc.).

Pigalle in the 1990s is still very much a mixed quartier. Sex shops and seedy bars jostle family-owned stores and bistros whose owners live in small apartments above. 13-year old Zazie Duclos lives in one such apartment, perched atop her parents’ cafe. But Zazie wants to become a detective, not a shopkeeper.

She haunts Aimée’s office on rue de Louvre, hoping to learn the secret of Leduc’s detective success. Then, suddenly, Zazie has a case of her own. A rapist has his sights set on the young lycée students in her neighborhood. Zazie borrows a high-resolution camera from a friend and takes pictures of a mec she’s been shadowing.

Armed with a FotoFit of the suspect, she asks Aimée to help her investigate. Then she disappears. The attacks continue. Sylvaine Olivet dies after being assaulted. But neighborhood parents close ranks against Aimée: Mélanie Vasseur’s parents spirit her away to a clinic in Switzerland, the Olivets threaten to press charges against her, even Papa Duclos begs her to stop investigating. She doesn’t, much to the distress of her business partner, René Friant, who’s frantically ordering port-a-cribs for the office while Mélac, her baby’s dad, sits at the bedside of his critically injured daughter in Brittany. Although Madame Pelletier of the Brigade des Minuers insists that Zazie’s probably off chasing some boy, Aimée knows that somewhere in the stewpot of Pigalle, Zazie is waiting for her, the only person who can come to her rescue.

Black’s 15th shows Aimée just as determined as ever to live life on her own terms and stand up for those who can’t.

MUZZLED

Brady, Eileen Poisoned Pen (230 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paper | $6.99 e-book $22.95 Lg. Prt. | May 6, 2014 978-1-4642-0184-4 978-1-4642-0186-8 paper 978-1-61595-479-7 e-book 978-1-4642-0185-1 Lg. Prt. A veterinarian moves to a small town whose residents have plenty to hide.

Kate Turner abandoned Long Island and a romance gone bad for the lovely Hudson River town of Oak Falls; she’s subbing for Doc Anderson, who’s on a trip around the world. Her 34

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new routine is soon spectacularly disrupted when she makes a house call and discovers two dead bodies—Vivian and Thomas Langthorne, whose lives revolved around their kennel of topnotch Cavalier King Charles spaniels. They would never have left their 27 valuable dogs running around the house, which is how Kate finds them. Unable to accept the police theory of murder-suicide, Kate begins to snoop for clues. She’s deeply upset when the Langthornes’ adopted daughter, Pippi, quickly sells all her parents’ beloved dogs. Their premier spaniel, Charles Too, fetches $1 million dollars from a Japanese breeder—a high price indeed for a fake, although Kate is unable to prove her suspicion. Soon, one of the rival breeders who bought some of the Langthorne dogs is shot (though not killed) at a dog show.

Kate’s questions reveal that an awful lot of people had motives for murdering the dislikable Langthornes. As Kate goes about her daily routine, caring for grumpy dogs, cats, hamsters and parrots is the least of her problems. If she gets too close to solving the case, a determined killer may mark her for murder.

Kate’s debut has plenty to offer pet lovers and mystery mavens alike.

CHIP OFF THE ICE BLOCK MURDER

Chandler, Jessie Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (312 pp.) $14.99 paper | May 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3939-7 A daughter tries to clear her father’s name when he’s implicated in a murder she can’t believe he committed.

Shay O’Hanlon’s bags are packed for a quick New Year’s Eve getaway with her girlfriend, JT Bordeaux, one of Minnesota’s finest cops. Their relationship has been going strong, and they’re looking forward to stoking the fire with a few quiet days in Duluth. But then Shay gets a call saying her father hasn’t shown up for work at the bar he owns, the Leprechaun, on one of the busiest nights of the year. An on-again, off-again drunk, Peter O’Hanlon isn’t particularly reliable, and Shay heads over to take his place behind the bar even though slinging beers is the last thing on her mind; she needs to make sure the Lep makes it through the night in the black. Luckily, a stranger named Lisa Vecoli wanders in looking for Pete and ends up giving Shay a hand, along with Nick “Coop” Cooper, Shay’s dearest friend. In fact, it’s a good thing Pete is MIA, since before the night is out, a police detective comes looking for him: One of Pete’s guns has been found frozen solid in a block of ice along with a body. Shay and JT cancel their trip so they can find Pete and clear his name. Their only clue is that he appears to have been ready to sell the Lep to a mysterious group called Subsidy Renovations Inc. With a cast of characters too numerous and flatly quirky to track, Chandler’s latest (Pickle in the Middle Murder, 2013, etc.) is her most confusing yet. Developing the minor figures more fully would lead to a bigger payoff when the final twist comes.

“DeSilva pours on the ethical complications with such unrelenting suspense that you’ll be glad you don’t live in Rhode Island.” from providence rag

THE SEEKER

from the detective whose help he begs. And there’s more. When Kat goes to visit Monte Leburne, the dying contract killer who was convicted years ago of shooting her father, another NYPD detective, and the prison nurse puts Leburne into twilight sedation, he denies killing Henry Donovan. No matter where she turns, Kat can’t figure out what’s going on or whom she can trust.

Jeff, who’s vanished once more? The unreliable Brandon Phelps?

Her partner, Charles “Chaz” Faircloth, who’s convinced he’s God’s gift to Kat? Her father’s ex-partner, Capt. Thomas Stagger, who’s clearly not telling everything he knows about Donovan’s death? Her judo instructor, Aqua, a schizophrenic, homeless sometime transvestite? Her defensive mother, Hazel, who seems determined to protect Donovan’s reputation? Her own cherished memories of her father?

The setup is irresistible, the twists generously piled on and the climax suitably pulse-pounding, even though bestselling Coben (Six Years, 2013, etc.) is hard-pressed to tie all those complications together or produce a payoff that rises to their deliciously suspenseful levels.

Chesterton, R.B. Pegasus Crime (352 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 15, 2014 978-1-60598-500-8 A doctoral student tries to confirm that Henry David Thoreau wasn’t alone on Walden Pond while laboring under a family curse and hints of the supernatural.

To research her dissertation on Thoreau, Aine Cahill moves temporarily to a small cottage near Walden Pond. Aine has been researching Thoreau from a very personal angle. A diary kept by her aunt Bonnie reports that Bonnie loved and lived with Thoreau during his supposedly solitary time at Walden. If Aine can find proof of what her aunt’s diary says, she’ll not only be lauded as a scholar, but she’ll also be the most successful member of her family. Historically, the Cahills have been haunted by a curse put on Aine’s ancestors, and she appears to be the only person who’s escaped thus far. As Aine gets involved in her research at Walden, she becomes convinced that there’s much more to the original story than anyone ever conceived. She even suspects there could be a supernatural presence that has insights into Thoreau’s life as well as her own. With the support of local ranger Joe Sinclair, Aine plunges deeper into Thoreau’s world, tying it to tragedies past and present, though the outcome is murkier than she expects.

Chesterton—a pen name of the well-known Carolyn Haines—deftly blends the supernatural and the historical, but she offers little resolution to an intriguing conceit.

PROVIDENCE RAG

DeSilva, Bruce Forge (352 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-7653-7429-5 978-1-4668-4142-0 e-book DeSilva’s third visit to Rhode Island tracks the potentially dire consequences of trying a 15-year-old killer as a juvenile instead of locking him up and throwing away the key.

The first time Liam Mulligan (Cliff Walk, 2012, etc.) gets pulled off the sports desk at the Providence Dispatch, he’s sent out to cover the brutal murder of Becky Medeiros and her daughter Jessica, 4, in suburban Warwick. Their killer, not exactly a criminal mastermind, left so much trace evidence at the scene that it’s a simple matter to confirm that he’s the perp when Connie Stuart and her two daughters are slaughtered two years later.

Mulligan, who’s made a friend and confidant of Andy Jennings, the cop in charge of the case, provides some sharp observations and asks a few good questions of his own. The result is the arrest and conviction of neighborhood teen Kwame Diggs. Tried as a juvenile, Diggs is supposed to be released when he’s 21. But he’s still in a maximum security cell 18 years later because the prison authorities have found one infraction after another to charge him with. When Edward Anthony Mason III, son of the Dispatch’s publisher, gets it into his crusading head to investigate whether the charges that have extended Diggs’ prison term are on the level, he unleashes a firestorm of protest from rightwing radio firebrand Iggy Rock, thousands of subscribers the struggling Dispatch can ill afford to lose, and of course Mulligan himself, who sees no reason that a sociopath like Diggs should ever be freed, especially now that he’s had nearly two decades to choose his next targets and reflect on the mistakes that got him caught.

MISSING YOU

Coben, Harlan Dutton (400 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-525-953-49-4 Eighteen years after her fiance dumped her, a New York City police detective runs into him again online, with results that make her head spin and leave several people dead.

Given a one-year subscription to YouAreJustMyType.com, Kat Donovan browses languidly through the photos of eligible men looking for love until she sees the face of Jeff Raynes. Although she’s not exactly carrying a torch for her ex, she can’t resist dropping him a line. His reactions are puzzling. First he doesn’t seem to remember her, then he greets her with warm affection, then he says they’d better not continue to be in touch. Jeff ’s not the only one acting oddly. Brandon Phelps, a college student from Connecticut, comes all the way to New York to ask for Kat’s help in finding his missing mother, Dana. Even though he’s asked for Kat by name—how does he even know her name?—it’s obvious that he’s hiding something |

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DeSilva, drawing on a real-life case, pours on the ethical complications with such unrelenting suspense that you’ll be glad you don’t live in Rhode Island. Only the last few chapters are a letdown from the general excellence.

(Agent: Susanna Einstein)

THE DETECTIVE

Hunt, James Patrick Five Star (300 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 19, 2014 978-1-4328-2808-0 Hunt, whose avenging heroes are usually drawn from the criminal classes (Police and Thieves, 2011, etc.), branches out to explore a formula that would be routine for anyone but him: the big-city police procedural.

Chicago, 1979. As the testosterone-soaked Homicide division waits breathlessly to see whether the mismanagement of a big snowstorm could give Richard Daley’s hometown its first female mayor in Jane Byrne, someone guns down five victims at a train stop. Four of them are nobodies, but the fifth gets everybody’s attention. Rabbi Nathan Wald was the leader of the Jewish Defense Alliance, a highly visible victim with lots of enemies who’s bound to attract media attention even if he wasn’t the primary target everyone assumes he was. Under pressure to show Chicago-style sensitivity to the case, Chief of Detectives Jim Stumbaugh and Lt. Hollis Gregory assign Detective David Beckman, a newcomer to Homicide from Vice, to assist veteran Detective Sgt. Tom Regan. Regan knows he’s been saddled with this rookie only because Beckman’s Jewish, and soon enough, Beckman knows it too. Now Beckman, already suffering the contempt of his estranged wife and his mother for going into police work instead of becoming a lawyer, has to help Regan figure out not only which of Wald’s many enemies pulled the trigger, but how to keep Gregory from shutting down the case once the leading suspect is conveniently killed shortly after his arrest.

Distinctly less original and exciting than the best of Hunt’s actioners. But fans intrigued to see him bring his gruff, clipped style to bear on a hero who’s actually got an interior life worth exploring will root for Beckman’s return.

FLEUR DE LIES

Hunter, Maddy Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (312 pp.) $14.99 paper | May 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3798-0 The death of a cosmetics sales rep upsets the latest adventure of a tour guide and her Golden Agers abroad.

Emily Andrew Miceli, co-owner of Destinations Travel Company, finds her deep reserves of patience tested as she herds a group of Midwestern seniors on a river cruise in France.

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At the D-Day tourist site on Normandy Beach, she encounters Jackie Thum, a beauty consultant who used to be Jack Potter, a man, and Emily’s first husband. Jackie and three fellow shills for a cosmetics company are on the cruise too, along with their employers, and they all seem as indifferent to the beauties of the country they’re exploring as Emily’s remarkably technosavvy charges, who can barely look up from their electronic toys.

While Emily’s trying to organize her tourists and distract them from their texting, she must also calm Jackie, who’s incensed that her colleagues are about to skunk her out of a cash prize.

When a Texas beauty falls from one of the picturesque cliffs in Etretat, it looks like an accident, until a post-mortem reveals she was poisoned before she fell. A second poisoning, the discovery of an ex–Nazi collaborator, the secret of a fleur-de-lis ring and the possible resumption of an interrupted romance shake up Emily’s cruise but also offer some blessed relief from the tiresome bickering of the cartoonish biddies and geezers.

Although Hunter (Bonnie of Evidence, 2013, etc.) tries to balance whimsy and tragedy, the numerous red herrings and lame jokes will tax readers’ own reserves of patience with this travel cozy.

DEAD PEOPLE

Hutton, Ewart Minotaur (368 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-250-01963-9 978-1-250-01964-6 e-book A surfeit of skeletons versus a cop with a mind of his own.

DS Glyn Capaldi has been ejected from the force in Cardiff and exiled to a rural beat in Mid Wales; his current caseload includes finding the miscreant who’s been neutering other people’s sheep. When an excavation crew on the site of a wind farm unearths a skeleton—minus hands and feet—he’s back to more familiar professional territory. He starts by interviewing the parents of Evie Salmon, a young woman who’s been missing for two years; certain the bones are older than that, he reassures the grieving couple that the remains are not their daughter’s.

But a hunch takes him back to the hillside, where he discovers another limbless body; when he finds the legs nearby, they’re wearing a distinctive pair of red shoes that belonged to Evie.

This second skeleton brings in the big boys, including Capaldi’s former protégé, DCI Kevin Fletcher, who’s been promoted over Capaldi and won’t let him forget it. Two more skeletons turn up, and Capaldi is assigned to interview the “incomers”—the nonlocals—including a hermit in search of gold, the managers of a rehab center for troubled boys and the owners of an art gallery that appears to have no customers. When one of the suspects apparently kills himself, Capaldi doggedly pursues his theory (unpopular with both the local cops and the Cardiff contingent) that the suicide wasn’t a suicide, Evie was murdered to distract the police from the three other skeletons—and the killer or killers are still at large.

This second outing for Hutton’s half-Welsh, half-Italian detective (Good People, 2013) is a disgraced-cop procedural that provides plenty of local color and plot twists.

Right on cue, Maddy gets a threatening call on her cellphone and instructions to put her gun on the desk and lock herself in the ladies’ room, or her mother and daughter will die. While she’s obediently hiding, Bernardi is shot dead, and Foxworthy is wounded with her abandoned Glock. Colton Winslow, sheriff of Vineyard County, doesn’t want to hold Maddy for murder; he was once Tessa’s husband and is now married to one of Maddy’s three surviving sisters. But when Foxworthy IDs Maddy as the perp and a video shows a woman who looks like her shooting both Foxworthy and Bernardi, Colt has to arrest Maddy and tell her sisters to stay off the case—which, of course, they don’t.

Maddy’s fortunes go downhill from there. Foxworthy is murdered before Tony Pirelli, the high-rolling Dallas lawyer who’s taken Maddy’s case, can question him. At least Maddy gets occasional pointers from Tessa and protection from a handsome insurance investigator searching for a missing necklace.

But even with a ghostly adviser and the help of her other sisters, Tessa is unprepared—perhaps more than the reader—to find out that the mystery is not confined to Vineyard County and that not all the newcomers in her life are what they seem.

Readers who can accept Tessa’s ghost will appreciate the novel dimension her insights and cheeky commentary add to Lipperman’s second Dead Sister Talking mystery (Heard It Through the Grapevine, 2013).

Even those who find Tessa an annoying gimmick can still enjoy the closeness of the sisters and the suspense of the case.

IN SEARCH OF MURDER

Jeffries, Roderic Severn House (192 pp.) $28.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8353-7

An expat playboy’s death by drowning in Majorca would be more convincing if the pool were deeper.

Neil Picare, who made a fortune selling his farm to eager developers, is enjoying the good life on his estate in Puerto Llueso, Majorca, until he dies in his custom swimming pool.

Detective Enrique Alvarez interviews Rosalía Mulet, Picare’s cook, who found the body; she says that because Picare couldn’t swim, the pool was designed so he’d never be out of his depth.

The post-mortem, too, shows no sign of drowning but instead indicates a quick maneuver that someone else could have made to kill Picare instantly. Superior Chief Salas tiresomely keeps Alvarez making the circuit from one likely suspect to another: the naïve young housemaid who hoped she’d displace the current Señora Picare; a friend who was overheard arguing with the victim at poolside; an impressive number of Picare’s female conquests and their jealous husbands or partners. Alvarez’s progress is characteristically leisurely. He spends more time trying to sample Rosalía’s tempting Majorcan recipes, and Rosalía herself—that is, when he’s not fencing with his exasperated boss, who wants the inspector to look for evidence when Alvarez would much rather be drinking his cousin’s husband’s brandy. In his own sweet time, Alvarez solves the murder in spite of himself, with a suspect who might not be a surprise but a motive that is.

Although newcomers to the long-running Alvarez series (Murdered by Nature, 2012, etc.) may find it hard to get involved in a mystery the hero has so little interest in pursuing, fans will enjoy the latest adventure of this amiably lazy detective.

’TIL DIRT DO US PART Maxwell, Edith Kensington (304 pp.) $24.00 | May 27, 2014 978-0-7582-8464-8

A death after a dinner party presents a new case for reluctant sleuth Cameron Flaherty.

Cam is a code writer who’s reinvented herself as an organic farmer. Her plan to host a late-fall dinner for the friends, shareholders and locavores who’ve helped make her endeavor a success goes swimmingly until one of the guests is found dead in her neighbor Howard Fisher’s pigsty. Irene Burr, well-heeled and argumentative, had had words with several other party guests, including her stepson, Bobby, who repaired Cam’s barn after the fire that almost killed her (A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die, 2013). Irene also argued with Howard; her Jaguar mechanic, Simone Koyama; and Wes Ames, who objected to her plan to turn the town hall into a textile museum. The detective assigned to the case is Pete Pappas, who was not happy when Cam got involved in his last case but who seems somehow different this time. Cam is also having problems with her boyfriend, talented Swedish chef Jake Ericsson, whose jealousy over any man she talks to makes Cam uneasy. Though Cam’s still busy harvesting the last of the crops for her shareholders, she’s not too busy to take in a flock of badly neglected chickens

JAILHOUSE GLOCK

Lipperman, Lizbeth Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (288 pp.) $14.99 paper | May 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3993-9

A Texas police officer solves a crime with help from her sisters, living and departed, in this entertaining cozy.

Madelyn Castillo, a widowed single parent and rookie cop, is babysitting Gino Bernardi and Alan Foxworthy, who are in lockup after a fight over a woman in a bar. Then Maddy’s dead sister, Tessa, appears to warn her that trouble is coming. |

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“Responding to outside pressure, Banks’ boss tells him to back off the investigation, which of course a good fictional detective doesn’t do.” from children of the revolution

belonging to her nemesis, Bev Montgomery, who’s getting too old to run her farm without help. When someone almost kills Cam by cutting the brake lines on her old truck, she’s more determined than ever to find the killer.

Cam’s second is only a so-so mystery but a most enjoyable look at organic farming with some charming characters and cooking suggestions thrown in. (Agent: John Talbot)

DANTE’S POISON

Raimondo, Lynne Seventh Street/Prometheus (280 pp.) $15.95 paper | $11.99 e-book May 6, 2014 978-1-61614-879-9 978-1-61614-880-5 e-book A near-blind psychiatrist takes on challenging odds to solve a murder.

Two years after Chicago-based psychiatrist Mark Angelotti was diagnosed with a genetic defect that’s robbing him of his vision, he’s trying to adjust to his new life. Regret about his divorce, grief for the death of his older son and estrangement from his younger son leave him without much hope, except for the chance to improve his vision through a medical study he decides to participate in.

Meanwhile, his lawyer friend Hallie Sanchez asks his help in a murder case: Her former boss Jane Barrett has been charged with killing her lover, Rory Gallagher, and Hallie wants Mark as an expert witness. Gallagher, a hard-drinking, chain-smoking reporter once famous for his exposés, seems to have been a classic cardiac arrest victim until the exhumation his nephew requests shows he was poisoned with an anti-psychotic medication from the pharmaceutical company Jane represents. Mark’s testimony against some key witnesses helps set Jane free on bail. With the first stage of the murder trial behind them, Mark and Hallie search for a missing homeless man who once saved Mark’s life. A sneak attack leaves Mark mildly concussed and Hallie in a coma. While he waits anxiously for her to recover, Mark tries to find out not only who attacked them, but also what Gallagher was investigating and whether it’s tied to Jane.

A second attempted poisoning, a connection to one of Mark’s other cases and some high-tech aids for the blind work together to give Mark unexpected new hope and the reader even more reason to care about Mark’s future.

Raimondo’s (Dante’s Wood, 2013) flawed, complex and courageous protagonist refuses to give in to his disability.

In fact, his heightened intuition and awareness make him an unusual but compelling detective in this brisk, wellcrafted second adventure in the series.

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CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION

Robinson, Peter Morrow/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $25.99 | $14.99 e-book | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-06-224050-7 978-0-06-224055-2 e-book Robinson’s latest Inspector Banks novel is an English murder mystery sure to please lovers of the genre.

The body of Gavin Miller shows up on a lonely pathway beneath a railroad bridge in the Yorkshire countryside. Was it an accident? Or suicide? Or murder? The dead man has £5,000 in his pocket, so robbery seems an unlikely motive. DCI Alan Banks heads the investigation, which leads him and his team to ask unwelcome questions of some rich and powerful people. Banks digs deeply, learning about radical political pasts dating back to the 1960s and ’70s, when people read Karl Marx, talked of revolution and did plenty of dope.

Today they think that’s all in the past, and the past won’t return to haunt them. In any event, Miller had seemed like a shabby loser and a drunk—so what was he doing with all that money?

Responding to outside pressure, Banks’ boss tells him to back off the investigation, which of course a good fictional detective doesn’t do. He and fellow detectives Cabbot and Winsome are smart and determined, with just the right amount of attitude to make them likable. Readers who grew up in the age of bands like The Doors and Led Zeppelin will appreciate the frequent references to the rock music of that era. Robinson’s descriptions are rich and beautifully done, although now and then the detailed scene-setting slows the pace too much. This is a mystery that depends less on action than on DCI Banks’ thought process. It’s well-plotted and satisfying right to the end.

Robinson has won many awards for his Detective Banks novels (Watching the Dark, 2013, etc.), and with this latest, he demonstrates his mastery of the craft.

A PRIVATE VENUS

Scerbanenco, Giorgio Translated by Curtis, Howard Melville House (256 pp.) $16.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-61219-335-9 A disgraced doctor’s ticket to redemption requires him to rescue a young man even more lost than he is in this slice of noir first served in Italy in 1966 and finally translated into English.

After helping a dying patient into the great beyond, Duca Lamberti was struck off the medical register and sentenced to three years in prison. But he didn’t lose all his friends, and now one of them, Milan’s Superintendent Luigi Carrua, has set him up with a new job upon his release. The assignment seems simple: to wean celebrated engineer Pietro Auseri’s son Davide,

I REMEMBER YOU

22, from the bottle. But Duca immediately sees that normal therapies won’t keep the troubled young man sober for long, and a suicide attempt the first night Duca’s on the job tells him that Davide’s carrying a heavier burden than alcoholism. It’s not long before the boy reveals his terrible secret: He failed to prevent the death of shop assistant Alberta Radelli a year ago, after she hitched a ride with him and they impulsively drove to the countryside and made love. Although Alberta begged this intimate stranger to take her away instantly, that very day, he drove her back toward Milan instead and dropped her at the side of the road, and there she was found, her wrists slit, the following day. Luckily for Davide, Duca, reviewing the evidence surrounding the case, realizes that Alberta’s death was no suicide, and he identifies the best possible therapy for what ails Davide: solving her murder.

The first volume in Scerbanenco’s Milano Quartet is a blast from the past, a sleek, stripped-down reminder of the fast, brutal days of Continental noir. Sensitive souls will notice that the author’s attitude toward the LGBT community has dated in more glaring ways.

Sigurdardóttir, Yrsa Translated by Roughton, Philip Minotaur (352 pp.) $14.99 paper | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-250-04562-1 Sigurdardóttir’s work (The Day Is Dark, 2013, etc.) has always drawn on both kinds of mysteries—detective stories in which everything is explained rationally and supernatural thrillers in which it isn’t—but this tale of a series of disappearances grounded in long-simmering revenge mixes the two more inextricably than ever before.

Freyr, a consulting psychiatrist who’s been called to the scene of a schoolroom that’s been vandalized, finds nothing unusual about the way it’s been trashed and defaced by the word “dirty,” until he learns that the same thing happened to the same room 60 years ago. This apparent coincidence is rendered even more uncanny when Halla, a pensioner who was traumatized as a schoolchild by the earlier incident, hangs herself from a church ceiling—and when Freyr and his lover, Dagný, a police detective, learn of the high mortality rate among Halla’s classmates, none of whom died from natural causes. Meanwhile, in remote Hesteyri, an unemployed Reykjavík MBA, his schoolteacher wife and their widowed friend, who plan to rehab a disused building as a guesthouse, have a series of increasingly creepy run-ins with what seems to be a young boy’s ghost. Crosscutting between the two stories, Sigurdardóttir counterpoints the progress of the investigation into the schoolroom vandalism and its implications with the deterioration of the relations among the three rehabbers, whose encounters with the ghost become more dangerous as they learn more and more unwelcome news about each other. By the time one of them vanishes, Freyr’s realization that the vandalism case, which you’d think would be altogether safer, is linked to his own diabetic son’s more recent disappearance turns his investigation into an anguished search for the truth of his own life.

A multilayered tale that builds slowly—the use of smells is especially effective—but drives to a shattering climax that honors the traditions of both detective fiction and ghost stories.

PLASTER CITY

Shaw, Johnny Thomas & Mercer (320 pp.) $14.95 paper | $9.99 e-book May 1, 2014 978-1-4778-1758-2 978-1-4778-6758-7 e-book If you’ve left your criminal past behind for the straight life, what can you do when your desperate best friend needs help finding his missing daughter?

Rat-a-tat narrator Jimmy Veeder doesn’t drink or party like he used to. But he still gets involved in the occasional bar fight like the one his old pal Bobby Maves helps extricate him from. Bobby’s volatility is just the kind of energy Jimmy needs to steer clear of. Bobby’s attitude switches abruptly from devilmay-care to frantic when his longtime girlfriend, Becky, tells him that his teenage daughter, Julie, has gone missing. Jimmy plays uneasy wingman as Bobby tears recklessly through multiple leads. Julie’s only friend, according to Facebook, is Angel, an aspiring artist. Her sketches of him adorn her bedroom wall.

He turns out to be a gentle soul. His thug brother, Gabe, however, is quite another matter—and he’s Julie’s real friend. Jimmy tries to keep the armed Bobby in check and provides a sounding board as Bobby realizes his daughter isn’t the paragon he thought she was. A twisted trail through miscellaneous hustlers and dealers in Southern California and Northern Mexico leads them to an ominous collection of seemingly abandoned buildings, the Plaster City of the title, in the middle of the Yuha Desert, where it all comes down.

Despite some tendency to ramble, Jimmy’s second “fiasco” (Dove Season, 2011) has plenty of grit and pace.

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THE POOR BOY’S GAME

Tafoya, Dennis Minotaur (352 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-1-250-01953-0 978-1-250-01954-7 e-book A former U.S. Marshal tries to overcome a background that’s left her emotionally scarred.

Even before she quits her job as a Marshal following a routine capture that goes wrong, leaving a close friend dead, Frannie Mullen had been struggling to come to terms with her past. Her father, Patrick, is doing time for his service as a corrupt union’s brutal enforcer; her fragile sister Mae is a drug addict just out of rehab; and Frannie can’t allow herself to have feelings for Wyatt, a biker with a tough past who’s been working to change his life for the better. Her only support comes from a fellow agent known as Sleeper and a childhood girlfriend on the Philadelphia police force. When her father breaks out of prison, her ex-boss thinks Frannie was an accomplice. Union members and an Italian crime family all want Patrick dead, especially once he kills the son of a union boss. As Patrick flits like a shadow through the mean streets, Frannie and her sister become targets for a series of vicious attacks meant to lure him out in the open. The body count rises as Frannie struggles to keep herself, Mae and her father’s pregnant girlfriend alive.

But with the Marshals, the FBI and the Philadelphia police all involved, Fannie wonders whom she can trust.

Tafoya (The Wolves of Fairmont Park, 2010, etc.) continues to explore the fine line between good and evil. This brutal installment features complex characters and a truly shocking ending.

CARNAL CURIOSITY

Woods, Stuart Putnam (320 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-399-16416-3

New York lawyer Stone Barrington, who’s slept his way through 30 fleet, mindless suspensers, comes a cropper with his latest conquest.

In fact, you can’t really call insurance investigator Crane Hart a conquest, since she comes on so strong during the visit she pays Stone’s Turtle Bay home to discuss the $500,000 he lost over his most recent inamorata (Standup Guy, 2014) that they’ve retired to his boudoir before the visit is over. It’s only then that the complications begin. Crane isn’t quite divorced after all; her husband, private eye Don Dugan, gets just as fixated on Stone as his wife is, though not in the same way; and despite the best legal help Stone can provide, the estranged couple end up reuniting. Stone would be inconsolable if it weren’t for Ann Keaton, personnel director for first lady Katherine Lee’s presidential 40

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campaign, who obligingly follows the tracks in his bedroom carpet, but not before thieves interrupt a swanky party at Ann’s place and relieve most of the high-profile guests of their glitter. Could Dugan be behind the daring robbery? Could he be conspiring with his on-again spouse to worm security information out of well-placed male targets and then put it to larcenous use? Woods can’t resist interrupting this tale for brief, irrelevant glimpses into the lives of semiregulars Teddy Fay, the CIA operative who went spectacularly rogue before he got a secret presidential pardon, and Holly Barker, the CIA assistant director who orders all records of him expunged from the nation’s intelligence database, and for occasional reports on the fortunes of Katherine Lee’s campaign.

Zero mystery, zero ingenuity, very little suspense. But Woods mostly keeps his eye on the ball, which elevates this installment well above the run of his recent work.

DEATH IN SARDINIA

Vichi, Marco Translated by Sartarelli, Stephen Pegasus Crime (464 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 15, 2014 978-1-60598-501-5 Despite the title, Inspector Franco Bordelli’s third adventure to reach these shores (Death and the Olive Grove, 2013, etc.) adds a mysterious murder in Bordelli’s home base of Florence to the eponymous death.

Sgt. Oreste Baragli, who at 60-plus is barely older than Bordelli, is dying of stomach cancer and probably won’t live to see 1966. In between visits to his old friend and colleague, Bordelli must investigate the fatal stabbing of Totuccio Badalamenti, a loan shark who doubled as a blackmailer. Using the evidence he’s found in searching the dead man’s home, Bordelli makes the rounds of Badalamenti’s victims. None of them can say a good word about him, and they’re glad he’s dead, but they calmly (in the case of several younger suspects, contemptuously) deny having killed him. And since, unlike the murderer, they’re all right-handed, Bordelli faces stalemate. Meanwhile, his sidekick, Pietrino Piras, recovering off in his native Sardinia from the wounds he sustained in a shootout, encounters a case of his own: the shooting of shepherd Benigno Staffa, the cousin of a Piras family neighbor. Although Benigno seems to have shot himself, the absence of a shell from his automatic and the clouds surrounding his plan to sell a parcel of land to wealthy developer Agostino Pintus hint at murder. The solutions to both cases are pretty obvious, even to Bordelli and Piras, but they’re kept at bay for several hundred pages by card games with Baragli, preparations for Christmas and flashbacks to the characters’ memories of World War II. Though some of these latter are compelling, most readers will be sated long before the end.

Bordelli and his vast and varied criminal acquaintance remain as appealing as ever, but this world-weary elegy is one slow-moving train.

science fiction and fantasy

Mick Oberon slouches and snarls like any hard-boiled PI— but to go with the fedora and threadbare overcoat, he has pointy ears and packs a wand. As a Fae, he’s far harder to kill than any human gumshoe. With the exception of warm milk, he rejects human food and drink and rubs along accepting favors and oddments rather than money for his services. Like all Fae, he can’t abide pure iron or modern technology—cars cause him agony, and he can barely tolerate the “El.” He has the useful ability to add to his own luck and subtract it from the bad guys, thus causing his opponent to trip over his own shoelaces at the crucial instant. But now, with his landlord in trouble with the bank, he needs a serious payday. The daughter of mobster couple Fino and Bianca Ottati was snatched 16 years ago and replaced with a changeling, and Bianca wants her real daughter back. The cold trail leads inevitably to the Fae world and its ruling Seelie Court, where Mick has few friends. Complicating the picture is Bianca’s mother-in-law, Donna Orsola Maldera, an extremely powerful witch with her own secret agenda, who considers Mick to be the devil himself. To get the information he needs, Mick might have to make his own Unseelie-style deal with the devil.

Intriguing and sufficiently original as this is, the overly familiar backdrop—with its gangland cant and real-life mobster references—detracts from, rather than enhances, the proceedings.

Only when Marmell focuses on the matter at hand does the narrative really start drawing readers in.

Mick’s no Bogart, but he gets the job done.

THE REVOLUTIONS

Gilman, Felix Tor (400 pp.) $26.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7653-3717-7 978-1-4668-3136-0 e-book Magicians with murky motives clash in Gilman’s (The Rise of Ransom City, 2012, etc.) peculiar spiritualist fantasy, which incorporates a healthy dash of Edgar Rice Burroughs and perhaps a hint of Lovecraft.

Barely employed journalist Arthur Shaw meets occult stenographer Josephine Bradman during the terrible London storm of 1893. It’s love, but a literally star-crossed love, as Josephine becomes drawn into the affairs of the Company, a magical society that is attempting to psychically journey to the celestial spheres beyond Earth. When Arthur rashly interrupts one of these astral attempts, Josephine’s consciousness is lost near Mars and its two moons, and Arthur must take her place in the Company in order to get her back. Despite the fact that this novel contains many characters with telepathic powers, it’s difficult to penetrate their motivations. Arthur wants to rescue Josephine, yes, and Josephine wants to go home, but the goals of their fellow magicians in the Company and those of a rival group led by the sinister Lord Podmore seem less clear. Magicians seek power—but power to do what? What does the Company’s leader, Lord Atwood, gain by journeying to the spheres? Why is Podmore so anxious to stop them? What role is played by the mysterious woman who calls herself Jupiter? Or the inscrutable Mr. Sun? And who is Mrs. Archer, the crude but powerful crone who watches the stars? We never entirely understand anyone, so it’s difficult to have any kind of emotional reaction (positive or negative) toward them. The story seems to drift through strange byways rather than heading in a straight direction.

Odd, unsettling, inconclusive.

r om a n c e THE WINTER BRIDE

Gracie, Anne Berkley (336 pp.) $7.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-425-25926-9

Neither Freddy Monkton-Coombes nor Damaris Chance is interested in marriage, so Freddy convinces Damaris to enter into a fake engagement to get his mother and a horde of marriageable young ladies off his scent. What could possibly go wrong?

It’s 1816, and Damaris has a new lease on life. Leaving her past behind, she’s landed on her feet, living in the home of her informally adopted aunt, the aristocratic Lady Beatrice, along with her sisters-of-the-heart, collectively known as the Chance sisters. But she knows marriage isn’t in her future, thanks to some horrible luck and a blackguard sea captain. Determined to make enough money to buy a small cottage and live on her own terms, she’s quietly taken a job painting pottery. But somehow Freddy has learned her secret, and he’s not pleased, since it involves wandering through less-than-safe neighborhoods at ungodly hours of the morning, and he’s promised his dear

HOT LEAD, COLD IRON

Marmell, Ari Titan Books (400 pp.) $14.95 paper | $8.99 e-book May 13, 2014 978-1-78116-822-6 978-1-78116-823-3 e-book

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friend Max—Lady Bea’s nephew, now married and honeymooning with the eldest Chance sister—that he would keep an eye on the household. After Damaris and Freddy share a frank conversation regarding their shared antipathy toward marriage, Freddy asks her to play the role of his fiancee, since his mother is putting pressure on him to pick a bride. In return, Freddy promises her the cottage she’s always wanted. But as they spend time together, they learn each other’s deepest secrets and most ardent desires, and suddenly marriage doesn’t seem quite so atrocious. Gracie continues her Chance Sisters series with another delightful, emotionally complex romance. Freddy and Damaris are each textured characters, combining well-hidden wounds with a determination to thrive in spite of them, which makes them perfect for each other once they break through to trust and understanding.

A romantic winner, with Gracie’s typical witty charm and sweeping emotion.

SEARCHING FOR PERFECT

Probst, Jennifer Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $15.00 paper | Apr. 29, 2014 978-1-4767-4494-0

When Kennedy agrees to help Nate— a walking nerd cliché—re-invent himself to find the woman of his dreams, she’s in no danger of falling for him: She has an aversion to relationships and a thing for perfection, and he’s far from perfect. Isn’t he?

Kennedy loves everything about her life. Working with her two best friends in their successful matchmaking firm, she’s the makeover expert. Not surprising, given that she has completely remade herself from a fat, bookish teenager into a sexy, successful entrepreneur. She also knows she has issues, so any thought of a relationship for herself is completely out of the picture, even though she finds matching other people up with a perfect mate completely satisfying. When a new client botches a speed-dating event, Kennedy agrees to take him under her wing and guide him through his own transformation, physically and socially. But really, who knew a rocket scientist could be so hot?

Not that she’s paying attention. At all. Of course, life has an odd way of making you face your inner demons when you’re most reluctant to admit they exist, and the more Kennedy resists her attraction to Nate, the more circumstances challenge her masks and demand she embrace her true self. Romance star Probst pens another sexy, satisfying romance, though certain plot and character elements don’t hang quite right on the frame, and some details might leave the reader slightly uncomfortable. Still, the Pygmalion, nerd-to–hot hero concept is fun, and while at times Kennedy may be hard to like, her weaknesses are understandable due to a sympathetic back story.

Not perfect but fun and flirtatious, with enough potent emotional touchstones to keep the reader engaged.

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OTHERWISE ENGAGED

Quick, Amanda Putnam (352 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-399-16514-6

When Victorian world traveler Amity Doncaster meets an injured Benedict Stanbridge in a dark alley on a small Caribbean island, she saves his life and falls in love with him, leading them both into peril.

When Benedict, an engineer, is unwittingly caught up in an international intrigue that nearly costs him his life, he’s saved by Amity, an intrepid travel-guide writer. Arriving back in London weeks after her, he learns that she has been attacked by a notorious serial killer, but due to her quick thinking and a clever secret weapon, she has survived. Determined to catch the killer, Benedict and Amity offer their help to the Scotland Yard investigator on the case, piecing together clues that link Amity’s assault to the work Benedict was doing on behalf of the crown that led to his attack. But even as they close in on the killer, they realize there’s someone behind the scenes who may be even more dangerous. And as Benedict and Amity chase the culprit with a tight circle of friends, their courtship is marred by confusion and misunderstanding. Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz) moves away from paranormal elements in this historical romantic suspense novel, but she maintains her stellar plotting, exquisite dialogue and impeccable characterization. Benedict and Amity are a perfect pair, but their path to romantic bliss is hindered by physical danger and a charming uncertainty on both sides.

Sexy romance and intriguing mystery combine for a wholly satisfying and entertaining read.

nonfiction WHY SCIENCE DOES NOT DISPROVE GOD

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Aczel, Amir D. Morrow/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-06-223059-1 978-0-06-223061-4 e-book

THE PRICE OF SILENCE by William D. Cohan................................ 49 REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA, 1891-1991 by Orlando Figes.................54 THE HIPPEST TRIP IN AMERICA by Nelson George..........................55

Mathematician Aczel (A Strange Wilderness: The Lives of the Great Mathematicians, 2011, etc.) debated atheist Richard Dawkins in 2010. Here, he presents his arguments, and prominent atheists, Dawkins above all, do not come out well.

Aczel wins the rematch by the infallible technique of misstating his opponent. Science cannot “disprove” anything; only mathematicians do that. Scientists gather evidence and weigh it.

While evidence (i.e., arguments) favoring God’s absence exists, in the end, disbelief is a matter of opinion. However, there’s no denying that the “new atheists,” like other pugnacious militants from the tea party to Islamic activists, favor vivid arguments that stretch the truth. Aczel sets them right in a series of earnest essays stressing that both science and religion are laudable institutions that deserve respect. One chapter summarizes archaeological evidence for many biblical events. In another, the author emphasizes that scientists understand the universe’s evolution but not its origin, so they cannot rule out a Creator. Throughout the book, Aczel quotes many experts in a variety of fields, including Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg, French mathematician Pierre Simon de Laplace and American physicist Hugh Everett. Few show much concern over the question of God’s existence, but most have no objection to it.

Having been burned too often, theologians rarely invoke the 19th-century argument that whatever science can’t explain provides evidence for God, but Aczel relies on it. His prime example is the mind. “[T]he emergence of consciousness and symbolic thinking remain one of the most formidable hurdles in the path of atheism,” he writes. “We have no good explanation of how [they] came about. These may well be divine gifts.”

Aczel dislikes atheists and often descends to their derisive debating points (e.g., religions sponsor charities; atheists don’t), but he skillfully combines his specialty and good science to support, without actually proving, the existence of a Creator.

THE MANTLE OF COMMAND by Nigel Hamilton.............................56 A BIGGER PRIZE by Margaret Heffernan.......................................... 57 FRACTURED TIMES by Eric Hobsbawm........................................... 60 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS by Fred Kaplan............................................62 UNDER MAGNOLIA by Frances Mayes.............................................. 66 SUPREME CITY by Donald L. Miller..................................................67 RUSSIAN ROULETTE by Giles Milton................................................67 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS American Visionary

Kaplan, Fred Harper/HarperCollins (672 pp.) $29.99 May 6, 2014 978-0-06-191541-3

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INSATIABLE A Memoir

into one of the most powerful musical ensembles in the world.

As remarkable as it seems, the amiable young percussionist with the smooth falsetto voice and rough family background was being tapped to play a pivotal role in the maestro’s grand design. Covering both the joys of “making it” in the funk-filled 1970s, as well as the costs of achieving that kind of early stratospheric success, Bailey and his co-writers consistently tell a singular musical story with an impressive fluidity that feels brisk even while covering lots of ground. Longtime fans will no doubt appreciate the time devoted to exploring the production of the signature EWF sound, while also getting to know the players behind chart toppers like “September,” “Shining Star” and “Boogie Wonderland.” But Bailey doesn’t stop there, nor does he ignore the seamier side of the EWF story or his own womanizing. “From the first day Janet and I were married, I had no intention of remaining faithful,” he writes. “As a child I didn’t witness much faithfulness in my parents’ generation.” Bailey seems just as candid about his complicated relationship with White, a man he continues to respect and revere on many levels, even while confronting the many business-oriented transgressions that led to EWF’s initial implosion. Ultimately, the author succeeds in illuminating his life both inside and outside his legendary band.

An energetic memoir about a complex individual and his music.

Akira, Asa Grove (256 pp.) $25.00 | May 6, 2014 978-0-8021-2259-9 The relentlessly risqué exploits of an award-winning adult film star.

Akira, an Asian-American porn actress who has starred in nearly 400 adult films, turns in a lascivious, personalized journey through the pornography industry—a provocative livelihood she has reveled in for over a decade. Akira is unapologetically prideful “for having the guts to indulge in my desires,” and the book is saturated with the intimate details of her life on the set of wet-and-wild porn shoots, her badass attitudes about others’ presumptions, navigating relationships (“omission isn’t lying”), and the frequently hilarious, surprisingly humbling anecdotes of a life spent having sex for the camera. Her X-rated hubris was definitely not passed down from the conservative, traditional Japanese parents who raised the New York native, nor was it a product of her private school education. She exposes years spent intensively experimenting with petty theft and heavy drugs, which began (and then ended) by the time she’d graduated high school. Akira then got her feet wet in the adult entertainment industry as a diffident dominatrix in a fetish fantasy club. Alive with an unconventional affinity for raw human sexuality, this exuberant memoir is effortlessly honest, without coming across as cavalier or catty. Her passion lies in the rush and the “high” of the perfectly filmed sex scene. Open-minded readers will find themselves bombarded by a carnal locomotive of industry insider secrets and amusing observations on everything from baby wipes to body odors and anal sex. Nothing, however, compares to an intoxicatingly graphic chapter of diary entries encapsulating 2012.

Puritans take note: Nothing is left to the imagination in this hypersexual memoir of life as a porn star.

TRUTH IS FRAGMENTARY Travelogues & Diaries Bell, Gabrielle Uncivilized Books (140 pp.) $19.99 | May 1, 2014 978-0-988901-45-2

A collection of comic diary entries about drawing comics.

After the justified acclaim generated by her previous volume (The Voyeurs, 2012), this feels more like a stopgap—part travel journal of her visits to international comics conventions, part monthlong chronicling of every day in July for three successive years, even when, as she often admits, she was experiencing nothing that was inspiring her to draw comics. “I have ten days left of this arbitrary, self-imposed month of daily comics regimen and it is starting to wear on me,” she admits in July 2011. “It’s not so easy. I can’t just crank these things out. I have to try to reveal enough to create some sort of emotional impact but not so much that anyone feels compromised. And the most interesting stories are the ones I can never tell.” The approach works as illumination of the artist’s mind, creative process and challenges, but the stories she can’t tell would likely be more interesting.

There are a lot of drawings on planes (with jostled penmanship) and chance encounters at airports. There are postmodern responses from friends on what she is drawing, reservations about “comics about me doing comics.” A couple of exceptions rise above the mundane: There’s a surrealistic entry in which she buys a bottle of “Brain Booster” and suddenly remembers everything, until it wears off and she can’t remember anything.

SHINING STAR Braving the Elements of Earth, Wind & Fire

Bailey, Philip with Zimmerman, Keith and Zimmerman, Kent Viking (256 pp.) $28.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-670-78588-9 Earth, Wind & Fire lead singer Bailey recounts his groovy life at the center of one of the most influential bands ever to don gold lamé capes and platform boots.

The author was just a fresh-faced kid barely out of his teens when an older, wiser musician named Maurice White turned him onto “The Concept,” the elder artist’s genre-defying vision to transform a somewhat motley version of Earth, Wind & Fire 44

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“A much-needed factual antidote to the mainstream media coverage of Trayvon Martin’s tragic story and the travesty of the George Zimmerman trial.” from suspicion nation

THE MYTH OF THE STRONG LEADER Political Leadership in the Modern Age

There’s also a shift in tone and perspective in the entry on a trip to Colombia, after reading Montaigne, purportedly drawn by the secretary she hired to chronicle the activities of “Miss Bell,” including an appearance where Miss Bell is asked, “How do you manage to promote your work in spite of your obvious social awkwardness?”

These are more like sketchbooks from an artist who perhaps needed to clear away the clutter before moving on.

Brown, Archie Basic (512 pp.) $29.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-465-02766-8

Brown (Emeritus, Politics/Oxford Univ.; The Rise and Fall of Communism, 2009, etc.) addresses an apparent paradox in attitudes about political leaders.

While people are presumed to prefer strong leaders, the author contends that leaders who attempt to appear overtly strong are actually less effective than more self-effacing ones.

By the “strong leader” of the title, Brown means leaders who seize the responsibility for decision-making in all spheres of government, without deferring to colleagues with greater expertise in their areas of responsibility. Such leaders are essential to some authoritarian regimes, such as the fascist states of the 1930s or the “cult of personality” communist states like Russia under Stalin or North Korea today, but they appear in democracies as well, usually with unfortunate results. Regardless of the form of government, Brown argues that while the man on the white horse may cut the most striking figure, he is more likely to make faulty decisions on his own than will someone who governs through persuasion and consensus. The author therefore deplores the tendency for presidents or premiers to take personal credit for achievements properly attributable to their party or government—he is particularly hard on Tony Blair in this regard—and of media to emphasize the influence of these leaders at the expense of other senior ministers.

Accessible if somewhat dry in tone, this wide-ranging survey of regimes from the early 20th century to the present illuminates the author’s thesis by contrasting the governing styles of a host of such leaders as Mao Zedong and Margaret Thatcher, on the one hand, with those of Deng Xiaoping and Clement Attlee on the other. Occasionally, it seems that Brown was torn between writing solely to press his point about effective leadership and producing a scholarly and thus more inclusive survey of political leadership styles and results regardless of their relevance to his overall theme.

A sure-handed historical review with an engaging viewpoint.

SUSPICION NATION The Inside Story of the Trayvon Martin Injustice and Why We Are Doomed to Repeat It Bloom, Lisa Counterpoint (320 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-61902-327-7

A veteran civil rights attorney confronts the injustices of the controversial Trayvon Martin case and America’s dubious post-9/11 gun laws.

Today Show legal analyst Bloom (Swagger: 10 Urgent Rules for Raising Boys in an Era of Failing Schools, Mass Joblessness, and Thug Culture, 2012, etc.) picks apart the unsuccessful prosecution of gun-toting Floridian George Zimmerman for the shooting of African-American Martin, wherein Zimmerman claimed selfdefense and invoked the much-ballyhooed “stand your ground” law. The author argues convincingly that not only was race (and a racist jury) a factor in the failure to convict Zimmerman, but the state prosecution simply bungled what should have been an open-and-shut case against the overzealous defendant. Bloom pulls no punches in scrutinizing every misstep and missed opportunity of the state prosecution. She also paints a global picture of the controversy surrounding the not-guilty verdict for Zimmerman, in that it was a clear-cut case of blatant racial profiling to just about everybody around the world except the majority of those on jury duty in that Florida courtroom. Bloom also does a close reading of American self-defense laws and how the many restrictions on these laws were given short shrift by the inept prosecution. The weaker elements of Bloom’s book come in the last 100 pages or so, when she’s already solidified her arguments pertaining specifically to the Zimmerman verdict and her attention begins to ramble into more peripheral issues surrounding the trial. She takes brief critical looks at everything from the NYPD stop-and-frisk laws and racial profiling to the consequences of not talking about race in cases where racial bias is obvious. Although this is all welcome and informative, the author eventually takes on a bit more than she’s able to effectively handle in just over 300 pages.

A much-needed factual antidote to the mainstream media coverage of Trayvon Martin’s tragic story and the travesty of the George Zimmerman trial.

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SLAVERY INC. The Untold Story of International Sex Trafficking

the author relies heavily on her filmed appearances (TV and movies—he appears to have seen everything), published reviews of her performances, memoirs of the principals, accounts in periodicals (including the far-left political activities that imperiled her career), and interviews with others who knew and know her. Callahan’s treatment, sturdily chronological, informs us about her parents (Michael, her father, is a major character), her love affairs (Franco Nero and Timothy Dalton are among the most prominent), her beginnings in theater (she played in Saint Joan in high school), the evolution of her philosophy and technique of luminescent acting, and her early films and breakout role as Guinevere in the film of Camelot (1967), a production the author calls the “ruination of a delightful show.” Callahan moves steadily through her work, pausing occasionally to give detailed summaries and analyses of specific productions and her performances. Although he is a great admirer of Redgrave’s work, the author does not hesitate to chide her—as he does for her 2003 stage appearance in Long Day’s Journey into Night. He also pauses for chapters about her loved ones—e.g., about her father and his death or her daughter, Natasha Richardson, and her death in 2009.

Richly detailed account of Redgrave’s career, though it’s missing the fireworks that some encounters with the author might have ignited. (24 pages of color and b/w photos)

Cacho, Lydia Soft Skull Press (256 pp.) $17.95 paper | May 13, 2014 978-1-61902-296-6

Award-winning El Universal journalist Cacho has a history of crusading for human rights through her work. Here, she chronicles her global travels to document the world of human trafficking.

Loosely organized into geographic regions first and then into the ways and means of the trafficking industry, the book never lacks for information. Cacho met untold numbers of sex slaves, pimps, law enforcement agents and rescue workers, and it’s obvious she learned a great deal from all of them. This wealth of material, however, causes some problems for the author. Instead of giving detailed accounts, Cacho skims the surfaces of most stories in what seems like an attempt to include as much information as possible. This has the effect of making the book simultaneously dense and shallow, urgent and haphazard. Combined with a tendency to move on from a topic without fully supporting it, there is an underlying sense that the author had so much to say, she was unable to condense and synthesize it into something manageable.

Further, many of her references are more than 10 years old, leading to questions of relevance. Directly addressing the reason for this would have been useful in allaying reader concerns about her research. Cacho also examines topics intimately related to trafficking, like money laundering, but these sections suffer the same lack of depth and clarity. What make the book palatable despite these deficiencies are the obvious dedication the author carries for her subject and her gift with words. Cacho is at her best when she loses herself in her interactions with her subjects; in those moments, the writing is so elegant that it purges memories of clunky exposition.

It’s clear that Cacho, with such passion for her subject, understands far more than her audience will. Unfortunately, she fails to make the connections for those who don’t have her background knowledge.

A CALL TO ACTION Women, Religion, Violence, and Power

Carter, Jimmy Simon & Schuster (224 pp.) $28.00 | $14.99 e-book | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-4767-7395-7 978-1-4767-7397-1 e-book The former president and indefatigable humanitarian writes again, this time linking worldly woes that “fall disproportionately on women and girls.”

Women suffer all sorts of indignities in the world: rape in war, sexual slavery, lower pay for equal or greater work than men, and endless other forms of abuse and discrimination.

Carter’s (NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter, 2012, etc.) philanthropic institution/think tank, the Carter Center, now considers “the deprivation and abuse of women and girls” to be a greater overarching problem than economic disparity, though there are linkages. Further, writes the author, the problem is not merely restricted to the developing world. China, for instance, has made huge strides and is by some indexes more egalitarian in these matters than the United States, though, Carter adds judiciously, there remains the pesky problem of infanticide and abortion to cull females in favor of male offspring. The gender-related problems the author identifies are so broad and pervasive that they sometimes seem to have little in common other than that they adversely affect women. Carter’s long list of solutions is common-sensical, if sure to tick off the patriarchy: Encourage activism that works

VANESSA The Life of Vanessa Redgrave Callahan, Dan Pegasus (416 pp.) $28.95 | May 15, 2014 978-1-60598-557-2

A freelance critic and author returns with a blend of biography and criticism in his reconstruction of the life of the woman many consider the greatest actress of her time.

Redgrave (born 1937) did not cooperate with Callahan’s (Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Woman, 2012) project, and we witness no encounters between them until the final pages. Instead, 46

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WHERE THE WIND LEADS A Refugee Family’s Miraculous Story of Loss, Rescue, and Redemption

toward equality, prosecute customers and not prostitutes, and so forth. Too often, the book seems a mashup of distantly related white papers, and it does not help that Carter binds them with folksy memoir-izing (“I was always reluctant to let other young men know that I was a virgin, feeling that it was somehow a reflection on my manhood. I have come to realize that societal standards—at least in the Western world—are much different from what I knew as a youth, but there is still a sharp difference between those that apply to boys and those that apply to girls.”

The overall effect is one of well-meaning but fuzzy prescription, less rigorous than this difficult subject requires.

Chung, Vinh with Downs, Tim Thomas Nelson (368 pp.) $22.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-8499-4756-8

With assistance from Downs (Wonders Never Cease, 2010, etc.), dermatologist Chung chronicles his family’s flight from communist rule in Vietnam to their subsequent life in America.

The author describes his experiences beginning in 1978, when he was 3 and arrived in Arkansas, one of eight children in a destitute refugee family that “went to sleep in one world and woke up in another.” In Vietnam, his father managed his family’s merchant empire in the Mekong Delta. As ethnic Chinese, they maintained traditional Asian values. His parents, whose marriage had been arranged, lived with their extended family

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in a compound, and his widowed grandmother controlled the money with an iron fist. Despite their great wealth, his mother was consigned to a life little better than that of a servant, while his father maintained a mistress. After the revolution, Chung’s parents and their children were part of the legendary exodus of the boat people. The author provides a harrowing account of their desperate escape and rescue at sea. Left adrift on the ocean by Malaysians who refused them refuge, the nearly 100 people on board were at the point of death by dehydration.

Miraculously, they survived against the odds and were picked up by a boat on the lookout for boat people needing assistance.

With the help of The World Vision National Leadership Council, the family received asylum in America. Chung tells of his father’s uncomplaining struggle to support his family by working on a factory assembly line while raising his children in a culture whose ways and language were foreign to him. Like many children of immigrants, the author faced racism and discrimination, yet he achieved academic success at Harvard, pursued a distinguished career and “became more American than many who were born here.”

A worthy addition to the immigrant bookshelf. Though targeted at the Christian market, the book should have wider appeal.

own origins. Happy endings in life are seldom conclusions, and that Clarke gets one only complicated her story more. “Whose life is this anyway?” writes Cookie in one of her letters to her daughter, a fraught question coming from a woman who created life, only to have life force her to give her child away. Clarke effectively explores her crisis of identity by peeling back layer after layer of a complex, riveting personal history.

A captivating memoir about a daughter’s reunion with her birth mother and the intricate consequences it had on both their lives. (29 photos)

EVERYTHING I EVER NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT _____* I LEARNED FROM MONTY PYTHON *History, Art, Poetry, Communism, Philosophy, the Media, Birth, Death, Religion, Literature, Latin, Transvestites, Botany, the French, Class Systems, Mythology, Fish Slapping, and Many More!

Cogan, Brian; Massey, Jeff Dunne/St. Martin’s (304 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-250-00470-3 978-1-4668-4216-8 e-book

POSTCARDS FROM COOKIE A Memoir of Motherhood, Miracles, and a Whole Lot of Mail Clarke, Caroline Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $24.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-06-210317-8

And now for something completely different about something completely different.

Consisting of John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Graham Chapman, England’s Monty Python is arguably the only contemporary comedic entity that has transcended generations. (Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges are among those that have transcended all generations, but the fact that Monty Python is deservedly mentioned alongside those icons demonstrates their importance to filmed, scripted comedy.) Their fans are passionate to the point that more people than you suspect can quote large chunks of sketches from the long-running TV show Monty Python’s Flying Circus or their classic film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Here, Cogan (Communication/Molloy Coll.; Encyclopedia of Punk Music and Culture, 2006) and Massey (English Language and Literature/Molloy Coll.; co-editor: Heads Will Roll: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination, 2012) pose the question, “How can we put this useless (albeit hilarious) knowledge to good use?” The authors decided that Python—with their dead parrots, French taunters and reverence for Spam—can be used as a teaching tool, and believe it or not, they’re right. Similar in tone and intent to Blackwell’s “… and Philosophy” series, Cogan and Massey apply Python’s lessons (such as they are) to history, sport, art, theory and “everything else.” For example, in the history chapter, the authors deliver a lengthy discussion about Python’s iconic Spanish Inquisition sketch and how it utilizes and relates to the real

Journalist Clarke’s story of her discovery that her biological mother was Carol “Cookie” Cole, the daughter of Nat King Cole, a revelation that caused her to build a lifealtering relationship with her through the exchange of letters, phone calls and postcards.

The author is an award-winning journalist and the happy mother of two. She is also the adopted daughter of two parents who gave her a wonderful life. When she visited the agency that handled her adoption, she only sought information on her genetic heritage, which she required for medical reasons.

The details she received from the agency, however, as well as a series of remarkable coincidences, helped her realize that her birth mother was Cookie Cole, the daughter of the legendary musician. The author’s discovery forced her to acknowledge a deep-rooted curiosity she had about her birth mother since childhood. “All adoptees are curious about their beginnings,” she writes. “Anyone who claims otherwise (as I have many times) is lying.” So she reached out to Cookie in search of answers to the questions she had convinced herself, up until that point, that she could ignore. Clarke’s prose is elegant, crisp and deeply personal, and her narration is gripping, even after she reconnects with her biological mother and uncovers the truth about her 48

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“Vanity Fair contributing editor and Duke University alumnus Cohan turns a microscopic lens on the 2006 scandal involving an alleged rape by members of the school’s lacrosse team.” from the price of silence

AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY The Continuing Revolution

Spanish Inquisition. The book is exhaustive—the authors touch on nearly every decent Python moment—and while it’s a clever concept, it’s a tough beginning-to-end read and is best attacked in bite-sized chunks.

An interesting take on the Pythons, but it might have trouble finding an audience, as it doesn’t offer anything truly new to hard-core Pythonites, and newbies may gravitate toward one of the many quality Python bios.

Cox, Stephen Univ. of Texas (286 pp.) $26.95 | $26.95 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-292-72910-0 978-0-292-75861-2 e-book

An optimistic, nonpolemical snapshot of the plethora of Christian denominations in America.

“Something strange always happens” in American churches, Cox (Literature and Humanities/Univ. of California, San Diego; Changing and Remaining: A History of All Saints’ Church, San Diego, 2011, etc.) writes in this broad yet colloquial study. Churches want to harken back to the past, in tradition or orthodoxy, but continually strain toward revolution and renewal—hence the vitality of both the still-unfinished largest cathedral in the world, St. John the Divine in New York City, and one of most humble structures, the Taylor Prayer Chapel, in Farmersburg, Ind., a tiny church that is also modeled after a medieval cathedral. Both churches marvelously offer “a place where Christian experience can happen.” This is the spirit that Cox traces throughout his work, as messy and disorganized as it may be: Since the breakdown of the state church system in the 18th century, adherence to a church has grown from 17 percent in 1776 to 62 percent in 1980, with the gains going less to mainline Protestant denominations (Episcopal, Methodist) and more to smaller, evangelical sects like Pentecostals, Southern Baptists and “born-again believers.” Socioeconomic factors can only go so deep, writes the author—e.g., explaining the huge growth of black churches after the Civil War or the devastating effects of the Depression. Cox sees the religious landscape of America inhabited by a rich history of eccentrics, inspired by the revolutionary words of Scripture, who “found oil” among legions of believers. “The wall of separation” between church and state as identified by Thomas Jefferson did not, however, keep churches from assuming a political mantle, as evidenced in their important lobbying for abolition, women’s equality and prohibition.

An uncomplicated, evenhanded work. From hymns to architecture to personalities, American Christianity is simply “unpredictable.” (24 b/w photos)

THE PRICE OF SILENCE The Duke Lacrosse Scandal, the Power of the Elite, and the Corruption of Our Great Universities Cohan, William D. Scribner (688 pp.) $30.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4516-8179-6

Vanity Fair contributing editor and Duke University alumnus Cohan (Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World, 2011) turns a microscopic lens on the 2006 scandal involving an alleged rape by members of the school’s lacrosse team.

The case of a group of white athletes at an elite Southern university accused of raping an African-American stripper exploded into national headlines in the spring of 2006 and continued to play out in the media over the following year. A confluence of perennial hot-button issues related to race, class, money, athletics, politics and power made the Duke lacrosse scandal perfect fodder for the traditional media and its growing online counterpart. Initial condemnation of the accused, whose team’s arrogant and often drunken behavior in the preceding years had drawn the ire of locals, professors and fellow students, eventually gave way to rising questions about the handling of the case by the Duke administration, the media and, most crucially, by the police and prosecution, led by Durham, N.C., District Attorney Mike Nifong. Cohan seemingly leaves no stone unturned in covering all aspects of the case: the criminal proceedings, the media coverage and its impact, and the issues raised in the community and at Duke and other similar schools.

The author mostly refrains from editorializing, letting the voluminous evidence and historical record speak for itself, carried along by the story’s undeniably gripping drama. That he does have an opinion on the matter comes through, however, particularly in his descriptions of those involved. Nifong, whose epic mishandling of the case cost him his career and impacted the lives of all participants, remains unwilling, or unable, to comprehend his failures. Cohan’s book will hopefully help others avoid them.

A comprehensive, illuminating and highly readable study of a notorious episode in the annals of the American justice system.

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“All parents will recognize the moments of both terror and pride that mark the journey; parents of deaf children will garner both information and insights.” from i can hear you whisper

HISTORY LESSONS A Memoir of Madness, Memory, and the Brain

Former Newsweek and People journalist Denworth’s (Toxic Truth: A Scientist, a Doctor, and the Battle over Lead, 2009) third son, Alex, was given a cochlear implant shortly before turning 3. That procedure, along with a hearing aid in his other ear, has enabled him to live and function well in the world of the hearing. The author based the decision on a clear understanding of what the consequences of not doing so would mean for Alex. Denworth employs her skills as a researcher to tell the story of early attempts to help the deaf. She visited the laboratories of neuroscientists studying the brain to understand how it processes sound, interviewed doctors, consulted surgeons and listened to educators at Gallaudet University, where communication occurs primarily through American Sign Language. Occasionally, the details get overly technical, but for the most part, Denworth understands how to keep readers engaged; for clarity, she includes a couple of line drawings of the ear, an implant and the brain. The Deaf community, choosing to regard deafness as a “difference” rather than a “disability,” has at times voiced fierce opposition to the use of cochlear implants, especially in young children, arguing that it removes children from the world of Deaf culture while not granting them full entry into the world of the hearing. The language of opponents has sometimes been harsh, with words like “genocide” occasionally used, but Denworth pulls back from the controversy. She learned to sign, acknowledging its value, but there is no doubt that she believes she has made the right choice in bringing her child into the wider world of spoken language.

All parents will recognize the moments of both terror and pride that mark the journey; parents of deaf children will garner both information and insights.

Crais, Clifton Overlook (272 pp.) $25.95 | May 1, 2014 978-1-4683-0368-1

A historian sets out to discover his own past.

Crais (History and African Studies/ Emory Univ.; co-editor: Poverty, War, and Violence in South Africa, 2011, etc.) suffers from chronic childhood amnesia, a condition that leaves him bereft of memories of his youngest years. “I am a contradiction,” he writes. “I am a historian who can’t remember.” This form of amnesia results from early childhood trauma—in the author’s case, his mother’s attempt to drown him in a bathtub when he was 3, after her husband abandoned her and their five children; and her attempted suicide a few years later. These two violent episodes punctuated a devastating youth. Crais lived for years with his alcoholic mother in a roach-infested apartment, hungry and neglected; from time to time, he was shunted among relatives.

In his attempt to revive that period, the author decided to apply a historian’s methodology, interviewing his mother and sisters, examining photographs and public records, and visiting old neighborhoods. What he found unnerved him. “The past is a mess,” he writes, “a bloody terrible mess of infinite horror”: mental illness, suicide, alcoholism and poverty. He felt “dirty,” he admits, “not only from prying into the lives of others but by association—too close to a chasm of tragedies from which I want to escape but seem instead to be falling into.” Along with historical research, Crais turned to neuroscience to help him understand his own identity. “Trauma obliterates time,” he writes. “Trauma trips up the elaborate choreography of being….”

Sadly Crais’ siblings have become casualties of the family’s history, living “in despair, with broken marriages, depression, abusive relationships, and substance abuse.” Yet the author has managed not only to survive, but to thrive.

This memoir of anguish and struggle is a story of remarkable strength and unlikely, inexplicable resilience.

SAVE THE DATE The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest Doll, Jen Riverhead (336 pp.) $25.95 | May 1, 2014 978-1-59463-198-6

A debut memoir chronicling the author’s feelings about the many weddings she has attended.

Doll is an established writer and editor who has been to more than 20 weddings since she was in diapers. Throughout the book, a bewildering mass of anecdotes, incidents, musings and emotions whirls past, blurring together and leaving little lasting effect. The author is always attentive to the details of clothing, decorations and environments, but her powers of description are limited, with a heavy reliance on lists and clichéd phrases. One of the most engaging parts of the book is the story of her parents’ courtship and marriage, and her lively mother may be the most vivid and sympathetic portrait. Doll raises all the persistent difficult questions about how to pick the right person, how to make it work, how much work is a reasonable amount, but most of her advice is predictable. She covers the usual anxieties of the single person whose friends are all getting married, as well as many questions about the place of marriage

I CAN HEAR YOU WHISPER An Intimate Journey Through the Science of Sound and Language Denworth, Lydia Dutton (368 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 17, 2014 978-0-525-95379-1

A science journalist and mother of a child born with a congenital deformity of the inner ear brings both perspectives to bear on this account of her journey into the science of hearing and the world of the deaf.

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Earnestly reported material skewed (however compassionately) to place the plight of autonomous emigrants above American territorial laws. (40 color photos)

in modern life, but Doll skims the surface of them, as she does her own emotions. Her preoccupation with weddings seems to come down to lingering childhood fantasies, a love of parties and a niggling sense of missing out, despite her overall satisfaction with single life. As the narrative progresses, Doll’s lighthearted charm fades as she repeatedly laughs off and rationalizes her own volatile and damaging drunken behavior. In one rock-bottom episode, she combines material display with titillating dysfunction by informing us of the exact cost of the shoes she flung down the street as her friends tried to subdue her.

Party-loving singles with an anxious interest in the weddings of friends may find a kindred soul here. Those looking for emotional depth or original insights may not.

THIRTY TOMORROWS The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live Ezrati, Milton Dunne/St. Martin’s (352 pp.) $30.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-250-04255-2

A veteran economist and money manager looks ahead at the currents and countercurrents likely to roil the global economy in the next thirty years.

Demographics is destiny, writes Ezrati (Kawari: How Japan’s Economic and Cultural Transformation Will Alter the Balance of Power Among Nations, 1999, etc.), or at least “as close as one can come where economics and finance are concerned.” Thus, the aging populations of America, Japan and the European Union countries will drive most of the adjustments necessary to ensure prosperity. Labor shortages in these developed nations, only partly ameliorated by immigration, will leave mass production to the emerging economies of China, India and Brazil, while the old powerhouses will increasingly depend on innovation and refinement for their economic successes. Trade and increased globalization will work to relieve the pressure imposed by demographics but only if the developed nations remove needless impediments—brainless government subsidies, protectionist policies, shortsighted regulation—to growth, intensify their research and development efforts, improve their educational institutions and provide training for workers bound to be displaced by the new environment. At the same time, developing economies must broaden and integrate their economies. These changes, Ezrati acknowledges, won’t be painless—we’ve already experienced the huge financial booms/busts, the widening income gaps and the erosion of the middle class that come with more intense levels of globalization—and nations like Russia, Venezuela and the Gulf States that rely on oil exports for their current prosperity are at special risk, but attempts to restrain globalization will likely cause worse hardship. He concludes by explaining why the U.S. is the only viable candidate to lead the world into the new era, offering recommendations as to how America can shore up its principal role and setting out historical reasons to be hopeful about success.

A balanced analysis of the future shape of the world’s increasingly interdependent economies.

THE DANGEROUS DIVIDE Peril and Promise on the USMexico Border

Eichstaedt, Peter Chicago Review (256 pp.) $26.95 | May 1, 2014 978-1-61374-836-7

An impassioned, heavy-handed testimony on the state of the U.S.-Mexican border wars.

A staunch human rights advocate, veteran journalist Eichstaedt (Above the Din of War: Afghans Speak About Their Lives, Their Country, and Their Future—and Why America Should Listen, 2013, etc.) traveled to the Southwest borderlands to report on the drug and immigration troubles marking Mexico as “terra incognita.” There, he met humanitarian groups like the Tucson Samaritans, who are responsible for randomly dropping food and water rations for illegal immigrants crossing the desert. These migrants, the author notes, fall prey to the systematic and corporeal processes of U.S. Border Patrol, a government body employing technologically advanced territorial surveillance including aerostat drones and night-vision telescoped Humvees, all of which Eichstaedt perceives as excessive and wasteful. A section on the Columbus, N.M., gun-smuggling scandal involving town officials further demonstrates the area’s historic potential for violence and corruption. Often a circuitous route, Mexican citizens who choose to abandon their country find themselves at the mercy of greedy “coyotes” (paid border guides/human smugglers), vicious “desert bandits” and drug cartel assassins. The author bolsters his astute reportage with interviews with migrants desperate for American opportunities, controversial border control crusaders, politicians and law enforcement agents. He also provides a fascinating tour of Tucson’s Border Patrol offices and their complex surveillance of various ports of entry. As philanthropic as his perceptive edge may be throughout the text, Eichstaedt rarely mentions that undocumented border breaches remain fundamentally unlawful. A dogmatic final chapter further criticizes modern borderprotection tactics and statistical assumptions while promoting a “sweeping guest worker visa program” and an appeal for the reconsideration of current immigration policies.

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THE SCIENCE OF SHAKESPEARE A New Look at the Playwright’s Universe

LIBERALISM The Life of an Idea

Fawcett, Edmund Princeton Univ. (464 pp.) $35.00 | May 4, 2014 978-0-691-15689-7

Falk, Dan Dunne/St. Martin’s (384 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-250-00877-0 978-1-250-00878-7 e-book

Former longtime Economist correspondent Fawcett (co-author: The American Condition, 1982) charts the versions and vagaries of liberalism from the 1830s to the present.

The author focuses on the United States and Western Europe in this comprehensive, quirky, scholarly and personal exploration of one of the dominant ideas in political discourse. Although he writes that this is a “historical essay for the common reader,” his notion of that character seems a bit hopeful. Fawcett’s text is thick with quotations and with names that do include many notables (such as James Madison, Tocqueville, Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson) but also numerous

European and English science during the time of Shakespeare (1564–1616), as revealed in his works. It’s a peculiar juxtaposition, but it works…mostly.

Science writer Falk (In Search of Time: The Science of a Curious Dimension, 2008, etc.) has done an admirable job of boning up on the output of the playwright whose works contain lines, hints and metaphors that refer to the latest discoveries. Over the centuries, scientific revolutions are a dime a dozen. The author resists the temptation to single out his era but emphasizes that big changes were occurring (“Looking back after four centuries, it’s obvious to us that Shakespeare lived in a remarkable time”), and the biggest was a new description of the universe. In 1543, Copernicus’ publication of On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, which replaced the Earth with the sun at the center of the universe, created no popular stir, but natural philosophers (“scientist” is a 19th-century word) noticed. Galileo, born the same year as Shakespeare, is best known, but several obscure Englishmen made major contributions. Thomas Harriot (1560–1621) may have examined the sky with a telescope at the same time. Thomas Digges (1546–1595), a neighbor of Shakespeare, was the first Englishman to promote Copernicus’ findings. Shakespeare himself makes liberal reference to this new universe but does not ignore astrology, still a respectable branch of astronomy, as well as Elizabethan medicine, magic, psychology and even theology. All Christian creeds find much to admire in Shakespeare, but skeptics also claim him as one of their own. Leaving no stone unturned, Falk devotes perhaps too many pages to enthusiasts who have pored over the works and discovered astonishing allegories, hidden messages and discoveries far ahead of his time.

An odd but appealing mixture of science and literary analysis. (22 b/w illustrations)

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others familiar principally to political philosophers. Oddly, the author includes no endnotes and only a “works consulted” list, a disservice to those who are not “common” readers and would like to know more about the figures he discusses. Cavils aside, this is a phenomenal work of research and synthesis, generally positive, even admiring in tone. The author gives his working definition of “liberalism” in the preface (identifying four key ideas), then focuses on four historical periods when the idea of liberalism underwent stress, redefinition or modification: 1830–1880, 1880–1945, 1945–1989, 1989–the present. In each section, Fawcett surveys what the principal philosophical thinkers and writers were saying and shows us some of the activities and attitudes of various prominent politicians of the time. Readers may be surprised to see some kind words for Richard Nixon (“the Hidden Liberal”) and to read that the author believes LBJ was brighter than JFK (“The Johnson years…were a historic achievement in the search for an acceptable liberal order. Decades later its essentials were still in place”). Fawcett devotes lots of attention to (among others) Friedrich Hayek, John Maynard Keynes, Michael Oakeshott and John Rawls. Liberalism, he writes, is now in a period of transition.

A pool of profound, rigorous research and thought that has no shallow end.

O’Neill,” writes Fearnley. “More and more the question on people’s lips was whether Shane wrote so beautifully because of the amount he drank, or despite it.” But neither is the author afraid to point his insights at himself, relating his own struggles with music, women, drink and combat with his musical mates. Clearly, this talented musician has taken a page from Keith Richards’ marvelous biography: Believe it or not, he remembers everything.

Anyone who survived The Pogues deserves one last drink after the war. (31 b/w photos)

REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA, 1891-1991 A History

Figes, Orlando Metropolitan/Henry Holt (336 pp.) $27.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-8050-9131-1

The dean of contemporary Russian studies—and a gifted popularizer—ventures a refreshing thesis that joins the fondest dreams of the Bolsheviks to the full-circle collapse of the Soviet Empire.

Figes (History/Birkbeck Coll., Univ. of London; Just Send Me Word: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag, 2012, etc.) delivers the welcome insight that “red Russia” really began in a time of widespread famine in 1891, when Russians of various classes and regions realized that the czarist regime was of no help—so helpless, in fact, that it called on the people themselves for solutions, which “opened the door to a powerful new wave of public activity and debate which the government could not control and which quickly turned from the philanthropic to the political.” With the bloodletting of the Russo-Japanese War, thanks to an inept general command, the die was cast, proving Trotsky’s observation that a human crisis needed a match of human agency to bring about revolution. Figes carefully reminds readers that the revolution happened in stages: first in 1905, then again in 1917—twice, the first when the czar was overthrown, the second when the Bolsheviks wrestled power away from a coalition that would likely have proved more humane, and certainly more democratic, had it remained in government.

The result was the grim regime of Stalin, which was not inevitable but instead hinged on the accident of Lenin’s weakness in illness and Trotsky’s talent for making enemies. Figes ably explains the subsequent Nazi-Soviet pact, which Stalin parsed as “Leninist,” and the slow thawing that came about after the dictator’s death in 1953. The author then joins the developments of the final four decades of Soviet power to the earlier era, writing that Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms were proposed much earlier—decades, in some cases—than they were enacted.

As ever, highly readable and of tremendous interest to students not just of Russian history, but also of modern geopolitics—and not least due to the fact that Soviet heir Vladimir Putin remains in power.

HERE COMES EVERYBODY The Story of the Pogues Fearnley, James Chicago Review (416 pp.) $18.95 paper | May 1, 2014 978-1-55652-950-4

A founding musician in one of Ireland’s most raucous, poetic and punk bands remembers the highs, lows and plateaus of the golden age of combat rock.

It’s really only the first half of a continuing story, but it’s the right half to tell. Fearnley just narrowly escaped becoming a permanent member of Culture Club when band mate Jem Finer invited him to become a member of The Nips, later changed to Pogue Mahone and then simply The Pogues.

Led by the irreverent, inebriated and often diabolical singer Shane MacGowan, the band toured hard for a decade in the wake of their 1984 debut “Red Roses for Me.” Fearnley makes readers feel every mile. For fans of the band, it’s a detail-rich, expressive remembrance not only of the many gigs where someone had to pull MacGowan off the ceiling with a rake to get him to play, but also of the remarkable musical gumbo that produced fantastic songs like “If I Should Fall from Grace with God,” “Rainy Night in Soho” and the holiday classic “Fairytale of New York,” a duet with the late Kirsty MacColl. Along with fascinating glances at contemporaries like Elvis Costello and Joe Strummer, the book also offers a cleareyed and unforgiving assessment of MacGowan’s path of self-destruction. “Shane’s drinking was a more venerable enterprise, a swath cut by the likes of such writers as Brendan Behan and Dylan Thomas, not to mention Faulkner, Chandler, Fitzgerald and 54

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“Put on your dancing shoes, and get funky with this romp through the history of a cultural touchstone.” from the hippest trip in america

THE HIPPEST TRIP IN AMERICA Soul Train and the Evolution of Culture & Style

THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF REBECCA WEST A Biography Gibb, Lorna Counterpoint (352 pp.) $30.00 | May 13, 2014 978-1-61902-306-2

George, Nelson Morrow/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-06-222103-2

Scottish chronicler Gibb (Lady Hester: Queen of the East, 2005) presents Rebecca West (1892–1983) in all her contradictory melodrama, unflinching political vision and trailblazing feminism.

However, there is a frustrating lack of depth regarding the context of West’s writing and a great deal about her personal shenanigans and relations with her son and her lovers. A British journalist of the finest caliber, who gave us prescient, shimmering dispatches from Yugoslavia (Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, 1941), the Nuremberg trials and others, West was also so virulently anti-communist that she wrote sympathetic articles about Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s investigations and was roundly excoriated for it. Born Cicely Isabel Fairfield to an Irish father who more or less abandoned the family of three daughters, leaving his capable, educated and musical wife to settle in her native Edinburgh, the young protagonist fell in early with the cause of the suffragettes and failed in her first career as an actress.

As a firebrand journalist—she quickly grasped the necessity of changing her pen name when her mother complained about her feminist causes, and she thereby used as nom de plume a character from Henrik Ibsen’s Rosmersholm—West caught the eye of the philandering novelist H.G. Wells, who was older and married. Their scandalous love affair produced a son, Anthony, and it is difficult to tell from Gibb’s account who exactly was to blame for the lifelong animosity between mother and son.

In any case, extraordinarily versatile in her work, West wrote both a critical biography of Henry James and numerous novels, beginning with her debut, The Return of the Soldier (1918). During her long life, West was acquainted or worked with many of the most notable figures from her age, from Emma Goldman to Roberto Rossellini to Warren Beatty.

A generous, mostly gratifying life, but a question remains: What drove this deeply committed author?

Put on your dancing shoes, and get funky with this romp through the history of a cultural touchstone.

George (Thriller: The Musical Life of Michael Jackson, 2010, etc.) points out that when the music-and-dance show Soul Train premiered in 1970 on a local Chicago TV station, the “landscape of black images on television and in film…was pretty barren.” Was the country in need of such an entity? Perhaps not, but sometimes the country doesn’t realize what it needs until it’s available. Enter Don Cornelius, an opportunistic, passionate DJ who figured out that Americans (or at least a healthy percentage of them) were ready for a black version of American Bandstand, a show where up-and-coming soul and R&B artists could perform their latest hits. The affable Cornelius was right, and soon enough, Soul Train was a national phenomenon (even though it tailed off in importance before it ended in 2006), certainly an entity that, four decades later, is worthy of a serious re-examination from a serious writer. Those familiar with the prolific George’s work might be surprised that a writer known for his serious studies of African-American culture would tackle a subject that’s so flatout fun, but his palpable love for the show makes it obvious that this is a passion project, a topic that gave him the opportunity to relive one of the joys of his youth. George’s approach—and mix of narrative and oral history—is the ideal way to tackle the topic, since the combination of voices allows readers to feel and enjoy the love, the peace and the hair grease. The author chronicles his interviews with the performers, but most importantly, he got Cornelius on tape before he died in 2012.

George’s in-depth look at a revered TV show is one of those rare music-centric books that will transcend its subject’s core fan base. Even those with just a casual interest in Soul Train will be happy to take this trip.

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“A deeply engrossing study of the first year of Franklin Roosevelt’s prescient military leadership in World War II.” from the mantle of command

BIRDMEN The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies

of “museum learning” at the National Air and Space Museum.

The author first tasted living history at Colonial Williamsburg and learned how to mount interactive museum presentations at Washington’s Smithsonian Institution, where he was once able to sneak a ride atop a refurbished high-wheel bicycle. We hear of notables, like Marcus Garvey and John Brown, who are represented in the National Portrait Gallery, where Grove also assisted. He also offers a history of the gallery’s venerable building and a chronicle of the goings-on at Harpers Ferry. In the Museum of American History’s “Hands on History Room,” Grove was able to demonstrate the mechanics of a cotton gin and tell how conservators tend to the original Stars and Stripes.

He joined the Missouri Historical Society to celebrate the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark’s journey of discovery. Thus, we are introduced to legendary Sacagawea, mourn over the murdered buffalo and hear about the smelly grizzly pelt required for a display. The author chronicles his presentation of instructive relics at the National Air and Space Museum and provides some information about how Charles and Anne Lindbergh prepared for their adventures. Though he’s not fond of battlefield reenactments, Grove thoroughly enjoys re-creating the past with appropriate objects. Essentially about the author’s career in educating with artifacts, his account makes snippets of American history accessible to casual readers, who may learn of the utility of mules, the history of airmail and such miscellanea.

Touches of American history, up close and personal, from an educator’s scrapbook.

Goldstone, Lawrence Ballantine (448 pp.) $28.00 | May 6, 2014 978-0-345-53803-1 978-0-345-53804-8 e-book

At the dawn of powered flight, the warfare for the air was as intense, if not as sanguinary, as war in the air would one day become.

Goldstone—author or co-author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction titles (Inherently Unequal: The Betrayal of Equal Rights by the Supreme Court, 1965–1903, 2010, etc.)—returns with a story little known to those unversed in aviation history: the battle Orville and Wilbur Wright fought with Glenn Curtiss to dominate the aviation market in the early years of the 20th century. Both would win and lose. After a brief prologue, Goldstone returns to the early theories and attempts at manned flight—Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo have cameos. The author then leaps to the late 19th century, then swiftly to Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers would achieve their immortality in 1903. He takes us through their design innovations and their false starts and hopes, and despite his patent admiration for the brothers, Goldstone also describes a surprising intransigence and even truculence in them. He then shifts focus to Curtiss (and ping-pongs back and forth between his two subjects the rest of the way), who was a brilliant designer, as well. The author describes the controversy between his two principals: Early in their relationship, a relationship that moved from amicable to hostile, did Curtiss steal ideas? The author then glides above history, directing our attention to the phenomenon of the air show, aerial competitions, the innovations in design, the crashes, the deaths and the slow emergence of women aviators.

He also describes the grotesque determination of spectators to retrieve pieces of wreckage, even moments after a fatal crash. The Wright brothers became embroiled in countless lawsuits with Curtiss and others as history inevitably flew away from them.

A powerful story that contrasts soaring hopes with the anchors of ego and courtroom.

THE MANTLE OF COMMAND FDR at War, 1941-1942

Hamilton, Nigel Houghton Mifflin (528 pp.) $30.00 | May 13, 2014 978-0-547-77524-1

A deeply engrossing study of the first year of Franklin Roosevelt’s prescient military leadership in World War II. Consummate biographer Hamilton (How to Do Biography: A Primer, 2008, etc.) ably captures the charming, astute personality of FDR, especially his role as foil to the dogged, imperious Winston Churchill. Considering that so many facets of the Roosevelt era have already been amply scrutinized, it is to Hamilton’s considerable credit that he manages to impart singular, fresh nuance and depth to his hero. Hamilton aims to set the record straight on three counts: First, despite the postwar preening by his generals, FDR had fended off various defeatist and ineffectual proposals after the attack on Pearl Harbor and held firm to the necessity of a quick reprisal in the Pacific to check Japan’s further incursions into the Indian Ocean. Subsequently, working with the British (and against a near mutiny of his generals), FDR seized on a massive combined force in northwest Africa, which would become Operation Torch, to pincer the Germans under Erwin Rommel, thus opening up a second front, to the delight of the Russians.

A GRIZZLY IN THE MAIL AND OTHER ADVENTURES IN AMERICAN HISTORY

Grove, Tim Univ. of Nebraska (256 pp.) $18.95 paper | May 1, 2014 978-0-8032-4972-1

A practitioner of “living history” recounts, among odd bits of America’s past, some of his life story so far.

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Second, Hamilton aims to emphasize how important it was to FDR, a born aristocrat yet a man of the people, that he and Churchill hammer out an understanding that the Americans would enter the war not to help Britain prop up its collapsing empire; on the contrary, FDR touched this sore spot frequently, for instance, pressuring Churchill to let the beleaguered Indians fight for their self-determination. Finally, Hamilton wonderfully delineates FDR’s ability to elicit news from his many “eyes and ears” in the field—in opposition to the Victorian, prideful Churchill. However, as the author portrays through Churchill’s extended White House Christmas visit in 1941, the two leaders learned a great deal from each other.

Lively, elucidating, elegant and highly knowledgeable. (two 8-page b/w inserts)

and other concepts. She also discusses alternate approaches that have been applied successfully in education and business.

The step-by-step accumulation of argument and evidence is overwhelming in its thoroughness and attention to detail.

THE HOMING INSTINCT Meaning and Mystery in Animal Migration

Heinrich, Bernd Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (384 pp.) $27.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-547-19848-4

A noted naturalist explores the centrality of home in the lives of humans and other animals.

“Not just any place will do,” writes Heinrich (Emeritus, Biology/Univ. of Vermont; Life Everlasting: The Animal Way of Death, 2012, etc.), winner of the 2013 PEN New England Award for Nonfiction. “For other animals and us, home is a ‘nest’ where we live, where our young are reared.” In this delightful, wide-ranging meditation on the pull of home, the author examines the homing behaviors of species from songbirds to caterpillars to a pair of sandhill cranes, which make an annual 5,000-kilometer journey from Texas or Mexico to a precise place—their home pond—in Alaska. Like us, birds use the sun as a compass for homing. Other species use scent trails or water or air currents as travel guides. Drawing on his own observations and research, as well as the work of such specialists as zoologist Archie Carr (turtle homing) and ornithologist Gustav Kramer, Heinrich tells the homing stories of innumerable species and describes similarities to the behaviors of humans—innate homebodies who need only familiar landmarks to find their ways home. There are many examples of home building: Termites recycle feces to create tiny cities.

Honeybees build honeycombs. Woodpeckers excavate out of solid wood. All choose particular places that protect against weather and predators. The author describes the year in which a spider became his housemate and the array of deer mice, phoebes, hornets, ants, flickers and other creatures that made themselves comfortable in his cabin in the woods. From ancient campfires to the apple orchards planted by Europeans declaring their intention to settle in places in the American West, Heinrich examines all aspects of life associated with home.

A special treat for readers of natural history.

A BIGGER PRIZE How We Can Do Better than the Competition

Heffernan, Margaret PublicAffairs (304 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1610392914 978-1-61039-292-1 e-book

Entrepreneur Heffernan (Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril, 2011, etc.) systematically deconstructs the social myths associated with hypercompetitiveness while providing a formidable case about how counterproductive, and even perverse, it can be.

The author considers the effects of hypercompetitiveness in the realms of family, education, sports, scientific research, and business and corporate leadership. She shows that in each subject area, there is a ruling principle at work under which “the product [or result] is prized over the process.” In education, making the grade becomes more important than doing the work for its own sake and actually learning in the process.

In sports and business, “winning” is the name of the game.

Heffernan strengthens her argument by referencing scientific research that proves why hypercompetitiveness, reward-based systems and hierarchical ranking systems don’t work. Instead, they have been shown to encourage cheating, gaming the system, secrecy and lack of transparency. This kind of research goes back at least 100 years. The author refers to the work of Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, who proved decades ago that rewards based on performance undermine internal motivation.

She also discusses work from the 1950s on the lack of correlation between rewards-based education and creative productiveness, examining how destructive certain kinds of curricula can be. “Using competition to identify the best,” she writes, “and then using the best to inspire the rest turns out to be a great theory; it just doesn’t work in practice.” The costs—excessive stress, unhealthy habits and general unhappiness—often outweigh the benefits of fostering success through competition.

Heffernan helpfully compares these consequences to scientific studies of the behavior of chickens in regard to pecking order |

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Carl Hoffman

The writer unearths the humanity of a violent people

By Neha Sharma Hoffman’s book intricately investigates the various elements—political opportunism, colonialism, Asmat ethnography, ritualistic art and symbolism—that complicate the story of Rockefeller’s fatalistic journey to Dutch New Guinea. Nelson Rockefeller, Michael’s father and a former vice president of the United States, was a generous benefactor who made invaluable contributions to the cultural landscape of New York through his work with the Museum of Modern Art and the establishment of the Museum of Primitive Art in 1954.

Michael inherited his father’s interests and went to Dutch New Guinea to tap into the vibrancy (and artifacts) of its indigenous tribes, which he had first encountered while working as a sound recorder on Robert Gardner’s documentary Dead Birds. After a short period spent collecting art from the Asmat, Rockefeller vanished without a trace.

As Hoffman retreads Rockefeller’s path and reveals what actually happened—leaving as little to conjecture as possible—he also offers an incisive exposition of the intersection of art, politics and unfettered violence.

Hoffman has always been fascinated and haunted by Rockefeller’s story. A few simplistic parallels between the two—both New Yorkers, drawn to “exotic” lands and about the same age—also nurtured a sense of affinity. “I have always been fascinated with the faraway, exotic and hidden places of the world,” Hoffman says.

He suggests that books and movies bred in him this craving for the mystic and fantastical: As a child, The Chronicles of Narnia, Tolkien’s work and films like Lawrence of Arabia whetted his appetite for exotic travel.

“Anything that took place in jungles or what I would then call ‘primitive’ places, they had a big attraction for me,” he says. “I had the powerful desire to see those places I grew up reading about, and I wanted to live that life, to wander and to see and taste and touch and smell it all for myself.”

Photo courtesy Liz Lynch

In Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art, Carl Hoffman’s reimagining of Michael C. Rockefeller’s death at the hands of the Asmat people on Nov. 20, 1961, seems startlingly real, enough to make the viscera churn. The brutality of the act of ritualistic cannibalism—replete with anatomical detail—is amplified by the tribesmen’s banter and jokes about what Rockefeller might have been doing when he was last alive.

Rockefeller’s remains were never found, but in Savage Harvest, Hoffman cites sources who believe that the Asmat still keep his skull as something of a prized possession bearing otherworldly significance. To this day, the Rockefeller family chooses to believe that the 23-year-old scion drowned in the river when his catamaran capsized.

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Hoffman’s intrigue for Rockefeller’s story was also encouraged by other developments in his life— his father lived in Indonesia for a while, which is how Hoffman learned about Tobias Schneebaum’s deeply insightful writings about the Asmat. He first saw images of the Asmat’s ritual warfare while watching Dead Birds.

The loose ends of Rockefeller’s life constantly gnawed at Hoffman, though. The more he traveled, the more he recognized “the goodness of the world and the beauty in the world,” as he put it. He felt certain that if something evil had happened to Michael, “there was a story there. Something had gone awry. I was trying to understand what happened to Michael and whether this story that he was killed by these people was culturally consistent,” he says. “Even if every piece of information pointed to that fact, did it seem logical?”

Hoffman has a profound sociological appreciation of behavioral complexity in Savage Harvest, which enables him to intellectualize even radically taboo acts of cannibalism within a contextual framework. The author, who is also a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler, has visited about 70 countries throughout his career. His wanderlust allows for a rich investigation of the idea of a common humanity—how it is universally underscored by similar motivations and the differential is essentially borne of its habitat, geopolitics and history. As he immersed himself in Asmat culture, Hoffman also engaged with and appraised definitions of “primitiveness” and “civilization.”

“I obviously came to the understanding that saying that these people are primitive is an incredibly inadequate term and pretty reductionist,” he says. “Asmat is so complicated, and there are these beautiful examples of how brilliant and creative and complex the human mind can be when you stick a bunch of people in a place where there is nothing.” He cites their language, which has seven tenses, and the incredible art they make with the few resources they have.

Even though the Asmat are “now pacified”—according to the Dutch, their former colonizers, and the Indonesians—and are not rabid cannibals, their history is significantly defined by violence. “Human beings are violent, human beings are crazy, complex, savage people, and you can count all of us in that.

The Asmat are horrifically, brutally violent,” he says.

“Their everyday lives, their rituals, the things that bring meaning to their lives were these unspeakable, taboo acts of violence.”

Hoffman suggests that while “civilized, technologically advanced societies” might have moral “filters” that remove them from the unruly world of the Asmat, violence is still deeply embedded in all of human consciousness. He references instances of organized violence like the Holocaust and drone warfare. Hoffman also points to the irony of Dutch official Max Lapré’s violent oppression in the Asmat village of Otsjanep in 1958—in the book, he links this to Rockefeller’s death, believing the Asmat might have been looking to avenge the deaths of their tribesmen by Lapré.

Rockefeller’s death has now become something of a nativistic story for the Asmat. Toward the end of the book, as he reaches for the tender gut of the brutish tribe, Hoffman conveys the humanity in the Asmat: “The Asmat that day killed Michael Rockefeller out of passion and love, love for what they had lost and what they were losing—…their culture and traditions, headhunting—as modernity and Christianity closed in from every direction.”

Neha Sharma is a cultural writer based in New York.

Her work has also appeared in the New York Observer, Vulture, Virgin America and Rolling Stone (India).

Savage Harvest received a starred review in the Feb. 15, 2014, issue of Kirkus Reviews.

Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art Hoffman, Carl Morrow/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-06-211615-4

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“The last writings of an eminent British historian.” from fractured times

LONG MILE HOME Boston Under Attack, the City’s Courageous Recovery, and the Epic Hunt for Justice

Jung had no real desire to become CEO when she joined the venerable but staid Avon cosmetics corporation as a marketing consultant in 1993. But her exotic beauty, intelligence and charisma captivated everyone. So did her innovative, risk-taking style, which almost immediately began yielding profits for Avon.

With the help of then-CEO Jim Preston, Jung became head of global marketing for Avon in 1996 and, not long afterward, company president and COO. Three years later, she was named CEO at a time when the company shares had plummeted and corporate takeover rumors abounded. Jung met the challenge by implementing ambitious plans to develop “higher quality… products than local markets could produce [while] also working with local managers [to help] them meet the needs of their customers.” Her visionary but often expensive initiatives fueled unparalleled growth and expansion. When Avon’s fortunes took a downward turn in 2005, she took the unprecedented step of firing herself and rehiring a leaner, meaner Jung. But as former Avon exec Himsel (Leadership Sopranos Style, 2003) notes, the same people-pleasing trait that had helped Jung at the outset of her career at Avon ultimately made her unable to impact corporate culture enough to make it as “accountable and performance-driven as it should have been.” Continued financial losses and scandals—including a Securities and Exchange Commission probe into financial improprieties in the Chinese market—led to her resignation in 2011. With insight and sensitivity, Himsel transforms Jung’s amazing story into a clear-sighted study of how personal/professional characteristics, gender and corporate culture can impact the ultimate success or failure of even the most talented CEOs. Incisive reading for both women and men about the dynamics of corporate leadership.

Helman, Scott; Russell, Jenna Dutton (352 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-525-95448-4

In a remarkable work of narrative journalism, Boston Globe journalists Helman (co-author: The Real Romney, 2012) and Russell (co-author: Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy, 2009), with support from their comrades at the Globe’s news department, map out the heartbreaks, dogged pursuits and courageous acts of defiance that resulted from one of America’s most foolhardy and cowardly acts of terrorism.

Most readers will remember the shock and awe that emerged when two improvised explosive devices—pressure cookers outfitted with nails and other fierce forms of shrapnel—ripped apart the crowds at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. The authors could have chosen to focus on the single-minded manhunt by the FBI and the Boston police department, which ultimately killed Tamerlan Tsarnaev and arrested his younger brother Dzhokhar with grievous gunshot wounds, and their story is told here with fine reportage. But instead of closing the book with the arrest, the authors tell the story of the event through very human eyes. They include the stories of marathon organizer Dave McGillivray, who was helpless to maintain control, Shana Cottone, a Boston police officer who questions her response to the emergency; and Heather Abbott, one of more than a dozen people to lose limbs in the bombing. There were three people killed during the bombing, here represented by the family of Krystle Campbell, a young woman whose case of mistaken identity worsened one family’s awful grief. Many of the scenes are heart-wrenching, but it’s worth getting through, as the book portrays a defiant Boston, resilient victims, and the determination of a community that two naïve, dimwitted youths will never strike enough fear into a city that it won’t rise again.

Journalism that demonstrates all the arguments why we need professionals to tell the stories that mark our generations and a valentine to the people that proved Boston Strong.

FRACTURED TIMES Culture and Society in the Twentieth Century

Hobsbawm, Eric New Press (336 pp.) $27.95 | May 6, 2014 978-1-59558-977-4

The last writings of an eminent British historian.

Hobsbawm (How to Change the World: Tales of Marx and Marxism, 2011, etc.), who died in 2012, gathers 22 essays that represent his deep and wide historical interests: 19th-century European culture, the role of the public intellectual, and the relationship of art to science, revolution and power. Selections include book reviews, journal articles and lectures, half previously unpublished. Hobsbawm characterizes the present as intellectually shattered: “an era of history that has lost its bearing, and which in the early years of the new millennium looks forward…guideless and mapless, to an unrecognizable future.” Science, religion and the arts, he contends, have lost their cultural force, and the current distrust of science marks a vast change from the 19th-century belief that it “held up the temple of progress.” The author champions

BEAUTY QUEEN Inside the Reign of Avon’s Andrea Jung Himsel, Deborrah Palgrave Macmillan (240 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-1-137-27882-1

A leadership consultant examines business executive Andrea Jung’s tenure as Avon CEO and the lessons her rise to and fall from power offer those seeking to climb the corporate ladder.

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such influential thinkers as chemist J.D. Bernal, author of The Social Function of Science (1939), and biochemist Joseph Needham, author of a groundbreaking history of Chinese science; both men aimed to affect “changing relations…between science and society.” Hobsbawm sees a “major cause for alarm” in the “rise of radical but predominantly right-wing ideologies” within Protestant Christianity and Islam. Fundamentalist movements are concerned not with fostering community but with “powerful, individual spiritual experiences.” The arts, he writes, no longer “function as measures of good and bad, as carriers of value: of truth, beauty and catharsis,” but instead have become merely consumer items for personal satisfaction. “Who can tell,” he asks, “on what terms reason and revived anti-reason will coexist in the ongoing earthquakes and tsunamis of the twenty-first century?” Global movements toward widespread suffrage and representative governments, he asserts, are undermined by weak leadership and uninformed, thoughtless voters.

Hobsbawm speaks to the crucial need for engaged public intellectuals and the kind of rigorous social and political analysis so well represented by these urgent and important essays.

he dismisses most politicians as complicit. The author claims that the rule of law has become a kind of “automatic government” undermining predictability while “leaving citizens open to arbitrary state power.” As for solutions, Howard calls for a Napoleonic type of codification of law at all levels, a system of special commissions to smooth out infrastructure approvals, the addressing of overlapping government functions and mandatory elimination of certain old laws.

Some may find the diagnosis persuasive, but the cures proposed may worsen long-standing inequities.

THE UNKNOWN HENRY MILLER A Seeker in Big Sur

Hoyle, Arthur Arcade (416 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-61145-899-2

A refreshing biography of Henry Miller (1891–1980) that plunges into his work and spares readers some tedious early detail.

California-based educator and documentary filmmaker Hoyle catches up with Miller in 1939, when he was wrapping up his years of bohemian living in Paris, facing the prospect of German invasion and coming war. The social and moral collapses he witnessed about him are vividly captured in the work he produced during the 1930s, published by Jack Kahane through his Obelisk Press in Paris. These included Miller’s signature works celebrating the “artist of life,” such as Tropic of Cancer, published in 1934, which gave him notoriety in Europe but was banned in England and the United States for alleged obscenity until the early 1960s. Indeed, at this juncture, Miller was frustrated by the inability to publish his work in America.

As impecunious as when he arrived in Paris, he was fatalistic about his future writing career: “I lack the courage for further hardships.” Moreover, his important love and benefactress, Anaïs Nin, was not going to leave her husband and make an idyllic life with Miller, and his interludes in Corfu and New York meant an imminent break with her. Hoyle quotes extensively from Miller’s prodigious correspondence. Dismayed by the ugly acquisitiveness of New York, Miller nonetheless reconnected with his troubled family in Brooklyn, writing about this period as the reconciliation of the prodigal son.

Moving to California, and being offered, in 1944, a cheap cabin to use in Big Sur, a region of startling natural beauty, radically altered Miller’s sense of his American identity and destiny as a writer. Here he would embark on his deeply autobiographical account of his upbringing, The Rosy Crucifixion, and forge important new relationships that would nourish his work and solidify his literary legacy as more than a “lowly pornographer.”

Despite distracting tense changes, Hoyle offers generous interpretations of Miller’s oeuvre.

THE RULE OF NOBODY Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government

Howard, Philip K. Norton (224 pp.) $23.95 | Apr. 14, 2014 978-0-393-08282-1

A blast against dysfunctional government, which Howard (Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Accountability in America, 2010, etc.) calls “a form of tyranny.”

In the author's view, when push comes to shove and problems need to be solved through action, and not another feasibility study, nobody has the authority to act. He evinces particular fury in considering long-standing legal obligations that bind the hands of government at all levels. Howard examines many of the usual suspects: “In 2010,” he writes, “70 percent of federal tax revenue was consumed by three entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security) that don’t even come up for annual congressional authorization.” Another group consuming funds is public sector employees—police, firefighters and teachers, among others—whose contracts and work rules hamstring state and local governments. Howard ridicules bureaucratic idiocies typified by the shenanigans regarding New Jersey's Bayonne Bridge, which needs upgrading or replacement to prepare for supersized Panamax ships. After more than a decade and nearly 50 approvals obtained from 20 different government entities, the project is still in limbo. Where other countries—e.g., the Netherlands—have “one stop shopping” for approvals, the United States now ranks 16th worldwide in ease of access for construction permits. Howard adds environmental and other kinds of laws to his list of contributors to dysfunctional government, and |

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“...Kaplan portrays our sixth president as a deeply literary man, devout husband, orator, diplomat and teacher who had grand plans for the country’s future...” from john quincy adams

THE GREAT AND HOLY WAR How World War I Became a Religious Crusade

Among the contributors are President Barack Obama, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, international trade unionists, and specialists from academia and the think-tank world—even Studs Terkel. The keynote of the collection is the president’s Dec. 6, 2011, speech in Osawatomie, Kan., in which he argued that widening inequality contributed to the financial collapse in 2008. On that occasion, Obama struck a note of optimism about his reforms and their prospects for implementation. Johnston’s introduction is quite a bit more pessimistic, as he notes that nearly 95 percent of all income gains between 2009 and 2012 went to the top 1 percent. The income of the “vast majority, the bottom 90 per cent,” shrank by 15.7 percent on average, to a level lower than it was in 1966. Other contributors fill out the picture and shape a timeline of the widening of the divisions. Warren’s piece on the disappearing middle class was written in 2004. In 2007, Ehrenreich exposed Home Depot Chairman Robert Nardelli’s monstrous 2007 golden parachute.

A chapter by Donald S. Shepherd, Elizabeth Setren and Donna Cooper on how hunger increased in America during the recession by 30 percent appeared on Slate in 2012. Also documented: how income inequality constricts access to goods both public and private, like food, education and health care. Johnston includes an excerpt from Adam Smith’s 1776 Wealth of Nations: “By necessaries I understand not only the commodities which are indispensably necessary for the support of life, but whatever the custom of the country renders it indecent for creditable people, even of the lowest order, to be without.”

A potent chronicle of America’s “extreme inequality, the worst by far of any nation with a modern economy.”

Jenkins, Philip HarperOne (448 pp.) $29.99 | May 1, 2014 978-0-06-210509-7

A painstaking, densely layered study of the many slippery uses of religion in the making of war.

Holy war rhetoric was not new to World War I, having been used to rousing effect during the Crusades. As Jenkins (History and Religious Studies/Baylor Univ.; Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can’t Ignore the Bible’s Violent Verses, 2011, etc.) delineates, the “highly material conflict” of 1914 and the messianic zeal undertaken by Germany and Russia especially rendered this a uniquely disastrous and foreboding phenomenon. Not only did the powerful states of the czar and kaiser glorify in the language of divine providence in justifying their aggression, but the church leaders in the West also employed violent language involving Christian duty and honor to save Christian civilization from “God’s enemies,” the barbaric Germans. World War I erupted during a time when religious themes still resonated powerfully with rural and peasant societies, and medieval imagery of battling knights and angels was used frequently in propaganda. For Protestant Germany, the war heralded God’s special mission for the nation. Yet rumors of German atrocities unleashed tales of Christ-like suffering. Spiritual calls to sacrifice and martyrdom underpinned the militarism and nationalism of the embroiled nations, and as the grisly slaughter grew, shocking people with the numbers of dead—the French lost 27,000 men on Aug. 22, 1914, alone at the Battle of the Frontiers—so did the use of the language of the apocalypse. Superstition among soldiers was common, as were sightings of angels and the walking dead on the battlefields. While the war was largely a Christian struggle, the Ottoman Empire jumped in with stirring calls to sacrifice one’s life “for the safety of the faith.” Indeed, as Jenkins carefully portrays, the war changed everything, from the collapse of the old order to the compromising and weakening of world faiths.

A work of intensely nuanced research.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS American Visionary

Kaplan, Fred Harper/HarperCollins (672 pp.) $29.99 | May 6, 2014 978-0-06-191541-3

In this elegant study, Kaplan (Emeritus, English/Queens Coll.; Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, 2008, etc.) portrays our sixth president as a deeply literary man, devout husband, orator, diplomat and teacher who had grand plans for the country’s future, including the building of national infrastructure and the abolition of slavery.

Indeed, John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) was concerned about America’s loss of innocence in its rapid expansion and growing distance from its foundational ideals. A prodigious, gifted writer, he worried about “the internal health of the nation,” with the squabbling between the Republicans and Federalists during the contested presidential elections, the addition of slave states to the union and the War of 1812, which had revealed the country’s evolution into “a parcel of petty tribes at perpetual war with one another.” Like his father, Quincy Adams was Harvard-educated, a lawyer and inculcated to answering

DIVIDED The Perils of Our Growing Inequality Johnston, David Cay–Ed. New Press (320 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-59558-923-1 978-1-59558-944-6 e-book

Investigative reporter Johnston (The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use “Plain English” to Rob You Blind, 2012, etc.) collects together writings from forty authors representing many different fields of endeavor to present a multifaceted picture of inequality.

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the call of his country, despite his own wishes. For example, he was appointed to diplomatic posts (his first training being next to his father in Paris from the age of 10) at The Hague and St. Petersburg. Yet the wandering life suited this restless intellect, and he even rejected a Supreme Court nomination since he fashioned himself a man of action and, moreover, was the only ex-president to serve in Congress (from his home state of Massachusetts). A loyal, loving husband to foreign-born, French-speaking Louisa, he lost all but one son during his lifetime. He was also tainted by the hint of a “corrupt bargain” in trading electoral votes for elevating Henry Clay to secretary of state, and he was hounded out of the presidency by his political opponents led by Andrew Jackson. However, his argument in defense of the Amistad prisoners before the Supreme Court in 1841 was a powerful plea for the cause of justice. Kaplan ably navigates his subject’s life, showing us “a president about whom most Americans know very little.”

A lofty work that may propel readers back to Quincy Adams’ own ardent writings. (Two 8-page color inserts)

bringing hope to African-Americans, who had suffered even more than whites during the Depression. The cult of personality that developed around Temple even helped the struggling economy. At the height of the young star’s popularity, fans spent millions of dollars on Temple memorabilia.

Informative and well-researched, Kasson’s work offers insight into one of Hollywood’s most beloved entertainers, as well as the fascinating connection between politics and entertainment. (32 photos)

THE SELECTED LETTERS OF ELIA KAZAN

Kazan, Elia Devlin, Albert J.; Devlin, Marlene J.–Eds. Knopf (672 pp.) $40.00 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-307-26716-0 An engrossing collection chronicles the acclaimed director’s life and work.

Kazan (1909–2003) directed both plays and movies, winning Tony Awards, Oscars and many other awards. He also wrote a handful of novels and more than 1,200 letters. The Devlins have judiciously chosen 300, providing an informative context of theater and film history spiced with a hefty dose of gossip. Kazan’s correspondents feature a prominent cast of producers, actors and playwrights, as well as his wife and children. He wrote to John D. Rockefeller III about establishing Lincoln Center’s Repertory Theatre, of which Kazan became co-director; to John Steinbeck about the filming of his novel East of Eden (1955), with the unknown actor James Dean; to writer Budd Schulberg, explaining why Marlon Brando was “WRONG” for On the Waterfront (Kazan considered the very young Paul Newman: “This boy will definitely be a film star”). The letters reveal Kazan as restless, opinionated and fiercely ambitious. “I always had a great thirst for knowledge,” he wrote when he was 23. “When I was younger I actually had a fear that some kid would know more about some subject than I did. I tried to know everything about everything.” That fear persisted: When he was 45, he confessed to having “very large self doubts, especially on an intellectual level.” His doubts, though, did not deter him from challenging projects, including Thornton Wilder’s enigmatic The Skin of Our Teeth (1942) and Arthur Miller’s All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949) and After the Fall (1964). He was Tennessee Williams’ director of choice, beginning with A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1956) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1960). Copious letters to his wife reveal both his passion for his work and his many affairs (one with the “touching pathetic waif ” Marilyn Monroe).

An impressive work of scholarship, this collection offers a sweeping look at 60 years of American popular culture and an intimate portrait of one complex man whirling at its center. (63 photos)

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO FOUGHT THE GREAT DEPRESSION Shirley Temple and 1930s America Kasson, John F. Norton (384 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 14, 2014 978-0-393-24079-5

A cultural historian examines how the films of Shirley Temple (1928–2014) worked in tandem with New Deal politics to help Americans overcome the Great Depression.

The images most associated with the 1930s bear witness to the hardships average Americans faced. But the ones most popular during this time bore the radiant face of child actress Temple. In this study, Kasson (History and American Studies/ Univ. of North Carolina; Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man: The White Male Body and the Challenge of Modernity in America, 2001, etc.) argues that Temple’s smile and sunny personality helped bring Franklin Roosevelt’s “politics of cheer” to the forefront of national consciousness while providing Americans with much-needed emotional solace. Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation, which made government assistance available to “the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid,” only went so far. Consumer confidence, which implied faith in the future, also had to be restored to ensure the return of prosperity.

Roosevelt accomplished part of this task through the vigorously cheerful outlook he projected in his political addresses. From 1934 to 1940, Temple captivated movie-going audiences all over the United States and the world with her ability to heal broken hearts with her “inexhaustible fund of optimism.” Through her extraordinary dance partnership with black entertainer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Temple also called attention to the problem of race in both Hollywood and the United States while |

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“Keillor’s moments of contemplation have produced some of the finest essays in this lovely collection.” from the keillor reader

THE KEILLOR READER

Lazenby (Jerry West: The Life and Legend of a Basketball Icon, 2010, etc.) adds this exceedingly long biography. So much of Jordan’s legend—his highlight reel, his logo, his six championship rings— is old hat even to non–basketball fans, yet the author purports to examine what makes “The God of Basketball” tick. Lazenby begins with an examination of Jordan’s gene pool, going back to his great-grandfather’s birth in 1891, and readers can be forgiven a sense of ennui (if not dread) when he doesn’t get around to Jordan’s rookie NBA season until a third of the way into the book.

The author strives to reveal what he calls “the many tightly clasped secrets of the Jordan legend,” but does lifting the veil— and in such depth—increase fans’ appreciation of his extraordinary playing career? Lazenby offers solid insight into Jordan’s renowned competitive fury, and there is a well-told story of how Nike came to endorse and build a brand around a rookie who had yet to play a single minute of pro ball. He also shares how Chicago Bulls head coach Kevin Loughery saw fit to implement an “all-Jordan, all the time” offensive strategy early in Jordan’s career, which let the egotistical lion out of the cage, to the consternation of teammates as well as league veterans, who found the cocksure youngster arrogant and standoffish. Fortunately, Lazenby doesn’t traffic in obsequious prose; although fairly dry, the book is dutifully and objectively written. However, though the author covered Jordan’s college and professional career for decades, many readers likely won’t share his single-mindedness.

Studded with insights but unnecessarily long—though, given the continued aura of Jordan, likely to sell well. (16 pages of 4-color photos)

Keillor, Garrison Viking (384 pp.) $27.95 | May 1, 2014 978-0-670-02058-4

Melancholy and joy infuse Keillor’s (O, What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic and Profound, 2013, etc.) latest collection.

Heir to Mark Twain, James Thurber and E. B. White, Keillor offers more than laconic, sometimes-rueful, reports from the fictional Midwestern town of Lake Wobegon. Besides selected Prairie Home Companion monologues—written in an adrenaline rush on the morning of each show—this collection contains poetry, fiction and assorted essays, each introduced by autobiographical musings. A frequent subject is Keillor’s childhood among the Sanctified Brethren, fundamentalists in Anoka, Minn., who “did not read novels or poetry and were wary of history, except what was in Scripture.”

Writing, they believed, was sinful; nevertheless, becoming a writer was Keillor’s dream. In junior high school, he reported on sports for a local weekly; he worked his way through the University of Minnesota as an English major; and in 1969, he sold his first story to the New Yorker. A Prairie Home Companion began on the radio in 1974. “My bread and butter,” he writes, “was the good people of Lake Wobegon, but writing about good people is an uphill climb. Their industriousness, their infernal humility, their schoolmarmish sincerity…their clichés falling like clockwork—they can be awfully tiring to be around.” Those good people, however, have not been Keillor’s only subjects. Here, he gives us an acerbic newspaper column about Americans who “shell out upward of $10 billion a year for health care for pets” but can’t abide the thought “that everybody in America should receive the same level of care enjoyed by an elderly golden retriever.” He lovingly recalls the urbane Paris Review editor George Plimpton. In “Home,” “Cheerfulness” and “My Stroke (I’m Okay),” he celebrates the gifts of sharing your world with people you’ve known “almost forever” and working at what you love. “The key to cheerfulness, I discovered…was forward motion,” he writes. “The calm contemplative life equals melancholy.”

Keillor’s moments of contemplation have produced some of the finest essays in this lovely collection.

MURDER ON THE HOME FRONT A True Story of Morgues, Murderers, and Mysteries During the London Blitz

Lefebure, Molly Grand Central Publishing (288 pp.) $14.00 paper | $9.99 e-book Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4555-7606-7 978-1-4555-7607-4 e-book

A secretary to a formidable London pathologist during World War II reissues her wry, grisly account of murder and corpses, first published in 1955.

Lefebure was a junior reporter at a London suburban weekly when Dr. Keith Simpson, the Home Office pathologist at Guy’s Hospital, tapped her as having the right stuff to be his forensics secretary. An intrepid workaholic who was hardly bashful or squeamish, and thoroughly capable, Lefebure—whose name her colleagues could not pronounce, so she was known as Miss L—was highly intrigued by the forensics work of her swift-moving boss. The work took her across bomb-scarred London to a dozen post-mortems per day, as well as to the various courts and Scotland Yard. The author’s job was to type up the reports as the pathologist dictated while laboring over his cadaver, no matter the time or place—e.g., during the bombings by the Germans.

MICHAEL JORDAN The Life

Lazenby, Roland Little, Brown (720 pp.) $30.00 | $14.99 e-book | $35.00 CD May 6, 2014 978-0-316-19477-8 978-0-316-22876-3 e-book 978-1-47892-766-2 CD

An exhaustive—and exhausting—biography of the greatest player in NBA history.

Countless words have been written about Michael Jordan since his NBA debut in 1984, to which veteran sportswriter 64

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It’s a tall order to follow up what is, in effect, a definitive work, but Leibovitz delivers a different sort of biography that Cohen fanatics should appreciate. (10 illustrations)

She coolly collected specimens of hair or teeth in little bags and labeled them so that the team could figure out the cause of death later in the lab. Her chapters break down in chronological order some of the notable or simply memorable cases she encountered from the spring of 1941, when she visited her first mortuary, where she was impressed by the cleanliness of the operation though put off by “the sound of a saw raspingly opening a skull,” to the late autumn of 1945, after the war had wound down, when she was planning on marrying and needed to find her successor—job qualifications: “Typing. Good verbatim shorthand. Tact.

Interested in crime. No objection to mortuaries and corpses.

Reasonably fast runner.” Despite the many ghastly descriptions of ruined cadavers, Lefebure’s youthful bravery shines through, while the grim conditions showcase her terrific wit.

Preserves like a frozen capsule the British grin-andbear-it spirit and vocabulary of the WWII years.

THE OBJECT PARADE Essays

Lenney, Dinah Counterpoint (240 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-61902-300-0

A pensive perusal of the objects that can define and shape a life.

The materials that actress and essayist Lenney (Bigger than Life: A Murder, a Memoir, 2007) draws her inspiration from may be commonplace items, but to her, they “tell the stories of our lives.” The author reflects on integral items present throughout her history. Beloved is the Tiffany watch generously given as a wedding gift by her Grandpa Charlie, whose Steinway baby grand piano proved to be laborious to disassemble and relocate to her home in Los Angeles. Though uneven, the collection’s pieces build on each other, layer upon vivid layer of Lenney’s personal history, her heart firmly invested in hearth and home. The author’s family forms the centerpiece in a good portion of these ruminative writings, including a spontaneous, nostalgic revisit to her childhood home, an epistolary essay to her father, or a standout piece, “Nests,” which beautifully intertwines her sister’s dispirited emotional state with a family of watchful doves. Elsewhere, Lenney blissfully contemplates a spoon pilfered from summers spent at a resort, a scarf knitted during Hamlet rehearsals, a black dress that has escorted her through a temperamental acting career. One of the book’s most moving entries also happens to be its shortest: a strikingly gorgeous, two-page homage to Lenney’s daughter, portrayed as a young girl bouncing in the sun trailing a kite flush with bright streamers. Though she does tend to wander off on expository jaunts in less-engaging essays, the author remains a lyrical observer of everyday objects. Indeed, her truest passion lies in the heartfelt sentimentality for those things that “tether us to place and people and the past, to feeling and thought, to each other and ourselves, to some admittedly elusive understanding of the passage of time.”

An eclectic treasury of the cherished and the evocative.

A BROKEN HALLELUJAH Rock ’n’ Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen

Leibovitz, Liel Norton (256 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 14, 2014 978-0-393-08205-0

A slightly different look at rock royalty.

Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is one of rock’s most polarizing figures.

Those who love him do so rabidly and will soak up every morsel of music (or prose or poetry) that the baritone-voiced artist releases. One can assume that’s also the case with biographies, since less than two years after Sylvie Simmons’ phenomenal I’m Your Man was published, here comes another study of the revered Canadian troubadour. Though Tablet writer Leibovitz (co-author: Fortunate Sons: The 120 Chinese Boys Who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization, 2011, etc.) doesn’t add much new material to the Cohen biographical canon, his approach is certainly different than that of Simmons; it’s considerably more academic. Religion was (and is) among Cohen’s pet topics about which to write, and Leibovitz follows suit, at times even quoting the Bible to illuminate a concept. In one instance, he pulls a line from the book of Romans in a discussion about the Doors, noting, “The New and Old Testaments alike are books of waiting; the humans who populate them speak of salvation and cataclysm, but more than anything they linger in anticipation for God to act.” That sort of academic verbiage permeates the discussions of Cohen’s relationship with Judaica. On the plus side, Leibovitz’s research and sources are impeccable, and there are plenty of good anecdotes to lighten up what could have been a dry study of this important performer. In an account of a 2008 performance, Leibovitz writes: “In true Zen fashion, it turned out that all he needed to do to let his songs state their case was nothing but accept Lorca’s definition of duende and allow the tightly closed flowers of his spare arrangements bloom into a thousand petals.” |

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“A captivating memoir by Mayes recalling life growing up in a small Southern town and how the region permeated her psyche.” from under magnolia

THE MADWOMAN IN THE VOLVO My Year of Raging Hormones

When the author was young, an unnaturally loud voice earned “Ma” the sobriquet Squawking Chicken. It’s an “all-out assault…sharp, edged and quick,” writes Lui, who felt the sting of her mother’s tongue many times. After her parents divorced when she was 7, the author spent the school year in Toronto with her low-key father and vacations in Hong Kong with her demanding mother. Ma’s child-rearing techniques included telling ghost stories that warned against behavior that brings bad luck, using feng shui edicts to control decisions and strict rules of comportment. Readers may laugh at the embarrassingmoments-with-Mom stories and also squirm at Ma’s verbal cruelty. In contrast to a permissive, childcentric parenting style so pervasive in Western culture, Ma abhorred praise as a motivator and discouraged unrealistic aspirations. Bragging and rebellion were met with public derision, and shaming and demeaning were the preferred forms of punishment. Though open affection was rare, her love was indisputable. Ma’s harsh ways reflected a determination to spare Lui the hardships she had to endure. At 15, she quit school and went to work at a restaurant to support her siblings while her unemployed parents “slept off all-night mah-jong sessions.” Then, while walking home after work, she was raped. With no sympathy from her parents, she voiced her shame, anger and frustration by screaming all night. That was the birth of Squawking Chicken. Thereafter, she used her voice to protect herself and others. For all her in-your-face tough love, baffling and amusing rules, and opinions about people and situations, Ma has been, more often than not, uncannily right-on.

Lui’s memoir demonstrates an undeniable mother– daughter bond that leaves readers with one overriding lesson: “[L]isten to your mother.”

Loh, Sandra Tsing Norton (256 pp.) $25.95 | May 5, 2014 978-0-393-08868-7

A writer and syndicated radio host’s noholds-barred account of how she survived the rigors of midlife crisis and menopause.

When Atlantic contributing editor Loh (Mother on Fire: A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting!, 2008, etc.) reached her late 40s, the stability and rationality that had characterized her world suddenly vanished. Feeling vaguely trapped by a staid marriage, she made a “prison break” with an equally bored married man into what she thought was the freedom of an affair.

The result was a messy divorce and an even messier period of regrouping. But Loh’s malaise persisted and began to manifest as physical symptoms—including bloating, weight gain and rapidly shifting moods—she could neither explain nor completely control.

With candor and attitude to spare, the author chronicles how she navigated the unexpected transformations that occur in all midlife women. Determined to find a way to endure “the change” with her sanity intact, she explored everything from best-selling books about finding happiness to hip new exercise trends like Kettlebelling. But sometimes even her best efforts were not enough. As she tried to cope with her unsettling physical and emotional changes, she also had to deal with other volatile situations. One was her two daughters’ transitions into adolescence and immersion into “the peculiar horrors of Facebook.” The other was her eccentric octogenarian father’s decision to marry a younger woman he thought would take care of him but who would eventually be diagnosed with a severe case of dementia. Loh observes that late baby boomer/early Gen-X women like Madonna, Oprah and Demi Moore have helped remove the stigma associated with “the change” and shown that menopause can be a time of female empowerment rather than hysterical helplessness. Humbled and changed from the inside out, Loh still celebrates menopause as a brand of wisdom revealing “this chore wheel called modern life” for the sham it is.

A funny, frank and hopeful memoir of middle age.

UNDER MAGNOLIA A Southern Memoir Mayes, Frances Crown (336 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-307-88591-3

A captivating memoir by Mayes (Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life, 2010, etc.) recalling life growing up in a small Southern town and how the region permeated her psyche.

Though the author fled southern Georgia when she was a young woman seeking an alternative vantage point for experiencing life, the departure from her small hometown did not come without internal turmoil. “When I left the South at age twenty-two, the force that pushed me west was as powerful as the magnet that pulled me,” she writes. The author landed in the San Francisco Bay Area, “the optimistic bellwether for the country,” and called Italy home for a time. Eventually, Mayes built a life as a wife, mother, author and teacher. During a stop in Mississippi, the South once again forcefully insinuated itself into the author’s consciousness: “I’m pressed to know: why the exuberance and melancholy attacked me, why the abrupt heart flips, why the primal rush of memory, why this physical

LISTEN TO THE SQUAWKING CHICKEN When Mother Knows Best, What’s a Daughter to Do? A Memoir (Sort of)

Lui, Elaine Amy Einhorn/Putnam (288 pp.) $24.95 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-399-16679-2

Laineygossip.com blogger Lui strikes a discordant note with the title of her memoir, but readers will find an affectionate tribute to her tough, powerful Chinese mother.

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“A scholarly enough social history but one with plenty of sex appeal.” from supreme city

magnetism that feels dangerous….” Mayes and her husband then departed California for North Carolina. Larded with deliciously evocative sensory memories, the narrative dissects the author’s early years growing up in a loving yet turbulent family; her parents’ alcohol-fueled, long-troubled relationship; the verdant landscape dappled with hints of menace; the notion of home; and the role place plays in developing the psyche. Mayes recounts her childhood when she “didn’t know the word ‘racism.’ Black/white polarity was the God-given order of things.”

She finds it “impossible to relive that state of mind.” Mayes recalls how the restrictive social atmosphere at the all-female college she attended chafed yet also provided space for developing a strong core self and lifelong female friendships. The author also captures the trauma of her father’s premature death followed by her mother’s long, sad decline.

One of those books you want to devour but realize it’s more satisfying to savor for as long as possible.

queens (and mortal enemies) Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden blazed new paths for women, how Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue became fashion meccas, how “mansions in the sky” blossomed all over the city—all this and much more cram Miller’s sprightly narrative about a city so convinced of its centrality as to employ an “official greeter.”

A scholarly enough social history but one with plenty of sex appeal. (50 b/w images in a 24-page insert)

RUSSIAN ROULETTE How British Spies Thwarted Lenin’s Plot for Global Revolution Milton, Giles Bloomsbury (400 pp.) $28.00 | May 1, 2014 978-1-62040-568-0

SUPREME CITY How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America

This chronicle of British undercover push back against Bolshevik world conspiracy proves to be an exciting ringside seat at the Russian Revolution.

With so many astonishing world events transpiring at once as World War I still raged and Lenin returned from exile to foment proletarian revolution in Russia in 1917, accomplished British author Milton (Paradise Lost: Smyrna, 1922, 2008, etc.) does a fine job of keeping order without sparing suspense. The British, rightly alarmed by Lenin’s incendiary rhetoric toppling British imperialism by aiming at her crown jewel, India, could not spare troops from fighting Germany to counter the Bolshevik Revolution. Instead, the British would have to thwart Lenin’s machinations by wilier ways. These included the work of London’s Secret Service Bureau headed by Mansfield Cumming, who shifted from ordering espionage against Germany to directing Samuel Hoare’s team of agents at the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire, which had been established in 1916 when Russia and England were still allies against Germany.

Hoare’s team, consisting of highly capable men of bilingual abilities who had established connections in Russia at the highest levels of business and government, would be involved in a number of perilous and influential events as the revolution unfurled: Oswald Rayner was likely one of the conspirators and even gunmen in the murder of Rasputin; Somerset Maugham was sent in to prop up Alexander Kerensky’s government and keep the Russians at war with Germany; journalist Arthur Ransome was able to infiltrate and chronicle the workings of the Comintern; and Sidney Reilly, master of disguise, put in motion plans for a risky coup. Less well known is the Turkestan theater, where British officers for Indian espionage became London’s eyes and ears as the Bolsheviks made their southern thrusts.

A beguiling ride through a riotous time by a historian and able storyteller who knows his facts and his audience.

(8-page b/w insert)

Miller, Donald L. Simon & Schuster (672 pp.) $37.50 | May 6, 2014 978-1-4165-5019-8

An award-winning historian surveys the astonishing cast of characters who helped turn Manhattan into the world capital of commerce, communication and entertainment.

Except for occasional geographic detours to Harlem for the Cotton Club or the Bronx for Yankee Stadium, and a couple of temporal departures that highlight, for example, the completion of Grand Central Terminal or the opening of the George Washington Bridge, Miller (History/Lafayette Coll.; Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, 2006, etc.) confines his story to Midtown Manhattan and the 1920s. Even with these self-imposed boundaries, the narrative bursts with a dizzying succession of tales about the politicos, impresarios, merchants, sportsmen, performers, gangsters and hustlers who accounted for an unprecedented burst of creativity and achievement. Readers with even a passing acquaintance with Jazz Age New York will recognize many of Miller’s characters—Mayor Jimmy Walker, Babe Ruth, Charles Lindbergh, Duke Ellington, Jack Dempsey, Walter Chrysler, David Sarnoff, Florenz Ziegfeld—but how many know the story of Othmar Ammann, perhaps history’s greatest designer of steel bridges? Or bootlegger Owney Madden, model for his friend George Raft’s silver-screen gangster? Or Lois Long, hard-living fashion editor for Harold Ross’ New Yorker?

Or boxing promoter Tex Rickard, first to recognize that each fight required an intriguing narrative to build box office sales?

Or the charismatic Horace Liveright, who thought of each book he published as an event? How the speak-easies hummed and how Prohibition democratized drinking, how cosmetics |

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THE MARRIAGE ACT The Risk I Took to Keep My Best Friend in America, and What It Taught Us About Love

Soccer is the world’s sport, but nowhere does it seem to resonate more than in Latin America. Nadel (History and Global Studies/North Carolina Central Univ.) explores the intersections of sport and politics across that region. He does not quite explain why soccer matters, but he shows how the fact that it matters has had tremendous social consequence for more than a century. The author examines the role of soccer in many of the Latin American countries, from Mexico to Brazil (the unquestioned top dog in the region, if not the world) to Argentina to Uruguay. In addition to the introduction and epilogue, there are three brief “interludes” exploring the role of the media, professionalization and why Venezuelans embrace baseball. In the aptly titled chapter “Left Out,” Nadel investigates the region’s undervaluation of women’s soccer. In terms of soccer’s spread, while there were variations in each country, similar themes emerge. In the late 19th century, the game arrived from England, oftentimes imported by owners of companies or their workers, who wanted a hint of home in a foreign land. Early on, the main participants were (usually European) elites, but invariably, the game trickled down to the masses. Once the game became widespread, however, politicians, including the region’s despots, tried to use the game to control the polity. At the same time, that meant that soccer also became an ideal venue for political opposition. Nadel also explores issues such as race in Honduran soccer (a theme that he easily could have applied to several countries) and Mexico’s peculiar underachievement. The author manages to provide capsule histories of the region and soccer development without disrupting the strains of his argument.

Well-crafted insights about the many ways football reflects and challenges Latin American societies. (41 b/w photos)

Monroy, Liza Soft Skull Press (320 pp.) $16.95 paper | Jan. 14, 2014 978-1-59376-536-1

The story of a young writer who married her best friend to save them both.

On Nov. 17, 2001, 22-year-old Monroy (Writing/Univ. of California, Santa Cruz; Mexican High, 2008) and her friend, Emir, were married in Las Vegas by an officiant dressed as Elvis. The ceremony’s theatrical air couldn’t have been more appropriate, for the pair was impersonating a straight couple in love in the service of facilitating permanent residency for Emir, a gay man from the Middle East who couldn’t go home. Emir and the author, both aspiring screenwriters, had bonded years before while students at Emerson College. Both spoke three languages and had spent much of their childhoods outside the United States: Monroy accompanied her mother on her various posts in the Foreign Service, and Emir ventured to the States for the first time as an undergraduate international student. Following 9/11, Emir felt the pressure of heightened scrutiny of international students in the U.S., especially those of Muslim descent.

Fearing her best friend would soon be deported to his home country, where others were routinely jailed and killed for being gay, Monroy proposed that Emir become her husband. At the time, the author was still smarting from having called off her engagement with a longtime beau, so the idea of platonic companionship proved attractive: “My initial thought process went something like this: romantic love is difficult and complicated.

Marrying your gay best friend for his green card, by comparison, is not.” Monroy then examines how naïve that line of thinking was, as the two found themselves repeatedly having to conceal Emir’s sexuality from his homophobic father and their marriage from Monroy’s immigration fraud–fighting mother, co-workers, prospective love interests and, especially, the immigration officer who conducted Emir’s green card interview.

An accessible if slightly self-indulgent account showing the complexity of immigrating to the U.S. alongside semiprofound reflections on the meaning of marriage.

UNREAL CITY Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West

Nies, Judith Nation Books/Perseus (320 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-56858-748-6

A hard-hitting chronicle of the hidden history behind the creation of Las Vegas, including a large-scale resource grab and a grand plan to drive the Navajo people off their lands, abetted by corruption at the highest levels of government.

Nies (The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative History of the Sixties, 2008, etc.) chanced on the story in 1982, when she was given press credentials to a conference in Phoenix, Ariz., ostensibly celebrating Hopi arts and culture and featuring Robert Redford, Barry Goldwater and top corporate executives. The author began to have doubts as the story unfolded of a supposed “centuries-old land dispute” between the peaceful Hopi and aggressive Navajo Indians over a jointly occupied 4,000-square-mile reservation in the Black Mesa, a region in the Arizona desert that

FÚTBOL! Why Soccer Matters in Latin America Nadel, Joshua H. Univ. Press of Florida (256 pp.) $24.95 | Apr. 7, 2014 978-0-8130-4938-0

On the eve of the World Cup in Brazil comes an investigation of the meaning of fútbol, from Mexico to Cape Horn.

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“Roffman’s debut adeptly straddles the line between academia and narrative nonfiction, delivering a slice of history that even teetotalers will appreciate.” from marijuana nation

was located over 21 billion tons of coal. Thousands of Navajo sheepherders were resisting being forcibly relocated from their lands and losing their livelihood. Over time, Nies documented how divide-and-rule politics were being used to screen a major corporate land grab intended to gain access to the massive coal reserves. This led her to the powerful interests behind the Las Vegas gambling empire, which included the Goldwater family.

She also investigated the broader water politics of the region, including the current depletion of major water sources such as Lake Mead and the Colorado River—a situation made worse by climate change. “Las Vegas has the highest per capita use of water in the country,” she writes. Coal-powered plants are required to light the casinos and pump in the water for their ostentatious displays and to support the large population of visitors and residents. Nies situates what began as an apparently local issue in a broader context. A seeming dispute between two tribes, she writes, is “actually an example of a global phenomenon in which giant transnational corporations have the power to separate indigenous people from their energy-rich lands with the help of host governments.”

An important, multifaceted page-turner.

reshape culture as we know it. “These four plus decades of tilting at marijuana myths while seeking common ground have generated many stories,” he writes. “Perhaps they’ll be useful for readers finding themselves on a similar quest.”

Roffman’s debut adeptly straddles the line between academia and narrative nonfiction, delivering a slice of history that even teetotalers will appreciate. (16 pages of images)

THE SHELF From LEQ to LES: Adventures in Extreme Reading

Rose, Phyllis Farrar, Straus and Giroux (288 pp.) $26.00 | May 13, 2014 978-0-374-26120-7

A year of reading randomly.

In another literary memoir, Rose (The Year of Reading Proust, 1997, etc.) chronicles the year she spent reading 23 works of fiction on a shelf designated LEQ to LES at the New York Society Library in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Although she had no expectations about the quality of the books on this particular shelf, the project excited her: “[N]o one in the history of the world had read exactly this series of novels,” she writes.

It seemed like an adventure in “Extreme Reading. To go where no one had gone before.” She chose the shelf on the basis of a few self-imposed rules: Several authors needed to appear, and only one could have more than five books, of which she would read three; there would be both contemporary and older works; one book needed to be a classic that she had always wanted to read. Describing her project as “organic…like a travel journal,” Rose uses each book to take her down unexpected paths: Reading Nabokov’s translation of Mikhail Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time (the classic she meant to read) sent her to read several other translations in an effort to connect with a story she found, at first, stilted. Rhoda Lerman’s Call Me Ishtar and several other novels inspired Rose to contact Lerman, with whom she felt such an “instant rapport” that the two became friends.

Noting that her shelf contained works of only three women, Rose pauses in one chapter to ask about the challenges and preoccupations of women writers. Lisa Lerner’s unsettling science fiction, Just Like Beauty, led Rose to track down the author, who, like Lerman, is now a friend. Using websites and Facebook, Rose experienced “the fun of participating in a virtual conversation about literature at any moment of the day or night.”

Chatty, enthusiastic and at times rambling, Rose is a welcoming guide on her latest journey of literary discovery.

MARIJUANA NATION One Man’s Chronicle of America Getting High: From Vietnam to Legalization Roffman, Roger Pegasus (352 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 20, 2014 978-1-60598-546-6

A memoir/treatise on marijuana that rises above most similar discussions.

Now that marijuana is legal in two states—and will likely be so throughout the remainder of the country in the not-too-distant future—it’s likely that the next generations of pot smokers won’t realize how the drug’s illegality had such a profound effect on pop culture. For instance, if Paul McCartney had access to all the marijuana his heart desired, would Rubber Soul have been Rubber Soul? Now that marijuana is readily accessible, within the next decade, the war on weed will be looked upon the way we view Prohibition: with a great, big roll of eyes. All of which is why Roffman’s (Emeritus, Social Work/Univ. of Washington) book is so important—so we’ll remember. The author writes about the drug’s history and his personal relationship with the leaf with an accessible voice that makes the contextual material read as smoothly as the anecdotal. However, it’s the personal stories that help the book stand out from the plethora of marijuana-focused books that have been released over the past several years. As a social work officer in Saigon during the Vietnam War, Roffman witnessed the positive effects that marijuana can have on mental health.

After the war, he came to learn that weed was also a great help in alleviating physical suffering. Granted, this is all now common knowledge, but the author’s personal journey is so engaging that we’re happy to relearn lessons that will permanently |

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BUILDING ATLANTA How I Broke Through Segregation to Launch a Business Empire

The author’s knowledge and his resources, both literary and archaeological, are vast. He is searching for the evolution of the Scriptures we read now, whether referred to as the Torah, the Bible or the Pentateuch or Septuagint. The question is not so much who wrote them as how they evolved into universal works of authority. Satlow specifically differentiates among normative, oracular and literary authority. These writings developed in Judah, through the Babylonian captivity, the Hellenistic period and into the time of Jesus. What we call the Bible didn’t really exist until St. Athanasius of Alexandria contributed his list of the holy books in the A.D. fourth century, and it was the A.D. 11th century before there was a standard Hebrew text. These books are not historical in the truest sense; the legacy of the texts and their interpreters is their power to bring order to our world. The author traces the story of the Middle Eastern people as they jockeyed for power for centuries, always carrying their texts to new locales. The story lives thanks to the scribes, who played the largest part in maintaining, copying and, most importantly, reading the texts to their illiterate populations. Satlow’s book is so packed with information that it will appeal most to scholars and those who have spent years studying religious writings. For those who rarely read the Bible and have little knowledge of ancient history, it will be confusing but edifying. In conclusion, the author writes, “[t]his is perhaps the Bible’s greatest legacy: the radically implausible notion that one can build a community, a religion, a culture, and even a country around a text.”

Regardless of the reader’s familiarity with the material, the author’s expertise cannot be doubted.

Russell, Herman J.; Andelman, Bob Chicago Review (304 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-61374-694-3

The lifelong journey from shoeshine boy to construction mogul.

Born in Atlanta in 1930, Russell was no stranger to hard work. From the age of 6, he tended his family’s chickens; when he turned 8, he had a paper route; by 11, he was mixing mortar for his father’s plastering company. “The truth is that I always wanted to work,” he writes. “Everyone I knew and respected worked, and worked hard.” From those earliest moments, Russell, who wrote this book with the assistance of veteran business writer Andelman (Why Men Watch Football—A Report from the Couch, 2013, etc.), knew the key to success was to consistently strive to do his best. He broke racial barriers while segregation was still deeply entrenched in the South and established a construction company that built everything from apartment buildings to airports. He used his hard-earned money and astute business sense to help those at the forefront of the civil rights movement by providing much-needed monetary funds and behind-the-scenes support for Martin Luther King Jr. and others. Seeing there was a lack of bankers willing to support blacks, Russell branched out to provide banking and insurance for his community in Atlanta and eventually was invited to join the all-white chamber of commerce. One venture and connection fed into another, with Russell understanding the importance of networking long before it was hip to do so. “I’m often asked how I could have owned a portfolio of almost two thousand rental units, a property management company, and an insurance agency before the age of forty,” he writes. He honestly admits he was judicious with his spending and always reinvested in the company before allowing himself personal luxuries. Family and friends played an important role in Russell’s life, as well, and his memories of fond moments are interspersed throughout the story of the rise of his successful businesses.

A candid, straightforward account of one man and his rise from rags to riches.

CUBED A Secret History of the Workplace Saval, Nikil Doubleday (368 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-385-53657-8

An editor of n +1 offers an illuminating study of the modern office and its antecedents.

Many Americans spend most of their working hours in cubicles, but 93 percent of those individuals report disliking their work environments. Yet this Dilbert-esque disgruntlement with office life is nothing new. Saval shows that from the beginning of its existence in the 19th century, cultural observers like Herman Melville and Charles Dickens considered the office a suspect space. The activities that took place there were “weak, empty and above all boring” since they lacked the dynamism of the deal making that went on in the business world they supported. At the same time, the office has also been “a source of some of the most utopian ideas and sentiments about American working life.” Through analyses of historical, sociological and cultural texts, Saval examines the double-edged promise that the office has held to American workers over the last 150 years. In the 19th century, life behind a desk offered social

HOW THE BIBLE BECAME HOLY

Satlow, Michael L. Yale Univ. (368 pp.) $35.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-300-17191-4 Satlow (Religious and Judaic Studies/ Brown Univ.; The Gift in Antiquity, 2013) explores the holy writings of the Bible back more than 10,000 years.

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Amid all the unspeakable brutality, cruelty, fear, loss and despair, hope somehow lingers until the final gunshot.

respectability and security while providing an apparent refuge from the physical hardships of factory work. As the business world expanded and work became increasingly rationalized for maximum output and efficiency, so did the office. This gave rise to the hyperefficient offices of the 20th century, where managing workers—down to their very movements and behaviors—as well as data and space became a frighteningly exact science. In the 21st century, technological shifts and global economic downturns have wrought still further changes in office life. Freelancers now inhabit homes and cafes, transforming leisure and living spaces into work spaces. These developments have not only stripped office professionals of the illusion of security; in a wickedly ironic, but perhaps predictable, historical twist, they have also cast them back into the “contingency and precariousness” from which the office was supposed to save them.

Ferociously lucid and witty.

I JUST GRADUATED...NOW WHAT? Honest Answers from Those Who Have Been There

Schwarzenegger, Katherine Crown Archetype (288 pp.) $20.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-385-34720-4

Advice for one of life’s most important transitions: stepping out into the “real” world after four years of college.

Of course, it is not an easy task for anyone, and leaving that insulated world with no clue of the future can be daunting. “Not getting a job right out of college felt like the lowest point in my life, but what it really did was force me to learn so much about myself,” writes Schwarzenegger (Rock What You’ve Got: Secrets to Loving Your Inner and Outer Beauty from Someone Who’s Been There and Back, 2010). Here, she chronicles her interviews with men and women who successfully navigated the often unnerving moments of post-college life. From Anderson Cooper to DJ Armin van Buuren to the founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes, Candace Nelson, each interviewee expresses his or her aha moment, when they found their passion and followed it to the fullest, despite setbacks and bad odds, and launched into a career they truly enjoy. Some chose not to attend school but jumped into the fray and used life as their education; others worked in crummy jobs to pay the bills while consistently chugging forward on their personal goals; some wound up in places and jobs they’d never dreamed of simply due to the fact that they were open to all possibilities. As fashion model and designer Lauren Bush Lauren writes, “a college degree isn’t what makes you smart; it’s curiosity and the desire to seek answers and practical knowledge to help guide you in your field of choice.” Each narrative shows the emotional doubts, anxieties and joys felt while starting a company, becoming a philanthropist or climbing the corporate ladder. Although geared toward young college graduates, the advice is relevant to anyone who’s been laid off from work or is in search of a new direction in life. Other contributors include Eva Longoria, Bear Grylls and Jillian Michaels.

Inspirational tidbits on work and life from productive and happy people from diverse backgrounds.

THE CLANDESTINE HISTORY OF THE KOVNO JEWISH GHETTO POLICE

Schalkowsky, Samuel Indiana Univ. (408 pp.) $35.00 | Apr. 25, 2014 978-0-253-01283-8

Some unknown members of the ghetto police chart both their own brief histories and the darkness of the human soul during the Holocaust in Lithuania.

Covering the period from June 1941 to the end of 1942, the text—written in Yiddish and buried in the old ghetto site—was found in 1964 by the Soviets, who sat on the material for 25 years. Carefully and unobtrusively edited by ghetto survivor Schalkowsky, the material chronicles the removal of Kovno Jews to the ghetto, the savage beatings and rapes and thefts along the way, and the grave and brave attempts of those confined to organize and to maintain some sort of humanity in the eye of the Nazi hurricane. The anonymous authors employ various narrative strategies. They present charts of the sorts of infractions they dealt with (sanitation offenses kept them busy), tell stories about the viciousness of the Lithuanian locals and the Nazi guards, narrate the horrors of not knowing what was happening, and chronicle the harsh Nazi punishments for even the most minor infractions, the mass shootings, the forced labor, the paucity of food, the insistence that Jews give up their money—even their books. The authors also tell us about their own failures—their own occasional violence against other Jews—and they also look at some of the ghetto residents who made life worse (if that’s even imaginable) for the rest. By the end, the police have organized an effort to maintain the cultural life of the community—concerts, lectures and other events.

The detail is extraordinary, and while the authors occasionally assail their tormenters (in print), the tone is otherwise grimly, wrenchingly expository. An introduction by Samuel D. Kassow (History/Trinity Coll.) tells what happened, and there is no light whatsoever in that dark story. |

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NEW BORDER VOICES An Anthology

and John Prine would seem to be a natural for him. Snider claims he can’t focus unless he is heavily under the influence— of marijuana or whatever else is handy—but as he tells readers, “rest assured, during this entire time of writing you this book, I have been totally and completely focused.” The author presents himself throughout as a good-natured guy whose heart is (usually) in the right place and whose head is in the ozone. He writes of sabotaging record deals, blowing off club sets, getting robbed at a carwash by Tony Bennett (same name, different guy), getting busted, meeting his wife in rehab and learning a lesson in bighearted generosity from Garth Brooks. “Garth was a lot less music business–oriented toward me and a lot gentler and more poetic toward me than some of my supposedly art-first songwriter friends,” he writes. Snider also explains how his experiences over the years have changed his attitudes, though he remains adamant about resisting maturity: “I am devout about next to nothing, but I am devoutly not going to allow myself to grow up. I believe with all my soul that not growing up is going to be the best way to contribute to the world the best way I can.

The alternative wasn’t going to help me in any way or make any of my songs better.” He also pads the narrative with full lyrics to many songs and the stories behind them, giving devout fans more insight into the man and his music.

A memoir that’s a lot like being at a very long Snider show, without the melodies.

Shuler, Brandon D.; Johnson, Robert; GarzaJohnson, Erika–Eds. Texas A&M Univ. (292 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 7, 2014 978-1-62349-125-3

A mixed bag of writings from and about the Rio Grande country of Ojinaga, Terlingua and suchlike places.

There are a few problems with this anthology, and two emerge in the title: First, this is not about the U.S.–Mexico border, but only the Texas–Mexico border, which limits the possibilities; second, though Texas has a rich literary culture, a great many of the voices here are much-anthologized (Ray Gonzalez, Pat Mora, Rolando Hinojosa-Smith) rather than “new.” The editors’ introductory observations tend to the aridly academic—e.g., “What is arising from the Borderlands today is a resistance to the imagined ideal of a border itself and to the strict codification of pure English and pure Spanish”—though folklorist and literary scholar José Limón places some of the issues in context with refreshing plain-spokenness: The border is different from the interiors of either Texas or the neighboring Mexican states, Larry McMurtry is a better spokesman for Dallas than Laredo, and the racial divide between Hispanos and Anglos shows no signs of narrowing anytime soon. This Pushcart-ish collection of stories, essays and poems, though with plenty of newcomers, is long on those divisions, longer still on righteous indignation (in that regard, René Saldaña’s essay on being rousted at a border crossing is a marvel), and short on universalizing—and memorable—art. When that art does come, it is often through the hands of the old-timers (Gonzalez: “When I was younger, I believed in / the collar lizards that overran the desert”; Mora: “Daiquiri became the eagle’s name, and I decided I’d best have the ingredients on hand in case I got desperate—and I don’t mean the ice version sans rum”).

Students of Texas literature will want this as an index of both up-and-coming and canonical writers (absent Benjamin Sáenz and Cormac McCarthy). For students of borderlands literature writ large, a more general collection extending westward awaits its gatherer.

THE RECKONING Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations

Soll, Jacob Basic (352 pp.) $29.99 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-465-03152-8

Soll (History/Univ. of Southern California; The Information Master: Jean-BaptisteColbert’s Secret State Intelligence System, 2009, etc.) explores double-entry bookkeeping in relation to the political and cultural significance of accounting and the rise and fall of nations and businesses.

In his historical analysis, the author examines why modern societies consistently find themselves mired in crises involving not only financial issues, but political accountability as well. Different than entries in a checking account register, double-entry bookkeeping tracks credits and debits in separate columns, thus permitting real-time accounting of the costs and profits associated with particular and aggregated transactions. The author argues that it allows effective management through accountability and auditing. He contends that successful nations have not only been rich in accounting and commercial culture, but have also learned how to build cultural frameworks that have countered the all-too-human tendency to ignore, deceive or falsify. Soll substantiates his thesis by tracing the history of the method from its beginnings, showing how it was used successfully, and then disregarded disastrously, by Florence’s de Medici family and, later, France’s Louis XVI. The author credits Luca

I NEVER MET A STORY I DIDN’T LIKE Mostly True Tall Tales

Snider, Todd Da Capo/Perseus (304 pp.) $16.99 paper | May 1, 2014 978-0-306-82260-5

A rambling memoir of life as a troubadour.

In concert, Snider has long been known for his storytelling abilities, both within his songs and (especially) between them, so a book about his escapades with the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Jerry Jeff Walker 72

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“A work that manages to be both succinct and comprehensive in scope.” from neptune

Pacioli’s 1494 Treatise as the enduring source that permitted the technique to be adapted for public policy, beginning with the Dutch republic. Some of the founders of the United States, including Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton, also used the method. Soll stresses the cultural benefits of incorporating accounting into educational curricula during the 19th century, and he explores how standards have been lowered over time, starting with railroad barons’ failures to adequately pay to replace aging equipment and ending with the current concept of mark-to-market, in which financial assets are worth what others will pay for them.

An intriguing, well-crafted discussion highlighting a major contribution to political and economic well-being, with an obvious moral for today. (20 b/w illustrations)

the end, she could have placed them as headnotes, where they would provide useful context.

For its intended audience, this collection will be a welcome souvenir.

NEPTUNE The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings Symonds, Craig L. Oxford Univ. (464 pp.) $29.95 | May 2, 2014 978-0-19-998611-8

A fine D-Day study both technical and humanitarian.

Before Operation Overlord, involving the vast amphibious landing of 1 million Allied troops across the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944, there was the 13-month intricate planning and execution that made it possible: Operation Neptune. Acclaimed naval historian Symonds (Emeritus, History/U.S. Naval Academy; The Battle of Midway, 2011, etc.) has the teacher’s patient touch and big-picture knowledge to accessibly present the truly incredible scope of this largely naval endeavor. He begins with an important memorandum drafted by Gen. Harold Stark at the height of the German Blitz on London laying out “a major naval and military effort in the Atlantic” to forestall British collapse. This “Germany First” thrust was subsequently taken up at the so-called ABC conference in Washington in March 1941, delineating American and British goals. The strategy involved a huge buildup of American materiel and manpower, which was not available for another year. In the meantime, Churchill and Roosevelt cooked up the joint intervention in North Africa, which would act as a kind of colossal rehearsal of the combined logistical and operational nightmare that would be needed in a cross-Channel thrust. Symonds portrays the American generals as childishly overeager for a European invasion, while the Britons remained prudent and restrained; indeed, American inexperience emerged in the first trying months of the Tunisian campaign. As the plans for a cross-Channel combined operation were assembled, Symonds reviews the staggering requirements in shipping alone—e.g., the building of key landing craft, cargo ships and Higgins boats to transport the materiel and men. He also examines the troop preparation of 1 million Americans spread across bucolic southern England in his suspenseful buildup to D-Day—a graspable, moving spectacle of men and machinery.

A work that manages to be both succinct and comprehensive in scope. (26 b/w illustrations)

THE BROWN READER 50 Writers Remember College Hill

Sternlight, Judy–Ed. Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $16.00 paper | May 20, 2014 978-1-4767-6519-8

A gathering of memories marks Brown’s 250th anniversary.

In celebration of her alma mater, educator and editor Judy Sternlight (class of ’82) has collected essays by writers, poets and artists who attended Brown since the 1950s. Most are warm remembrances of the quirkiest of the Ivy League colleges, boasting a “loosey-goosey, roll-with-it curriculum”: no core requirements, a liberal pass/fail policy and encouragement of independent study.

Admissions criteria focused more on creativity than test scores.

“I wasn’t supposed to make it to a place like Brown,” writes Jonathan Mooney (’00), whose dyslexia resulted in mediocre high school grades. At Brown, he writes, “I wasn’t the dumb kid anymore. I learned that I never was.” Many contributors bring up common teenage concerns: friends, self-image, sex, etc.

Although some students found kindred spirits and even love, others felt marginalized by differences of race or class. A few professors earn special praise: John Hawkes, for one, impressed novelist Meg Wolitzer (’81) by creating an “open, unguarded, and charitable environment” in his workshops. Joanna Scott (’85 AM) recounts a memorable dinner with visiting professor Susan Sontag, whom students nicknamed “the Duchess.” Political and social activism was prominent in some students’ experiences: Ira Magaziner (’69) recalls the student uprisings that instigated dramatic curricular change. Among the book’s other notable contributors are Susan Cheever (’65), Jeffrey Eugenides (’82), Edwidge Danticat (’93 MFA), children’s author Lois Lowry (’58), Marilynne Robinson (’66), A.J. Jacobs (’90), David Shields (’78) and Rick Moody (’83). To interest readers other than Brown alumnae, Sternlight might have provided some college history (when, for example, was Pembroke, the women’s college, merged with Brown? How have Brown’s demographics changed over the years?), and rather than relegate contributors’ bios to |

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THE PEOPLE’S PLATFORM Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age

AMERICAN SPARTAN The Promise, the Mission, and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim Gant

Taylor, Astra Metropolitan/Henry Holt (288 pp.) $27.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8050-9356-8

Tyson, Ann Scott Morrow/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $27.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-06-211498-3 978-0-06-211500-3 e-book

A filmmaker turns her high-powered intellect not just on the Internet and its effect on our lives, but also on the sociological and economic forces that bend and shape it.

Writer, director, documentary filmmaker, sometime philosopher, political activist and self-described troublemaker—not bad for Taylor, who was unschooled until she was 13 years old and has since become one of the more incisive voices among the multitudes delivering their visions of what the Internet is and might become. In her loquacious but well-defined examination of media culture, the author describes her conversations with a wide range of enthusiasts and doubters, ranging from jazz musicians to economists. She finds that, as opposed to the Kickstarter-fueled utopia that some hugely popular creators predict, when examined en masse, the Web tends to exhibit what Taylor deems a surprising tendency toward monopoly, bent by many of the same problems that have nearly destroyed traditional broadcast media and decimated newspapers. To be fair, she also sees this as an era of adaptation rather than extinction, and she asks the hard questions that often go unanswered—e.g., “Do social media nurture community or intensify our isolation, expand our intellectual faculties or wither our capacity for reflection, make us better citizens or more efficient consumers? Have we become a nation of skimmers, staying in the shallows of incessant stimulation, or are we evolving into expert synthesizers and multitaskers, smarter than ever before? Are those who lose their jobs due to technological change deserving of our sympathy or scorn (‘adapt or die,’ as the saying goes)? Is that utopia on the horizon or dystopia around the bend?” It’s a difficult book to encapsulate simply, one that delves deep into the philosophical nature of people, the complexities of desire, the economics of advertising, the productive chaos of open systems and the value of content in a limitless universe.

Not to be skimmed. A cogent and genuine argument for the true democratization of online culture.

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To win in Afghanistan, dedicated American soldiers must live among the tribes, earning their trust and molding them into effective fighters against Taliban and al-Qaida networks. Decorated Green Beret Jim Gant made this argument in a 2009 paper that impressed Gen. David Petraeus and other leaders, who told him to go ahead with the plan.

Already an admirer, having covered Gant’s heroics in Iraq, journalist Tyson recounts the subsequent three years, much of it spent in his company, as his unit moved to a remote village, befriended the chief, and proceeded to hire and train the tribesman who soon drove off the local Taliban. Neighboring chiefs began requesting help, and eventually, documents obtained from Osama bin Laden’s compound after his death complained about Gant by name. “The directive mentioned Jim by name,” she writes, “and said he was an impediment to Al Qaeda’s operational objectives…and needed to be removed from the battlefield.” Other units reported similar success, but Tyson concentrates on Gant’s campaign, which produced plenty of fireworks, heroism, suffering and, this being Afghanistan, constant frustration. Even as Gant set to work, the American government was announcing its intention to withdraw from the country. By 2012, the process was well under way, but by this time, Gant’s superiors, irritated by his independence and nonconformity, relieved him, denounced his tactics and forced him to retire. Tyson presents a damning picture of betrayal by commanding officers whose rigidity and lack of imagination was aggravated by personal dislike. Readers will find her arguments impressive, although they will be surprised by the frank admission that she and Gant fell in love.

Tyson can expect an avalanche of criticism for flouting a dozen precepts of journalism, and Gant has been accused of an unrealistically romantic view of Afghan tribalism.

Still, readers will encounter one of the only satisfying products of a dismally unsatisfying war: this entertaining book. (First printing of 100,000)

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“An informative coffee table book for film buffs and those interested in Jewish history.” from testimony

TESTIMONY The Legacy of Schindler’s List and the USC Shoah Foundation

LUCKY PLANET Why Earth is Exceptional— and What That Means for Life in the Universe

USC Shoah Foundation–Ed. Newmarket Press for It Books/Harpercollins (272 pp.) $50.00 | Mar. 24, 2014 978-0-06-228518-8

Waltham, David Basic (224 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-465-03999-9

Despite the popularity of contemporary theories that suggest our world—and even our universe—may not be singular or exceptional, astrobiologist and geophysicist Waltham (Earth Sciences/Royal Holloway Coll., Univ. of London; Mathematics: A Simple Tool for Geologists, 1994) argues that this skepticism of exclusivity is the result of “the most severe case of observational bias in the history of science.”

In other words, the extraordinary sequence of events that took place in order for life to evolve on Earth could not have occurred in any other sequence and still produce life forms capable of reflecting on said events. The Earth’s biosphere is so beautifully and uniquely suited to foster sentient beings, it may be the only planet in the visible universe capable of hosting such complex life forms. The root idea that Earth is nothing special, the author argues, needs to be deconstructed and challenged before being taken at face value. Drawing on properties of geology, astronomy, climatology and biology, he examines how exactly Earth has managed to remain climatically stable enough to sustain life. The fact that 4 billion years have passed without a catastrophic, life-ending change in atmospheric temperature is, he argues, more than just a byproduct of the planet’s atmosphere; it’s a statistical wonder that is unlikely to be repeated, even within the vastness of the visible universe. To support his theory that incredible luck plays a defining role in our existence, Waltham surveys historical factors in the makeup of stars and planets, as well as looking deeper into the Earth’s astonishing good fortune as a habitat for multicellular life—and whether it can be sustained.

A bold, unwavering argument that pushes back against the too-quick acceptance of Earth as exceptional—and encourages its intelligent life forms to appreciate our supreme luck.

The story behind the making of Schindler’s List and the development of a foundation dedicated to sharing Holocaust testimonies.

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the foundation and the film, this commemorative work is divided into two sections. After an introduction from Steven Spielberg, the first part recounts the process of making Schindler’s List. The material in this section is wide-ranging and includes an account of the maturation process of Spielberg’s directorial ability, the chance encounter that sparked the book behind the movie, certain cinematographic techniques utilized in the film and the experience of having Holocaust survivors visiting the movie set in Poland. The Schindlerjuden, “Schindler Jews,” interacting with the cast and crew inspired Spielberg to initiate the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which works from the premise that the “last act of genocide is always denial and silence”; the foundation collects and catalogs oral histories of the Holocaust. The second part of the book discusses the process of building, developing and expanding this foundation. Initially, Spielberg aimed for narratives from 50,000 Holocaust survivors and rescue-worker witnesses. However, once that goal was reached and exceeded, the foundation used these testimonies in their production of documentaries. More recently, this foundation, which grew out of a desire to ensure that the Holocaust will never happen again, expanded into collecting accounts from the Armenian, Rwandan and Cambodian genocides. With the connection to USC, these eyewitness stories serve as educational tools that will elicit the strong emotive response necessary for the prevention of future attempts at genocide. This general history of the film and the foundation has a promotional feel as it also discusses exciting new technological directions for the foundation.

An informative coffee table book for film buffs and those interested in Jewish history. (350 photos and images, 4-color throughout)

THE BIG TINY A Built-It-Myself Memoir

Williams, Dee Blue Rider Press (288 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-399-16617-4

His was 150 square feet and hers was 84, but Henry David Thoreau and newcomer Williams find significant common ground in their little abodes.

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shared the same desire: to pare down their lives. “I imagined,” she writes, “I’d learn something about myself by stripping down to the basics—by living with two dinner plates, three spoons, two pairs of pants, a dress, and my wool skivvies…with humility and gratitude.” While Thoreau wandered off into the briars of transcendentalism, Williams hews to the quotidian. She was also disturbed, to say the least, by a mysterious, potentially mortal heart ailment and has a defibrillator built into her heart, which, when activated, feels “like being Tasered from the inside out.” The author amiably narrates her story of building a tiny, portable space, off the grid (except for a propane heater), complete with a composting toilet and enough room to turn around without having to kick the dog from the house. She chronicles how she found ancient planks of wood to use as siding, learned how to use her eyes and intuition when building, joined the “Flannel Shirt Club” and became an all-around do-it-yourself builder, minimizing unused materials. Williams also displays a light humor, though she occasionally lapses into what is not so much quirky as chirpy. However, the narrative is tempered by the somber thoughts of the deaths of two close friends. “For me,” she writes, “the idea of living small has always involved being curious—taking a look at how my day-to-day is connected to the larger world...[and] the delicate universe that sits between my ears.”

A lightweight curiosity that will find sympathy with readers frustrated with the conventional rat race.

feel” and brings in Freudian theory to account for varieties of behavior. Dialogue can be useful in conveying personality, as long as the writer remembers that successful dialogue “doesn’t resemble conversation—it presents the illusion of conversation, subservient to the demands of characterization and structure.”

In six appendices, Yorke provides structural analyses of a few movies, including Raiders of the Lost Ark and The King’s Speech; a separate appendix offers a complicated chart summarizing the advice of a dozen “screenwriting gurus,” all of whom, writes the author, “are grasping to capture the true shape of story.”

Aristotle, Hegel and Chris Rock all have something to contribute to Yorke’s overarching thesis: Attention to structure is essential in all narrative forms.

THE ONLY SOUNDS WE MAKE Essays

Zacharias, Lee Hub City Press (215 pp.) $16.95 paper | May 1, 2014 978-1-938235-00-9

A novelist and professor’s essay collection that almost coalesces into a memoir.

Zacharias (Creative Writing/Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro; At Random, 2013, etc.) recounts how, after the publication of her first novel (Lessons, 1981), she spent 10 years writing her second, only to see it rejected, as was her third. “You write well, but you won’t sell,” editors and agents told her. “Today’s reader wants a high concept plot and an upbeat message. Your work is literary. It’s dark, but not Oprah dark. There’s no market.” Though the author didn’t exactly buy the explanation, she does write well, and she has since found a home in literary journals. The chronological continuity here and the thematic interweaving of family, place, art and mortality give this collection a cohesiveness that makes some of the lesser pieces—e.g., “Geography for Writers,” which mainly catalogs the spaces where various writers have written—seem intrusive. Yet the format also undermines the strength of some of the strongest pieces, such as the collection-closing “Buzzards,” in which her memories of her father’s life and suicide would have more climactic power if she hadn’t already shared these with readers in earlier essays.

“A Grand Canyon” finds the writer working on many levels, as she fulfills her mother’s dream to travel there, a trip that reveals an emotional chasm between her teenage son and his grandmother and presages “the heartbreaking canyon that will open between us, because in that part of the story the generation gap isn’t between my mother and son but between my son and me.

One day the love affair ends for the child, though it never does for the parent.” And then there’s the canyon itself, which the author illuminates as more than a metaphor.

Zacharias shows a keen eye for detail (she’s also a photographer), a strong sense of place, and an ambivalent, unsentimental examination of blood ties and family legacy.

INTO THE WOODS A Five Act Journey into Story Yorke, John Overlook (336 pp.) $28.95 | May 1, 2014 978-1-4683-0809-9

Former BBC Drama head Yorke, now director of an independent production company and founder of the BBC Writers Academy, distills his experience in film and TV in this concise guide for aspiring screenwriters.

“This isn’t a ‘how to write’ book,” he cautions, although, like other writing manuals, this one does feature templates, charts and many rules. Yorke focuses most emphatically on structure: of a whole work, components of acts and scenes, characterization, dialogue and subtexts. Drawing on a wide range of sources, from The African Queen to The Wizard of Oz, Hamlet to Glee, the author points out what all stories have in common: a protagonist, whom the audience will care about most; an antagonist, “the thing or person the protagonist must vanquish to achieve their goal”; a desire to propel the protagonist to action; an inciting incident; a journey; a crisis; a climax; and resolution. All of these elements, he contends, can be structured into three or five acts; he prefers five since it “allows us to uncover the most extraordinary—and intricate—underlying pattern.” In creating a character, Yorke points out an essential internal conflict “between how we wish to be perceived and what we really 76

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children’s & teen SEVEN BILLION AND COUNTING The Crisis in Global Population Growth

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

GUY IN REAL LIFE by Steve Brezenoff............................................... 84

Andregg, Michael M. Twenty-First Century/Lerner (88 pp.) $24.95 e-book | $33.27 PLB | May 1, 2014 978-1-4677-1056-5 e-book 978-0-7613-6715-4 PLB

THE MERMAID AND THE SHOE by K.G.Campbell......................... 84 BOOM, SNOT, TWITTY by Doreen Cronin; illus. by Renata Liwska........................................................................87 HIDDEN by Loïc Dauvillier; illus. by Marc Lizano; Greg Salsedo... 88 THE NINJA LIBRARIANS by Jen Swann Downey............................ 89 IT'S AN ORANGE AARDVARK! by Michael Hall............................. 96 SALLY GOES TO HEAVEN by Stephen Huneck.................................. 98 RED MADNESS by Gail Jarrow......................................................... 99 SUMMONING THE PHOENIX by Emily Jiang; illus. by April Chu................................................................................ 99 ALL DIFFERENT NOW by Angela Johnson; illus. by E.B. Lewis...... 99 THE GREAT GREENE HEIST by Varian Johnson..............................100 MOLDYLOCKS AND THE THREE BEARDS by Noah Z. Jones........100 JUST SO STORIES by Rudyard Kipling; illus. by Ian Wallace.........101 SWIM, DUCK, SWIM! by Susan Lurie; photos by Murray Head..... 103 THIS IS A MOOSE by Richard T. Morris; illus. by Tom Lichtenheld....................................................................108 THE BOUNDLESS by Kenneth Oppel................................................110 CRABBY CRAB by Chris Raschka.....................................................114 THE COSMOBIOGRAPHY OF SUN RA by Chris Raschka..............114

A slim volume combines a background overview with a call to action.

Andregg begins by citing a 2011 figure for human numbers and vaguely noting that “[p]eople are planting crops in areas with poor soil in an effort to feed growing populations.” He goes on to explain the basics of demographics, then presents an eye-glazing continentby-continent review of trends in birth rates, death rates, growth rates, life expectancies and similar indicators. In equally abstract terms he also covers population-related wildlife and environmental issues, plus international efforts to reduce human birth rates. Aside from intriguing posters and public-service advertisements from various countries promoting said family-planning initiatives, the illustrations are largely just generic crowd shots. The sound-bite quotes at chapter heads and elsewhere are more specifically sourced than the facts and figures in the narrative or the charts with which it is punctuated. Unappealing extracurricular activities proposed at the end include starting a club to discuss population issues and conducting a survey (suggested question: “What kind of population policy do you think the United States should have? Why?”).

It’s a topic of major concern, but there’s little here to kindle that concern in young readers or to set the book apart from the assignment-fodder herd. (bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)

IT IS NIGHT by Phyllis Rowand; illus. by Laura Dronzek...............116

PRINCESS LABELMAKER TO THE RESCUE!

HANNAH'S NIGHT by Komako Sakai; trans. by Cathy Hirano......116

Angleberger, Tom Illus. by Angleberger, Tom Abrams (208 pp.) $13.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4197-1052-0 Series: Origami Yoda, 5

PIG KAHUNA PIRATES! by Jennifer Sattler..................................... 117 PRINCESS SPARKLE-HEART GETS A MAKEOVER

by Josh Schneider................................................................................ 118 THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING by Ashley Spires.......................120 RULES OF SUMMER by Shaun Tan...................................................122 SURPRISE by Mies van Hout............................................................124 MIRRORWORLD by Cornelia Funke; dev. by Mirada......................128 JACK AND THE BEANSTALK by Nosy Crow...................................129 |

Is Principal Rabbski the evil Empress of FunTime or the Origami Rebel Alliance’s only hope?

Picking up where The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppet (2013) left off, the seventh graders of McQuarrie Middle School and their

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individual, ever-present origami Star Wars character puppets continue their fight with Principal Rabbski to restore their fun (and educational) elective classes and themselves of the soul-crushingly boring standardized test prep classes created by FunTime. Principal Rabbski agreed (when threatened with purposeful test-flunking) to try to do something about the embarrassing rapping-calculator videos and repetitive worksheets of FunTime, but she’s done nothing for weeks. Now, it seems one of the rebels has given Principal Rabbski the latest case file, covered with printed labels—ostensibly notes from Princess Labelmaker— telling her she is their “only hope.”

Meanwhile, the Origami Rebel Alliance continues to try to learn and help one another. They play crab soccer, put on their lunchtime musical and prove to Mike’s mother Star Wars is not evil—but will the coming of Xtreme.FunTM seal their doom? Fans will devour this satisfying and nicely realistic conclusion to the story set up in the previous volume. Characters grow, and non–Star Wars pop-culture references seep in. Readers new to the series are advised to go back to the beginning; they won’t regret it.

Cheers of “STOOKY!” will rise when Origami Yoda answers “The End?” with “Way No!” (Graphic fiction hybrid. 9-12)

PAPA CHAGALL, TELL US A STORY

Anholt, Laurence Illus. by Anholt, Laurence Barron’s (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7641-6644-0 Anholt continues his series of introductory picture books about the artists with this entry on Marc Chagall.

As he did in Cézanne and the Apple Boy (2009), Anholt uses the artist’s relationship with a child—in this case, children—as a hook to draw young readers in. Here “Papa” Chagall’s twin grandchildren elicit a sequence of anecdotes in which Chagall relates the story of his life, from his impoverished childhood in the Russian shtetl, through meeting his wife, moving to Paris and fleeing the Nazis, to success in his old age. Loose, warm ink-and-watercolor paintings depict children and grandfather against relaxing expanses of white space, with dream-bubble insets illustrating Chagall’s memories. Reproductions of some of his more famous paintings are incorporated, with childfriendly glosses: “The twins saw…a weird cat on a windowsill….” The boy Chagall’s penchant for surrealism is validated in his first patron’s reaction: “These paintings are funny!…But they are very, very good.” By and large, Anholt’s simple narrative approach works well, though his glossing over the Holocaust with the summation that “[s]ome bad people came—they hated me and they did not like my paintings” will mystify children, particularly when juxtaposed with images of destruction in both memory and Chagall’s own reproduced work. Though the Holocaust is discussed in a biographical note at the end, it’s too bad it’s not confronted more directly in the text.

Nevertheless, it’s an engaging entry in a winning series.

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ODIN’S RAVENS

Armstrong, K.L.; Marr, M.A. Little, Brown (352 pp.) $17.00 | $9.99 e-book | May 13, 2014 978-0-316-20498-9 978-0-316-25508-0 e-book Series: Blackwell Pages, 2 In the second installment of Blackwell Pages, 13-year-old Matt Thorsen and his friends Laurie and Fen, descendants of Norse gods, race to prevent the apocalypse.

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the way to the Norse version—Hel—is paved with fire giants, killer guard dogs, Viking zombies, a river of acid, cave bears and even a Hel Chicken. Picking up where the first volume concluded, this tale has Matt and company going to Hel to save their dead friend, Baldwin, but then they must figure out how to get out alive in time to defeat the Midgard Serpent and stop the Norse end of days. If they fail, the world will be plunged into an endless winter. This sequel stands by itself, as essential details of the first are neatly woven throughout. Intense action, well-crafted scenes and humor-laced dialogue add up to a sure winner. Just enough black-and-white illustrations add a visual dimension to the vivid text. What Riordan has done for Greek and Egyptian mythology, Armstrong and Marr are doing for Norse myths, and readers will come away knowing much about Valkyries, Berserkers, wulfenkind and draugr.

A Hel of a good read. (Fantasy. 8-14)

TOOTH & CLAW The Wild World of Big Predators

Arnosky, Jim Illus. by Arnosky, Jim Sterling (32 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4027-8624-2

Powerful acrylic paintings and detailed pencil sketches introduce awe-inspiring predators whose jaws and claws support their carnivorous diets.

In this sixth album in a series that began with Wild Tracks (2008), Arnosky presents five species of cats, four types of bears and gray wolves. The naturalist covers size, shape and appearance; where these remarkable creatures live; what and how they eat; and how they hunt for their prey. Each section includes a full-page painting of the animal in the wild opposite a page of conversational explanatory text and smaller, labeled sketches.

Four fold-out pages provide the opportunity for even more dramatic spreads: a pride of African lions, two heading toward a herd of zebras; a close-up of a sunlit cheetah contrasted with a leopard hiding in a tree; a threatening grizzly bear’s sharp teeth and claws. Pencil sketches show the animals’ skulls and sharp shearing teeth, the different spot patterns of jaguars, leopards and cheetahs, and animal tracks. A sketch of an anaconda’s

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“Supporting his text with Muller’s illustrations and copious photographs, Aronson reveals Mayor’s story as she searches for answers….” from the griffin and the dinosaur

SHELTER

skull offers an interesting comparison. Occasionally the author describes a personal experience, though for the most part, he observed these animals in captivity, as readers will. Supporting this appealing introduction are solid suggestions for further reading about most species.

Smartly focused on characteristics that will most interest young animal admirers, this is an attractive addition to a popular series. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-10)

THE GRIFFIN AND THE DINOSAUR How Adrienne Mayor Discovered a Fascinating Link Between Myth and Science

Aronson, Marc with Mayor, Adrienne Illus. by Muller, Chris National Geographic (48 pp.) $18.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4263-1108-6

Aust, Patricia H. Luminis (232 pp.) $19.95 | $11.95 paper | $6.99 e-book May 9, 2014 978-1-935462-99-6 978-1-935462-00-2 paper 978-1-935462-01-9 e-book When dad goes into Dictator Mode, there’s no way to know how far or to whom his rage will extend. More often than not, someone winds up hurt.

This pattern of violence is normal for 15-year-old Miguel, his older sister, Ellie, and their mother. When Miguel’s father goes too far, severely injuring his mother and nearly killing their dog, it is time for his mother to act on her secret plan to take them all to a shelter for victims of domestic violence. Miguel is confused. He fears his father yet feels guilty for leaving. He wonders what kind of a man he is becoming—is he more like

Researchers have used fossils to understand much about the prehistoric world, but this work shows how a passionate woman with a curious mind studies them to understand how early peoples devised their myths and legends.

Mayor’s family heritage includes both a knack for storytelling and an interest in the natural world. She developed a love for the myths and legends of Greece and Rome, and her curiosity about the origins of the legendary part-lion, part-eagle griffin led her to seek answers. “[W]hat creature with four legs and a beak like a bird could have been so real to Greeks thousands of years ago?” Her search for fossils that could have inspired such an image led her to sites throughout Greece, ancient texts and even CIA maps of Central Asia. By following a series of clues, Mayor was able to connect the griffin image to fossil remnants of Protoceratops, making the case that ancient civilizations based their stories and legends on what they observed in the natural world. Supporting his text with Muller’s illustrations and copious photographs, Aronson reveals Mayor’s story as she searches for answers, demonstrating how one woman’s curiosity and determination provided a new view of the origins of some of our oldest stories. The excellent list of suggestions for further reading will encourage readers to dig deeper on their own.

Readers interested in mythology and paleontology will be intrigued. (glossary/index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

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“Debut authors Baity and Zelkowicz are both film animators, and here, they work together to create an easily visualized, rollicking ride….” from the foundry's edge

his father than he wants to be? The story follows the family through their stay at the shelter, dealing with the courts and making arrangements to live on their own. Text-message conversations reveal how the family’s problems affect everyone’s outside relationships, particularly Ellie’s relationship with her boyfriend, who displays many of her father’s worst traits. The issue-driven plot is fairly predictable and lacks nuance. The characters are underdeveloped, and some, particularly minority characters, border on stereotype. However, for young readers facing the issue of domestic violence at home, this narrative could offer some hope.

Though not particularly well-executed, this novel has value for the tough subject matter it addresses. (Fiction.

12-15)

THE FOUNDRY’S EDGE

Baity, Cam; Zelkowicz, Benny Disney-Hyperion (464 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4231-6227-8 Series: Book of Ore, 1

A spoiled 12-year-old girl discovers that her country stands on a metal foundation “built from the bones of a murdered world.”

Phoebe Plumm lives a life of ease in Meridian, amusing herself with vengeful pranks and high-tech gadgets. Her father, Dr. Jules Plumm, does “something really important” at the Foundry, a company at the peak of technological innovation. But when a mysterious stranger starts following Phoebe, she and her father end up being whisked away by a series of mechanical Watchmen into a labyrinthine adventure. Phoebe’s fellow traveler, former servant–turned-sidekick Micah Tanner, manages to cause friction as often as he saves the day. As this trilogy opener develops, readers will see Phoebe transform herself from a self-acknowledged “stuck-up, pampered little brat” into an assertive mensch, astute to the flaws of the world that she lives in and ready to take on any enemies that come her way. Debut authors Baity and Zelkowicz are both film animators, and here, they work together to create an easily visualized, rollicking ride that explores the dynamics of power and resistance in various incarnations—both human and metallic. Given this background, it’s not too surprising that there are moments when the story feels like a movie with too many special effects.

An edgy, fast-moving, Seuss-ian political allegory for a new generation. (Fantasy. 9-13)

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HOW I GOT SKINNY, FAMOUS, AND FELL MADLY IN LOVE

Baker, Ken Running Press (304 pp.) $9.95 paper | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-7624-5014-5

A fat teen employs patently unsafe weight-loss techniques on reality television and gets skinny.

Emery’s face-lifted, Botoxing mother named her after a manicure tool, yet somehow Emery doesn’t fit in with her swimsuit-model, boobenhanced sister or fitness-freak father. What if she weren’t fat?

She acquiesces to the filming of a weight-loss reality show in her home, wanting the prize—if Emery loses 50 pounds in 50 days, she’ll win $1,000,000—but author Baker, chief news correspondent of E! Entertainment Television, makes skinniness itself the golden goal, snarkily bashing fatness from the start.

The show’s producers require intense exercise and severe calorie restriction; behind their backs, Emery adds laxative tea and Adderall. Attempts to satirize the extremity—the nutritionist who takes Emery down to 790 calories per day authored How to Eat without Actually Eating—have the impact of Post-it notes on a billboard. Baker wants it both ways: Laxatives, speed and “insanely low” calories give Emery both “an eating disorder” and “good habits,” a cognitive disconnect if ever there was one; moreover, the eating disorder vanishes after its single mention, ending the story on a bizarrely upbeat note. Continuity inconsistencies may well drive readers crazy; that 790-calorie diet could well be a 395-calorie diet, for instance, but it’s just not clear. Family secrets and reality TV twists aside, this is a cheap instruction guide for dangerous dieting.

A biggest loser. (Fiction. 14-16)

A FISH NAMED GLUB

Bar-el, Dan Illus. by Bisaillon, Josée Kids Can (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-55453-812-6

A lyrical story about life and its mysteries told from the point of view of a small fish living in a glass fishbowl in a diner.

Eschewing the current picture-book trend of haiku-like brevity, Bar-el unhurriedly spins out his story with a delicate touch and gentle humor. Glub swims around in his glass bowl on the counter of the diner and ponders the big questions: “Who am I?” “Where do I come from?” “What do I need?” “What is a home?” Each of Glub’s endearing ponderings are accompanied by Bisaillon’s equally endearing double-page spreads that, in their sharp-edged execution and piquant style, contrast well with the innocence and expansiveness of Glub’s musings.

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answers build to reveal, in the end, the answer to the big puzzle.

Although the overarching themes of dreams and love may not connect completely with very young readers, their adult readaloud partners will very likely be charmed.

A story that is as delightful in its individual parts as it is in its sweeping theme of dreams rediscovered and the small push of self-belief needed to follow them. (Picture book. 3-8)

DREAMTREADERS

Batson, Wayne Thomas Thomas Nelson | (288 pp.) $9.99 paper | May 6, 2014 978-1-4003-2366-1 Series: Dreamtreaders, 1 Spiritual warfare is such stuff as dreams are made on in this Christian fantasy.

By day, Archer Keaton is an ordinary high school freshman. At night he is a Dreamtreader, patrolling the Realm Between and battling the minions of the Nightmare Lord. But all is not well in the Dream: The other Dreamtreaders have vanished, and ominous tokens have followed Archer into the waking world. His daytime life isn’t so great either: Crush Kara barely speaks to him, and new kid Rigby Thames is attracting followers into a dangerous hobby, threatening both the Dream and the Temporal realms. Dream warfare is hardly an original trope, but it is handled deftly here, with carefully delineated rules and vivid imagery, from groan-worthy to grisly to shatteringly beautiful.

Except for heavy-handed paranoia about “lucid dreaming,” the evangelistic subtext is well-integrated but not intrusive. The characters mostly read like real people, with all their messy complexities; even Rigby, with his wince-inducing accent and staged Brit mannerisms, reveals unexpected nuances. The plot clips along with a fine balance between worldbuilding and action, and the climactic twists are truly surprising, providing both a satisfying conclusion and sufficient sinister foreshadowing to fuel the promised sequels.

What it lacks in richness and profundity it makes up for in thrills; not a bad choice for a wholesome adventure.

(Fantasy. 10-14)

Beil, Michael D. Illus. by Muradov, Roman Knopf (288 pp.) $15.99 | $10.99 e-book | $18.99 PLB Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-385-75317-3 978-0-385-75319-7 e-book 978-0-385-75318-0 PLB

A talking cat with a penchant for problem-solving and self-reflection, a clever kidnapping-cum– jewel heist, a couple of kids and a friendly train conductor all collide in an atmospheric late-1930s adventure with old-time cinematic appeal.

Mystery author Beil returns to his Ohio roots with a main character, 10-year-old Henry Shipley from Ashtabula, and a climactic scene on board the Blue Streak roller coaster at Conneaut Lake Park. The bulk of the action, however, takes place on a train. Henry, an observant, artistic child, narrates while the eponymous Lantern Sam, a male calico, inserts chapters detailing his own earlier life and frequent narrow escapes. Both boy and cat are drawn into the mystery surrounding the sudden disappearance of Ellie Strasbourg, a wealthy young girl. The author balances his parallel narratives relatively well, though Sam’s story takes some unexpected directions, as when he details the danger posed by his brief flirtation with an older, female cat named Marmalade. The epilogue, written by an elderly Henry, makes sense of the occasionally arch, adult-sounding tone, but some readers may struggle to keep track of the multiple subplots and several sets of secondary (stock) characters.

Laden with retro charm and sly humor, this won’t suit every reader, but fans of fast-paced, far-fetched action will lap it up as enthusiastically as Sam swallows his favorite brand of sardines. (Mystery. 9-12)

THE GREAT BALLOON HULLABALOO

Bently, Peter Illus. by Matsuoka, Mei Andersen Press USA (32 pp.) $16.95 | $12.95 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-3449-3 978-1-4677-3454-7 e-book A not-so-simple errand turns into a visit to distant planets and great adventures for Simon the Squirrel and his friends.

With his rather eclectic shopping list in hand and some good friends, Simon flies through the universe in a hot air balloon. They head for the moon to buy some cheese—the most important ingredient—but they are blown off course by a highjumping cow, so they go to Mars instead to buy some of the items on his list and then on to Saturn, Uranus and the others to purchase the rest. Along the way, they encounter the obligatory little green man, a hairy pink monster and other creatures

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of varying idiosyncrasies. He arrives home without the cheese, but his pals have it, and they all have a pizza party to celebrate.

Bently charges up the silliness with singsong verses in aabb rhyme that dash madly through the escapades. There’s a charming mixture of American and British vernacular, and young American readers will find sufficient contextual clues for understanding “clamber,” “cross” and “daft,” and there’s “Mom” and “fries” for those on this side of the pond. In Matsuoka’s bright, lively, stylized illustrations, most of the animals bear little resemblance to their real-life counterparts, but they fly across the pages in perfect tandem with the goofy spirit of the text.

A fun-filled ride. (Picture book. 3-8)

MEET THE PARENTS

Bently, Peter Illus. by Ogilvie, Sara Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | May 6, 2014 978-1-4814-1483-8 978-1-4814-1484-5 e-book What are parents actually good for?

“Sometimes you think that your mom and your dad / are just there to nag you and boss you like mad. / Brush your teeth! / Get a move on! / Say thank you! / Say please! / Tidy up! / No more sweets! / Wash your hands! / Eat your peas!” But it turns out parents are handy for quite a lot of other things, like mending toys and acting as foundations for sand castles. They’re good for warming hands on cold days and disposing of bits of food you don’t want to eat. “Parents are towels for / wiping your grime on. / They’re whirlers and twirlers / and tree trunks to climb on.” But when they have sorted out all your problems…you better watch out, since parents love tickles! Bently’s rhythmic text offers gentle reminders to young listeners of all the small, helpful things parents do. Ogilvie’s mixed-media illustrations are a perfect match, extending and augmenting the humor. Parents of every ethnicity, size and shape as well as both genders are squirted with ketchup and hoses, act as horses and donkeys, and, of course, give good tickles. While it is wonderful to see dark-skinned parents as well as a dad in a turban, the absence of obvious same-sex parents is a missed opportunity.

Heart-warming to smile-inducing to giggle-generating, this book gives parents and children of most types something to relate to. (Picture book. 3-7)

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SEASON OF WONDER

Bergren, Lisa T. Blink (570 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-310-73564-9 Series: Remnants, 1

In a physically and spiritually wartorn post-apocalyptic world, prophesied warriors bring hope.

Andriana’s an Ailith, one of the caste prophesied to save the world. Ailith are divided into Remnants, like Andriana, and the Knights, who protect them. Andriana’s Knight is Ronan—she’s trained for years with him so that they’ll be in perfect sync, but unfortunately, their closeness has yielded a forbidden attraction. Remnants have “high gifts,” special powers given by the Maker that mark them as enemy to anti-religious political powers and the Sons of Sheol, the dark, mysterious brotherhood that serves those forces. Andriana and Ronan are summoned to the Citadel, where they are ceremonially presented with symbolic armbands and boosts in power with another Remnant-Knight pair. Their mission is to gather other Ailiths, an adventure that takes them through trading camps, deserts and dangerous cities, to rescue imprisoned Ailith Kapriel—twin brother to the evil emperor of superpower Pacifica, also an Ailith. Andriana and her team must assemble, rescue Kapriel and save the world. Exposition relies too heavily on dialogue, and worldbuilding is disorienting—physical size and distance descriptions are scarce, the prophecy is vague, and the unevenness of characters’ knowledge about Kapriel is never explained. The plot meanders, but there’s always action, and the ending provides an intriguing villain for the rest of the quest.

A dense, if uneven, religious fantasy. (name pronunciation guide) (Fantasy. 13 & up)

NAKED!

Black, Michael Illus. by Ohi, Debbie Ridpath Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $17.99 | $16.99 e-book | May 6, 2014 978-1-4424-6738-5 978-1-4424-6739-2 e-book One boy’s birthday suit gets a bit of a workout in this heartfelt paean to going au naturel.

Having tackled ennui in I’m Bored (2012), Black and Ohi reunite in this tale of one boy’s determination to encounter the world totally barrier-free. Finding himself without clothing in the bath, the pink-skinned lad waxes eloquent on the freedom of the flesh. He zips around the house, smugly crowing and then dreaming of what it would be like to be naked 24/7. He may deign to wear some clothing, so long as it’s a cape, but that’s as clothed as he’ll go. That is, until it becomes clear that, if nothing else, clothes are useful in preventing you from freezing your

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“Debut author Brenning has created a charming duo; Milo’s steadfast loyalty (and joyful, lolling tongue, courtesy of Burris) fully balances Maggi’s quirky proclivities.” from maggi and milo

tuchis off. Black’s tale is interesting not so much for its content, which has been done before, as for the sheer joy the young nudist exhibits. In fact, it may go so far as to persuade more straight-laced children to try the lifestyle out for themselves. As for the art, squeamish parents needn’t fear. Ohi appears so reticent to show true nudity that her boy doesn’t exhibit so much as a butt crack. (But that won’t stop little listeners from giggling.)

Doesn’t cover particularly new nude territory, but children equally enthralled with going out in their altogethers will appreciate the enthusiasm here. (Picture book. 2-6)

PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG

Blankman, Anne Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-227881-4 978-0-06-227883-8 e-book In 1930s Munich, a young German girl learns to question her learned hatred for Jewish people.

Seventeen-year-old Gretchen Müller has grown up knowing Adolf Hitler as “Uncle Dolf,” the great National Socialist leader whose life her father had died saving in 1923. This bedrock truth is challenged when a Jewish reporter named Daniel Cohen reaches out to her suggesting that her father actually had been murdered by a fellow National Socialist party member. Together, they work to unravel the mystery of why her father was killed. Gretchen finds herself doubting everything she has been taught to hate and fear about Jews and ultimately must decide where her honor and loyalty lie. In her debut, Blankman weaves into Gretchen’s story the details of Hitler’s historically documented rise to power (and psychopathic nature), and her fictional characters talk and live among some of Nazi Germany’s most notorious figures. At times, the dialogue is unwieldy, and the historical details consume the narrative, which may cause some readers to become bored by slower sections of the story (though a sexually charged scene with Hitler himself will open their eyes wide). Here’s hoping the author will find a better balance between description and action in the proposed sequel, as the relationship between Gretchen and Daniel is what sets this apart.

An interesting perspective on a well-trod era. (author’s note, bibliography) (Historical fiction. 13-17)

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FROZEN

Bowman, Erin HarperTeen (368 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-06-211729-8 978-0-211731-1 e-book Series: Taken, 2 Fans of dystopian-adventure tale Taken (2013) can follow protagonist and narrator Gray on his dangerous mission to find potential allies in Group A, inhabitants of a distant experimental village/prison.

He’s joined on his long, wintry journey by his newly discovered father, both of his love interests—childhood friend Emma and daredevil rebel Bree—and several others. Along the way, they encounter Gray’s twin, who has captured Jackson, one of the replicated warriors that the evil leader of AmEast has been crafting. Jackson undergoes an unexpected transformation, perhaps showing signs of overcoming the programming that makes Forgeries so dangerous. But not all is what it seems among the travelers, although only the most canny of readers will pick up on this developing peril. Their destination provides no refuge—just further complication and pain. Blood abounds.

While Bowman doesn’t revel in the gory details, few characters are safe from grievous, albeit survivable, injury or death. Gray often—annoyingly—agonizes over his divided heart—a conflict that, like many others, remains unresolved, setting up the next in the series.

A surfeit of enemies and a constant sense of danger heighten the suspense; it’s an almost grueling read. (Dystopian adventure. 12-18)

MAGGI AND MILO

Brenning, Juli Illus. by Burris, Priscilla Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 3, 2014 978-0-8037-3795-2

What do you need for a frog hunt? Big polka-dot boots, a book about frogs and one giant border collie best friend.

Maggi, a wisp of a girl with spindly legs and a large, wobbly head, is an excellent adventurer. She can’t wait to try out her new boots and search the pond for frogs. After a good night’s rest—and imparting forbiddingly specific instructions to her brother at the breakfast table (“Please keep the chitchat to a minimum. I’m in a hurry!”)—Maggi and her shaggy sidekick, Milo, are ready. However, after waiting “a million minutes” (or three) in the water, they haven’t found a single frog.

With shoulders slumped and head bent low, Maggi declares frog hunting to be capital B-O-R-I-N-G. Until…Milo finds a frog! And another. And another. After 16 frogs total, Maggi and Milo rest. (Frog hunting is hard work.) As the sun sets and the palette changes to a dusky blue, the frogs quietly croak “good night” to their new friends. Debut author Brenning

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“Delicate, ethereal watercolor-and–colored-pencil illustrations rely on muted blue-gray washes accented with splashes of color to convey Neptune’s underwater kingdom….” from the mermaid and the shoe

SUMMER STATE OF MIND

has created a charming duo; Milo’s steadfast loyalty (and joyful, lolling tongue, courtesy of Burris) fully balances Maggi’s quirky proclivities. A simple, everyday adventure is always better when shared with a friend.

Move over Ladybug Girl (2008), there’s a new spunky galand-canine twosome in town. (Picture book. 3-6)

GUY IN REAL LIFE

Brezenoff, Steve Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | May 27, 2014 978-0-06-226683-5 978-0-06-226685-9 e-book Sulky metal head boy meets artsy gamer girl. Awkward teenage love ensues.

When Lesh’s and Svetlana’s worlds collide—literally—in Saint Paul, Minn., it precipitates a time-honored culture clash wherein magic happens, but that’s where predictability ends. In a firstperson narration that alternates between the boy in black and the girl dungeon master, Brezenoff conjures a wry, wise and deeply sympathetic portrait of the exquisite, excruciating thrill of falling in love. What might easily have been a stale retread feels fresh and lively in Brezenoff ’s hands; he weaves multiple perspectives (school life, game life, dream life) together in threads that tangle into an inevitable knot, with startling consequences. The realistic dialogue, internal and otherwise, captures the uncomfortably iterative process of adolescent self-discovery as Lesh and Svetlana struggle to figure out who they are and what they stand for. The typical obstacles to true love (tempting teen sirens, parents who just don’t understand) are handily and gently overcome, and a subplot involving a jealous suitor peters out unexpectedly early. The juxtaposition of live, real-time role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons against the detached anonymity of MMORPGs, plus a playfully thoughtful exploration of gender identity and politics, gives the novel depth and heart that will appeal to audiences beyond the gaming set.

This is not the teen love story you’ve read a thousand times before. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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Calonita, Jen Poppy/Little, Brown (256 pp.) $10.00 paper | $8.99 e-book Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-316-09115-2 978-0-316-32342-0 e-book

Almost-15-year-old Harper thinks only of fashion until her dad sees her credit-card bill and packs her off to summer camp for a needed lifestyle change.

As the daughter of a suddenly rich music-video producer, Harper spends money without thought. She had expected to spend the summer in Cancun but instead finds herself in a creaky wooden cabin with fellow campers who don’t seem to like her much. No wonder, as Harper has carted in luggage full of hair products, expensive T-shirts and impractical shoes. She begins by losing a contest her cabin should have won, blowing out the fuses and using up all the hot water. She’s terrified of imaginary spiders and bears and remains resolutely nonathletic. One sympathetic girl, Lina, tries to help, but when Harper finally goes too far, even Lina quits talking to her. Desperate to gain friends, Harper plots to win a contest to get a popular rock star to shoot a video at the camp—a girl Harper secretly actually knows. Calonita keeps the narration bubbly and pitched just right for her pre- and early-teen audience, with plenty of comedy and a gentle message about superficiality. She makes Harper the butt of the jokes but always shows the girl’s sympathetic side so that readers can laugh with her rather than at her.

Entertainment for the fashionista crowd. (Chick lit.

10-15)

THE MERMAID AND THE SHOE

Campbell, K.G. Illus. by Campbell, K.G. Kids Can (36 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-55453-771-6

Unlike her talented older sisters, a little mermaid feels disappointingly ordinary until her curiosity unveils her special skills.

Each of King Neptune’s 50 mermaid daughters has a remarkable talent—except Minnow, who asks lots of questions, like why crabs don’t have fins, where bubbles go and what lies beyond their underwater kingdom. Her sister Calypso dismissively chides her to “stop asking useless questions…and be remarkable.” When Minnow discovers a mysterious object no one can identify, she’s determined to find out what it is. Her relentless curiosity carries her above water, where Minnow sees a girl wearing a pair of shoes similar to the mysterious object.

With her questions answered, Minnow triumphantly returns to her underwater family, heralded as a “daring explorer.” Delicate, ethereal watercolor–and–colored–pencil illustrations rely

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on muted blue-gray washes accented with splashes of color to convey Neptune’s underwater kingdom, with its flora and fauna. Kelp-enclosed cameo close-ups of Minnow and her sisters with white, gossamer hair and golden-scaled tails alternate with luminous double-page spreads featuring diminutive Minnow, carrying a scarlet shoe and fearlessly ascending from the dark underwater world into the brilliant sun and sky, where she watches a “landmaid” reveal the secret of shoes.

Although this luminous tale of self-discovery has echoes of “The Little Mermaid,” like Minnow, it sings its own strong song. (Picture book. 3-7)

A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES

Chainani, Soman Illus. by Bruno, Iacopo Harper/HarperCollins (448 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-06-210492-2 978-0-06-210494-6 e-book Series: School for Good and Evil, 2

In a middle volume framed as a battle of the sexes, the author pulls some clever switcheroos (The School for Good and Evil, 2013).

A sincere if ill-timed wish summons Agatha and Sophie back to the twinned School for Good and Evil—to find it transformed into separate schools for girls and for boys. The latter is filled with brutal, callous, unwashed louts led (at first) by vengeful Tedros of Camelot. A scary new dean in the former has changed the fairy-tale textbooks to make all the male characters evil and instituted radical policies for the girls: “We wear pants, we don’t do our nails…we even eat cheese!” Though Chainani tries to keep the rival camps entirely separate by leaving out any hint of sex or even (a mighty pull between Agatha and Tedros aside) romance, Sophie’s temporary transformation into a boy at one point to sneak into the other school leads to a tender scene with Tedros. Another character turns out to be a spell-disguised boy who just preferred the girls’ school. Readers will be drawn in by set pieces, including the currently obligatory Hunger Games–style competition, but nearly all turn out to be incidental to the broader plot, which ends, of course, in a cliffhanger.

The closing volume should tie up those loose ends with, if the first two volumes are indicators, wild swings of terror and hilarity. (Fantasy. 11-13)

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DEATH SPIRAL

Chodosh, Janie Poisoned Pencil (310 pp.) $10.95 paper | $5.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-9293-4500-7 978-1-929345-01-4 e-book Series: Faith Flores Science Mysteries When a junkie dies, no one bothers to ask questions—except her daughter.

Six weeks have passed since Faith found her addict mother dead in their West Philly apartment, but she still hasn’t settled into her new life with her aunt in the suburbs. Already troubled by lingering doubts about her mother’s apparent overdose, Faith begins to search for hard answers after she discovers her mother was secretly participating in a clinical trial for a new treatment for heroin addiction. Though Faith’s reluctant to share her troubles with her aunt and her perky best friend, she finds a confidant— and romantic interest—in Jesse, a new student with a rebellious streak. Debut novelist Chodosh provides plenty of detail as Faith delves into the world of big-money medical research and gene therapy, but the science and mystery fall as flat as the unconvincing dialogue. Faith’s research never actually feels like the start of a genuine passion for the subject, and most of the progress she makes in her investigation comes through good luck rather than actual deductions. Astute readers will guess the truth behind her mother’s death long before the improbable denouement.

This science-heavy mystery isn’t as smart as it would like to be. (Mystery. 12-17)

BENNY GOODMAN AND TEDDY WILSON Taking the Stage as the First Black-and-White Jazz Band in History Cline-Ransome, Lesa Illus. by Ransome, James E. Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-2362-0

This married author-illustrator team (Light in the Darkness, 2013, etc.) here highlights the innovative, barrier-breaking collaboration of African-American Wilson and Jewish-American Goodman.

Cline-Ransome’s staccato verse narrative articulates the musicians’ parallel paths to their eventual collaboration. She contrasts their backgrounds, describing dedicated musical training, early jazz influences and stints in various bands. (Wilson, the son of Tuskegee educators, studied music theory in college in Alabama, while Goodman got free synagogue music lessons and gigged around Chicago, quitting school at 14.) The two are introduced in Queens, N.Y., in 1935 and click during an impromptu jam. Benny forms a trio with Wilson and drummer Gene Krupa, overcoming—in April 1936 in Chicago—an initial

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reluctance to appear with Wilson, making them the first interracial band to perform in public. That same year, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton joins up, making it a quartet. Ransome’s watercolors utilize a palette rich in twilight-blue, indigo and yellow, punctuated with sienna, red and green. In lively double-page spreads, he captures the band’s dedication to practicing and recording together, as well as the verve and excitement of their live shows. Two pages of background notes include more about the musicians, a timeline of jazz events and a brief “Who’s Who” of some of jazz’s giants.

A solid exploration of a resonant musical partnership at a historically significant moment in American music.

(Informational picture book. 6-9)

BIG BUG

Cole, Henry Illus. by Cole, Henry Little Simon/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $14.99 | $12.99 e-book | May 6, 2014 978-1-4424-9897-6 978-1-4424-9899-0 e-book What is big and what is little? It’s an enormous question, especially for young children who are just beginning to acquire a tentative understanding of their place in the physical world.

The concepts of scale and spatial relationships are presented in a series of scenes comparing creatures and objects in various juxtapositions depending on viewpoint or perspective.

The tiny ladybug appears very large when viewed up close, but place it on a leaf, and it is miniscule. Zooming in on a flower makes it appear enormous, but it’s much smaller when placed next to a dog, which in turn is much smaller than the cow. The cow is tiny when set against farm buildings—which seem very small in relation to the vastness of the sky. Cole’s beautifully rendered, sharp, bright, borderless double-page spreads are textured and sharply focused and are perfectly scaled to reinforce the concept. Text is strictly limited to labels in appropriately proportioned type size, each of the creatures and objects big or little within their context. It is a carefully constructed demonstration of a tricky concept, weakened by the final image in which the abstract “little nap” is introduced after the series of concrete, recognizable examples. Lively discussion between parent and child will help to make sense of it all.

Visually lovely and appealing. (Picture book. 3-7)

BATTLE OF THE BEASTS

Columbus, Chris; Vizzini, Ned Illus. by Call, Greg Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (480 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-06-219249-3 978-0-06-219252-3 e-book Series: House of Secrets, 2 House of Secrets’ (2013) happy ending gives way to new problems for the Walker children, both in reality and in writer-wizard Denver Kristoff ’s pulpy genre-book worlds.

While the Walkers appear to be living large with the $10,000,000 wished for by Eleanor at the end of their last adventure, their new life is neither happy nor stable. Brendan struggles to fit in at his new elite private school. Cordelia fits in fine—thrives even—but experiences strange symptoms (she always feels very cold, for instance), hinting at a threat left over from their first adventure. Eleanor misses the camaraderie and closeness among the siblings when they had to work together.

Worst, their father’s strange actions and decisions put their whole family at risk. But as the Wind Witch was banished and not eliminated, soon she returns and casts the children back into book worlds, still in pursuit of the magic book—but this time getting out will be harder. They end up tangling with gladiators, Nazis, cyborgs and more in a storyline that, despite its high levels of action, takes care to highlight the characters’ inner turmoil. What does it mean to fit in? Is the book world preferable to their crumbling reality? The prose is occasionally jumpy and chaotic, but the content always entertains. This collaboration with Columbus is Vizzini’s (1981-2013) final book; the future of the projected trilogy is unclear.

A dark action-adventure-fantasy with surprising heart.

(Fantasy. 10-14)

SKINNER’S BANKS

Cowan, Brad V. Lorimer Press (160 pp.) $19.95 | $12.95 paper | $9.95 e-book Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4594-0521-9 978-1-4594-0522-6 paper 978-1-4594-0523-3 e-book Series: Seven Stair Crew, 2 In the second volume of a Canadian trilogy, 12-year-old skateboarder Cale Finch makes a skate video with the Seven Stair Crew, of which he is newly a member.

When the story opens, Cale has just “ollied the Seven Stairs,” earning his place among the older boys who make up the Seven Stair Crew. He lives with his single mom, has a crush on classmate Angie Phillips and is afraid of Tweeze, a skateboarding bully from the next town over. Then the Seven Stairs Crew decides to put together a video of their best tricks, and a

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“Liwska’s crosshatchings, downy edges and bright animal eyes are entrancing and tranquil.” from boom, snot, twitty

local skateboarding hero volunteers his help...and some information about Cale’s family history. There are a lot of storylines for such a short book, and none of them is explored especially thoroughly. Shooting the video is frustrating, but the frustration seems to resolve itself. The boys sneak out to film late at night, so that no one can kick them out of the best skating spots in town, and take uncomfortable risks with firecrackers, but an accident happens to a character largely unrelated to their late-night activities (and, unsettlingly, footage of a crew member throwing firecrackers at a drunk interloper is positively received when the film premieres).

Exciting skating action and easy-to-relate-to issues but too much going on in too little space. (Fiction. 10-12)

SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS

Crandell, Bethany Running Press Teens (256 pp.) $9.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7624-4951-4

Constance “Cricket” Montgomery is horrified when, as a semipunishment, her wealthy father nixes her vacation to Maui and sends her to work at Camp I Can “with a bunch of retards” and a strict counselor who knows Cricket mysteriously well.

The only thing keeping her sane in a “[h]andicapped hell” of “[s]mashed-in, dog-faces who can actually use the toilet” is Quinn, a Zac Efron look-alike who sees beyond her privileged upbringing and spurs her to notice the funny and poignant “moments” that highlight the campers’ human qualities. Cricket’s moments, though refreshingly unsaccharine, nonetheless fail to portray the campers as three-dimensional teens. Filtered by her spoiled obliviousness, the campers’ jokes and interests— among them Edward Cullen, Hannah Montana and Midol— often come across with a head-patting air of “How cute.” Her patronization is especially unsettling considering that she and the campers are of similar age. The campers are little more than Cricket’s teachable moments, her change of heart for them notwithstanding—ironically, even as she learns to leave her “posh, fancy bubble,” it’s still all about her. Though this novel is undoubtedly well-intentioned, it’s exasperating, as the emphasis on the message that people with disabilities are people too resigns them to the position of plot devices, not people.

Readers who want “moments” should spend time with the campers in Harriet McBryde Johnson’s Accidents of Nature (2006), who are already human beings. (Fiction. 13-18)

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BOOM, SNOT, TWITTY

Cronin, Doreen Illus. by Liwska, Renata Viking (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 17, 2014 978-0-670-78575-9

Three friends with different philosophies spend a companionable day together, crocheting and weathering storms.

Boom is a bear, Twitty a robin and Snot a snail. Boom and Snot lie on their stomachs near a tree, reading, while Twitty crochets with pink yarn. Presently, the decisions begin. Twitty suggests staying where they are; Boom suggests going somewhere; Snot suggests waiting. So they each do: Twitty stays put (up the tree, where she’d already gone), Boom goes somewhere (up the tree to join her), and Snot waits on the ground, gathering yarn.

When storm clouds arrive, Boom—standing on the treetop— leans into the wind and yells “Jump!”; Twitty shelters her yarn and cries “Hold on!”; Snot closes her eyes and murmurs, “Wind!”

Lightning and a downpour make Boom yell “Run!” and Twitty cry “Hide!,” while Snot smiles and sighs, “Rain!” Here’s the subtle magnificence: Nary a speck of alienation from one another mars their vastly different approaches, nor does the text portray Snot’s easily found pleasure as more enlightened. The pale, softly colored backgrounds are bare, highlighting the characters, tree, yarn and dynamic weather. Liwska’s crosshatchings, downy edges and bright animal eyes are entrancing and tranquil.

The crochet project progresses finely, growing (it’s briefly a tree cozy), unraveling (Boom jumps off the tree wearing it as a cape) and ending up someplace perfect.

Serene, quietly joyous and utterly life-affirming. (Picture book. 2-5)

THE CHICKEN SQUAD The First Misadventure

Cronin, Doreen Illus. by Cornell, Kevin Atheneum (112 pp.) $12.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4424-9676-7 978-1-4424-9678-1 e-book Series: Chicken Squad Adventure, 1 In this delightful spinoff of the J.J. Tully series, this time the chickens are in charge—sort of.

When “dumb squirrel” Tail is terrified by something big and scary in the yard, the Chicken Squad (Dirt, Sugar, Poppy and Sweetie) is on the case. Not only do they work to build Tail’s pitiful vocabulary, these chickens will make readers laugh while doing it.

Soon, Tail’s description goes from “big and scary” to “huge and terrifying,” and following a bonk to the head, he describes the thing in the yard as “a big, shiny circle…a dark shade of green…it made a weird hissing and popping noise…it interrupted the atmosphere.”

Cronin keeps the mystery moving right along, allowing it to build at just the right pace for new readers to guess along with the silly

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“Lizano draws people the same way that small children do: a giant oval for the head and two dots for the eyes. But his people always have complicated expressions on their faces.” from hidden

chickens. Of course, it takes J.J. Tully, the retired search-and-rescue hound, to figure it out and save the day. Just don’t tell the Chicken Squad. Each page turn rewards readers with a humorous illustration that explains and extends the text—and helps children figure out some of the more difficult words from picture clues.

Most of the more challenging words are repeated many times as the chickens recount the story for each other and Tail, making this a great first chapter book.

(Comic mystery. 6-9)

MONSTER NEEDS HIS SLEEP

Czajak, Paul Illus. by Grieb, Wendy Scarletta Press (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-938063-26-8 Series: Monster & Me

Czajak and Grieb (Monster Needs a Costume, 2013) pair up once again for a hilarious take on the many creative ways a monster attempts to avoid bedtime.

In rollicking rhyme, a young boy narrates the story of how he repeatedly tries to get Monster into bed. Readers will recognize some of their own delaying tactics, from asking to watch television to needing a snack and demanding a drink. But the boy is persistent in moving the nighttime activities along: “I brushed my teeth, he brushed his fangs. / We put our PJ’s on. // Then Monster went to grab his books… / ‘We’ll have a read-athon!’ ” The boy—employing many strategies that parents use— agrees to some requests, firmly moves the monster toward bed, and gives him love and comfort. But in a somewhat surprising turn, it is not just ending the day that Monster is avoiding—he’s afraid of the dark. The huge, cartoonish, gray-blue creature with tufty purple hair, long claws and striped horns comes across as a vulnerable softie as he hides under the covers and clutches a comically small monster doll. A night light is retrieved and sets “his room aglow. / Monster pulled his blanket down, and crawled out from below.” A final goodnight kiss allows the cuddly guy to finally fall asleep. Although the premise isn’t entirely original, young readers will appreciate seeing a child in charge of the situation and providing the solution.

Sure to be a welcome choice for the going-to-bed time that never seems to end. (Picture book. 3-6)

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HIDDEN A Child’s Story of the Holocaust

Dauvillier, Loïc Illus. by Lizano, Marc; Salsedo, Greg First Second/Roaring Brook (80 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-59643-873-6

The most moving scenes of this graphic novel have no words at all.

Lizano draws people the same way that small children do: a giant oval for the head and two dots for the eyes. But his people always have complicated expressions on their faces. They never show just one emotion. They’re angry and perplexed or cheerful and bemused. (Colorist Salsedo supplies a sad, muted palette that complements the mood perfectly.) When the Nazis force the Jews to wear yellow stars, Dounia’s mother looks frightened and furious and bewildered. Her father looks surprisingly happy. He says, “This morning, I was at a big meeting. Some people suggested that we become a family of sheriffs.” He says it very calmly, and Dounia doesn’t realize for a long time afterward that he was telling a comforting lie. This should be a sad story, but the family lives through the darkest moments of the war with determination and grace and even humor. Dounia doesn’t let her emotions fully register until years later, when she’s telling the story to her granddaughter. On the last pages of the book, in a few quiet, powerful panels, her face shows grief and guilt and fear and resignation.

No book can sum up all of the Holocaust, but this graphic novel seems to contain every possible human emotion. Remarkably, most of the time, it does it with an oval and two dots. (Graphic historical fiction. 6-13)

THE ACB WITH HONORA LEE

de Goldi, Kate Illus. by O’Brien, Gregory Tundra (128 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-77049-722-1

Colorful, chaotic line drawings that incorporate elements of the story embellish this novel about a girl’s newfound relationship to her senile grandmother.

As the story opens, 9-year-old only-child Perry, denied even a pet by her well-meaning but goal-oriented parents, laments her lonely fate. “There was just Perry and her parents, and week after week after week full to the brim with after-school activities....”

Little does she know, she’s about to begin spending much more time with her grandmother, Honora, whose move to Santa Lucia, an elder care facility nearby, happily coincides with the surprise cancellation of her weekly music-and-movement class. De Goldi’s quickly paced style is enormous fun to read and is well-suited to the wordplay that results when Perry embarks on creating an abecedary based on words she encounters during her visits with her Gran and the quirky, appealing residents and staff of Santa

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Lucia. Perry’s precocious, gregarious nature will win readers’ hearts, even if at times some of the humor might appeal more to adults than kids; they’ll better understand the joke, for example, when, as her dad tries to explain his use of a figure of speech, Perry innocently exclaims, “I’m a Figure of No Speech.”

Clever, poignant and sweetly funny, this will be especially appreciated by those who’ve experienced a loved one with dementia. (Fiction. 8-12)

COCK-A-DOODLE-OOPS!

Degman, Lori Illus. by Zemke, Deborah Creston (36 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 21, 2014 978-1-939547-07-1

Zemke provides more farmyard huggermugger (George Shannon’s Wise Acres, 2004) to illustrate Degman’s versified tale of animals trying to substitute at sunrise for an absent rooster.

Deciding that he needs a week at the beach to catch up on his sleep, Rooster enlists fellow livestock to crow each morning to wake Farmer McPeeper while he’s gone. But despite the best efforts of Sheep (“Her cock-a-doodle baaaaaaaa / didn’t travel too faaa. / In fact, she made barely a peep”), Cow (“udder disaster!”) and the rest, McPeeper sleeps on. Looking properly popeyed and panicky in the cartoon scenes, the other animals welcome Rooster back at last— only to learn that he’s caught a cold and can barely wheeze. As in her prizewinning light verse for 1 Zany Zoo (illustrated by Colin Jack, 2010), the author displays a gift for rhymes and language that is clever rather than forced. She also skips the obvious (trite) solution of a general hullabaloo and just has Rooster leave a whispered “cock-a-doodle-doo” on McPeeper’s bedside phone—a technology assist that displays pleasing ingenuity. Farmer McPeeper wakes up, feeling like he’s slept for a week…which he has.

Puns and foolery pitched just right for newly independent readers. (Early reader. 5-7)

A DARK INHERITANCE

d’Lacey, Chris Scholastic (304 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | May 27, 2014 978-0-545-60876-3 978-0-545-60879-4 e-book Series: UFiles, 1 This admixture of suspicious deaths, ghosts, shifting realities, weird science, teen issues, family issues, secret organizations and unexplained events in a British town will all, no doubt, come clear in future episodes.

As the story opens, Michael suddenly develops the ability to read a suicidal dog’s intentions and teleport himself a short distance to rescue it. After this remarkable occurrence, |

he is forcibly inducted into a group called UNexplained Incidents, Cryptic Occurrences, Relative Nontemporal Events by the sinister, inhumanly strong Amadeus Klimt and his hot, surly, butt-kicking assistant Chantelle. Learning that he can alter events by “imagineering” himself into alternate universes, Michael squeaks past multiple murder attempts while stumbling through a nightmarish mystery. This involves moody goth schoolmate Freya and Rafferty, the killed (but not gone, thanks to “cellular memory”) former owner of both the dog and Freya’s transplanted heart. For comic relief, d’Lacey adds a younger but smarter sister to expedite Michael’s relations with the opposite sex. He also chucks in strange revelations about their long-missing father, a luridly icky science lab scene, dragons, unicorns, UFOs (possibly), a melodramatic climax featuring literal cliffhanging and several encounters with dead teens.

No genre trope is left in the basket, making the result more a crazy quilt than a free-standing series opener. (Fantasy/science fiction. 11-13)

the accidental keyhand

Downey, Jen Swann Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (384 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4022-8770-1 Series: Ninja Librarians,1 A frustrated would-be hero from New Jersey and her teenage slacker brother fall into a library that lies outside of time. Chaos ensues.

Pursuing an errant mongoose into a back closet of their local public library, Dorrie and Marcus drop through a hole that’s suddenly opened at the back. They find themselves greeted with a sharp mix of warmth and suspicion by the residents of Petrarch’s Library—a sprawling institution composed of book stacks from many eras and time portals run by Hypatia with help from renowned Lybrarians like Casanova and other historical figures.

Dorrie catches fire when she learns that after rigorous training in library skills and martial arts, professional Lybrarians are sent through said portals to rescue historically threatened writers and books. She earns her apprenticeship (as does Marcus) in a wild, climactic and sequel-positioning attempt to recover from vicious thieves a device that will open portals to the Library from any “wheren” (i.e., time or place). Downey accurately conveys to today’s reading masses the true scope of library science (highlighted by Lybrarian Games at the Midsummer Lybrarians’ Conference that include timed scroll-shelving, book-cart racing, rappelling and dagger throwing—how did she know?). She also shows a rare gift for crafting scrambles so madcap that it’s hard to turn the pages fast enough to keep up.

Well worth a spot on library shelves…but it won’t stay there long. (Fantasy. 10-13)

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WRITTEN IN THE STARS

popular and beautiful Kim, overweight Emmy also confronts such issues as self-image, bullying, the growing pains of adolescent friendships and first kisses.

A slow start may deter some, but sophisticated readers who stick with the story will find a thoughtful search for closure and acceptance. (Fiction. 12-15)

Duncan, Lois Lizzie Skurnick/Ig | (223 pp.) $18.95 | $12.95 paper | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-939601-20-9 978-1-939601-14-8 paper Readers of a certain age will recall reading Duncan’s stories in Seventeen and Calling All Girls.

Fourteen stories are collected here with a prologue and commentary on each by the award-winning author best known for her youngadult novels. At the age of 13, she sold the story “P.S. We Are Fine,” which was the genesis of Hotel for Dogs. “Return,” about a soldier home from war, was written when she was 18. She still wonders why it won Seventeen’s creative-writing contest in 1953.

But it’s clear that she had a talent for natural-sounding dialogue and an insight into human relationships. Aside from their origins as the author’s early work, there’s no real unifying theme; it’s a pity there is no editorial introduction to lay them out. The most autobiographical of the stories, “The Last Night,” is told from the perspective of a room that has seen a girl become a young woman. It provides an answer to that often-asked question—why she writes: “Anne comes again to her desk and reaches for the words. They are still there, shining and golden at her mind’s edge. They tremble on her pen and dance onto the paper” until her pen runs out of ink.

Of interest mainly to fans, this collection stands as a tribute to the body of work that has poured out of Duncan’s pen since she herself was a girl. (Short stories. 12 & up)

THE END OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

Ellis, Ann Dee Dial (352 pp.) $17.99 | May 11, 2014 978-0-8037-3739-6

Emmy sees dead people—but not the one she really wants to see.

It’s been one year since Emmy’s best friend, Kim, succumbed to her congenital heart disease while they were both in eighth grade. Before her death, Kim had made Emmy promise to contact her on important dates. Now that the anniversary of Kim’s death approaches, Emmy has been seeing, communicating with and even helping other recently deceased individuals navigate their transitions to death. So why can’t she find Kim? Chapters with different typefaces alternate between Emmy’s current, grief-stricken state and events leading up to Kim’s death, most notably Kim’s interest in a supposed medium touring their Las Vegas–area community. Although the quiet novel is a traditional prose narrative told from Emmy’s perspective, ample white space occasionally gives the story the look and feel of a verse novel. As she reconciles her feelings for the once 90

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MOON AT NINE

Ellis, Deborah Pajama Press (224 pp.) $19.95 | $16.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-927485-57-6 978-1-927485-59-0 paper In a novel based on a true story, two teen girls fall in love and face harsh political fallout in post-revolution Iran.

Readers learn the basics of 1980s Iran’s political situation from context and light exposition. Farrin’s family is wealthy, and her mother hosts Bring Back the Shah teas and parties with illicit alcohol.

Farrin’s mother discourages her from making friends, out of both fear that Farrin will reveal her secrets and an almost cartoonishly exaggerated disdain for “low-class rabble.” When Farrin meets Sadira, however, the two become fast friends, and their bond soon grows. Then, just after the war with Iraq has ended and the new regime is cracking down at home, an officious class monitor catches the two girls kissing and reports them. The consequences are both chilling and tragic. The author’s hands-off approach means readers hear relatively few of Farrin’s thoughts or feelings about having fallen in love with another girl. Nor are they given more than the bare minimum of tools to interpret the complex power dynamics of Farrin’s relationship with Ahmad, the Afghan refugee who serves as her driver. However spare, though, the portrait painted of 1980s Iran’s political climate—and in particular the situation of gay and lesbian people and political prisoners—is haunting.

A harsh introduction to a disturbing moment in Iran’s recent history. (Historical fiction. 14-18)

THE DAY I LOST MY SUPERPOWERS

Escoffier, Michaël Illus. by Di Giacomo, Kris Enchanted Lion Books (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 7, 2014 978-1-59270-144-5 In an import that is high on zest, a child and her blithe conviction that she has superpowers both take an abrupt tumble.

Sporting a black mask throughout in the simple crayon drawings, the self-confident young narrator describes how she learned to fly by launching herself from the bed. She can also make things (well, cupcakes at least) disappear and breathe

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“Clean layout and design augment a quality introduction to an important chapter in the history of American education.” from schools of hope

under water—in a tub scene featuring a rib-tickling bit of mooning—as well as like special “powers.” But despite previous spills aplenty, she declares with a childlike sense of permanence that her abilities are “Gone! Finished!” after some swooping on the end of a rope in the yard one day ends with a SPLAT! They don’t vanish for long though, as when Mom rushes out with a “magic kiss” that makes most of the hurt go away, the child concludes that she “has superpowers too!” The illustrations will clue young readers in immediately that any powers here (aside, of course, from Mom’s) are strictly in her head, creating a tension between text and subtext that, oddly, both celebrates and undercuts this kind of imaginary play. Executed on spacious expanses of white or rich tan, they depict the ebullient child engaged in all sorts of delicious mayhem.

The narrator’s buoyancy and quick recovery save this from turning into a dreary life lesson. (Picture book. 6-8)

IT’S ABOUT TIME Untangling Everything You Need to Know About Time

Estellon, Pascale Illus. by Estellon, Pascale Owlkids Books (48 pp.) $18.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-77147-006-3

French illustrator Estellon explores the idea of time in this concept book for young readers.

From one second to one century, the idea of time and its measurement is discussed in terms that any youngster can understand. It takes a second to create a swirly doodle and an hour to bake a pound cake (recipe included). Giving clear instructions on how to make a paper clock, Estellon encourages readers to use one to learn to tell time. Eventually, the author includes easy-to-solve quizzes (with answers upside down at the bottoms of the pages). Interesting facts—“meridian” of a.m. and p.m. comes from the Latin word for midday or noon, for instance—will keep adults interested as well. She even explains the knuckle-reading trick for telling whether a month has 31 days or is a short month. The text explains that years are 365 days, but no mention is made of leap years. Unfortunately, in most illustrations, the hour hand stays firmly on the hour, even when the minute hand points to an interim moment on the dial.

That might be the way the French teach time to children, but in America, children are taught that the hour hand moves with the minute hand, and these illustrations will confuse them.

Pretty to look at but marred by visual errors. (Picture book. 4-8)

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THE NEW CHAMPION

Feldman, Jody Illus. by Jamieson, Victoria Greenwillow/HarperCollins (380 pp.) $16.99 | $6.99 paper | $6.99 e-book Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-221125-5 978-0-06-121452-3 paper 978-0-06-195731-4 e-book Series: Gollywhopper Games, 2 Bert Golliwop and his executive team at Golly Toy and Game Company decide to hold a second round of Gollywhopper Games in this sequel.

Enter 12-year-old Cameron, an ordinary middle child with an actual ticket to said games courtesy of older brother Spencer, who entered him thinking it would double his chances to get in. Mild-mannered Cameron might never have considered it.

Spencer plays all the angles, and his competitiveness keeps the brothers at odds throughout. Cameron doesn’t think much of his chances and really believes that his family hasn’t any faith in him either, but he finds the games’ puzzles intriguing. His video camera—his lifelong companion—has trained him to see things cinematically, and his observation skills become key. Readers might feel that they are following Cameron to his inevitable, big win, but Feldman is canny and employs hints of a possible act of sabotage to keep the outcome slightly more uncertain.

Every puzzle is clearly explained but never too quickly, giving readers a chance to make their own guesses. (There are some amusing posers, but nothing requires calculus.) Some moral and ethical questions arise, but there’s no time for soul-searching in this mildly amusing entertainment.

Puzzle lovers who pick the book up wanting to hang out in the Gollywhopper world one more time will find themselves with a better-than-average sequel. (Fiction. 8-12)

SCHOOLS OF HOPE How Julius Rosenwald Helped Change African American Education

Finkelstein, Norman H. Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills (80 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-59078-841-7

Julius Rosenwald, the man responsible for the early-20th-century success of the Sears, Roebuck Co., also improved education for African-Americans who were just decades away from slavery.

The son of German-Jewish immigrants, Rosenwald’s financial prosperity and family upbringing led him first to support Jewish causes and then charities in his hometown of Chicago.

Despite differences in religious traditions, he became a supporter of the Young Men’s Christian Association movement.

His donation to an African-American YMCA facility and reading of Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, Up from Slavery, began the work for which he is so esteemed: the building of

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“In her scribbly cartoons, Fortenberry endows both the king and the diminutive artist with easy-to-read expressions and big, fetching manes of flyaway black curls.” from the artist and the king

over 5,300 schools, as well as scholarship aid and educational resources, starting in 1913. In the era of “separate but equal,” the pioneering educator’s philosophy of self-help appealed to Rosenwald; indeed his school grants required matching funds and community involvement. Such famous lights as Jacob Lawrence and Charles Drew received support from the Rosenwald Foundation, but countless nameless individuals in the South also benefited from an education that might not have been available without its efforts. This straightforward narrative is substantially supported with many photographs of the period, especially of the schools and the students. Source notes, a bibliography (which could have used a few more titles for the target readership), a list of websites, an index and picture credits add to its authenticity.

Clean layout and design augment a quality introduction to an important chapter in the history of American education. (Nonfiction. 10-16)

ZOMBIES DON’T SURRENDER

Fischer, Rusty Medallion Press (342 pp.) $9.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-60542-709-6 Series: Living Dead Love Stories, 3

Life at the supersecret good-zombie headquarters, nicknamed Sentinel City by heroine Maddy, is complicated, unsatisfying and short.

Stamp, Maddy’s one-time love interest, has been badly damaged by his Zerker (bad zombie) infection from Zombies Don’t Forgive (2013), and although he’s partially recovered his old self, he’s mentally delayed from the experience. As for Maddy’s other love interest— broody, older zombie Dane—he’s left her for a younger, fresher dead girl. But at least Maddy has her father, safe in Sentinel City, where he studies both Stamp and longtime antagonist Val to gather information on Zerkers. When Val escapes, Maddy, her father and Stamp are unjustly scapegoated. Maddy’s father is too valuable to lose, but they expel Maddy and Stamp. Taking care of Stamp, Maddy ends up in a nearby town where she’s identified by a local who’s familiar with zombies. The local asks for Maddy’s help—kids are disappearing, and a Zerker horde is growing. The romantic drama is all post-breakup awkwardness: Dane and his new flame are assigned by the Sentinels to handle the infestation, bringing them and Maddy together. The brainiest this book gets is in its delineation of delightfully disgusting zombie cuisine— brain smoothies, brain nuggets and cat food. Resolutely on her own, Maddy’s storyline is surprisingly empowering, especially in the ending, which draws multiple storylines to a close.

For readers craving lighter—yet still violent and gory— cannibalistic action with a side of self-discovery. (Horror.

13 & up)

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TYLER MAKES A BIRTHDAY CAKE!

Florence, Tyler Illus. by Frazier, Craig Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $17.99 | $18.89 PLB | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-204760-1 978-0-06-204761-8 PLB Food Network star chef Florence and esteemed graphic artist Frazier serve up a third entry about cooking and food origins.

This time it’s Tofu the dog’s birthday, so his owner, Tyler, wants to bake a birthday cake. Boy and dog visit their favorite bakery, where Mr. Baker offers to let them help bake a carrot cake. The baker whisks Tyler and Tofu off on a magical journey to see where several specialized cake ingredients originate. The story, told entirely in dialogue, is not particularly compelling, and the ingredients, such as raisins, carrots and walnuts, are only mildly interesting as fodder for illustrations. Tyler helps bake the cake, but Mr. Baker decorates it himself and then brings an additional cake suitable for dogs to the party. Frazier’s accomplished illustrations use a flattened, childlike perspective, thick outlines and white space to create a strong graphic appeal. Tofu is always a source of visual comic relief, with humorous thoughtbubble vignettes and indulging in such antics as barking up a tree or wearing a dripping bowl on his head. The birthday party is an amusing scene with a hydrant-shaped piñata and cavorting canines, though only one of the eight party guests appears to be female.

Like most desserts, sweet and enjoyable but not essential. (Picture book. 4-7)

THE ARTIST AND THE KING

Fortenberry, Julie Illus. by Fortenberry, Julie Alazar Press (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 7, 2014 978-0-9793000-3-5

In a nod to art’s twin powers of subversion and of transformation, a very small painter makes a hardhearted king cry—and then smile.

Enraged at the sight of a quickly sketched scowling caricature, the king orders little Daphne to exchange her artist’s beret for a tall, conical dunce cap. She proceeds to decorate and make it so attractive that soon, her hats are selling like hotcakes (“She has such an eye for color and proportion,” coos a customer). Taking this new fashion to be mockery, the king rushes out to banish everyone—including, as it turns out, his own angry daughter. Re-enter Daphne, who apologizes for the “mean picture,” soothes the weeping monarch with a pointed cap of his own, and after helping him lead the princess and other exiles back, regains her beret as a reward. In her scribbly cartoons, Fortenberry endows both the king and the diminutive artist with easy-to-read expressions and big, fetching manes of flyaway black curls. Readers inspired by the dozens of artfully

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enhanced toppers on display in several scenes will find directions for making their own on the author’s website.

Parts of this may fly over younger audiences’ heads, but the general point is adroitly made. (Picture book. 6-8)

ICE WHALE

George, Jean Craighead Dial (208 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 3, 2014 978-0-8037-37457 George’s last novel, completed by her sons Twig and Craig, traces a 200year cycle of devastation, change and recovery in Arctic waters.

In 1848, Toozak, a Yu’pik lad, is awed to witness the birth of a bowhead whale with a distinctive chin marking, naming it Siku. But the privilege becomes an obligation years later, after he unthinkingly sets off a general slaughter by pointing a Yankee whaler to a pod of whales. He is told by a shaman that atonement will require protecting Siku until the whale dies or rescues either him or one of his descendants. Over the next two centuries, as bowheads are hunted nearly to extinction, then become a protected species and slowly recover, the whale and descendants of Toozak sight one another once or twice each generation. The structure makes for a particularly episodic plot but provides readers with a panoramic view of the area’s natural and human history. To get away from anthropomorphism in the undersea chapters, George invented a system of squiggly lines to represent the whales’ own names and other calls. 2048 brings a final encounter (research suggests that bowheads can live that long) and also a wistful, wishful picture of an Arctic culture that has returned to its old roots.

A fitting envoi for a writer whose most enduring tales of nature and survival are required childhood reading. (map, whale portrait) (Adventure. 10-13)

THE BOX OF HOLES

Gil, Carmen Illus. by Carretero, Monica Cuento de Luz (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-84-15784-44-9

A wordy, rambling story with an arbitrary conclusion.

Sadly, the clever and humorous endpapers are easily the best part of this “Jack and the Beanstalk”–esque story. When Andrea comes home with a box of holes she bought, her practical mother is not amused. Undaunted, Andrea retreats to her room, takes out a hole, and a mouse—who says he works for the tooth fairy, though why this information is pertinent is never shared—immediately appears. He demands the hole, claiming |

it’s missing from his cheese. For each hole, another character pops up, and while a few are clearly related to items in Andrea’s room, most are entirely haphazard. Each claims one of Andrea’s new holes is his or her own, missing from one bafflingly odd item after another. In an even more random-feeling turn of events, Andrea climbs into the last hole—which is apparently big enough for such an action—happening upon all the previously introduced characters and resulting in the recovery of her mother’s missing smile. Inconsistent art makes this already convoluted story even more confusing. More distressing, however, is the suggestion that a problem as serious as Andrea’s mother’s sadness and anger over her husband’s leaving can be instantly solved by magic.

Disappointing and odd. (Picture book. 5-9)

WICKED HUNGER

Gladden, Delsheree Clean Teen (358 pp.) $11.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-940534-39-8 Series: Someone Wicked This Way Comes, 1 Teenage siblings with a dark secret find their lives complicated by the arrival of a mysterious girl.

Zander and Van are tougher and heal faster than ordinary teenagers. However, the price is a terrible, mysterious hunger—a bloodlust that becomes intensified by specific individuals. Younger Van does her best to suppress it so she can have friends and a normal life; Zander instead keeps everyone at arm’s length and warns Van that once her 16th birthday hits and her powers reach full strength, she should do so as well. Ivy, a new girl—cousin to one of Van’s friends—puts everything at risk. Both Zander and Van hunger to hurt her, but Zander falls for her in a push-pull love story reminiscent of Twilight, right down to Zander’s sneaking into Ivy’s room to watch her sleep. Van, however—when she’s not busy with a love triangle of her own, with a mysterious boy she’s just met and her trusty best friend, Ketchup—is suspicious that certain things don’t add up with Ivy. The narrative occasionally withholds too much for too long, moving from the dangling of intriguing tidbits into artificial and frustrating narrative territory. The conclusion, made strong by unraveling secrets and formula-shattering twists, sets up a sequel.

The pairing of a formulaic start and formula-breaking ending makes the book ideal for paranormal-romance readers seeking a new spin on the familiar. (Paranormal romance. 13-17)

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PITY THE POOR PUBLICIST At the tail end of a trend, the PR wizards are left holding the bag

By Vicky Smith Pity the poor publicist. That’s not a cry you hear very often, is it? But I’m feeling their pain right now.

Here’s why: The Hunger Games blasted onto the scene in 2008, breathing fresh, dystopia-scented breath onto a literary scene wallowing in stale Harry Potter retreads and hot, sparkly paranormal guys. The books sold like hot cakes! And so did the sequels! And then there were movie deals! Kids started taking up archery! It didn’t take any time at all for The Hunger Games to go from book to bona fide phenomenon.

And when a book reaches phenomenon status, dollar signs start to float in front of publishing executives’

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eyes. Pretty soon they were everywhere, dismal worlds in which one or a few brave teenagers were pitched against an often senseless, tyrannical adult authority.

Girl in the Arena. The Maze Runner. Candor.

In 2009, Kirkus reviewed 17* dystopian-themed books for teens; the number rose to 20 in 2010. Many of these early works had clearly been in the pipeline before The Hunger Games burst onto the scene, but new ones were being added at a feverish pace. The 2009 number doubled to 34 in 2011, and it nearly doubled again, to 62, in 2012. While a few of those in this new dystopian bubble were stand-alones, the vast majority were trilogies. What works for Suzanne Collins and Scholastic should work for everybody else, right?

More and more, these dystopias began to look like they were rolling off the conveyor belt, with names and circumstances slightly changed, but for the most part, each looking depressingly like the one that came just before it. Some patterns began to emerge, and they weren’t good ones. Most were set on some future Earth, but worldbuilding tended to be so slight that the circumstances that brought our current civilization to its knees were never disclosed, at least not in the first books. How, in some, were women reduced to abject servitude mere decades after Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state? How, in others, did creatures of mythology evolve to populate the planet in reality?

Vague hand-waving led readers to some kind of global-warming catastrophe here, nuclear apocalypse there. Conveniently discovered diaries often attempted to make matters clear but usually called further attention to the artifice. Too obviously, far too many of these books had been rushed to publication in an attempt to grab a sliver of the dystopian market and, with a little luck, a movie deal.

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As the trilogies ground on, it became clear that this rush to publish resulted in bloated storylines stretched over far too many pages, just for the sake of the trifecta. Middle volumes tended to see characters figuratively marching in place or literally marching far away and then marching right back to where they started for a conclusive showdown with the Man. The obligatory love triangles teetered one way and then another, straining to generate romantic tension despite shoddy foundations.

This is not to say that every dystopia, or even every dystopian trilogy, was a failure. Kirkus found the characters and themes in many to hold up over three volumes and 1,000-plus pages; Ally Condie’s Matched and Lauren Oliver’s Delirium each launched trilogies in 2011 that we felt held up all the way to the end. And some dystopian trilogies managed to successfully coattail on The Hunger Games, becoming blockbusters in their own rights: Divergent, anyone?

By the time 2013 (80 titles!) rolled around, twists in the white, female-centered, heterosexual formula began to emerge. Erin Bowman’s Taken features a boy at the apex of the love triangle; Alex London’s Proxy features a gay protagonist; and Alaya Dawn Johnson’s The Summer Prince features both characters of color and sexual ambiguity. But these sparks of originality are mere drops in the dystopian ocean. |

Now it’s 2014. I know that I, for one, am sick to death of dystopia, and it’s getting harder and harder to find a reviewer who isn’t sick of it too. And it’s not just book reviewers. Agent Molly Jaffa was quoted in Publishers Weekly in September 2013 as saying, “There are editors who you sense want to curl up and die when you mention it.” When I read that (under the subheading “Ding, Dong, Dystopia’s Dead”), I cheered.

But just because agents started finding it difficult to sell dystopias in 2013 doesn’t mean relief is immediately in sight. Remember all those trilogies they signed during the boom years? They are still coming out, as contracts demand.

Which brings me back to those pitiable publicists.

The editors who were once pushing trilogies through the pipeline as fast as they could may have turned their attention elsewhere, but the publicists are left holding the bag. They need to draw attention to the dystopian detritus as best they can, but when the entire industry has apparently turned against their product, how much luck can they have? Talk about a losing battle.

Yes, pity the poor publicist.

Vicky Smith is the children’s and teen editor at Kirkus Reviews. *Numbers are estimates.

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LANDING ON MY FEET The Adventures of Poohka the Cat Godwin, Adelaide Illus. by Prior, Alice Digital Leaf (104 pp.) $9.99 paper | Mar. 31, 2014 978-1-909428-23-2

Turning an apparently real incident into spun sugar, Godwin sends a Spanish feral cat, trapped and transported far from home, on a feline odyssey.

A Dumpster’s lode of tasty prawns nearly spells Poohka’s downfall as, after being swept into a sanitation truck, he is at last ejected, his front leg crushed, in a distant tip. Carrying anthropomorphism to an extreme, the author surrounds him with allies ranging from a crew of helpful rats to a kindly cork tree named Señor Arbol, who talks him out of his despair and provides him with a verbally abusive owl to guide him on the long road back to the gated community from which he came. So vivid are these characters that they command more attention than poor Poohka. Over the course of his journey, he is rescued from the clutches of Señora Bruja, a comically revolting witch who munches on raw mouse while fattening Poohka up for dinner, makes friends with a young mouse and clicks with Pequita, a friendly female cat who later follows him home. His weary, hobbling journey comes to an end at last when he is adopted by a human couple and, after a long convalescence at the vet’s, settles into a new life as a three-legged house cat. In contrast to the story, the many small ink drawings scattered throughout are fairly realistic (except that Poohka’s injury is barely visible).

A lightweight tale of odds overcome; too bad the unusually talkative supporting cast shoulders most of the load and shines more brightly than the supposed protagonist.

(Animal fantasy. 10-12)

JUST MYRTO

Gray, Laurie Luminis (208 pp.) $15.95 | $11.95 paper | $6.99 e-book May 16, 2014 978-1-935462-96-5 978-1-935462-97-2 paper 978-1-935462-98-9 e-book

force himself on her. Myrto and Socrates eventually become lovers, but given how much time was spent on Myrto’s fear of consummating her marriage, it seems strange that this is only mentioned in passing. Similarly, when Myrto becomes pregnant, she is frightened of childbirth. Even more time is spent on her overcoming this fear, but the birth itself is glanced over, which may leave readers feeling a bit thrown off. The majority of this book is an examination of Socratic philosophy, resulting in a story in which not much happens apart from incredible intellectual growth on the part of the protagonist.

This rather odd tale should appeal to thinkers and fans of ancient historical fiction. (Historical fiction. 12-16)

IT’S AN ORANGE AARDVARK!

Hall, Michael Illus. by Hall, Michael Greenwillow/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $17.99 | $18.89 PLB | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-225206-7 978-0-06-225208-1 PLB Get ready for some hilarity and hijinks as five ants discover what’s really outside their stump home in this die-cut offering from Hall.

Rumbles awaken a handful of carpenter ants, and the debate begins. One ant believes an aardvark awaits, and three others follow along. But the fifth ant? He industriously drills a hole.

Orange light filters in, and the alarmist proclaims it to be an orange aardvark. More holes, colors and silliness ensue, as the naysayer’s hypotheses run wild: “It’s a pajama-wearing, ketchupcarrying orange aardvark….” Five die-cut peepholes later, the levelheaded ant—and readers (if not reduced to giggles)—is ready to make a guess. As purple light floods in, four ants fly out to see a rainbow, while the pessimist remains, to further comedic effect. Digitally collaged illustrations, done with appealing, primary splashes of color, allow for easy identification of characters and colors. (The ants have color-coded hard hats.) Hall uses the die-cuts to great effect, playfully piquing the curiosity of readers while revealing both the real and the ridiculous.

Suspenseful and entertaining; all-around great fun.

(Picture book. 3-8)

THE CASTLE BEHIND THORNS

Haskell, Merrie Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $16.99 | $11.99 e-book | May 27, 2014 978-0-06-200819-0 978-0-06-231186-3 e-book

An unusual, quiet historical novel chronicles what the life of Socrates’ second wife may have been like.

After her father dies, Myrto is given to her brother’s former teacher, Socrates, as a second wife. As a young woman in ancient Greece, Myrto can aspire to little more than the hope for a kind husband. However, in Socrates, Myrto also finds a great mind: He encourages Myrto to think through discussion and reading with his son, Lamprocles, and their friends. On their wedding night, Socrates assures a frightened Myrto that he will never 96

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Faint echoes of “Sleeping Beauty” and “Snow White” waft up from this new fantasy.

Sand (short for Alexandre) wakes in the ashes of a fireplace, in a castle in which every room and object has been |

“Created with acrylics, collage elements and colored pencils, the vivid two-page spreads are filled with everyday details, and a few have a magical, Rousseau-like quality.” froms chandra's magic light

broken: the Sundered Castle. He doesn’t know how he got there, but a vicious, active wall of thorns keeps him within. Son of a blacksmith, he goes about attempting to mend whatever he can, and when he finds the body of a girl, he rearranges her limbs carefully—and she awakens. Perrotte has been dead—or asleep—for over 25 years. Like Sand, she is about 13; unlike him, she is of noble birth. The first half of the tale is about mending everything in the castle, Perrotte and Sand working together through the forging and firing and hammering. The second half, however, gets rather muddled. Perrotte withholds her complicated and violent political history from Sand, as well as the news that a knight will be coming through the thorn barrier to plunge her back into it. It’s possible that two saints whose broken relics Sand mends hold the key to the future. These elements do not hang together as well as the beautifully sustained central metaphor of blacksmithing. Moreover, Sand and Perrotte seem much older than 13, and the ending preaches loudly.

Still, it stands alone neatly, and the lore of blacksmith work is carried through with vivid energy. (Fantasy. 9-12)

I AM A POETATO An A-Z of Poems About People, Pets, and Other Creatures

Hegley, John Illus. by Hegley, John; Rawlinson, Helen Frances Lincoln (64 pp.) $19.95 | Apr. 7, 2014 978-1-84780-397-9

British poet Hegley here assembles 45 poems offering light, sometimes wildly offbeat perspectives on a variety of topics.

Loosely following the alphabet—“A Mosquito” is included under “A”; likewise, “Invisible Hamster” helps represent “I”— Hegley presents young readers with some odd thoughts as well as both common and not-so-common members of the animal kingdom. Though mostly presented in free verse, the occasional rhyme helps sets the playful tone: “To an alligator, you look yum. / You are yum to the tum of an alligator. / Though you think and you can feel, / To an alligator, you are a meal deal.” In many instances, Hegley’s often scribbly, black-and-white illustrations (Rawlinson has provided the letters) reinforce his quirky sense of humor, such as in “Micycle,” which features a sketch of a bike with a mouse for a seat offering its ears as handle bars, or “Xylofox,” a most unusual creature that “eats its words off armour plates” and whose rough, foxy frame consists mostly of a xylophone and fluffy tail. While many of Hegley’s ditties are accessible enough for children to find amusing, a handful sport a thematic level of sophistication better appreciated by adults.

Along with some advanced vocabulary, young American readers may be stymied by various Briticisms never encountered before—even when presented by characters as familiar as the lice-checking school nurse, “Nitty Nora—The Bug Explorer!”

Wide-ranging poems and whimsical illustrations combine to yield uneven degrees of comedic success. (Poetry. 9-13) |

CHANDRA’S MAGIC LIGHT

Heine, Theresa Illus. by Gueyfier, Judith Barefoot (40 pp.) $16.99 | $8.99 paper | May 31, 2014 978-1-84686-493-3 978-1-84686-866-5 paper Two young sisters work hard to bring the “magic” of solar energy to their family.

Chandra and her older sister, Deena, are shopping in the marketplace when they see solar tukis, lamps that are both safer and cheaper in the long run than the usual kerosene lamps.

They are determined to buy one to make their home healthier for Akash, their baby brother, who has a lingering cough, but their father has no money to spare. Though they already have many chores, the sisters take on the project of earning money by selling rhododendrons, Nepal’s national flower. As Deena tells her sister about Surya, the sun god, and Chandra, the moon god (the little girl is named for him), religion is woven into the story. Created with acrylics, collage elements and colored pencils, the vivid two-page spreads are filled with everyday details, and a few have a magical, Rousseau-like quality. The backmatter includes information on Nepal and topics including markets, health and the technology of solar tukis, useful for teachers and librarians. Instructions for a pizza-box solar oven include a reminder about asking a grown-up to help cut the box with a knife but do not extend that to recommending adult assistance with actual cooking.

Making its point engagingly, this story will help young readers see how small environmental changes can make a difference. (Picture book. 6-9)

BIG PIGS

Helakoski, Leslie Illus. by Helakoski, Leslie Boyds Mills (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-62091-023-8 These three little porkers behave like...well, you know, until their mama teaches them a surprising lesson.

Piglets Sweet Pea, Nibbles and Clean Bean can’t wait to explore the farm. Mama Pig’s admonition to “[b]e good little pigs” goes in three pink ears and out the others. After sneaking through a sturdy fence (they scrape and scramble and squiggle and jiggle and shove and shimmy), the trio finds itself in the middle of an inviting patch of delicious vegetables. They attack them with vigor, gobbling and gulping and mashing and mangling and swallowing and swilling. What’s left when the vegetables are gone is dirt, which quickly turns into mud that’s perfect for wallowing. And they do. Stuffed and contented, they sneak back home. When she sees them, Mama Pig snorts a great big “Humph!” They sheepishly confess to all their (mis)deeds, and Mama grimly marches them to the barn. After closing the barn door, she tells

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“The bright, open design with its use of sidebars and smart selection of supporting photographs goes well with the conversational style.” from every body's talking

them, “I’m so proud I could bust a gut!” The three little piglets kiss and snuggle with their Mama—“Smush. Smack. Smooch”— before falling asleep. Helakoski packs her porcine tale with vivid verbs that are oversized and highlighted and mostly come, appropriately, in trios. The final twist, however, though piggily appropriate, comes out of the blue and lacks textual explication, which will likely confuse young readers.

Gleeful—and opaque. (Picture book. 3-6)

BREE FINDS A FRIEND

Huber, Mike Illus. by Cowman, Joseph Redleaf Lane (32 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-60554-211-9

An interest in worms and digging in the dirt helps a little girl make a friend at school.

As the book opens, a multicultural cast of children pairs off to enjoy various playground activities. After seeing three such pairings, it’s notable that AfricanAmerican Bree is “playing by herself.” She digs in the dirt until she finds a worm, and at first glance, it seems that this is the friend mentioned in the title. Happily, such an anticlimactic resolution does not emerge. Instead, another, older, Caucasian girl hiding behind a nearby tree observes Bree playing with the worm and approaches her to play, too. The brightly colored, saturated illustrations feature rounded figures that seem like they would be at home in television animation, but they fail to elevate the text to read-it-again status since the story doesn’t build too much of a plot. The children bond while playing in the dirt, unearthing other worms to make up a family and collecting them all in a bucket. When playtime is over, the girls go hand in hand into the school, with plans to return to their play later.

(The likely end for the poor worms goes unexplored.)

Not a lot to dig into here, but it’s an inclusive depiction of children at play. (Picture book. 3-5)

SALLY GOES TO HEAVEN

Huneck, Stephen Illus. by Huneck, Stephen Abrams (48 pp.) $18.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4197-0969-2 The final entry in the late Huneck’s series about Sally the black Labrador is a touching account of Sally’s death from old age and her joyous experiences in heaven.

On the opening page, Sally hears the front door close. She is in pain and no longer wants to eat. The dog spends her last day peacefully sleeping in the sun, and the next morning, “Sally wakes up in heaven.” There are three pearly gates in Huneck’s illustration: for “good people,” “good dogs” and “good cats.”

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Sally finds she is no longer in pain and that heaven is full of friendly dogs, along with surprising treats like gigantic piles of dirty socks and meatballs growing on bushes. There are no leashes or fences, and all kinds of animals are friends, with human companions always ready to throw a stick or scratch a tummy. In a satisfying conclusion, Sally wishes her family would adopt another dog, and a yellow Labrador joins the family she left behind. Huneck’s distinctive woodcuts with bold lines and simplified shapes ideally complement the restrained yet emotionally rich story. This stands alongside Cynthia Rylant’s Dog Heaven (1995) as recommended bibliotherapy for families who have experienced the death of a beloved dog and who wish to promote the notion of an afterlife.

Gentle, understated and comforting to both children and adults. (Picture book. 4-8)

EVERY BODY’S TALKING What We Say Without Words

Jackson, Donna M. with Goman, Carol Kinsey Twenty-First Century/Lerner (64 pp.) $22.95 e-book | $30.60 PLB Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-1120-3 e-book 978-1-4677-0858-6 PLB

The way humans use nonverbal cues—sometimes willingly, sometimes accidentally—is explored in a lively presentation for young readers.

“Scientists say more than half our communication is conveyed nonverbally through body language. From head to toe, our bodies say volumes about our thoughts, attitudes, and feelings—whether we want them to or not,” the book opens. Often, spoken messages are undermined by physical posture and gestures that convey opposite information. Practically every part of the human body contributes meaning, sometimes without the individual’s awareness. Eye contact, body position, facial expressions, touch, foot movement and even the way voices are used transmit as much as spoken words. Observing nonverbal cues increases understanding in communication and provides strategies for handling tense situations. Jackson joins with body-language expert Goman to explain the subject, demonstrating its importance as young people grow and develop.

Using examples teens will recognize—young people struggling with stage fright, a teen twisting her hair nervously, young athletes avoiding the gaze of the coach—makes the narrative particularly accessible. The chapter on the cultural roots of body language, including differences in personal space, is especially compelling. The bright, open design with its use of sidebars and smart selection of supporting photographs goes well with the conversational style.

A smart, accessible introduction to an important and interesting topic. (source notes, glossary, further reading and viewing, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

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BLUR

James, Steven Skyscape (368 pp.) $9.99 paper | May 27, 2014 978-1477847275 Series: Blur, 1 A teenage girl is found dead in the local lake. There’s no sign of foul play, but Daniel Byers has a hair-raising experience that causes him to think there’s murder afoot.

When Daniel attends Emily Jackson’s funeral, the last thing he expects to see is her ghost pleading with him to solve her murder. After this supernatural opening, Daniel embarks on a clunky whodunit that scarcely raises the pulse. The key to a good mystery is pacing and stakes, but instead, James provides uninspired melodrama and red herrings to spare. It is never clear why Daniel needs to solve this case, and the hocus-pocus that prods him along comes off as hokey rather than eerie. As sleuths, Daniel and his friend Kyle make for a dull pair. Inane girl troubles and run-of-the-mill family issues are poorly integrated, feeling like padding that distracts from the maniac on the loose. The book’s lone highlight is the ending, when all is revealed in an absurd confrontation that cribs from the best pulp noirs of the 1930s and ’40s. This ending jars with the rest of the book, but the camp on display supplies a much-needed shot in the arm.

Overlong and underthought, it’s a mystery best left unsolved. (Mystery. 12-16)

RED MADNESS How a Medical Mystery Changed What We Eat

Jarrow, Gail Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills (192 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-59078-732-8 In the early years of the 20th century, doctors and researchers were stymied by a mysterious, often fatal illness that seemed to strike primarily Southern agricultural workers.

Patients presented with a severe rash, intestinal issues and dementia, and in addition to farm workers, many afflicted were found in institutions like mental hospitals and orphanages.

After reviewing cases from Europe, doctors diagnosed pellagra and associated it with poverty and a poor diet featuring moldy corn. As the disease spread, the country’s medical leadership searched for causes and cures, and the sense of urgency led to the assignment of epidemiologist Dr. Joseph Goldberger to the case. Eventually, Goldberger and those who continued the work after his death identified the culprit as a vitamin deficiency, determined an inexpensive cure and led the way to nutritionally enhanced foods as part of the American diet. This is a highly detailed look at the difficulties of disease control before |

modern medicine. Jarrow makes clear how societal attitudes hampered efforts to end the scourge as well as the vulnerability of the poor and marginalized. The many photographs also reveal the devastating nature of the disease. The large number of cases described demonstrates the magnitude of the problem, but they can also be hard to follow and require patient readers.

The attractive, red-highlighted design, lively narrative and compelling subject matter will resonate with readers.

(Nonfiction. 10 & up)

SUMMONING THE PHOENIX Poems and Prose About Chinese Musical Instruments

Jiang, Emily Illus. by Chu, April Lee & Low (32 pp.) $18.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-885008-50-3

Thirteen young musicians of diverse ethnic background ready themselves to play their traditional Chinese instruments on stage in this informative and gracefully illustrated twin debut.

Jiang, a composer, presents upbeat, free-verse poems in the children’s voices about their instruments or their mental states: “When I tune my erhu, / I only need to listen to / Two strings.

So easy!” These are paired to sidebar historical and descriptive notes, associated legends and characterizations of the distinctive sounds each instrument makes. Chu’s illustrations are rendered in clearly drawn lines and soft, harmonious colors. They depict each musician in turn playing his or her instrument in rehearsals or solo performances with, often, imagined natural landscapes, animals or mythical beasts floating behind. The preparation culminates in a concert seen in an elevated view of orchestra and audience, followed by a final lineup to take a bow beneath a closing note on characteristics of classical Chinese music.

From the booming paigu to the delicate strings of the ruan, the lutelike pipa and the yangqin, or hammered “butterfly harp,” a lively medley that will expand the musical boundaries of most young audiences. (bibliography) (Informational picture book/poetry. 6-9)

ALL DIFFERENT NOW Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom

Johnson, Angela Illus. by Lewis, E.B. Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | May 6, 2014 978-0-689-87376-8 978-1-4814-0647-5 e-book

Johnson tells a tale of Juneteenth in Texas through the eyes of a child, while Lewis’ earth-toned watercolor illustrations capture the quotidian aspects of the way of life emancipation ended.

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The young female speaker who lives and works on the plantation with her mother, siblings and others takes personally the titular phrase, “all different now,” when freedom comes.

Just before the Union general announces on the balcony of the big house that the slaves are “now and forever free,” rumors of this news has spread so quickly from the port to the countryside that Lewis includes an image with four vertical panels showing slaves engaged in many different types of work, passing the word and responding with surprise, shock and praise to the news. The historical details that Lewis integrates into the images situate Johnson’s story historically and give young readers a sense of what cotton plantations in the mid-1860s looked like. In the backmatter, Johnson makes clear why this bit of history matters to her, and Lewis shares the impossibility of contemporary Americans’ reaching a true understanding of the lives of 19th-century slaves—but how important it is to try.

The richness of this book’s words and images will inspire readers to learn more about this holiday that never should have been necessary…but was. (Web resources, glossary) (Picture book. 5-9)

THE GREAT GREENE HEIST

Johnson, Varian Levine/Scholastic (240 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | May 27, 2014 978-0-545-52552-7 978-0-545-52554-1 e-book Trying to go straight, troublemaker Jackson Greene succumbs to the lure of the con when it appears Maplewood Middle School’s student-council election is being rigged against his friend Gaby de la Cruz.

Although Gaby’s been angry at Jackson for more than four months, the two could be more than just friends. And her twin brother, Charlie, Jackson’s best friend, is worried about her electoral chances. So Jackson breaks rule No. 3 of the Greene Code of Conduct: “Never con for love. Or even like.” During the week before the election, a delightful and diverse cast of middle school students with a wide range of backgrounds and interests concocts a series of elaborate schemes to make sure the Scantron-counted ballots will produce honest results. While all this is going on, Gaby is busily campaigning and rethinking her love life. References to previous escapades are so common readers may think this is a sequel, and the cast of characters is dizzying. But the results are worth it. Allusions to Star Trek abound.

There is a helpful appended explanation of the cons and their shorthand references as well as the Greene Code.

The elaborate bait and switch of this fast-paced, funny caper novel will surprise its readers as much as the victims.

They’ll want to reread immediately so they can admire the setup. (Fiction. 10-15)

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MOLDYLOCKS AND THE THREE BEARDS

Jones, Noah Z. Illus. by Jones, Noah Z. Branches/Scholastic (80 pp.) $15.99 | $4.99 paper | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-63840-1 978-0-545-63839-5 paper Series: Princess Pink and the Land of Fake-Believe, 1 Jones takes “The Three Bears” for a dizzy spin in this laffriot series opener.

Searching for a midnight snack, Princess (first name) Pink (last name) falls through a portal in her refrigerator. On the other side, she meets friendly Mother Moose (a bull moose), then follows green-haired Moldylocks to check out the chairs, bowls and beds of the Wookiee-like Three Beards. Later, having previously hacked an unwanted, pink, fairy-princess dress into a “Cowboy Caveman” outfit suitable for disguising herself as a fourth Beard, she intrepidly returns to save her new friend from being boiled in a vat of chili. Being cast against both genre type and publishers’ convention, Princess likes “dirty sneakers, giant bugs, mud puddles, monster trucks, and cheesy pizza” far more than fairies, princesses or anything pink, and she also (for a wonder) has dark skin in the cartoon illustrations. The text is distributed in easily digestible blocks and dialogue balloons among simply drawn scenes of popeyed figures rushing hither and yon. Parents worried about this nonstop romp’s literary value will surely be appeased by the page of review and discussion questions at the end.

Fledgling readers will agree with Princess’ bemused comment: “This Land of Fake-Believe is crazy-cakes!”

(Fantasy. 6-8)

THE BOY PROBLEM Notes and Predictions of Tabitha Reddy

Kinard, Kami Scholastic (272 pp.) $12.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-57586-7 978-0-545-58043-4 e-book

Middle schooler Tabitha, Kara’s BFF from The Boy Project (2012), is looking for a boyfriend in this perky sequel.

Boy-crazy Tabitha is a big believer in signs as predictors of the future. In the opening scene, she decides that the spilled pizza cheese is an indicator that there is a Mr. Right for her after all. Though a smidge gushy and dramatic, Tabitha never lacks smarts. She uses all manner of data-collecting devices to figure out how to find her Mr. Right, from surveys and cootie catchers to the Magic 8 Ball. When she learns that her relatives have been hit by a hurricane, Tabitha and her best friends bake cupcakes as a fundraiser for her cousin’s school. Predicting which

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“Readers see through Billy Bah’s eyes—events are neither explained for outsiders nor reframed in a contemporary context….” from between two worlds

cupcake flavors will be the most popular conveniently becomes her math-probability assignment, and all this ultimately helps solve the boy puzzle. The novel is liberally decorated with drawings and charts and rolls out in a chatty journal format. Tabitha’s impulsiveness is tempered by maturing introspection and quirky observations: “It seems like the sky is the world’s largest mood ring and it’s currently displaying my mood to the entire world.” As the girls struggle to make their fundraising goal, they learn about handling competition, working in partnership and even a little something about cyberbullying.

For any spirited, entrepreneurial teen that’s ever had a crush, this sweet read is sprinkled with lessons on life, love and business. (Fiction. 10-13)

IF

Kipling, Rudyard Illus. by Manna, Giovanni Creative Editions/Creative Company (32 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-56846-259-2 Though at times symbolic or only obliquely related to the adjacent lines, Manna’s graceful images lend luminous visual notes to Kipling’s stately prescription for maturity.

Originally addressed by Kipling to his son but equally applicable to people of either sex (and any age), the poem is cast as a series of generalized challenges and moral, stiff-upper-lip responses: “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two imposters just the same….” The verses are presented with typographical flourishes in one to five lines per spread, with natural breaks that are neatly chosen to preserve the language’s flow. In the accompanying watercolors, a solitary, ruminative lad faces a prowling wolf, wanders among costumed puppets, plants a tree amid burned rubble, reaches out with balletic focus for something on a beach and scales difficult slopes to reach a mountaintop at last.

The poem is widely available in collections, but this rendition—an ethereal alternative to the edition illustrated with photographs by Charles R. Smith, Jr. (2007)—makes a lovely keepsake. (introduction) (Picture book. 8-12)

JUST SO STORIES Volume II

Kipling, Rudyard Illus. by Wallace, Ian Groundwood (140 pp.) $19.95 | $16.95 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-55498-213-4 978-1-55498-215-8 e-book

Wallace follows up his first volume of reillustrated Kipling pourquois tales (2013) with its companion. |

Limpid mixed-media paintings depict Painted Jaguar lecturing the Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog (a tiny ball of spines), Tegumai the Neolithic man thigh-deep in the river lamenting his broken spear, and the Cat that walked by himself going deep into the Wet Wild Woods. Following the format of the earlier volume, one full-page painting opens each story, and then three more appear within, sometimes occupying a whole page and sometimes stretching across the tops of two and straddling the gutter. Appropriately for this illustrated book of stories, he focuses the cover on the pieces of birch bark from “How the First Letter Was Written” and “How the Alphabet Was Made,” held by Taffy Metallumai and her daddy; on the wraparound rear cover are Cat, Hedgehog and King Crab, all staring solemnly out at readers. Detailed illustrator’s notes explain Wallace’s approach, story by story, revealing connections among them and providing background information. He plants a smiling “wild thing” on Taffy’s Neolithic cave wall in homage to Sendak and uses pencil crayon, pastel pencil and chalk to “capture the scorching sun of a desert country” in another story. Glorious as the illustrations are, they complement rather than undercutting Kipling’s rolling lines: “But…when the moon gets up and night comes, he is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him.”

A triumph. (Short stories. 5 & up)

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

Kirkpatrick, Katherine Wendy Lamb/Random (304 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | $19.99 PLB Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-385-74047-0 978-0-375-89924-9 e-book 978-0-375-98947-6 PLB This strong historical novel portrays the impact of Robert E. Peary’s polar expeditions on the family and world of a young Inuit woman who joined them.

Her Inuit family in Greenland named her Eqariusaq, but to whites, she’s Billy Bah. Peary’s daughter, Marie, named her when she spent a year with the Peary family in the States. A few years later, on a trip also arranged by Peary, her parents died in Washington, D.C. Peary’s ship returns to Greenland, carrying his family, to find Peary gone and heads to Ellesmere Island to search for him. Billy Bah, her husband, Angulluk, and Peary’s Inuit lover and their child (whose existence is a shock to Mrs. Peary) sail with them. Angulluk often “trades” Billy Bah to white sailors in exchange for guns and ammunition, though many Inuit disapprove. She enjoys a kind sailor’s affection and Marie’s genuine friendship, but she is increasingly disturbed by the whites’ lack of consideration for her people, who are expected to risk their lives to serve the expedition. It’s a compelling yet matter-of-fact portrait of a community accustomed to life on the knife edge of survival, of extraordinary beauty and harsh realities. Readers see through Billy Bah’s eyes—events are neither explained for outsiders nor reframed in a contemporary context (unfortunate cover art excepted). Readers accept

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“If an ‘exhilarating dystopia’ strikes you as oxymoronic, this vivid, original debut just might change your mind.” from the interrogation of ashala wolf

her assumptions about her world; when she begins to question them—so do they.

Stripped of airbrushed romanticism and Eurocentric gloss, a rare look at culture clash arising from polar exploration. (map, photo, Inuktun glossary, historical timeline, notes) (Historical fiction. 14-18)

LIZZIE!

Kumin, Maxine Illus. by Gilbert, Elliott Seven Stories (160 pp.) $21.95 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-60980-518-0 Kumin’s latest effort is hindered by its format; this fictional autobiography is as unpolished and disorganized as a real preteen’s diary.

At her friend Trippy’s urging, 11-yearold Lizzie is excitedly writing her autobiography—beginning with her spinal-cord injury two years earlier and continuing through the minutiae of her life in Florida, which includes crushing on fellow wheelchair user Josh and discovering animal smugglers. With a penchant for Latin and condescension, precocious Lizzie resembles the eponymous narrator of Lisa Yee’s Millicent Min, Girl Genius (2003) but, sadly, lacks her coherence.

The book is largely a collection of declarative sentences rather than vivid scenes, skipping from dessert choices to Scrabble to detective work and even interrupting an abduction to define “penlight.” Any adventure in the smuggling subplot fizzles under her (stereotyped) Hispanic friend’s expository dialogue or Lizzie’s obvious statements. (“But what he did next was really scary,” Lizzie writes of the smuggler.) After yet another tangent, Lizzie writes, “This is the kind of thing that happens to me all the time where words are concerned, when I should be paying attention to the question.” Readers looking for a tighter plot may wish that she had, indeed, paid attention.

Readers would do better with Millicent Min or The One and Only Ivan (2012). (Fiction. 8-11)

THE INTERROGATION OF ASHALA WOLF

Kwaymullina, Ambelin Candlewick (384 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7636-6988-1

A dystopian adventure from Australia breaks the mold.

Betrayed, then captured by Connor, a Detention Center enforcer posing as a sympathizer to the so-called Illegals, Ashala steels herself for harsh questioning. The center is rumored to have a new tool, a machine that can pull and search memories from the minds of prisoners. Ashala’s terrified she’ll 102

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expose the Tribe that depends on her—children born with extraordinary powers into a world that sees them as a threat to the precarious ecological Balance that’s endured since a cataclysm nearly ended life on the planet. Most children with these abilities are forced into lifelong detention, their powers muted.

Ashala was able to hide her Sleepwalking abilities; her little sister, a Firestarter, wasn’t so lucky. The inferno that ensued killed her and their parents and prompted Ashala’s escape to the grasslands and forest beyond the city. Ashala has depended on the counsel and friendship of Georgie, who sees possible futures; Ember, whose complex gift involves working with memory; and Connor, whom she trusted. But as the machine does its work, Ashala finds unexpected strength inside what she re-experiences. All is not as it seems as the plot unwinds into the past. The indigenous Australian author draws from a vast, rich cultural tapestry that will be new to many readers.

If an “exhilarating dystopia” strikes you as oxymoronic, this vivid, original debut just might change your mind.

(Fantasy. 12-18)

BEN & ZIP Two Short Friends Linden, Joanne Illus. by Goldsmith, Tom Flashlight Press (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-9362612-8-4

A beachside lost-and-found adventure, told from a kid’s point of view.

“Ben was short. Zip was shorter. They skipped along the boardwalk toward their favorite spot....” So begins this tale of a small boy who loses his smaller friend on a beachside boardwalk.

The text informs readers that they are headed toward a popcorn wagon, while the illustration, a low aerial view of the beach and boardwalk dotted with people, makes it hard to tell who’s Ben and who’s Zip. Suddenly the wind whips up, the sound of thunder fills the air, and Zip dashes off, disappearing into the crowd. Then Ben is shown, dressed in a bold yellow-and-blue basketball jersey, frantically searching for Zip with his parents in tow. At first, all Ben can see is the vista from his level: “[r]ight knees, left knees, knees with sandy patches. / Fat knees, bony knees, knees with bumps and scratches.” The image of this forest of feet and legs is delightfully funny; some legs are hairy and some are not, and one pair reveals a whopping sunburn above the sock line. Each time Ben climbs a bit higher to scout out from a better view, the prose turns into a humorous rhyming description of what he sees: bellies, hair, an empty beach (it has begun to rain). The well-paced watercolor illustrations, abundant with marvelous, comic details, are a neat complement to the adventure.

This boardwalk frolic proves even small fries can solve big mysteries. (Picture book. 4-8)

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GUARDIAN

London, Alex Philomel (352 pp.) $17.99 | May 29, 2014 978-0-399-16576-4 Series: Proxy, 2 It’s a grave new world when the revolution a reluctant hero inspired could mean the death of everyone he tried to save, including himself.

In this sequel to Proxy (2013), radical groups form in the wake of the Jubilee. The Reconciliation staunchly endorses tech-free purity, while Machinists demand a renaissance of the networks. Reluctant 16-year-old hero Syd is paraded as a political puppet, labeled a savior by supporters and marked a target by the opposition. His importance as a mascot for the Reconciliation necessitates a bodyguard, 17-year-old Liam. Liam is strong (he has a killer metal hand), silent (too shy for vocal eloquence) and will do anything to remain near Syd for reasons other than professional integrity. Amid political upheaval, an illness begins to spread, rendering victims’ blue blood black and diminishing their mental faculties. Syd has been a hesitant political figure but knows he is the only hope for ending the illness. Proxy should be read first to fully comprehend this sequel’s complex conflict and characters. Though Book 1 established Syd’s homosexuality, he experienced only unrequited crushes. Here, Liam’s affection for Syd and Syd’s reluctance to perpetuate emotional attachment (“everyone I ever cared about has died”) is more foreground than back story.

Don’t assume for a second that romance takes away from the volatile action and high-stakes tension.

Corrupt powers, budding romance, an epidemic and grisly action synthesize to sate sci-fi fans. (Science fiction. 12 & up)

THE WING WING BROTHERS GEOMETRY PALOOZA!

Long, Ethan Illus. by Long, Ethan Holiday House (32 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-2951-6

trapezoid, but when the weight proves too much for his brothers, these land on and break his legs: “Walter, you need little west.” In the final amazing feat, Wendell saws a rectangular box into two and then four equal parts…with Walter inside. Long refers to these divisions as both fractions (in words) and quarters and halves. The humorous, brightly colored illustrations employ comic blocks to great effect, though they are in service to the text, which tries too hard to shoehorn obvious math concepts into funny scenarios.

Though the slapstick from their hysterical debut, The Wing Wing Brothers Math Spectacular (2012), is evident, the painless-learning piece is still missing. (Math picture book.

4-6)

SWIM, DUCK, SWIM!

Lurie, Susan Photos by Head, Murray Feiwel & Friends (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 20, 2014 978-1-250-04642-0

Standing in for any reluctant preschooler faced with a new experience, a duckling goes through stages of irritation at parental urging and then nervousness before finally taking a first plunge.

Duckling has no trouble with self-expression: “I told you once. I told you twice. / I don’t like to get wet.” His feelings are reflected with astonishing veracity in Head’s (Frisky Brisky Hippety Hop, 2012) sunlit, close-up color photos. Taken in New York City’s Central Park, the full-bleed pond-side scenes mostly feature a pair of adult mallards attending to a fuzzy hatchling who really looks angry, stubborn, pensive, apprehensive and, at last, gleeful thanks to an artful eye and clever angles of view. Lurie’s rhymed monologue reads with a natural rather than singsong cadence and is set out on each spread in a few lines or partial lines that match the accompanying picture wonderfully well.

“I’m in the pond! Look at me! / Hooray! I’m not afraid!”

A childhood triumph portrayed just right. Both the archetypal challenge and the creative collaboration go swimmingly. (Picture book. 3-5)

THE SECRETS OF TREE TAYLOR

Those wild Wing Wing Brothers are back in their third escapade, this time exploring geometry.

Three “amazing feats” hit kindergarten and first-grade Common Core State Standards for geometry. In the first, the five brothers take turns getting shot out of the Whammer. The goal is to go through the ring of fire. But they land in front of it, fly above it and land behind, wind up beside it and below it (it’s near a cliff), until finally Walter manages the feat, though not without lighting his tail feathers on fire. In the second, Walter has a magic wand that “POOF!”s shapes into existence…on the beaks of his brothers. Two triangles of equal size make a square, while two squares create a rectangle. Combining them, Walter makes a parallelogram and a |

Mackall, Dandi Daley Knopf (288 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | $19.99 PLB May 13, 2014 978-0-375-86897-9 978-0-375-89982-9 e-book 978-0-375-96897-6 PLB

In Mackall’s first-person coming-ofage narrative, an aspiring young writer wrestles with the difference between facts and many-layered truths, learning the role of compassion in deciding which secrets need to be shared and which are not hers to tell.

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Tree Taylor has two goals during the summer after eighth grade: write an article that will win her the freshman spot on her high school’s newspaper and taste her first kiss. When she witnesses her neighbor holding a rifle, her husband shot, Tree thinks she has her story. As she investigates, she uncovers a long history not only of domestic abuse, but also of coverups—even by her pillar-of-the-community father, the local doctor. Tree struggles as she discovers webs of secrets in her family and community. Where is the truth? Tree is an appealing, naïve 13 (“Somebody swore—the ‘d’ word for the structure that keeps water back”); indeed, the whole book has an old-fashioned feel, harking back to simpler times when teenagers gladly went to the drive-in with their families. Small-town Missouri in 1963 is nicely captured in many references to current events, music and movies. Quotations from famous authors are scattered throughout, reflecting Tree’s focus on writing. Tree’s godlike father is too reminiscent of Atticus Finch to altogether succeed, though; his moralizing and invoking God become sermonic.

A simple story with surprising depth in its examination of truth and compassion. (Historical fiction. 11-14)

THE WEE SEAL

Mackay, Janis Illus. by Grant, Gabby Floris (24 pp.) $11.95 paper | May 1, 2014 978-1-7825-0020-9 Simple line drawings with watercolor accompany this gentle tale of how young Jamie’s awareness of the life cycle of a baby seal lying on the beach near the boy’s home empowers him to turn back ignorant, potentially harmful tourists.

The book begins poetically: “It came in the night / when the world was asleep, / that strange white stone on the beach.” Jamie discovers that the “stone” is actually a baby seal, and for days, he greets the pup morning and evening, knowing that the “wee seal’s mum” cares for her baby each night. But the pup attracts the wrong kind of attention. An amusing double-page spread shows an aerial view of tourists leaning in too closely over the bemused seal, after which Jamie rushes in with a sign that proclaims, “the seal has a Mum. Leeve alon plees. Jamie.” Jamie’s diligence gives the seal time to shed its baby fur and grow, following its mother’s song into the sea when it has reached proper maturity. Ironically, Jamie’s backyard beach sports the same litter daily, including one of the most reviled human killers of wildlife: a balloon. The text further acknowledges human waste without censure when the pup has to “rock all the way round a broken creel” as it returns to sea. This presents a potent disconnect in a boy (and a book) otherwise environmentally minded.

Sweet, though oddly mixed of message. (Picture book. 3-5)

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THE DOOR

Marino, Andy Scholastic (304 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-55137-3 978-0-545-55139-7 e-book Twelve-year-old Hannah Silver, armed solely with some newfound knowledge and her three imaginary friends, crosses a forbidden threshold to try to find the soul of her recently, unexpectedly deceased— likely murdered—mother.

During the same week in which she begins public school after years of home schooling, Hannah learns that two mysterious visitors to her and her mother’s solitary lighthouse existence are returned-from-the-dead Watchers and that she and her mother are Guardians: humans charged with guarding the only door from the world of the living to the city of the dead.

Shortly after the visit, Hannah finds her mother’s corpse and, grief-stricken, enters the city of the dead. Once there, she engages in a thrill-a-minute fantasy adventure, touring surreal, sometimes–high-tech neighborhoods populated by souls working toward something called Ascension—think Dante’s circles as written by J.K. Rowling. The short chapters end with suspenseful hooks to keep pages turning, and the pace accelerates exponentially. The third-person-omniscient storytelling, coupled with plenty of humor, keeps the darker implications of the tale at bay. Hannah’s new friends in the afterlife are especially delightful—particularly artistic Stefan, with his pet chameleon and magical paintbrush. The trope-heavy text contains some swipes at bureaucracy, ideologues and belief systems.

The unwieldy plot twists and turns, always creating new questions, but it leaves an uncomfortably large aperture—an unfinished hero’s journey or, more aptly, a literary purgatory. (Fantasy. 8-12)

SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE

Matson, Morgan Simon & Schuster (464 pp.) $17.99 | May 6, 2014 978-1-4424-3500-1

A teenager disappears and leaves behind a quirky to-do list for her best friend.

It’s the beginning of summer, and Emily is disconsolate; her best friend, Sloane, is nowhere to be found. But she’s disappeared before; her parents would occasionally steal Sloane away for a few days, and she would return tanned and with travel tales to tell. Without Sloane, reticent Emily feels like she’s lost her spiritual and social tether. Finally, two weeks later, Sloane sends Emily a to-do list in the mail—but without a return address. The list includes daring, funny, incongruous items like “Hug a Jamie,” “Steal something,” and “Go skinny-dipping,” and with

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“The action heats up in the second part of the book, when Itch takes matters into his own hands and uses his keen brain and knowledge of chemical reactions to foil his pursuers.” from itch rocks

the completion of each task, Emily is coaxed farther out of her shell. She recounts the navigation of the deep, unfamiliar waters of self-discovery in a grave, meticulous past tense.

As she’s on her way to complete the first item, she befriends Frank Porter—a handsome, kind and accomplished fellow student. Emily shares the list with him, and as Frank helps Emily cross off each item, their friendship deepens. Soon, Emily’s having to remind herself that Frank has a serious girlfriend out of state, and anyway, they are just friends, right? Interspersed flashbacks provide revealing background into Sloane and Emily’s friendship.

A winning blend of touching moments, memorable characters and situational humor takes readers to a surprising revelation at the story’s end. (Fiction. 12-16)

ALBERT THE MUFFIN-MAKER

May, Eleanor Illus. by Melmon, Deborah Kane Press (32 pp.) $7.95 paper | $16.95 e-book $22.60 PLB | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-57565-632-8 978-1-57565-633-5 e-book 978-1-57565-631-1 PLB Series: Mouse Math

Ordinal numbers are featured in this delightful entry in the Mouse Math series starring brother-and-sister team Albert and Wanda.

With his sunny, polka-dot apron on, Albert is excited to make muffins. But then Wanda informs him that they are out of flour. Dismayed, Albert points to the recipe list. “But flour is the first ingredient!...I can’t make muffins without flour.”

Wanda suggests that Albert do what their mother does when she is missing an ingredient: Ask the neighbors. And so starts Albert’s enthusiastic quest for the 10 ingredients—all of which he ends up borrowing from friends, neighbors or relatives who are happy to share. At the bottom of the page, readers can see a picture of each ingredient, with its ordinal number, as Albert acquires them. He makes a daring dash from his mouse hole for the last thing—milk—snatching a mouse-sized bottleful from the cat’s bowl. After the muffins are baked, Wanda leads Albert by the paw with their basket of hot muffins as they deliver one to each contributor (even the cat), another opportunity for May to reiterate the ordinals. The colorful drawings are delightfully expressive, each mouse endowed with a defined and individualized personality. Exercises appended reinforce the lesson.

An enjoyable, instructive story with humor, heart and a pair of adorable mice. (Picture book. 4-7)

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ITCH ROCKS

Mayo, Simon Splinter/Sterling (448 pp.) $16.95 | $3.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4549-0510-3 978-1-4549-0512-7 e-book Series: Itch, 2 Itchingham “Itch” Lofte is back and ready to prove that sometimes kids are better than adults at saving the world.

You’d think dropping six highly radioactive pieces of element 126 down a 1,285-foot-deep well at great personal peril would have earned Itch the right to relax for the school year. Indeed, he and his sister and their cousin have a highly skilled team from MI5 providing round-the-clock security both at home and school. But their old nemeses, Shivvi Tan Fook and Nathaniel Flowerdew, haven’t given up their pursuit of the world’s most valuable element. When the government fails to protect the people closest to him, Itch once again takes matters into his own hands. The first half of the book will feel slow for those readers who enjoyed the breakneck speed of Mayo’s first book, Itch: The Explosive Adventures of an Element Hunter (2013).

Instead of outsmarting the criminals, the children turn their talents to avoiding school bullies and trying to stay out of trouble while the adults fumble their techniques for keeping the kids safe. The action heats up in the second part of the book, when Itch takes matters into his own hands and uses his keen brain and knowledge of chemical reactions to foil his pursuers.

A satisfying continuation of Itch’s adventures as an element-hunter superhero. (Adventure. 10-15)

DEAR NOBODY The True Diary of Mary Rose McCain, Gillian; McNeil, Legs–Eds. Sourcebooks Fire (336 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4022-8758-9

The posthumous memoir of a drugabusing teen who died of cystic fibrosis.

Living in suburban Pennsylvania in the late 1990s, Mary Rose uses her journal, addressed to “Dear Nobody,” to chronicle her daily life: She’s bored, frequently on the outs with her mom and searching for something. She hangs out at the nearby rope swing with other teens, drinking and doing drugs, getting arrested and hoping to find a friend—or even better, a boyfriend. But things change when Mary Rose has to deal with something she isn’t facing head-on: She suffers from cystic fibrosis, and her condition is deteriorating due to her drinking and drug use. Mary Rose attempts to turn over a new leaf only to fall back into drinking and suffers a new tragedy. Yet through it all, as her body begins to give out, Mary Rose strives for peace through religion and searches for a connection with other people. Edited from Mary Rose’s journals after her death,

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“Children who are accustomed to cuddling at bedtime may find this storytelling experience a bit unsettling, but in the harsh natural world of the Arctic, it provides an explanation for observed behavior.” from grandmother ptarmigan

this memoir necessarily suffers from the absence of an authorial hand, shifting abruptly from Mary Rose’s party-girl ways to her medical suffering. Mary Rose evidently never had a chance to reflect on the total arc of her written narrative, forcing readers to glean meaning from the disparate, angst-filled entries or just go with the flow.

While the voice is authentic, this book is an experience, not a crafted narrative. (Memoir. 14-18)

MERIDIAN

McQuein, Josin L. Greenwillow/HarperCollins (464 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-213017-4 978-0-06-213019-8 e-book This sequel to Arclight (2013) continues the apocalyptic story of a colony that has survived an invasion of nanites that absorbed most of the human race.

Marina keeps a great secret: Her alter ego, Cherish, a Fade, survives inside her. As explained in the previous book, the Fade are threatening creatures who absorb humans with only a touch, streaming their nanites into human bodies and joining them to the hive, a collective mind in which every Fade can hear all others and operate as one. The Fade cannot stand light, so to protect themselves, the humans live on a former military base surrounded by strong lights. In this sequel, the real threat comes from a wild colony of nanite creatures that’s trying to overwhelm the civilized Fade along with the rest of the world. When a group that includes Marina and her friend Tobin makes an excursion outside the compound, they find more human survivors—and the wild creatures of the Dark. McQuein embraces the vision of her apocalyptic world, communicating it to readers by simply plunging them into it as she unfolds the story. Though the lack of exposition may trip them up at first, readers will begin piecing the puzzle together, a process aided by nicely rounded characterizations. By the time of the highly suspenseful climax, all will become clear.

Worldbuilding and characterization are the highlights of this inventive post-apocalyptic adventure. (Science fiction.

12-18)

GRANDMOTHER PTARMIGAN

Mikkigak, Qaunaq; Schwartz, Joanne Illus. by Leng, Qin Inhabit Media (24 pp.) $13.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-92709-552-2

Grandma tries to help her little one fall asleep.

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get warm. “They want to crawl up your back, / under your armpits, / around your neck. / They want to crawl inside.” Clearly the little ptarmigan is uneasy, but Grandma tickles him all over anyway. Frightened, he flies for the first time—away from Grandma. Bereft, Grandma cries, “nauk, nauk.” This is no ordinary bedtime tale but a pourquoi tale that explains why baby ptarmigans fly at a very young age and females cry. Children who are accustomed to cuddling at bedtime may find this storytelling experience a bit unsettling, but in the harsh natural world of the Arctic, it provides an explanation for observed behavior.

Co-author Mikkigak is an Inuit elder, storyteller and performer, and the Canadian publisher is Inuit-owned. Non-Inuit readers will probably wish for notes and a pronunciation guide, but as a cultural expression, the book has its own integrity. Leng’s art in browns and blues is lovely, employing short brush strokes that animate both feathers and flight.

A brief, illuminating glimpse into Inuit storytelling.

(Picture book/folk tale. 4-7)

FREE TO FALL

Miller, Lauren HarperTeen (480 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | May 13, 2014 978-0-06-219980-5 978-0-06-219982-9 e-book A girl solves family mysteries while uncovering a technological conspiracy.

When Rory is accepted by the prestigious, superelite Theden Academy, she doesn’t have to ask Lux if it’s a good idea to attend. (The popular decision-making app Lux compiles user data to make recommendations.) Before Rory leaves, her father gives her a letter and necklace from her long-dead mother, revealing that her mother was a Theden dropout. The letter—a quote from Paradise Lost—baffles Rory. Additionally, she must cope with the sudden appearance of the Doubt—in this future, any inner voice, be it intuition or providence, is viewed as mental illness. At the school, the student-body president pursues her, she has tons of friends, and she’s even invited into an exclusive secret society. But she finds romance with a counterculture barista-hacker townie. Through a psychologyclass project on the Doubt, she accesses her mother’s school and medical records. Unraveling the inconsistencies about her mother, she discovers dark truths about Lux—and as the only one who knows, it’s up to her to stop it. Rory’s stated brilliance is inconsistent with the heavy foreshadowing, and in the final act, there’s a marked drop in believability as both the conspiracy unravels and the solution becomes apparent. Despite these missteps, the story offers wonderful treatments of its themes and will keep readers flipping pages.

Recognizable characters and intriguing technology shine in this cautionary tale. (Science fiction. 13 & up)

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EARTHRISE

Mitchell, Edgar; Mahoney, Ellen Chicago Review (208 pp.) $19.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-61374-901-2 A member of the Apollo 14 mission and the sixth person to walk on the moon chronicles his life experiences leading up to that defining event and how it changed him forever afterward.

With an assist from Mahoney, Mitchell discusses his first solo airplane flight as a young teen, experiences as a Navy combat pilot, his time in Roswell, N.M., amid nuclear testing and the rumored UFO crash, and becoming a NASA astronaut. Following the disastrous Apollo 13 mission, there was plenty of anxiety amid the Apollo 14 mission, but the crew completed all they set out to do and returned safely to Earth. Mitchell returned profoundly moved, the experience prompting him to become a lifelong spiritual seeker. Readers will appreciate his wonderfully detailed account of his astronaut training, spaceflight and moon landing, describing everything from the practical—eating, sleeping and going to the bathroom in space—to the mystical, life-changing experience of gazing at the Earth from afar. The book includes informative sidebars and transcripts of NASA recordings from the Apollo 14 mission.

This fascinating insider account of astronaut training and the transformative experience of traveling to the moon will especially appeal to readers with an interest in astronomy and space travel. (chronology, websites, bibliography) (Memoir. 12-16)

TASUNKA A Lakota Horse Legend

Montileaux, Donald F. Illus. by Montileaux, Donald F. Translated by Gay, Agnes South Dakota State Historical Society Press (48 pp.) $19.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-9852905-2-8

Montileaux, a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, adapts the legend of the tribe’s domestication of the horse in this bilingual English-Lakota edition.

A young warrior hunting game discovers a thundering herd of horses. Following them for weeks, he learns their behavior.

“He wanted to catch one so that he could travel as fast as the wind.” After training the creatures, he triumphantly returns to his tribe’s camp. Using the horses for hunting, the tribe not only enriches itself, but begins to dominate other tribes. “The Great Spirit looked on in sadness. Tasunka, the horse, had been his gift to all the people. Instead, one tribe was…growing wealthy while others were going hungry, so the Great Spirit took the gift away.” Only centuries later, with the legend deeply woven into the tribe’s culture, does the horse return. (Its reintroduction is |

shown in scenes of the fateful migration of European-Americans across the continent.) Montileaux renders the expansive plains in greens, blues, reds and browns, intensifying color to heighten drama, as in a scene of a buffalo hunt. In one spread depicting tribal storytelling about Tasunka, a campfire illuminates drawings of horses amid evening’s purple shadows. Throughout, the striking, many-hued horses gallop, manes flowing, their powerful haunches tapering into thin, elegantly inked lines.

The simply told legend, brilliant illustrations and handsome book design combine for a compelling, important work. (illustrator’s note, further reading list) (Folk tale. 6-10)

UNDECIDED Navigating Life and Learning After High School Morgan, Genevieve Zest Books (256 pp.) $14.99 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-936976-32-4

A sympathetic, practical self-help guide for teens facing the end of high school and unable to decide what to do next.

The logical direction for most high school students is continuing their education, whether in a vocational program, a community college or a four-year university. The pressures of the expectations, the preparation and choosing the best option can be overwhelming. And what about the one-third of high school graduates who choose not to continue their education?

What is the best path for them? Enlist in the military? Work full time? Travel? Volunteer? Morgan’s handbook outlines the many different options available to teens after high school and provides helpful suggestions on how to pursue each path efficiently and successfully. She covers everything from SAT preparation, writing personal statements and internships to trade school pros and cons and information on what to expect from a life in the military. Anecdotes, brainstorming activities, checklists and journal exercises encourage readers to critically reflect on their options.

A helpful guide full of good, sensible advice to teens feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of major life transitions. (resources, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 14 & up)

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HEALING THE BRUISES

Morgan, Lori Illus. by Kaulbach, Kathy Formac (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4595-0283-3

A graphic novel tackles the difficult subject of a young girl witnessing domestic violence.

In stark, direct prose, readers are immediately made aware of Julia’s situation: “All my life my parents fought. I thought fighting was normal.” Julia wants desperately to tell someone (“ ‘My dad hits my mom.’ Wow! What if I said that out loud?”) but is afraid of losing one or both of her parents. Luckily, she and her mom get help. They move first to a shelter and eventually to safe housing to start their new life. Morgan, a counselor at a Canadian service for victims of domestic abuse, dips into many of the emotions that swirl around this topic. Sadness, fear, guilt; in one instance Julia and her mom say good night to each other in their new home, and in a much smaller thought bubble, as if she is ashamed, Julia quietly thinks “Good night, Dad.” Can it be OK to miss someone who has caused so much harm? In the end, Julia is allowed to visit her dad on weekends, but she cannot tell him where she lives. In its loose, graphic-novel presentation, the art, while uneven at times, serves as a strong vehicle for such emotions. Julia’s complete journey is portrayed in a mere 32 pages, which could seem rushed, but to a child who sees himor herself in any part of this story, it could be a lifeline to hold on to.

A powerful tool for education, comfort and, one hopes, healing. (Graphic novel. 7-9)

THIS IS A MOOSE

Morris, Richard T. Illus. by Lichtenheld, Tom Little, Brown (48 pp.) $18.00 | May 6, 2014 978-0-316-21360-8

Moose is steadfastly determined to achieve stardom amid the stars.

The “Mighty Moose” is the subject of a nature film—or so the director intends. The moose, however, has donned a space suit and persists in his intention to be an astronaut through multiple takes. His lacrosse-playing grandmother intrudes on the set as does a giraffe (the “Regal Giraffe”). Moose don’t play lacrosse, and giraffes belong in a safari film, according to the increasingly irate director. Grandmother, giraffe and assorted friends nonetheless launch the moose into space, allowing him to leave his natural habitat far behind. Director Waddler, evoking the spirits of Billy Wilder, Daffy Duck and Mo Willems’ Pigeon, finally gets the picture and resets and retitles his film as This Is an Astronaut. Morris’ story is filled with child-friendly humor that is cleverly matched by Lichtenheld’s comic ink, 108

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pencil and gouache paintings. The pair captures personality (lots of it), action and adventure, along with some old-fashioned filmmaking tropes. The blues and browns of the background craftily evoke both a natural and astral setting, while the literally colorful text, both typeset and hand-lettered, could adorn any traditional production set (or playground). And for a witty final touch, there is a Glossary of Filmmaking Terms. Certain to elicit gales of giggles.

A humorous—make that hysterical—homage to movies and big dreams. (Picture book. 4-7)

BLOOD DIARIES Tales of a 6th-Grade Vampire Moss, Marissa Illus. by Moss, Marissa Creston (136 pp.) $13.00 | Apr. 21, 2014 978-1-939547-05-7

With understandable difficulty, a sixth-grader with a mighty secret tries to earn acceptance from both his human schoolmates and his undead family.

Motivated by the sheer challenge of it all, Edgar is resolutely bucking the scorn and (historically justified) fear of his immortal clan to attend middle school and even hang out with human friends. Along with steering clear of garlic and crosses (though not sunlight, thanks to Sun-B-Gone potion concocted by his chemist great-grandmother, Morticia LaBelle von Dead), this means not responding to the schoolwide campaign of vicious harassment that vegan classmate Gertie is orchestrating after getting a gander at his blood-and–raw-meat lunches. But when Edgar does forget himself for a moment and flashes his fangs— suddenly he’s cool! As is her custom, Moss lays out Edgar’s diary entries in a legible “hand-printed” type, and she intersperses small line drawings of the characters with labels or side comments. She also provides Edgar with a truly ingenious ploy that both takes the wind out of Gertie’s sails and, in deference to the urgent demands of his horrified family, quashes the rumors of his vampiredom.

Crisis averted, at the end, Edgar is left looking ahead with fresh confidence to seventh grade. Happily, a planned sequel will allow readers to follow him there. (recipe for “Chocolate Blood Pudding”) (Light fantasy. 10-12)

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“This playful, accessible friendship story features some nice vocabulary choices, and its sly use of voice puts readers in Percy’s paws….” from puddle pug

THE LIFE OF TY Non-Random Acts of Kindness

is largely framed in questions, encouraging personal response and discussion. The simplicity and functionality of the book’s premise is enhanced with an addendum of teaching suggestions for specific pages and more detailed background information about the concepts presented.

This will serve well in both religious and nonreligious settings for fall curriculum support. (websites, index) (Informational picture book. 5-7)

Myracle, Lauren Illus. by Henry, Jed Dutton (128 pp.) $12.99 | Apr. 3, 2014 978-0-525-42266-2 Series: Life of Ty, 2

Ty is back, and he’s a little nervous about his latest class project: to practice random acts of kindness and then recite them to the class at the end of the week. After all, how can you “do random acts of kindness on purpose?”

He’s also promised his sister, Teensy Baby Maggie, that he’ll get her a pet; his best friend, Joseph, is in the hospital with leukemia; and his “sometimes best friend,” Lexie, nearly chokes him to death. This is a lot for any 7-year-old, and it’s particularly hard on a worrywart like Ty. While there are certainly kids out there who will relate to Ty’s nervous nature, many may be turned off by his narrative voice, which often seems babyish, inconsistent with a bright boy who understands what “random” means and corrects his teacher about it. Still, the biggest disappointment here is that Ty is clearly a kid with a big heart, and it’s too bad readers aren’t given the opportunity to feel a little more of what he does. For example, while there are references to Joseph’s cancer and hospitalization, they are few and far between. Dropping the C-bomb in an early chapter book feels like a big deal, one that’s worthy of a little more exploration.

A so-so read for the second-grade set. (Fiction. 5-8)

CELEBRATING HARVEST

Nason, Ruth Photos by Fairclough, Chris Evans/Trafalgar (26 pp.) $10.99 paper | May 1, 2014 978-0-237-54373-0

The annual harvest from farm to table is explored with a religious perspective, focusing on Christian harvest traditions and the Jewish celebration of Sukkot.

Crisp color photography highlights children in scenes of farming and the harvesting of fruits and vegetables. The book features several instructive points about the variety of produce available, the harvest concept and sharing. Finally, it covers two different yet corresponding religious ways to observe the harvest and thank God. Church-based harvest festivals are illustrated by the decorating of a church with various breads, wheat stalks and baskets of food. Sukkot is shown with the building and decorating of a Sukkah and how this symbol of a shelter or hut relates to the ancient Jewish celebration. An informative and eye-catching design on glossy paper offers a large, multicolored print, the majority of text blocks in black against soft pale backgrounds, with key words in bold blue; these are repeated in a vocabulary border at the bottom of each page. The text |

PUDDLE PUG

Norman, Kim Illus. by Yamaguchi, Keika Sterling (32 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4549-0436-6 Are the pigs’ digs big enough for both a porcine family and a mud-loving pug?

Percy the pug loves puddles, the muddier the better. He even makes a map of his favorite puddles so he can find them easily. One day, he hears splashing on the other side of the fence and, peering through, sees the perfect puddle. He sneaks in under the fence and begins some serious splashing. The resident piglets don’t seem to mind, but the big sow glowers at him, and in no time, Percy is back outside the fence. Now all the old puddles seem inadequate. Every time he tries to sneak back, Mama sends him packing. A severe rainstorm changes everything: A tree crashes into the wallow, and all the pigs are displaced. Worse, tiny Petunia is missing. It’s Percy who comes to the rescue, finding the missing piglet thanks to his map of puddles. Reunited with Petunia, Mama’s whole body twitches “with piggly jiggly joy.” From then on, Percy is able to enjoy his very favorite puddle. This playful, accessible friendship story features some nice vocabulary choices, and its sly use of voice puts readers in Percy’s paws: “But his puddle did not love him back”—that big old sow is never mentioned. Partaking of an animation aesthetic, Yamaguchi’s pencil-and–digital paint illustrations are simple and clean, the animals adorable.

Sweet and muddy—err, sunny. (Picture book. 3-6)

OH DEAR, GEOFFREY!

O’Neill, Gemma Illus. by O’Neill, Gemma Templar/Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | May 13, 2014 978-0-7636-6659-0

Can a clumsy giraffe make friends?

Geoffrey, a lanky young giraffe, is all neck and limbs, and as a result, he is often awkward and ungainly. Onomatopoeic text curves around his wobbly legs and slippery hooves as his efforts at making friends inevitably end in chaos, confusion and the titular repeating refrain, “Oh dear, Geoffrey!” The cheery, mixed-media illustrations, replete with gentle humor, show Geoffrey and the various animals—meerkats, elephants,

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“The suspenseful shenanigans…shape this wild, cinematic ride, but the underlying narrative track is Will’s dogged determination to follow his own bliss….” from the boundless

rhinoceroses—he tries to befriend, even as he overlooks some small, feathered potential companions who hover nearby.

While trying to cheer himself up with some tasty leaves, Geoffrey discovers some needed, welcoming monkeys that appreciate his lofty height as well as the birds who’ve been there all along. Surrounded by his many new playmates, he’s free to see the good points of being so tall, including the ability to “see as far as the stars!” Children of unusual height or with characteristics not yet valued are sure to identify with this sympathetic portrayal, while all will admire Geoffrey’s perseverance as well as his dogged, hit-or-miss efforts to make friends. A good choice to encourage the development of empathy and show how individual difference is a plus.

Oh yes, Geoffrey! (Picture book. 3-6)

THE LAST DAYS OF JESUS His Life and Times

O’Reilly, Bill Illus. by Low, William Henry Holt (320 pp.) $19.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8050-9877-8 978-1-62779-193-9 e-book This distillation of the best-selling Killing Jesus: A History (2013) retains the original’s melodramatic tone and present-tense narration. Also its political agenda.

The conservative pundit’s account of Jesus’ life and, in brutal detail, death begins with a nonsensically altered title, an arguable claim to presenting a “fact-based book” and, tellingly, a list of “Key Players” (inserted presumably to help young readers keep track of all the names). Like its source, its prose is as purple as can be, often word for word: “There is a power to Jesus’s gait and a steely determination to his gaze.” Harping on “taxes extorted from the people of Judea” as the chief cause of continuing local unrest, the author presents Jewish society as governed with equal force by religious ritual and by the Romans, and he thoroughly demonizes Herod Antipas (“he even looks the part of a true villain”). Alterations for young readers include more illustrations, periodic sidebars, far fewer maps and a streamlining of context so that the focus is squarely on Jesus, with less attention on the historical moment—an unfortunate choice. Assorted notes on 16 various side topics, from a look at Roman roads to the rise of the cross as a Christian symbol, follow. A mix of 19th-century images, photos of ancient sites and artifacts supplement frequent new illustrations (not seen) from Low. Insofar as the reading level of the book for adults is on a par with this effort—for the most part, only the substance has been simplified—it’s hard to see the value of this iteration. (source list, recommended reading) (Biography. 12-15)

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THE BOUNDLESS

Oppel, Kenneth Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-4424-7288-4 William Everett is proud of his ragsto-riches father, manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway, but he wants to forge his own destiny.

Will’s first chance comes when reallife 19th-century rail baron Cornelius Van Horne invites him on a train ride to greet his years-absent, track-laying dad at a nearby mountain camp. After surviving an avalanche and a terrifying sasquatch attack, Will gets to hammer in the last spike, a diamond-encrusted gold railway spike worth a fortune. The story resumes three years later, as a taller, more fancified Will embarks with his now–high-ranking father on the maiden voyage of the Boundless, an opulent, 987-car train—a “rolling city” complete with automaton bartender and traveling circus, 7 miles from locomotive to caboose. Untold treasure is locked up in Van Horne’s booby-trapped funeral car, and a motley crew of hungry souls wants to get their hands on it no matter whom they have to kill to get it. The suspenseful shenanigans that follow shape this wild, cinematic ride, but the underlying narrative track is Will’s dogged determination to follow his own bliss—perhaps as an artist—despite his father’s strict opposition.

Canadian railway history, fantasy, a flutter of romance— and a thoughtful examination of social injustice—collide in this entertaining swashbuckler from the author of Printz Honor–winning Airborn (2005). (Historical fantasy. 9-14)

DOROTHY MUST DIE

Paige, Danielle Harper/HarperCollins (464 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-06-228067-1 978-0-06-228069-5 e-book When a cyclone deposits a 21st-century Kansas teen in Oz, she and readers discover there’ve been some changes made.

Dirt-poor “Salvation Amy” Gumm lives in a trailer park, effectively parenting her alcoholic mom (her dad ran off years ago), who seems to care more about her pet rat, Star, than her daughter. That doesn’t mean Amy is eager to be in Oz, particularly this Oz. Tyrannized by a megalomaniacal Dorothy and mined of its magic, it’s a dystopian distortion of the paradise Baum and MGM depicted. In short order, Amy breaks the wholly capricious laws and is thrown into a cell in the Emerald City with only Star for company. There, she’s visited first by the mysterious but sympathetic Pete and then by the witch Mombi, who breaks her out and takes her to the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked (among whom is the very hot Nox). Amy may well be

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the salvation of Oz—only someone from the Other Place can take Dorothy down. Paige has clearly had the time of her life with this reboot, taking a dystopian-romance template and laying it over Oz. Readers of Baum’s books will take special delight in seeing new twists on the old characters, and they will greet the surprise climactic turnabout with the smugness of insiders.

In the end, it’s just another violent dystopian series opener for all its yellow-brick veneer, but it’s a whole lot more fun than many of its ilk. (Dystopian fantasy. 14 & up)

ARLO ROLLED

Pearson, Susan Illus. by Ebbeler, Jeff Two Lions (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1477847213

a hatchway that, opened, drains the entire ocean. This sets up a final double gatefold filled with sea life that, marvelously, has taken over the land. Arranged in a mix of full-spread scenes and large sequential panels, the black-and-white cartoon art is done in a relatively realistic style. It displays (with the goggles) multiple levels and convincing depth of field, along with swirling currents and large forms looming out of the darkness. The volume will likely outlast the two cardboard-and-celluloid goggles, but what with the current popularity of 3-D films, finding replacements shouldn’t be difficult. Without the goggles, the illustrations are clear as mud.

Required prop notwithstanding, a thoroughly immersive outing. (Picture book/novelty. 6-9)

SLEEP NO MORE

Arlo the pea wants to grow up to find out what he’ll be.

“At the end of the garden, / next to the berries, // lived Mary / and Gary / and Terry / and Sherry… / and Arlo.” Arlo has no desire to end up in a salad or a stir-fry, so he drops to the ground and begins an epic roll. “Past cucumbers, lettuce, a red-spotted bug— / until he bumped into a hungry gray slug.” The slug tries to eat him, but Arlo escapes and continues his roll past a hungry stink bug and out of the garden into the yard. In the yard, he evades a huge crow and a line of ants having a snack attack, eventually rolling up to a digging dog that flings Arlo through the air. Pooped, Arlo goes to sleep—and while he’s asleep, he grows. One sunny day, he wakes up to discover he’s a vine. He’s so happy he blossoms and starts the process all over. Pearson’s rhymed tale is not only good fun to read, but it’s also a great introduction to the plant life cycle. Ebbeler’s acrylic illustrations of bespectacled Arlo are a mix of full-bleed and panels, and with their vertiginous perspectives, they add extra bounce to this pea’s promenade.

Gardening goodness, just the ticket for a science storytime or cozy lap reading. (Picture book. 4-7)

JIM CURIOUS A Voyage to the Heart of the Sea in 3-D Vision Picard, Matthias Illus. by Picard, Matthias Abrams (52 pp.) $19.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4197-1043-8

Pike, Aprilynne HarperTeen (352 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-06-199903-1 978-0-06-220926-9 e-book If you knew something bad was going to happen, would you try to change the future?

Charlotte Westing is an Oracle, and as such, she must follow three rules: never to reveal herself as an Oracle to non-Oracles; never to give in to the visions; and if a vision gets through, never to try to change the future. At age 6, Charlotte broke the third rule, costing her father his life. Ten years later, a stronger-than-normal vision breaks through 16-year-old Charlotte’s carefully constructed psychic defenses, foretelling the murder of a classmate. Charlotte wants to act, but she is too late. After a second ominous vision, she warns the potential victim, but it’s no help. As visions of the dead increase, and the bodies start piling up, Charlotte must decide whether to break all the rules in order to stop a serial killer and save lives.

Oddly, the Sisters of Delphi seem disinclined to intervene in Charlotte’s rule breaking, but perhaps official consequence is being saved for sequels. The story is sometimes predictable and goes a bit too fast in places—readers will quickly lose track of visions and victims—but it’s full of gripping tension, and Charlotte is a self-aware and likable narrator, determined to use her powers for good.

Faults aside, this supernatural mystery will appeal to fans of the genre, and the story’s conclusion leaves wide the door for possible future installments. (Supernatural thriller.

15-17)

Two pairs of 3-D glasses included with the book add plenty of depth to an explorer’s undersea adventures in this wordless import.

Wearing a clunky diving suit, sans air hose, Picard’s figure dives off a dock and leaves the flat 2-D land above to float through a marvelous world of interwoven fronds, darting fish and general human detritus. Later encounters with a huge shark and an undersea city give way to a mysterious tunnel leading to |

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RICKY RICOTTA’S MIGHTY ROBOT

Pilkey, Dav Illus. by Santat, Dan Scholastic (112 pp.) $15.99 | $5.99 paper | $5.99 e-book Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-63106-8 978-0-545-63009-2 paper 978-0-545-63107-5 e-book Series: Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot, 1 New, all-color illustrations on shiny paper add gloss to this reboot of a Captain Underpants also-ran.

The plotline remains the same: Small, bullied mouse gains a huge metal friend after rescuing it from its creator, mad scientist Dr. Stinky McNasty. Said friend goes on to subdue the bullies, star in the best classroom show and tell ever, and battle McNasty’s next effort, a giant lizard. The battle is portrayed partly in Pilkey’s trademark Flip-O-Rama (though with Santat’s illustrations) and partly in newly crafted pages of minicomics.

Overall, though Ricky and the robot look about the same as they did in the 2000 original (illustrated in a thick-lined, cartoony style by Martin Ontiveros), Santat portrays them in a more lapidary way, with shiny eyes and gleaming highlights. He also adds more background detail, makes the bullies bigger but not so mean of aspect, and exchanges McNasty’s nerdy goggles for an eye patch to give the bad guy a more dashingly villainous air. This last is disappointing: When will we stop using images of disability as signifiers of evil? The drawing instructions at the back of the original edition have been dropped.

An uninspired retread, still with only hints of the wit and silly humor that light up Pilkey’s other series. (Fantasy. 6-9)

WIND DANCER

Platt, Chris Peachtree (138 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-56145-736-6

Platt returns with another well-worn horse story.

Thirteen-year-old Ali hasn’t owned a horse since her pony, Max, broke his leg in an accident two years previously. Now, an increasingly senile neighbor seems to be starving her two Appaloosa horses, and Ali’s best friend convinces her to sneak into the neighbor’s barn at night to check on the animals. After animal control takes possession of the horses, Ali’s parents act to put the horses into her care, hoping to rekindle her interest in riding. Meanwhile, her older brother, Danny, is suffering physically and mentally from injuries he received fighting in Afghanistan. Can caring for the abused horses help heal these siblings? Of course it can. The plot broadcasts itself from the opening chapter. The emotional changes happen a bit too fast to feel realistic, and vague, puzzling references to Ali’s riding 112

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accident—which she feels somehow caused her brother to join the Army, thus placing the blame for his injuries on her—should have been either eliminated or more fully explained. The abuse and rehabilitation of the horses is handled well, however, fully developed without sensationalism or melodrama. A sweet ending points to a more hopeful future.

Not ground-breaking but one of Platt’s better works; horse-crazy kids will love it, as always. (Fiction. 8-13)

LATELY LILY The Adventures of a Travelling Girl Player, Micah Illus. by Player, Micah Chronicle | (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 15, 2014 978-1-4521-1525-2 Lately Lily

Lily, a cute freckled redhead with enormous eyes, flits through a number of unnamed countries with her stuffed zebra, Zeborah.

Ostensibly created to inculcate wanderlust in very young children, this character seems to be little more than an advertisement for the author/artist’s clothing company for little girls, called Lately Lily. Talk about cross-platform! Lily’s parents travel a lot for their jobs, and the lucky young lady gets to accompany them. Although the usual images (the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, a red London double-decker bus) show up in the retro illustrations, there is very little text that provides any information—or storytelling, for that matter.

In her favor, Lily is seen writing in her journal and sending letters to the friends that she meets along the way. Knowledgeable parents or other adults could use the pictures as a jumping-off point, but why bother introducing young readers to pictures of stereotypically dressed children and familiar monuments when there is no real content? Yes, it’s fun to visit other countries but not in the vacuous manner of Lily’s visits.

Very young children deserve a better reason to get excited about our world than this bit of promotional fluff.

(Picture book. 4-5)

CLARA’S CRAZY CURLS

Poole, Helen Illus. by Poole, Helen Stone Arch Books (40 pp.) $14.99 | $5.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-62370-043-0 978-1-4795-2164-7 paper A little girl’s very large curls cause chaos in this clunky lesson.

Pink-skinned, rosy-cheeked Clara loves her upward-growing mop of red curls; she even carries her crayons, ruler and sandwich in it. She wishes her ringlets were the “tallest hair in all the world!” Finding a product that promises “Big & Beautiful

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“The rhythms of the story hint at the voice of the storytellers and also translate well to the printed page—easy to read, compact and punchy.” from the raven and the loon

Hair,” she slathers it on. Clara’s orangey-red, yellow-highlighted curls grow so tall and wide they bleed off the pages. The huge mane makes Clara famous. But now her hair obscures people’s views at school and in a theater; reaching the sky, it blocks airplanes. Clara confesses that she used more hair cream than she had claimed to, and her mother arranges a haircut—though why the haircut required the confession is anybody’s guess, unless tell the truth is another message, on top of be careful what you wish for and don’t let your hairdo bother anyone. Poole’s verse scans poorly—“Little Clara May was very very small. / But what was most extraordinary was her hair was really tall!”—and rhymes don’t always rhyme (trees/pleased; world/curls). The cartoony illustrations are slick and occasionally sloppy: In the theater, four kids face away from the movie screen purely so readers can see their faces.

Skip this; for celebrations of curly splendor, get bell hooks’ Happy to Be Nappy, illustrated by Chris Raschka (1999), and Carolivia Herron’s Nappy Hair, illustrated by Joe Cepeda (1997), instead. (Picture book. 3-6)

EXPIRATION DAY

Powell, William Campbell Tor (336 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-7653-3828-0 In this coming-of-age diary, a girl navigates life in a dystopic near-future.

By the year 2049, the world has become a rather unfriendly place for humans and robots alike. England is divided into color-coded zones, parts of the African continent are shadowed in mystery, and very few humans are still able to procreate. Any woman who can conceive and make it past the first trimester is whisked off to live as a Mother. The global robotics giant Oxted has filled the familial void with the teknoid, “an android that specifically looks like a child.” Teknoids are upgraded several times to mimic growing children before the company reclaims them around the 18th birthdays, provided that the parents can maintain the illusion and never enter the Uncanny Valley of disbelief. Through the diary of Tania Deeley, Powell has created a terrifyingly plausible future.

Readers follow Tania through six years of her adolescence, as she realizes she’s a teknoid, finds love, embraces grief and ultimately discovers her own humanity. The author pays homage to the genre’s giants while combining realistic characters (both human and android) and detailed worldbuilding with an unpredictably optimistic conclusion. In the end, the thoughtful balance of narrative and description and the well-paced plot are marred only by a mildly distracting subplot that unreels in interstitial “Intervals.”

An auspicious debut. (Science fiction. 13 & up)

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THE RAVEN AND THE LOON

Qitsualik-Tinsley, Rachel; Qitsualik-Tinsley, Sean Illus. by Smith, Kim Inhabit Media (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-92709-550-8 Irrepressible trickster Raven gets his comeuppance when he annoys his friend Loon in a humorous tale based on Inuit folklore.

Both Raven and Loon were once unremarkably cloaked in plain white feathers—“stuck without colour,” according to the tale. Severely bored by the plainness of his plumage, Raven approaches the more staid Loon and suggests that they help each other improve their looks. Raven is clever and artistic, and he does a lovely job with Loon’s feathers. But following his success, Raven becomes so twitchy, chatty and annoying that he provokes Loon, who prides herself on her craft, to irritation.

The unfortunate result involves a stone lamp full of soot and has consequences for the pair that can be seen to this day. The exchange is very funny—the Qitsualik-Tinsleys ably distill the essence of Raven’s impulsive and incorrigible verbosity. The rhythms of the story hint at the voice of the storytellers and also translate well to the printed page—easy to read, compact and punchy. Smith’s cover and title pages are striking—spiky feathers for Raven and smoother ones for Loon, along with deep blues that hint at a kind of arctic chill. The interior illustrations are lively and animated, and if a bit more ordinary, they offer a clear visual story for listeners.

Folklore invitingly told and presented for a young audience. (Picture book/folk tale. 4-8)

WISH YOU WERE ITALIAN

Rae, Kristin Bloomsbury (352 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 paper | May 6, 2014 978-1-61963-285-1 978-1-61963-286-8 paper Series: If Only, 1 This debut takes readers to Italy, where 17-year-old Pippa defies her parents’ wishes and secretly takes off on her own.

Her parents were sending her alone to an art school in Florence to learn about classical art so she could follow in her mother’s footsteps and run an art gallery. But she has plenty of euros and no desire to learn about art, wanting instead to see Italy and fall in love with an Italian. In Rome, she meets Darren, an attractive American archaeology student who shows her the Colosseum. Then she meets Chiara, an Italian girl who grew up in America but who lives in the Cinque Terre, where her family has a restaurant and where she invites Pippa to join her. Pippa decides to go—without telling her parents, of course. Complication lurks in the form of Bruno, Chiara’s handsome cousin, who begins to court Pippa aggressively. When Darren arrives, Pippa worries which boy she should choose:

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“The joyful palette—yellow, red, blue-green, sienna—and wildly gestural black ink celebrate Sun Ra’s unique spirit.” from the cosmobiography of sun ra

Bruno is Italian and hot hot hot, but she’s still attracted to Darren. Meanwhile, her parents still think she’s at school in Florence. While Rae presents an appealing character in Pippa, her evident love of Italy dominates the narrative, making the story feel like an enthusiastic travelogue. Readers will detect early on which boy Pippa will choose, but mild suspense about how that will come about should keep them engaged.

Undemanding but enjoyable—an ideal beach read.

(Romance. 12-18)

RUTHIE AND THE (NOT SO) VERY BUSY DAY

Rankin, Laura Illus. by Rankin, Laura Bloomsbury (32 pp.) $17.99 | $18.89 PLB | May 20, 2014 978-1-59990-052-0 978-1-61963-162-5 PLB

A child’s big plans for a perfect Saturday are altered by a combination of unforeseeable occurrences.

Like Judith Viorst’s Alexander, Ruthie is not having a good day. Gramma’s flooded basement cancels blueberry pancakes with the family in the morning and flower planting with Papa in the afternoon. When Momma reminds Ruthie about her cousin Buster’s birthday party, Ruthie does not want to go, saying he is mean. She relents, only to have her favorite dress ruined when the washing machine breaks down. Then traffic on the way home from shopping for a present forces her to miss her favorite cartoon, and then she drops the eggs preparing to bake cookies. Exasperated, Ruthie storms out, declaring it to be “the Worst Kind of Day EVER!” The disheartened Ruthie and her mom decide to make wishes on their dandelions— which appear to come true when a very flat tire finally keeps the family home to bake and allows Ruthie to restart her “Best Kind of Day.” Ruined plans are hard for little ones to take, and Rankin creates a believable scenario in which everything going wrong can somehow work out all right. Endearing illustrations of an anthropomorphized fox family depict both the chaos and pathos that are inevitable with this kind of day.

Readers of all ages will easily identify with Ruthie’s trying day. (Picture book. 3-5)

CRABBY CRAB

Raschka, Chris Illus. by Raschka, Chris abramsappleseed (24 pp.) $6.95 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4197-1056-8 Series: Thingy Things The Thingy Things are back, and they’re thingy-er than ever, with two new entries and the republication of two earlier titles.

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he wants fingers instead of claws, and that he thinks his “eight beautiful legs” are “ridiculous.” Bold outlines embellished with loose, splotchy brush strokes of acrylic color on colored-paper backgrounds depict Crabby Crab in simple poses that emphasize these various points of his character. The resulting series of uncluttered, expressive portraits supports the simple text, which culminates in an emphatic declaration of unconditional love to the contrary crustacean from the narrator and implied readership: “Crabby Crab, we love you just the way you are. // Even when you’re crabby! / Crabby Crab!” The new companion title, Cowy Cow, indulges in further goofy simplicity to reveal some of the bovine heroine’s “one hundred ideas” and ultimately declare her “a genius. / Cowy Cow!” While the books could serve as short-but-sweet read-aloud fare, they can easily double as accessible, silly texts for new readers to tackle on their own, as well. Seeing the light of day again are Lamby Lamb and Whaley Whale.

Thank you, Chris Raschka, for reviving this sublimely ridiculous series. Chrissy Chris! (Picture book. 2-7) (Cowy Cow: 978-1-4197-1055-1; Lamby Lamb: 978-1-4197-1057-5; Whaley Whale: 978-1-4197-1058-2)

THE COSMOBIOGRAPHY OF SUN RA The Sound of Joy is Enlightening Raschka, Chris Illus. by Raschka, Chris Candlewick (40 pp.) $15.99 | May 13, 2014 978-0-7636-5806-9

This tribute to the innovative jazz keyboardist and band leader synthesizes brilliant paintings with a narrative that strikes just the right chords for its audience.

Born Herman Blount, aka Sonny, Sun Ra was an adept pianist by age 11 and gigging as an Alabama teen. A conscientious objector during World War II, Sun Ra thereafter dove into Chicago’s vibrant jazz and blues scene. He and his band, the Arkestra, moved to New York in the 1960s, baffling some but pleasing jazz giants like Monk and Dizzy. Later based in Philadelphia, Sun Ra and company traveled the globe. Raschka respectfully embeds Sun Ra’s iconoclastic philosophical perspective into the narrative, adopting a playfully conspiratorial tone: “Sun Ra always said that he came from Saturn. / Now, you know and I know that this is silly…. / And yet. / If he did come from Saturn, it would explain so much. / Let’s say he did come from Saturn.” Raschka likens the Arkestra to sailors bound for “a new world of sound” and calls their sleep-averse, bookstoreroaming leader “an intergalactic boulevardier.” Incorporating musical notation sheets into luminous watercolor-and-ink pictures, Raschka repeats their horizontal lines in piano strings, library bookshelves, city blocks and the very rectangularity of many compositions. The joyful palette—yellow, red, bluegreen, sienna—and wildly gestural black ink celebrate Sun Ra’s unique spirit.

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Unequivocally stellar. (biographical note, selected discography in both aftermatter and on illuminated endpapers) (Picture book/biography. 6-9)

WORLD WAR I FOR KIDS

Rasmussen, R. Kent Chicago Review (176 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-61374-556-4 Series: For Kids

A comprehensive study of the Great War, emphasizing the changes the war brought and how it shaped our modern world.

World War I destroyed empires, gave Hitler grievances to exploit in his rise to power and made the United States a world power. Rasmussen offers a challenging volume that doesn’t ignore the complexities of history, beginning with a look at Europe in 1914, what triggered the conflict and the complicated alliances that pulled nations into the war. The study is full of archival photographs, extensive sidebars on related topics such as the Christmas truce and Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, and reproductions of posters, newspaper ads and charts.

Curiously absent are maps that could help readers follow the ebb and flow of battles. As in other volumes in the For Kids series, the combination of a serious historical text with kidfriendly activities creates a disconnect: The text works for older middle school readers, but they are likely to find the activities childish or even condescending. The challenging text is engaging by itself without the enticement to make gas masks, parachutes, stew and war bread.

A solid exploration of a horrific war that unfortunately didn’t turn out to be “the war to end all wars.” (timeline, resources, source notes, glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

HORIZON

Reese, Jenn Candlewick (400 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7636-6417-6 Series: Above World, 3 This last volume of the Above World trilogy opens where Mirage (2013) ended, with Aluna, Hoku, Dash and Calli determined to save their genetically modified races from megalomaniac Karl Strand and his technically enhanced Upgrader army.

Masquerading as Upgraders with Aluna and Calli pretending to be their prisoners, Hoku, an ocean-dwelling Kampii, and Dash, a desert-dwelling Equian, join an unsuspecting Upgrader kludge to find Strand. When they are captured by Silvae—flying squirrel–like tree dwellers—and separated from the kludge, Aluna, Hoku, Dash and Calli split to fight Strand on different fronts. Dash rejoins the kludge, hoping to rescue his Equian |

relatives captured by Strand. Calli returns to the Aviars, who are under attack from Strand’s army. Aluna and Hoku join their Kampii families in the ocean, still trying to find Strand and devise new breathing devices. The four friends use individual strengths forged through their time together to help their respective races while staying committed to the common goal of defeating Strand. Aluna remains a compelling warrior, and Hoku, Dash and Calli come into their own as the fast-paced action ricochets back and forth, culminating in a colossal confrontation with Strand.

A fitting finale for a gripping futurist series whose four multifaceted heroes offer a strong anti-war, pro-diversity message. (Science fiction. 10-16)

RESURRECTION

Reeves, Amy Carol Flux (360 pp.) $9.99 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3877-2 Series: Ripper, 3 Abbie, William and Simon return to face off against Max, the sole surviving member of the immortality-obsessed Conclave—or so they think….

Now a medical student as well as an aide in an East End hospital, Abbie works hard to put the dreadful events on Orkney behind her (Renegade, 2013). As always, the saintly Simon is by her side, but she remains deeply, contrarily in love with the sullen, churlish William. One night, her dead friend, Mariah, comes to her, eviscerating the maid and terrifying Abbie. Could Mariah be connected to a recent string of grisly murders? And what is Max’s role? Abbie, William and Simon bicker endlessly about strategy as they race to solve the mystery and put the Conclave to rest. Readers will find it baffling that Abbie clings to her animal attraction to William in the face of his childish choler, but cling she does (though she occasionally doubts…). Her stiff, melodramatic narration tells rather than shows as encounters and pseudoscience pile up.

Abbie uses her awesome knife-fighting skills against all manner of opponents living and dead with remarkable ease despite extraordinary sleep deprivation and her usually traditional feminine attire. The bizarre, new twist Reeve introduces to the Conclave’s complicated history may well thrill scholars of 19thcentury England, but it will also probably leave teen readers underwhelmed.

Only for readers desperately waiting for this trilogy closer. (Paranormal historical fiction. 13-18)

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JOSEPH FIPPS

their skills. Best of all, children will surely be inspired to taste some of the produce the next time it appears on their plates.

Delicious on its own, and it will pair well with other books about gardens, plants and healthy eating habits.

(Informational picture book. 2-5)

Robert, Nadine Illus. by Godbout, Geneviève Enchanted Lion Books (64 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 14, 2014 978-1-59270-117-9

A 5-year-old “all filled up with feelings” dreams of wings and walruses in this ruminative import.

Joseph dislikes being repeatedly dubbed “Gremlin” for supposed misbehavior (he’d much rather be a glorious griffin), and after one too many parental scoldings, he demands another mother. His mom’s sharp offer of a “walrus mommy” who “lives on the banks of the North Pole” sends him scooting outdoors in mingled anger and repentance to sulk beneath a favorite tree.

Soon he’s in an icy clime, riding around on a friendly walrus’s back…until he remembers that he’s neither a gremlin nor a griffin but a boy and races happily back into the house. Joseph’s mother comes off here as particularly temperamental and unsympathetic, but she does allow herself to be pulled outside to see, if not walruses, a nest of bright goldfinches in the tree.

Blending multiple layers of crayon and colored pencil, Godbout models idyllic settings of rounded forms and soft surfaces, most of which are seen from Joseph’s low point of view as he stumps about in yellow boots. His changing moods are signaled by expressive eyebrows on an oversized, apple-cheeked face. He is an articulate narrator, but occasional wordless spreads and sequences illuminate the thoughts and experiences he maps in his monologue.

A stormy clash between parent and child ends with sunshine and bird song. (Picture book. 4-6)

PLANTS FEED ME

Rockwell, Lizzy Illus. by Rockwell, Lizzy Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-2526-6

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What could be more pleasant than a cozy circle of smiling animals on a starlit night?

Beginning with the soft glow of a moonlit house and the soft buttery tone of the facing page, this charming bedtime story sways with a gentle rhythm both aural and visual. Sleepy nighttime scenes in muted tones alternate with individual, fuzzily outlined animals and toys against a background of rich, saturated acrylics. The story will delight children with its predictability, as each page turn raises and answers a question about where each toy sleeps, but the text is anything but pedantic: “Where does a railroad train go at night? / If it is going somewhere, it goes there. / And if it is not, it stands still on the tracks.” Rowand’s sweetly engaging story invites children to imagine the world at night, and Dronzek’s expressive illustrations and effective layout work hand in hand with the text to make this a perfect book to snuggle up with for repeated readings. Everything and everyone finds a safe place to bed down for the night, although young children will likely not be surprised by where they all actually end up sleeping.

Fresh illustrations give luminous new life to this reissue of a bedtime story originally published in 1953. (Picture book. 2-5)

HANNAH’S NIGHT

This simplest of informational picture books offers a sensible, sunny celebration of the plants—specifically the parts of plants—that we eat.

The opening scene shows a boy seated at table surrounded by a rich harvest. He’s holding a watermelon rind that mirrors the wide grin he wears, helping to set the good-natured tone of the book. As preschoolers examine the pages, they will learn about the featured fruits and vegetables and how they grew.

Warm gouache-and–colored-pencil illustrations first depict a garden where “Plants reach up for the sun. / They grow down in the ground.” As the narrator goes on to explain that “I eat different parts from different plants,” such as roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, flowers and seeds, youngsters will find labeled images to peruse. The short, declarative sentences are easily digested by the very youngest and will tempt burgeoning readers to test 116

IT IS NIGHT

Rowand, Phyllis Illus. by Dronzek, Laura Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-225024-7

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Sakai, Komako Illus. by Sakai, Komako Translated by Hirano, Cathy Gecko Press (32 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-877579-54-7 A child wakes in the middle of the night and embarks on a quiet adventure.

When little Hannah realizes it’s still dark, she decides to tiptoe downstairs with her trustworthy cat, Shiro. Upon realizing all are asleep, the charming child takes small liberties: feeding the cat milk, eating cherries from the fridge and carefully playing with her sister’s toys. Sakai’s evocative illustrations envelop readers in the stillness and silence of a hushed home. Done in paint and colored pencil, they perfectly capture a child’s innocent point of view. Hannah is incredibly appealing as she squats

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“Brisk dialogue gains extra humor from the bright and bouncy illustrations, created with acrylics and colored pencil.” from pig kahuna pirates!

next to Shiro, gazes up at the moon and giggles that her sister— just in the next bed—does not notice that Hannah is borrowing her toys. Each pose is perfection; parents will achingly recognize a magical time in their own children’s development, and young readers will recognize themselves in the careful explorer.

The simple and elegant artwork provides a rich environment for the text, whose translation is offered with a New Zealand accent. As dawn breaks, Hannah spots the “prettiest dove she’d ever seen” outside her window. Trusting in the hope and wonder of a light-filled, new day, Hannah finally falls asleep, curled up next to Shiro on the edge of her sister’s bed.

Absolutely enchanting. (Picture book. 2-5)

THE ADVENTURES OF BEEKLE The Unimaginary Friend Santat, Dan Illus. by Santat, Dan Little, Brown (40 pp.) $17.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-316-19998-8

If an imaginary friend is unimagined, does it become a real friend?

Beekle (a crowned white gumdrop of lovable cuteness) lives on a fantastic island with other creatures “waiting to be imagined by a real child.” After seeing his companions leave, one by one, Beekle loses faith that he will ever “be picked and given a special name,” and so he does “the unimaginable” and ventures forth to find his friend. Upon arriving at a port city, he observes adults going about their daily lives in monochrome, dingy settings that lack any spark of color or vitality. Perspectives that often isolate the tiny Beekle in corners or surround him with large figures accentuate his loneliness. Everything changes when he arrives at a playground awash in color and sees children playing with their imaginary friends—many of whom had been on his island. But even here, he still cannot find his special friend. Feeling sad, he climbs a tree, and from his perch, he hears a voice calling to him. Lo and behold, he meets his special friend, Alice. She’s imagined him after all, as evidenced by the picture he retrieves for her, which is of himself handing her a picture. In a delightful comic sequence, the pair become acquainted, and “[t]he world began to feel a little less strange.”

Welcome, Beekle. It’s nice to know you. (Picture book. 3-7)

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PIG KAHUNA PIRATES!

Sattler, Jennifer Illus. by Sattler, Jennifer Bloomsbury (32 pp.) $16.99 | $17.89 PLB | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-61963-200-4 978-1-61963-201-1 PLB Series: Pig Kahuna Fans of porcine siblings Fergus and Dink’s first outing will be thrilled to welcome them back to the beach, while pirateloving listeners (familiar or not) will be particularly pleased.

Once again, Sattler offers a fresh and clever take on a perennially popular theme. This time, it’s Fergus’ turn to help Dink have a good day. Waking up from a nap on Dave, the surfboard that started it all, Dink is grumpy. He doesn’t want to wade (the water is too cold) or build a sand castle (his unsuccessful efforts are too close to the water’s edge). Even his snack is ruined when Fergus unwittingly flings sand on him. Fergus’ find—a pirate hat—proves temporarily intriguing, but Dink still winds up stomping along the shore. Slimed with seaweed and nipped by a crab, he comes careening back to his brother only to find a picture-perfect pirate ship made of sand and himself made one of the crew. Brisk dialogue gains extra humor from the bright and bouncy illustrations, created with acrylics and colored pencil. The brothers’ expressive faces, especially their eyes, which roll, squint and smile, add emotional heft. Simple backgrounds allow the boys to claim center stage, while textured strokes effectively evoke the broad swath of sand and the swirling sea.

Here’s hoping that this welcome return presages plenty of additional adventures. (Picture book. 4-7)

PAPER HEARTS

Savell, S.R. Medallion Press (312 pp.) $9.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-60542-690-7 A friendless 17-year-old hard case meets a softhearted young man and his dying grandmother, and it may change her path.

Michelle despises her single mother, dislikes her school therapist, hates her classmates and loathes her conveniencestore job. She’s unused to caring about the opinions of anyone until Nathaniel—a towering young man, as sweet as he is huge— comes to work at the store. Somehow Michelle finds herself wanting to live up to Nathaniel’s expectations. In an unreliable first-person narration that sacrifices clarity for metaphor (“Straight as a pine tree and just as scented, she gives me the stalker stare, eerie smile pulled like wet gum across her narrow cheeks”), Michelle fights with everyone but Nathaniel and his hospitalized grandmother. The grandmother sends Michelle on a literary scavenger hunt, which might have been fascinating if it were experienced rather than described peripherally.

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“Meticulous pen, ink and watercolor illustrations perfectly capture Amelia’s emotions; she is reminiscent of Pippi Longstocking….” from princess sparkle -heart gets a makeover

Meanwhile, Nathaniel convinces Michelle to adopt a subdued nonresponse in the face of her high school bullies. As Michelle mellows, it becomes increasingly clear that her life actually is tragic, and her sulky teen misanthropy is a reasonable reaction to a rotten life—a refreshing take.

Savell offers readers hope within grim realism, though the flights of lyricism can detract from it. (Fiction. 14-17)

PRINCESS SPARKLEHEART GETS A MAKEOVER

Schneider, Josh Illus. by Schneider, Josh Clarion (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-544-14228-2

Schneider’s playful take on the beauty makeover upends expectations with comedic—and powerful—results.

When Amelia receives Princess Sparkle-Heart, the girl and doll become fast friends. From dancing and tea parties to weddings and secrets, they share almost everything—much to the chagrin of the family dog. Growling and glowering his way across spreads, the canine has it in for the doll. So it’s no surprise when tragedy strikes and Sparkle-Heart is torn to shreds.

But all is not lost, as Amelia and her mom make the doll anew.

With extra stuffing for “protection,” a few extra button eyes (because it’s hard to choose “just two”), some “good teeth” and a comic-book–inspired outfit, the transformation is complete.

After a suspenseful makeover reveal, it’s clear Amelia adores her now-monsterlike doll more than ever—and in that moment, Schneider redefines beauty and what is “princess.” Meticulous pen, ink and watercolor illustrations perfectly capture Amelia’s emotions; she is reminiscent of Pippi Longstocking, with her red, statement hairdo, blue denim overalls and plucky personality. Cinematic illustrations play with proportion and perspective, echoing the work of comic-book luminaries Geof Darrow and Moebius. A clever cover, with its curvy, bedazzled, pink title splashed across the page, acts as a beacon to the princessobsessed, while craft-licious lettering toward the bottom hints at the tale’s interior.

A testament to the joy of creation and a celebration of a different kind of beauty—sparkling indeed. (Picture book. 4-7)

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SKY RUN

Shearer, Alex Sky Pony Press (288 pp.) $14.95 | May 6, 2014 978-1-62873-593-2 Series: Cloud Hunters, 2 A hero’s tale set in an alternate world.

Living on a tiny island in an unnamed world that is an archipelago in space instead of an ocean, Gemma and her younger brother Martin have seen only two other people for the majority of their lives—their 120-yearold great-great-great aunt Peggy and her nearest neighbor. That is, until Peggy decides she has taught them everything she knows and it is time to take them to boarding school on City Island—a long and potentially dangerous journey. The three set out in Peggy’s sky-runner and encounter along the way various folks who just so happen to bear caricatural resemblances to modern-day types, whether it be the Toll Troll, the rabid, redand blue-clad soccer fans, or the heartbreaking child soldier.

Each encounter adds to the education of Gemma and Martin and possibly to that of readers as well. The adventure is narrated in turn by Peggy, Gemma and Martin, and each is pitchperfect in its respective age and outlook. Never confusing or overbearing, the story mixes adventure with commentary—but so skillfully and humorously done that it rarely seems didactic.

The cover, alas, does not do this book justice.

Wise and wonderful, this is the archetypal Hero’s Journey laced with gentle satire. (Adventure. 10-14)

FORESTS

Sill, Cathryn Illus. by Sill, John Peachtree (48 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-56145-734-2 Series: About Habitats The Sills add to their About Habitats series with this look at the forests of the world.

Using the same format as the others in the series, Cathryn Sill writes a sentence or two in a large font on left-hand pages, while her husband, John Sill, uses realistic watercolors to illustrate the information presented. “Many animals find food and shelter in forests,” for example, is placed opposite a deciduous forest scene of a black bear, broad-winged hawk, brown creeper, question mark butterfly, red-spotted salamander and box turtle; though none appears to be eating or in any shelter, save the salamander, who is peeking from underneath a leaf, some are camouflaged, which is what the paragraph about this particular illustration plate explains in the afterword. This is where readers will need to turn in order to learn more specific information—a miss for the series, as incorporating this within the text in a text box or smaller font would have broadened the age range of its potential audience. Another miss is the lack of a detailed map

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in the backmatter, which could have pinpointed some of the locations, going beyond the seven continents portrayed on the map at the front. Still, the Sills do a good job of showing (and especially identifying) both plants and animals.

A solid introduction, though it’s not without its flaws. (map, glossary, bibliography, list of websites) (Informational picture book. 3-6)

HELLO, MOON!

Simon, Francesca Illus. by Cort, Ben Orchard/Scholastic (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 27, 2014 978-0-545-64795-3 Children who have their own bedrooms must face that moment each night when they feel utterly alone; the time before sleep may seem endless.

This thoughtful young protagonist strikes up a conversation with the moon: “Can we talk? I get lonely down here sometimes.

What I want to know is….” His questions run the gamut from the moon’s taste in games, food and animals to its range of vision. Can the smiling countenance see inside people’s homes or into the ocean’s depths? Reflecting on his own situation, the boy wonders if the moon has friends—and, in a kindly gesture, offers to listen anytime. Composed with an abundance of reassuring, rounded shapes and images high on the child-appeal scale (pirates, ice cream cones, playgrounds), Cort’s acrylic scenes contrast the predominately cool, blue nighttime environment with a variety of warm greens punctuated by bursts of orange. Prominent among these is the child’s striped cat, which appears as a playful and comforting presence throughout, and the identically colored tiger who saunters out of the bushes when named as a favorite. The questions Simon has her protagonist pose—by turns spirited, playful and genuinely sweet—signal understanding of and respect for a child’s emotional and intellectual capacities.

Judging from all the childhood insomnia out there, there can never be too many bedtime stories, especially when they model a strategy as successful as this one. (Picture book. 3-6)

LARRY GETS LOST IN WASHINGTON, DC

/ Ran that little dog, Larry, / Then in through the doors… / …to a giant library!” Separated from his human family when he goes off after a fallen Popsicle, the dog’s search for them takes him on a long, looping course from the Lincoln Memorial to the Jefferson Memorial, with quick scoots past the White House, through several museums and the National Archives, and into the Library of Congress. Skewes strews his flat-perspective cartoon illustrations with labels and descriptive notes for a select set of sights and sites, then closes with a page of study and research questions. Several of the captions, though, are printed on low-contrast backgrounds and so are hard to read. Moreover, only parts of Larry’s route are traced on one of the two aerial views (the other is a stylized overview of the city from the Beltway that is too sketchy even to indicate its radial street plan), and that route doesn’t reflect the actual order in which he sees things.

A few standard-issue facts shoveled into a quick dog’seye view of the Smithsonian and environs do not an effective tour make. (Informational picture book. 6-9)

EVEN MONSTERS...

Smith, A.J. Illus. by Smith, A.J. Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4022-8652-0 Who says monsters can only be frightful?

Although monsters roar, snarl, grumble, growl and howl, Smith’s playful text asserts that they also know how to behave.

The text’s cheeky humor is immediately apparent as the tasks the little monsters carry out involve putting on clean underwear and combing cooties out of their fur. Illustrations extend the text about eating a “well-rounded breakfast” by depicting a box of “Swamp Munch Cereal” with “Free Bugs Inside” alongside a carton of “Mantis Milk.” Such playful intraiconic work affirms the interdependence of art and text, but the occasional indistinctness of the art and the sometimes-cluttered layout of the pages undermine the overall cohesion of the work as a whole. Furthermore, readers familiar with Jane Yolen and Mark Teague’s How Do Dinosaurs… series may find that this title cuts a bit too close to the line between similar and derivative in its execution.

A humorous, somewhat unoriginal offering—for kids who prefer monsters to dinosaurs. (Picture book. 3-5)

Skewes, John; Fox, Andrew Illus. by Skewes, John Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-57061-899-4 Series: Larry Gets Lost The compulsively errant pooch’s latest touristic ramble takes him around the National Mall.

It’s a good thing the little dog is considerably less lame than the verse that chronicles his wandering: “Up sidewalks and stairs |

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THE GEOGRAPHY OF YOU AND ME

Smith, Jennifer E. Poppy/Little, Brown (352 pp.) $18.00 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 10, 2014 978-0-316-25477-9 978-0-316-25474-8 e-book

As she did in The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (2012), Smith fashions long-distance travel into a metaphor for the leaps of faith that love demands.

Lucy and Owen live in the same Manhattan building but don’t meet until they’re stuck in a sweltering elevator during a blackout. Their brief ordeal’s long enough for them to connect while their defenses are down. Grief over his mother’s death has numbed Owen to his changed life—moving from rural Pennsylvania with his father, now the building’s superintendent. With her affluent parents abroad and her brothers newly away at college, Lucy’s long-standing loneliness has acquired a sharp edge.

The blackout continues after they’re rescued, and dealing with it together shatters the cocoon each lives in. They ramble the crowded streets before ascending to the roof, where they fall asleep under a starry sky. When Lucy wakes up, Owen’s gone; his dad needs help managing the blackout’s aftermath. By the time they reconnect, Lucy’s moving abroad, while Owen and his newly unemployed dad are heading west. The alternating narration builds tension as the two both live their separate lives and recollect their fragile bond, giving readers access to the closely observed emotions of each, something neither has. If the emotional authenticity points up less-believable plot points (if only applying to college were so easy!), it also eclipses those lapses.

Truth about love always gets our attention, and this book will catch readers’. (Fiction. 12-18)

THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING

Spires, Ashley Illus. by Spires, Ashley Kids Can (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-55453-704-4

Making things is difficult work. Readers will recognize the stages of this young heroine’s experience as she struggles to realize her vision.

First comes anticipation. The artist/engineer is spotted jauntily pulling a wagonload of junkyard treasures. Accompanied by her trusty canine companion, she begins drawing plans and building an assemblage. The narration has a breezy tone: “[S]he makes things all the time. Easy-peasy!” The colorful caricatures and creations contrast with the digital black outlines on a white background that depict an urban neighborhood.

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hoping to achieve magnificence. A model of persistence, she tries many adjustments; the vocabulary alone offers constructive behaviors: she “tinkers,” “wrenches,” “fiddles,” “examines,” “stares” and “tweaks.” Such hard work, however, combines with disappointing results, eventually leading to frustration, anger and injury. Explosive emotions are followed by defeat, portrayed with a small font and scaled-down figures. When the dog, whose expressions have humorously mirrored his owner’s through each phase, retrieves his leash, the resulting stroll serves them well. A fresh perspective brings renewed enthusiasm and—spoiler alert—a most magnificent scooter sidecar for a loyal assistant.

Spires’ understanding of the fragility and power of the artistic impulse mixes with expert pacing and subtle characterization for maximum delight. (Picture book. 4-7)

BENEATH THE SUN

Stewart, Melissa Illus. by Bergum, Constance R. Peachtree (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-56145-733-5 An engaging peek into how various creatures cope with the hottest of days.

Writing simply but informatively, Stewart takes readers through four different environments—a field, a desert, a wetland and a seashore—showing how some of the inhabitants of each cope during the hottest days of the year.

Forging a connection with readers, the book begins by showing children in a suburban environment playing in the sprinkler and sipping lemonade. With a page turn, Stewart introduces the next environment, a field, and how some of its inhabitants—a woodchuck, an earthworm, a spittlebug and a caterpillar—cope with the heat. By including the children in the suburb, Stewart positions humans as simply one species of the many that inhabit the Earth—a notable and appropriate perspective. Bergum’s pleasing, realistic watercolor illustrations include front endpapers that show the sunrise and rear endpapers that mirror them with dusk. The suggestion that the story takes place within the time frame of one day encloses it within comfortable confines familiar to all readers—another element that connects children to the subject. The framing of illustrations within the double-page spreads gives readers a sense of spatiality within the environment depicted.

A well-designed, well-written book that offers readers a greater awareness of and sense of relationship to the other inhabitants in their environments. (Informational picture book. 3-8)

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“…her dilemma is agonizing: If the surgeon could cure Whisper and her family, would she agree?” from whisper

ALIEN ESCAPE

Stilton, Geronimo Illus. by Stilton, Geronimo Scholastic (128 pp.) $6.99 paper | $6.99 e-book Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-64650-5 978-0-545-64651-2 e-book Series: Geronimo Stilton Spacemice, 1 Explore space with Geronimo Stiltonix, futuristic analog of the familiar Geronimo Stilton.

Geronimo Stiltonix, captain of the prestigious MouseStar 1, “would rather be writing novels than steering a spaceship.”

His crew’s made up of, in part, other familiar Stilton characters with -ix added to their last names, the personal assistant robot Assistatrix and all-purpose robot Robotix. He may be captain, but Geronimo is the last to find out that his spaceship is in danger of exploding. To stabilize the engine, they must obtain the rare element tetrastellium. Luckily, a nearby planet, Rattos, might have some. Upon arriving, they are hailed by friendly pink mousoids who offer them tetrastellium. But their tetrastellium is pink instead of the customary blue. Even stranger, despite the great value and rarity of tetrastellium, the pink mousoids refuse any payment but friendship. Suspicious, Geronimo and a team go to Rattos’ surface on reconnaissance. Sure enough, strange pink happenings onboard the ship presage the takeover of the control room by an evil, sentient mass of pink goo. It takes clever thinking by the away team to defeat the goo and save the ship. The format includes the customary Stilton staples: wild types and colors, playful illustrations and sidebars that elaborate on aspects of the fictional world.

With a story like an old-fashioned episode of Star Trek, this is a wonderful science-fiction introduction for young readers. (the spacemice creed) (Graphic science fiction. 6-10)

WHISPER

Struyk-Bonn, Chris Orca (352 pp.) $12.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4598-0475-3 Struyk-Bonn’s debut offers a darkly hopeful take on the universal themes of family and identity.

Born with a cleft palate and exiled to the wilderness of an unnamed country for 15 years, Whisper has made a ragged family of her fellow outcasts, all of whom bear some disfigurement. Upon her mother’s death, her abusive father comes to claim her for a slave. With nothing but a violin, a veil, and the memories of her mother and makeshift family, Whisper discovers that she has a rudimentary power over the society that scorns her. Class and gender questions arise: Is the omnipresent SWINC corporation responsible for a rise in genetic defects? |

Why do disfigured boys remain in their villages? She soon lives hand to mouth as a busker for Purgatory Palace, a ribald community of misfits where the threat of prostitution or capture is never far. Whisper’s somewhat fairy-tale luck in finding benefactors—a fatherly music professor and a surgeon among them—is tempered by her literally brutal realization that she bridges two worlds and doesn’t belong completely in either.

Thus, her dilemma is agonizing: If the surgeon could cure Whisper and her family, would she agree? The author’s vivid characterizations give this common trope urgency and nuance, and Whisper’s answer resonates with hard-won conviction.

A thoughtful dystopian drama. (Fiction. 13-18)

ZUBERT

Sutcliffe, Charlie Illus. by Sutcliffe, Charlie Tate/Abrams (32 pp.) $18.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-84976-121-5 Attendees at a convention of extraterrestrials mingle with equally strange, large-headed children as young Zubert rides with his mother in her van to deliver flowers to the best hotels in London.

While waiting for her in the lobby of the “smartest hotel of all,” Zubert becomes involved in a mission to rid the hotel of pesky animals in advance of an imminent visit from the hotel inspectors. Snoring Spinglefranks, a herd of blue, bespectacled buffalo, and a gaggle of troublesome monkeys are shooed from the rooms; a giant octopus is removed from the swimming pool; and all kinds of destructive pests are expelled from the kitchen. There, a perfect meal is prepared for the inspectors thanks to Zubert’s quick wits and the “slightly magic” powers of the Spinglefranks. The hotel inspection is completed, and the inspectors are satisfied, unaware of all the hijinks going on around them. There’s a lot to look at and signs to read in these fanciful cartoon illustrations, filled as they are with intriguing and sometimes-mysterious details. The endpapers in grayscale charmingly depict the hotel’s lost-and-found cabinet, which is filled with insects, food and artifacts. Perhaps acknowledging its second-banana status to the illustrations, the all-uppercase text is too small and sometimes hard to find on the page.

It’s a playful, even psychedelic feast for the eyes, but don’t get it for the story. (Picture book. 5-8)

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“Vivid acrylics and oil paints depict a pretend world so surreal, so specific (and sometimes so downright disturbing) readers will spend hours poring over its subtleties and subtexts.” from rules of summer

QUEEN ON WEDNESDAY

trespasses he never knew to avoid. Amid the murky peril and bizarre cast of reappearing characters, the brothers’ relationship and its powerful emotional undertow remains the centrifugal force, holding each image—and the entire book—together.

Evocative, enthralling and with absolutely astounding artwork so good readers will wish that, like summer, it would last forever. (Picture book. 4 & up)

Swiatowska, Gabi Illus. by Swiatowska, Gabi Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (40 pp.) $17.99 | May 20, 2014 978-0-374-37446-4 A very bored little girl takes refuge in her imagination, where she becomes a queen who’s soon overwhelmed with royal responsibilities.

Nothing has happened to Thelma since Sunday. Now it’s Wednesday and, bored, she decides to become a queen. Initially, Thelma’s preoccupied with announcing her royal status, selecting “royal pets,” posing for a “royal photograph,” and finding assistants and the carriage she now needs. On Saturday, she’s busy looking for a “proper castle” and a “royally qualified” maid and animal trainer. By the time Sunday rolls around again, Thelma’s faint from hunger as she lacks a “royal cook.” Monday, she needs to find an electrician, a veterinarian and a plumber, plus a nurse for the “royal headache” she’s developed. By Tuesday, Thelma tosses away her crown and returns to being a bored little girl. Prominently featured in large, variably sized and placed type, the droll text is cleverly integrated into sophisticated paint-and-pencil illustrations that conjure a surreal, tonguein-cheek atmosphere. Dressed in Victorian apparel and wearing priceless, oh-so-bored expressions, wide-eyed Thelma and her imaginary assistants engage in peculiar, pointless activities amid mysterious, undefined venues, contributing brilliantly to the overall ennui.

Imaginative illustrations fuel this playful exploration of juvenile boredom. (Picture book. 3-8)

RULES OF SUMMER

Tan, Shaun Illus. by Tan, Shaun Levine/Scholastic (48 pp.) $18.99 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-63912-5

One summer, two brothers live by mysteriously dire rules laid down by the older of the pair.

The little one lists what he learned: “Never leave a red sock on the clothesline”; “Never eat the last olive at a party”; “Never ruin a perfect plan”—and so on. What if you break a rule? You risk facing monstrous red rabbits, crow armies, teetering robots, lumbering metal dinosaurs, large lizards, overgrown fungus and more. You’ll miss a chance to ride on that whizzing red rocket, to catch a shooting star, to visit that glowing, golden kingdom inside the gate. Vivid acrylics and oil paints depict a pretend world so surreal, so specific (and sometimes so downright disturbing) readers will spend hours poring over its subtleties and subtexts. They’ll puzzle over the brother’s urgent directives too, which vacillate between painfully obscure injunctions and specific commandments quick as a thunderclap. The attachment and tensions between the boys stream clear throughout, however, with the younger racing to catch up and worrying over 122

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SHATTERED

Terry, Teri Nancy Paulsen Books (320 pp.) $17.99 | May 1, 2014 978-0-399-16174-2 Series: Slated, 3 A girl with many names adds even more in this final book in the Slated trilogy, set in a dystopian future England controlled by the Law and Order Party.

Kyla, known as Lucy in her previous, pre-Slating life and Rain in her brief career with the Antigovernment Terrorists, is on the run from the “Lorders” with help from the rebel group Missing In Action and a new look courtesy of Image Enhancement Technology. Kyla returns to the place where she started out as Lucy, now using the name Riley. She is assigned to the Waterfall House for Girls, which is coincidentally run by her previous mother, Stella. Anyone unfamiliar with the first two books will be utterly at sea, and even those who have read them may want to dip into them as a refresher before tackling this conclusion. The AGT are now the bad guys along with the Lorders. Riley/Kyla/Rain/Lucy must develop strong friends and allies to survive, as well as to make sense of her slowly returning knowledge of the past. Somewhat convoluted and improbable events bring the series to a conclusion with a suitably optimistic tone. A sense of impending doom often fails to deliver, and the obligatory romantic triangle falls as flat as the premise.

Though this series started strong, it ends with a whimper. (Dystopian romance. 12-18)

MR ROUSE BUILDS HIS HOUSE

Themerson, Stefan; Wright, Barbara Illus. by Themerson, Franciszka Tate/Abrams (148 pp.) $12.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-84976-154-3

Originally published by Polish poet and avant-garde filmmaker Themerson in 1938 and illustrated with charming line drawings by his wife Franciszka, this miniature hardback book in six chapters tells the story of Mr. Rouse’s unusual house-building challenges.

The little man has to explain with difficulty to the architect that not any old house will do: “I’m not a bird, you know; how could I live in a house made of leaves?” Neither a pagoda

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nor a skyscraper meets his needs, nor a block of flats, where “The houses are choking!” Finally Mr. Builder gets it. He rings up Mr. Rouse on the telephone to tell him the plans are done, and he will start building right away. After a challenging journey across country via bus, horse-drawn cab, train and plane, Mr. Rouse finally is able to inspect his new abode. He loves the house, but basic services are missing, and he has to work hard to get running water and electricity hooked up and a clock installed. In a style reminiscent of poems by Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll, typography is used humorously to illustrate Rouse’s eccentric antics.

Fascinatingly anachronistic and a tad long-winded, this book is an eccentric curiosity that will have both kids and adults puzzling over its arcane Briticisms and enjoying its Python-esque wackiness. (Picture book. 4-8)

DARKBOUND

Tracey, Scott Flux (384 pp.) $9.99 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3649-5 Series: Legacy of Moonset, 2 The children of a defeated terrorist witch coven called Moonset uncover more of their parents’ legacy in this sequel to Moonset (2013).

A far cry from the previous volume’s responsible, leader-type narrator, Justin, Malcolm hates magic and is uncomfortable with the bond shared by the Moonset children. His distaste for magic and the bond—things generally considered desirable—is palpable in his narration, especially his hyperawareness of sibling dynamics as they strategize and gang up against him and his anti-magic stance. He’s tired of having his destiny entwined with those he considers unstable, and he views the bond as a vulnerability. But despite his avoidance of the magical world, an Abyssal Prince who escaped from hell during the climax of Moonset seeks him out. The nameless Prince—lonely, beautiful and sad—captivates Malcolm despite his understanding of its infernal nature. The Prince requests that Malcolm help find the body of its Abyssal sister, Kore, previously killed by Moonset. The Prince also pushes Malcolm to explore more—and darker—implications of the coven bond, which inadvertently strengthens Malcolm. Should he play to the Prince’s agenda? Although the prose—plagued by awkward phrasing—could be smoother, the story is nicely built, and Malcolm is a sympathetic narrator. Moreover, despite Malcolm’s tendency toward introspection, the plot doesn’t flag.

A solid sequel. (Urban fantasy. 14-18)

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FLIGHTS AND CHIMES AND MYSTERIOUS TIMES

Trevayne, Emma Illus. by Thomas, Glenn Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $16.99 | May 13, 2014 978-1-4424-9877-8

A bored lad experiences adventures that range from wonderful to horrific in a steampunk-y alternative London.

Feeling underappreciated while home from boarding school, nearly-11-year-old Jack Foster eagerly rejects his upper-middle-class existence in late Victorian London, following the mysterious Mr. Lorcan Havelock through a magical doorway into the parallel world of Londinium. Initially, Jack is enthralled by his freedom and his new environment, a “land of brass and steel and clockwork, of steam and airships….” One of his first acquaintances is Dr. Snailwater, an inventor of mechanical human beings. Jack is disappointed that the doctor wants to return Jack to London, and he’s surprised that Snailwater disapproves of Sir Lorcan. The fast-paced, escalating suspense reaches an unexpectedly dark pinnacle when Lorcan’s disembodied voice convinces Jack that recent public hangings will continue until Jack agrees to assume the role of son to the Lady, ruler of Londinium. And that’s just the beginning. It’s packed with so much action, much of it violent, that readers may well feel that the conclusion is nothing but anticlimactic. The novel’s strength lies in worldbuilding and vivid descriptions, and Anglophiles will likely enjoy the historical-cultural references.

For all that the end feels a bit like a flattened Yorkshire pudding, getting there is a thrill a minute. (Fantasy. 8-11)

NINJA, NINJA, NEVER STOP!

Tuell, Todd Illus. by Carpenter, Tad abramsappleseed (32 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4197-1027-8

Dressed in black and ready for action, a young ninja shows off his skills—which would be more impressive if he did not initially use them to antagonize.

Tuell uses chopped (forgive the pun) rhyming phrases perfect for young ears and new readers as a redheaded ninja practices his stealthy skills: “Hip, hop, slide… / …flip, flop, kick. // Little Ninja, / very quick.” But a yellow-haired younger brother is the unhappy target of all the ninja’s nefarious missions. His balloon is taken away, his chocolate-chip cookie stolen and his castle of building blocks knocked down. Finally, a frustrated cry of “NINJA, NINJA, / WOULD YOU STOP?” results in an unconvincingly instantaneous change of heart. The following spread shows the siblings happily rebuilding. It seems the story has come to a close, but a page turn reveals the ninja playing outside and about to dive into a pile of autumn leaves—where a pair of pale blue eyes peeks out. With his triumphant ambush of

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the ninja, the younger brother clearly enjoys the comeuppance.

All ends well as the final pages show both brothers planning and scheming as a “NINJA TEAM!” Bright primary hues add an energetic yet retro feel to Carpenter’s illustrations.

Although a bit slim on story, still a good choice for mischievous preschoolers with an interest in the martial arts.

(Picture book. 3-5)

SURPRISE

van Hout, Mies Illus. by van Hout, Mies Lemniscaat USA (32 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-935954-34-7 Extraordinary colors and single words describe the journey of bird parents and children.

Each spread has a single word on one page and an image on the other. For “expecting,” chalklike on a red background, little bundles nestle inside the central “e” of that word, and one leg of the “in” has little bird toes. Opposite, on a black background, a rounded, fluffy red bird sits on three eggs, whose inhabitants echo the shapes in that “e” and who look fully ready to come forth. On the next page, a blue, confetti-speckled bird greets a tiny fuchsia birdling just emerging from its shell: The word on the blue page opposite is “marveling.” “Cherishing” happens when a little creature sleeps nestled between the green-y wings of a similar-shaped bird; “listening” finds a green and blue arced neck curved entirely around a bright yellow chick so not a note or word would be lost. First published in 2013 in Dutch, the book’s surprise comes not only in the obvious delight in each word, but on the last page, where a bevy of brightly colored chicks fly off into the deep blue, and a contented looking blue bird gazes upon them, “letting go.”

While certainly a work that will appeal to parents, it will also delight children with the profusion of color and the single words illustrated with so much energy and imagination. (Picture book. 3-7)

LORDS OF TRILLIUM

Wagner, Hilary Holiday House (224 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8234-2413-9 Series: Nightshade Chronicles, 3 The third volume of the Nightshade Chronicles (Nightshade City, 2010; The White Assassin, 2011) is as entertaining as it is satisfying.

To readers’ surprise and eventual delight, former uber-villain Billycan is the hero of this installment. Released from the control of malevolent and manipulative humans, he atones for his past misdeeds by arriving in Nightshade City just in time to help save it from an evil that has 124

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been brewing within. Next, feisty Billycan helps the Nightshade rats track down some of their number who have disappeared, most likely into the clutches of scientists resuming their dreadful experiments. What the brave explorers find will give them answers to many of the questions that have surrounded their existence—namely, what makes these rats superior to others, and what do the humans want from them? There’s not as much character development here as in the earlier books, as this volume is dedicated to unraveling big mysteries and tying up loose ends. In fact, there’s so much going on that if it’s been a while, readers may need to return to the first two volumes to make sense of the overarching narrative strands. But who will mind?

Fast-paced and full of intrigue, this is one fantasy lovers won’t want to miss. (Animal fantasy. 9-12)

UNCERTAIN GLORY

Wait, Lea Islandport Press (205 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 4, 2014 978-1-939017-25-3

Joe runs his own newspaper, quite an accomplishment for a 14-year-old, even in 1861. With the Civil War beginning and a young spiritualist in town, he’s got lots to write about.

In small Wiscasset, Maine, there’s only one newspaper. Dispatches from Fort Sumter are being telegraphed north, enabling Joe to publish one special edition after another, thanks to the help of flighty friend Charlie and African-American assistant Owen. Getting these editions out is paramount, as the loan he used to start the business is coming due in days, and he hasn’t got enough to pay it back. His frequent, worried accounting of pennies is surprisingly poignant.

The young spiritualist Nell, in the unkind custody of her aunt and uncle, is also drawing local attention. Joe vacillates between supporting Charlie’s desire to figure out her tricks and reveal them to the public and a growing sense that she does communicate with the dead. When Owen goes missing, her help may prove critical. Wait nicely captures the infrequently depicted Northern homefront of the Civil War, as well as the entrepreneurial drive that some teens shared when there were fewer agebased labor restrictions. Joe’s homespun voice captures the full flavor of a smart and determined kid with his eyes firmly on the future, richly evoking time and place.

A worthy and entertaining trip back through time. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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“In the colored-pencil cartoons, done with childlike simplicity, Mr. Brown’s changing expressions provide silent, eloquent commentary.” from the queen & mr brown

ROSE AND THE LOST PRINCESS

Webb, Holly Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (256 pp.) $6.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4022-8584-4 Series: Rose, 2 Rose, an orphan who works as a housemaid while studying magic, helps save a princess from an evil magician.

Rose’s secret, which is that she has magical powers, is out. Now that she’s a magician’s apprentice as well as a housemaid, her status among the other servants is in jeopardy, as they view magic and magical people with suspicion even though they are employed by Mr. Aloysius Fountain, a powerful magician in the royal court. Fact is, it’s a bad time for magicians in the city of London. Princess Jane, the darling of king and country, briefly disappeared, and magicians are suspected in the so-called attempted kidnapping, causing antimagician prejudice to skyrocket. Nonetheless, Rose is secretly called in to help the king along with fellow apprentice Freddie and Gus, Mr. Fountain’s smart-talking cat, a potent magician in his own right. The adventure that follows is amusing but fuzzy, as the nature of the characters’ magical powers is not clear, so the final battle has an arbitrary feel. Where Webb shines is in her depiction of the gradations of status and power both up- and downstairs and how these positions shape perception, action and character.

Enjoyable magical adventure enlivened by an engaging group of secondary characters from all backgrounds and realms. (Fantasy. 8-12)

STORIES FOR CHILDREN

Wilde, Oscar Illus. by Robinson, Charles O’Brien Press/Dufour Editions (76 pp.) $23.95 | Apr. 9, 2014 978-1-84717-589-2 Three of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales for children are republished with gorgeous original art by Robinson.

It would be a loss for contemporary children not to have these stories: “The Happy Prince,” who sacrifices his entire self to save those who need saving, with the help of a little bird; “The Nightingale and the Rose,” another tale of love and sacrifice; and “The Selfish Giant,” with its beautiful images of a garden of delight and a child savior. The language is stately and the tales, moral and sentimental, but at their cores, they are about love and how love behaves. The pairings of story and art glow with the truth that love knows no boundaries. The 1888 art is beautifully reproduced in full pages, while the linear, originally black-and-white images have been washed with color. The latter is always a chancy business, as the book’s designer, Emma Byrne, acknowledges: “[T]his is a tightrope |

act, as it is important not to destroy the integrity of the fine linework.” It does not seem meretricious in this case; the result is lovely. This is full-blown art nouveau: The watercolors are voluptuous in their sinuous line and delicacy of hue, and even the text pages have shadow patterns beneath their lovely type.

Chaste biographies of Wilde and Robinson are appended.

With great respect for the past, this edition succeeds in bringing the illustrations into the present. (Fairy tales. 6-10)

THE QUEEN & MR BROWN A Day for Dinosaurs

Wilkins, James Francis Illus. by Wilkins, James Francis Natural History Museum/Trafalgar (48 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-565-09325-9 With winks broad enough to sprain his entire face, Wilkins offers a tale of the queen’s outing to London’s Natural History Museum with a reluctant corgi in tow.

Mr. Brown trotting gloomily at her heels, the queen impulsively stumps out of the palace one snowy day, marching past crowds of oblivious tourists and passersby. She’s off to see the museum’s spectacular dinosaur fossils—rendered in the scribbly illustrations with wide eyes and friendly smiles rather than bony skulls. Dismissing the asteroid-impact theory, she ruminates over why they went extinct. (Aliens ate them? Maybe they were “overwhelmed by the stink of their own poo”?) Continuing her woolgathering, she parks herself on a bench and nods off, dreaming of racing at Ascot…atop a Megalosaurus. But she’s “pipped at the post” by none other than Mr. Brown, riding a Carnotaurus. How annoying! Later a guard wakes her: “I hope you’ve got a nice, warm home to go back to?” “Thank you, yes yes I do. That’s very kind of you to enquire.” In the colored-pencil cartoons, done with childlike simplicity, Mr. Brown’s changing expressions provide silent, eloquent commentary. This is a British import, with Briticisms intact.

Young readers on either side of the pond who are tempted to do as the queen does should not be dissuaded.

(Picture book. 6-8)

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LIZZY BENNET’S DIARY Inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

with lively language. Ever-present is an enormous respect for traditional ways and beliefs, as written in the opening lines of “The Twelve Seasons”: “My father told me this story years and years ago when I was wee. I never saw it in a book or heard anyone before him telling it.”

Sit back and listen to the words of the old folks and their bygone ways. (glossary of Scottish words) (Folk tales. 8-12)

Williams, Marcia Illus. by Williams, Marcia Candlewick (112 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-7636-7030-6

Young readers not quite ready to tackle Pride and Prejudice directly but who are yet intrigued by it might enjoy this loving tribute by the indefatigable Williams.

The entire story of Jane Austen’s masterpiece is told in diary format by Lizzy herself, including all the important particulars: the arrival of Mr. Bingley to Netherfield Park, her meeting with the “disagreeable” Mr. Darcy, the proposal of the insufferable Mr. Collins, the antics of Lizzy’s giddy sisters and the loss of her beloved sister Jane’s heart to Mr. Bingley. Although Lizzy notes that she is 20, the tone is very much that of a younger girl, as is suitable for her audience. Tiny sketches, watercolors, recipes and wonderful little foldouts of invitations, letters and other minutiae encourage much perusing. Dried flowers, reproductions of paintings and other objects are worked into the diary collages, as are comments by Lizzy about dresses, ribbons and delicacies. Her delight in walking through the fields and opening her mind to many things is evident, and of course, it all ends with the appropriate weddings.

Whether there’s a readership for this is open to question, but it is certainly done well. Miss Austen would probably be pleased. (Dear Reader note) (Fiction/pastiche. 8-12)

THE FLIGHT OF THE GOLDEN BIRD Scottish Folk Tales for Children

Williamson, Duncan Floris (144 pp.) $16.95 paper | May 1, 2014 978-1-7825-0017-9

More traditional tales from Scotland.

Williamson, who died in 2007, was one of Scotland’s Travelling People, and he collected and told stories from the oral tradition. In this companion to The Coming of the Unicorn (2012), humans, rabbits, foxes, donkeys and hedgehogs “follow the solar year and mark the progress of its seasons according to Traveller tradition.” Each tale rewards goodness and kindness over greed and selfishness. Some will be familiar to storytellers, including “The Twelve White Swans” and “Princess and the Glass Hill.”

There’s a rewarding mix of humor, trickery and devotion, along with cautionary tales about spiders and flies, safety in numbers and listening to gossip. Three Christmas stories, religious and secular, and a touching tale of Father Time and the coming of the New Year conclude the volume. Storytellers and those who enjoy reading aloud will find this an excellent resource filled 126

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BOA’S BAD BIRTHDAY

Willis, Jeanne Illus. by Ross, Tony Andersen Press USA (32 pp.) $16.95 | $12.95 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-3450-9 978-1-4677-3455-4 e-book On the cover of this picture book, an impossibly cute, sad-looking boa lolls from a tree branch, birthday hat on his head. What could possibly be the matter?

Boa is having a bad birthday. Each time one of his jungle friends arrives for his party, Boa bolsters his hopes for a wonderful present only to be disappointed. Orangutan gives him a piano; but Boa has no fingers! Monkey brings him sunglasses; but Boa can’t wear them without ears and a nose! Willis gets the tone just right, likely eliciting both gales of laughter and sympathy from youngsters. Ross’ loose, colorful pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations capture the ridiculous situations and poor Boa’s reactions. The comedic high comes when Dung Beetle arrives with a pile of You Know What! In an ingenious twist, Dung Beetle’s gift turns out to be absolutely perfect.

Unfortunately, the tale does not end there. In closing, readers are admonished to accept all gifts with gratitude, and in a non sequitur household scene that will provoke more confusion than satisfaction, a delighted child is seen receiving Boa as a gift.

Festive fare that ultimately misses the mark. (Picture book. 4-8)

THE BALANCE

Wooten, Neal Bold Strokes Books (264 pp.) $11.95 paper | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-62639-055-3 Does humanity’s future hang in the balance, or is maintaining the balance a prison?

Nineteen-year-old Piri’s regimented civilization is perched atop a 40,000foot column above what he believes to be the lifeless surface of the planet. When a transport-tube accident lands him on the surface, Piri finds the Children, who worship the Fathers who dwell atop the column.

The Children hope to be Chosen each week to go live with the Fathers, but Piri has never seen people like the Children. While waiting to be chosen, the Children send crops up the column

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“A touch of magical realism throughout leaves the bittersweet ending open to interpretation….” from the museum of intangible things

and enjoy a hard but happy life, except for the Scavs. The Children try to get word about Piri to the Fathers, but soon he settles in, gives the Children technological advice and falls in love with Niko. Captured by Scavs at his moment of greatest happiness, Piri is sent back to the city, where he learns the abhorrent balance on which humanity’s existence depends. He becomes determined to return to the Children to free them. Wooten’s debut is a derivative science-fantasy that uses its futuristic setting to turn a critical eye on theocracies while promoting the normalcy of same-sex unions. Logistical impossibilities and dim-when-the-plot-needs-it characters (including smart narrator Piri) hobble this tale with good intentions.

Sci-fi savvy teens and those glutted on dystopian futures can easily find more engaging reads. (Dystopian romance. 14-17)

THE MUSEUM OF INTANGIBLE THINGS

Wunder, Wendy Razorbill/Penguin (304 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 10, 2014 978-1-59514-514-7

An unexpected love story with a wild road trip to boot.

Type A Hannah and bipolar Zoe have been inseparable friends since they were 10. Hannah is known around their New Jersey lakeside town as “the hot dog girl” since her alcoholic weatherman father refuses to pay for college, forcing her to earn money “selling meat in the shape of a phallus to predatory commuters on the way to the city”—she’s accustomed to putting her own needs last. But all of that is about to change.

In episodic chapters characterized by frank dialogue and Hannah’s biting wit, Zoe’s depression turns to mania, and faithful Hannah rides across the country with free-spirited Zoe as she chases the weather. While Hannah helps Zoe work through the episode, Zoe gives Hannah “intangible lessons” in insouciance, audacity, betrayal, destiny, luck, and how to live and feel. And while Hannah starts to try out these new feelings on longtime crush Danny, the real love here is between Hannah and Zoe. In a finely crafted blend of heartbreak and humor, Hannah begins to see the reality of Zoe’s disorder. A touch of magical realism throughout leaves the bittersweet ending open to interpretation and allows readers to overlook a few improbabilities.

Fans of the author’s The Probability of Miracles (2011) will discover more of life’s possibilities and wonder. (Fiction.

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THE BIG BOOK OF SLUMBER

Zoboli, Giovanna Illus. by Mulazzani, Simona Eerdmans (26 pp.) $16.00 | Apr. 18, 2014 978-0-8028-5439-1

In the crowded field of won’t-youplease-go-to-sleep books, this visually pleasing but awkwardly rhymed story fails to forge any new paths into dreamland.

The attractive cover of the oversized volume features a starry nighttime scene with a smiling fox asleep under a puffy quilt, establishing a calming tone. The first spread includes a little boy asleep in his bed next to his teddy bear, and from there, a wide variety of animals, including fish and fowl, bed down for the night in outdoor settings with anthropomorphic accessories such as pajamas, beds and cozy quilts. Appealing illustrations in a fanciful, mixed-media style employ collaged elements of paper and fabric against painted backgrounds, with swirling lines and oversized leaves and blossoms setting a surrealistic mood. The environments are scrambled together in a wildly disparate manner that echoes the illogical quality of the dream world, and proportions are often exaggerated so smaller creatures seem huge, like a butterfly as big as a tiger’s head. The rhyming text, translated from the Italian, bounces along in singsong fashion with some awkward scansion and phrasing that often trips into tongue-twister territory. Though the repeated introductory words, “hushaby, lullaby,” establish a serene cadence, many of the rhyming verses trip up rather than soothe.

Mary Logue’s Sleep Like a Tiger, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski (2013), and Mem Fox’s classic Time for Bed, illustrated by Jane Dyer (1993), explore the same territory with greater success. (Picture book. 3-6)

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“The wonders begin immediately after the title screen, with a mirror that “reflects” the viewer’s own face…and ripples with repeated taps to open a 360-degree view of Albert Chanute’s Ogre Tavern.” from mirrorworld

interactive e-books I IMAGINE

Bizzibrains Bizzibrains $0.00 | Jan. 31, 2014 1.01; Jan. 31, 2014 Children will enjoy becoming the stars of this customizable story, creating different versions for repeated readings.

The story presents a familiar scenario, as a parent juggles “a mountain of work” while a child asks for some playtime, but the highlight is how readers create their own characters. “We’re going to put you, a grown-up who looks after you, and a toy into the words and pictures of this story,” the female British narrator prompts. The app instructions direct children to record their characters’ names and choose gender, skin tone, hair color and outfit. They also give their characters faces by using a supplied cartoon illustration, taking selfies with the iPad camera or accessing saved photos. These design features make this a very inclusive story, allowing for combinations that reflect readers’ lives and imaginations. It should be noted that the characters’ middle-class domicile is not customizable.

The rhyming dialogue does not quite flow smoothly with the recorded names, but children will enjoy seeing their hand-built characters in the story. In the end, the protagonist gives up on the parent, creating instead an imaginary game with the doll, realizing, “I’m good at finding games to play for two instead of one. / With my imaginary friend I have a lot more fun.”

Thoughtful design features make this an inclusive story that will resonate with many young children. (Requires iOS 6 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 3-6)

ALPH AND BETTY’S TOPSYTURVY WORLD Electric Circus Electric Circus $2.99 | Dec. 29, 2013 1.0.1216; Dec. 29, 2013

An alphabet-based story app places its emphasis on games rather than narrative.

Alph and Betty are inventors. The stylishly illustrated “story” begins with their elaborate, A-shaped horn alarm blaring, but initially, Betty is the only one who awakens. Readers must help Betty scale the screen like a mountain goat in order to find edibles that begin with that page’s letter and complete inane tasks (for example, rudimentary matching games that require much less skill than it takes to navigate the overall app). It appears that Betty cannot go on to the next letter until everything (yes, everything) has been found and engaged.

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or text boxes obscure the items readers need to find in order to advance the page. The help arrows are only mildly effective, and many readers may find themselves giving up before they’ve completed even half the alphabet. Although readers are guaranteed to spend quite a lot of time on each page, they are more likely to be concentrating on the tasks than absorbing alphabet skills. The “read it myself ” option reads aloud anyway. For a much more sensible puzzle-solving storybook-app experience, see Bartleby’s Book of Buttons (2010).

The premise might be built around kids learning their ABCs, but by the time they get to Z, they may have already graduated high school. (Requires iOS 6 and above.) (iPad alphabet app. 4-8)

MIRRORWORLD

Funke, Cornelia Mirada $3.99 | Apr. 17, 2013 1.2; Oct. 14, 2013 Series: Mirrorworld

A companion to Funke’s two-volume Mirrorworld series, driven by spectacular graphics and positively loaded with both worldbuilding detail and back stories for many of the characters and events in the books.

The wonders begin immediately after the title screen, with a mirror that “reflects” the viewer’s own face (via camera app) and ripples with repeated taps to open a 360-degree view of Albert Chanute’s Ogre Tavern. This is an atmospheric room studded with trophies that lead with further taps to eight original tales or poems and six collections of documentary material. The stories and poems range from Jacob Reckless’ first meetings with Chanute and with Fox to a gruesome yarn about a tailor who works with human skin. These are illustrated in a rich variety of styles and (optionally) read by the author. Five can also be experienced in “Spectacle” versions as a multilayer sliding panorama, a live-action video converted to shadow puppetry or in another animation technique. Juicy side features include a journal of notes on ogre types that ends abruptly with a splatter of blood and a motley set of “Child-Eating Witch Recipes” read with rather indecent relish by a cast of children. Navigation is easy thanks to a slide-in menu that offers quick trips to either the tavern or to a more conventional table of contents.

Not quite crash-proof but a thoroughgoing delight featuring new content galore and cutting-edge visual effects.

(Requires iOS 6 and above.) (iPad fantasy app. 10-14)

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THE LITTLE PATIENT

story rambles and rambles, long past the point where any child would have lost patience.

There’s a great app to be done about the imaginative ways a parent dresses up a story about the day, but this one doesn’t arrive fully formed. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)

Fülöp, Tímea Illus. by Fülöp, Tímea Erik Simko $1.99 | Mar. 16, 2014 1.0.1; May 21, 2013

Sweet artwork and good intentions are the highlights of this storybook app.

Jazmin isn’t feeling well, and her family is concerned. Niki tries to coax her off the couch, but she has no luck. “ ‘Jazmin, come catch me!’ Niki shouted enthusiastically, but Jazmin did not feel like playing catch.” The next morning, Jazmin’s mother takes her to the doctor—indeed, an ear infection is causing these problems. Cheerful, childlike illustrations help set a positive tone for this story. With a little medicine and plenty of rest, Jazmin gets better in just a few days.

Unfortunately, good intentions suffer from a lackluster final product. The page turns are clunky, with relatively long, blackscreened pauses between pages. Interactive features are often distracting; readers can make toys bounce and tumble, marring the solemn effect. Although the characters are expressive, the animations are stiff. The narration is pleasant, and readers who wish to may easily turn off the music and narration on the home page. The simple sticker game won’t occupy little ones for long.

Readers coping with their own sniffles should turn to the very funny Even Monsters Get Sick, by Michael Bruza, or the reassuring Maisy Goes to the Hospital, by Lucy Cousins, instead.

Look elsewhere for reassurance for sick little ones. (iPad storybook app. 3-6)

MOMMY HURRIES HOME

Galitskaya, Kate Illus. by Dehtiariova, Olga Glowberry Books $1.99 | Jan. 16, 2014 1.0; Jan. 16, 2014

A rambling story of a parent’s trip home.

Little Alex waits with his nanny every evening for his mother to come home from work; some days she’s home very late. One particularly late evening, Alex’s mother spins a story that begins with being trapped in her office, continues through a trip on a fire engine and a flight on a dragon and ends with a triumphant crane ride across the city. Though the story has an amusing premise, the execution is a mess. The giant expanses of text are either badly translated or poorly edited, with sentences that are clunky or simply sound off. (“Sorry, but we are pressed for time,” the firefighters say. “The elephant enclosure is on fire. It’s no monkey business, you know!”) It’s clear attention to detail wasn’t a high priority in creating an app with three language options when a thumbnail image of a page contains the word “Zoo” but the actual page illustration is instead written in Russian. Worse, the illustrations feel crowded with extraneous objects that are livened up only by occasionally witty uses of animation. Mom’s |

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JACK AND THE BEANSTALK Nosy Crow Nosy Crow $4.99 | Jan. 30, 2014 1.0.0; Jan. 30, 2014

Nosy Crow’s design cleverly weaves games and adventure into this favorite folk tale.

As in the traditional tale, Jack tries to help his mother by bringing their cow to market but is instead swindled by a nefarious peddler. The presentation features Nosy Crow’s trademark excellent narration by child actors, witty speech bubbles and terrific illustrations, but it doesn’t stop there. Right from the start, readers are asked to help Jack clean Daisy the cow and scale the heights of the beanstalk, tackling challenges in a gamelike mode. When Jack reaches the castle, readers must help him solve nine different puzzles. Some draw on the classic story: Readers must gently lift up geese to discover which one lays golden eggs. Others create new games that effectively exploit the iPad’s interactive abilities—tilting the iPad to maneuver a bucket down the well or assembling a broken mirror that uses the iPad camera to reflect the reader’s image. A treasure map lets readers navigate the story, choosing which puzzles to solve and allowing them to skip ahead to the final chase scene whenever they’re ready. Different endings emerge depending on the treasures Jack brings back—perhaps it’s just some bean soup, or maybe it’s a house overflowing with a bountiful feast.

Readers will feel as clever and brave as Jack as they outwit and outrun the giant in this engaging, entertaining app. (iPad storybook app. 5-8)

CHLOE’S LITTLE SECRET

Tito, Marina Illus. by Tito, Marina; Di Alessandro, Lorenzo Marina Tito $0.00 | Jan. 16, 2014 1.0; Jan. 16, 2014 Unexceptional writing and low-wattage interactive effects send this tale of a girl and her closet monster to a back shelf.

Chloe is drawn with huge, almond eyes and placed against pastel backgrounds. She explains to readers how she cuddles, cleans up after and cares for her spidery, rubber-limbed companion (anonymous, until he’s abruptly introduced near the end as “Floyd”) before anticlimactically revealing the “little secret” |

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that he is her friend—a fact which she had previously mentioned anyway on the second screen. Toothy Floyd is appealing, with his little horns and big, googly eyes, and he makes a variety of amusing noises when he is tapped, from Donald Duck–like mutterings to gentle boinks. Unfortunately, he is not enough to sustain even this short app. The story, which is intermittently rhymed, is read by a slightly breathless narrator in both manual and autoplay modes. Selecting the latter freezes the skimpy assortment of animations and tap-activated sound effects. The app opens with an advertisement (readers may skip past it), closes on a screen that does not allow backward swiping, and features neither a thumbnail index nor a way to set a bookmark.

A bland take on a premise that Mercer Mayer has practically worn out single-handedly. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)

THE WISHINGTOOTH STORYBOOK ADVENTURE

TRC Family Entertainment TRC Family Entertainment $0.00 | Jan. 23, 2014 1.21; Jan. 30, 2014

A story about the Tooth Fairy displays an animation aesthetic.

Although the production values in this 77-page app are high, unfortunately it breaks very little new ground. When Pete loses a tooth, his friend Melody tells him that if he makes a wish on said tooth, it will come true. Zora the Tooth Fairy—who looks very much like Tinkerbell—tells the children that their belief is paramount not only to Pete’s wish, but also to the survival of her world. (Peter Pan, anyone?) Other classic parallels: Wishington has much the same feel as Emerald City, and the evil Malgrin feels very Lucifer-like (he used to be a Tooth Fairy but now steals wishes from children). Fairy dust sparkles to indicate interactive elements, but most of them are slight: a hop, a nod, a wagging finger. Children can unlock a feature that lets them collect items for Pete’s hamster (and later claim “rewards”) but only if parents fork over their email addresses. Readers can select “easy” or “original” text. It’s not without glitches, including an intermittent inability to switch readers without rebooting and narration that continues even when “read to me” is turned off.

The complicated yet predictable storyline and the interactive experience are mostly disappointing. (Requires iPad 2 and above.) (IPad storybook app. 4-7)

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MEET HECKERTY

Ziff, Jan; Davidson, Allan; Rachlin, Ann; Kerr, Ian Illus. by Davidson, Allan; Ziff, Jan Broomstick Productions Inc. $0.00 | Jan. 20, 2014 1.5.1; Jan. 20, 2014 An elemental story of a forgetful witch.

Heckerty is a frightful witch. Not in terms of behavior but...let us be honest, it’s her face. All those spots and warts, and her Brillo-pad hair doesn’t help. Today, however, she has to have a photo taken for her passport, and she is in close consultation with her cat, Zanzibar, about a spell to make her presentable. Her spell book has gone missing, so she has to wing it, which is a big mistake. But really, what’s wrong with a green face full of spots and warts when Heckerty is such a sympathetic creature? Not to mention that readers can paint her face blue, purple or a dozen other colors, along with her hands, coat, shoes or socks. Kids can read along or alone or use the book simply for coloring purposes. The vocabulary sometimes outruns the target group—“Zanzibar,” for one, and “lizard” and “cauldron”—but those are good words for children to look forward to. The joy here is in the interaction. The colors are saturated, and there are many little creatures to let loose and run about, plus wiggling ears, rolling eyes and floppy heads.

There is enough variety here to give the story some lasting power, but not great quantities of it.

A good, entry-level app, gratifyingly easy if also easy to move beyond. (iPad storybook app. 3-5)

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continuing series GONE FISHIN'!

Berenstain, Mike Illus. by Berenstain, Mike Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | $3.99 paper | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-207560-4 978-0-06-207559-8 paper Berenstain Bears/I Can Read (Early reader. 4-8)

ILLUSION

Kenyon, Sherrilyn St. Martin's Griffin (464 pp.) $18.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-250-00284-6 Chronicles of Nick, 5 (Paranormal romance. 14-18)

CAPTAIN AWESOME AND THE MISSING ELEPHANTS

Kirby, Stan Illus. by O’Connor, George Little Simon (128 pp.) $15.99 | $4.99 paper | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-4424-8995-0 978-1-4424-8994-4 paper Captain Awesome, 10 (Adventure. 5-7)

FROG’S LUCKY DAY

Bunting, Eve Illus. by Masse, Josée Sleeping Bear (40 pp.) $9.95 | $3.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-58536-892-1 978-1-58536-893-8 paper Frog and Friends (Early reader. 6-8)

GREETINGS FROM THE GRAVEYARD

Klise, Kate Illus. by Klise, M. Sarah HMH Books (160 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-544-10567-6 46 Old Cemetery Road, 6 (Humor. 8-12)

-FUL AND -LESS, -ER AND -NESS What Is a Suffix?

Cleary, Brian P. Illus. by Goneau, Martin Millbrook (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-0610-0 Words Are CATegorical (Informational picture book. 7-11)

WIPEOUT OF THE WIRELESS WEENIES And Other Warped and Creepy Tales

Lubar, David Starscape (176 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7653-3214-1 Weenies (Short stories. 10-12)

STARFALL

Griffo, Michael KTeen (384 pp.) $9.95 paper | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-7582-8076-3 paper Darkborn, 3 (Paranormal romance. 14-18)

SO, YOU WANT TO WORK IN SPORTS?

Mattern, Joanne Beyond Words/Aladdin (224 pp.) $18.99 | $9.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-58270-449-4 978-1-58270-448-7 paper So, You Want to Work in…?

(Nonfiction. 8-12)

THE UNFAIREST OF THEM ALL

Hale, Shannon Little, Brown (336 pp.) $14.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-316-28201-7 Ever After High, 2 (Fantasy. 8-12)

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THE CASE OF THE BURIED BONES

BLUE SEA BURNING

Montgomery, Lewis B. Illus. by Wummer, Amy Kane Press (112 pp.) $6.95 paper | $22.60 PLB | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-57565-641-0 paper 978-1-57565-640-3 PLB Milo & Jazz Mysteries, 12 (Mystery. 7-11)

Rodkey, Geoff Putnam (384 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 3, 2014 978-0-399-25787-2 Chronicles of Egg, 3 (Adventure. 10-14)

SOMETHING BLUE

Sheinmel, Courtney Illus. by Bell, Jennifer A. Sleeping Bear (176 pp.) $9.99 | $5.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-58536-851-8 978-1-58536-852-5 paper Stella Batts, 6 (Fiction. 5-9)

BLOOD TIES

Nix, Garth; Williams, Sean Scholastic (192 pp.) $12.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-545-52245-8 Spirit Animals, 3 (Fantasy. 8-12)

GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE

WAYFARER

Peirce, Lincoln Illus. by Peirce, Lincoln amp! Comics for Kids (224 pp.) $9.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4494-3635-3 paper Big Nate (strips) (Comic strips. 7-12)

St. Crow, Lili Razorbill/Penguin (352 pp.) $9.99 paper | Mar. 6, 2014 978-1-59514-620-5 paper Tales of Beauty and Madness, 2 (Urban fantasy. 12-18)

IN THE ZONE

Standiford, Natalie Scholastic (112 pp.) $12.99 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-52145-1 39 Clues: Unstoppable, 3 (Adventure. 8-12)

COUNTDOWN

Peirce, Lincoln Illus. by Peirce, Lincoln Harper/HarperCollins (224 pp.) $13.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-06-199665-8 Big Nate (novels), 6 (Graphic fiction hybrid. 8-12)

LIKE CARROT JUICE ON A CUPCAKE

Sternberg, Julie Illus. by Cordell, Matthew Amulet/Abrams (192 pp.) $14.95 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-4197-1033-9 Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie, 3 (Fiction. 7-9)

THE SCARLET DRAGON

Quinn, Jordan Illus. by McPhillips, Robert Little Simon (128 pp.) $15.99 | $4.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4424-9694-1 978-1-4424-9693-4 paper Kingdom of Wrenly, 2 (Fantasy. 5-7)

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THE HUNT FOR THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK

Stilton, Geronimo Scholastic (224 pp.) $14.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-545-64649-9 Geronimo Stilton (Adventure. 7-10)

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indie Everlasting and The Great River Adventures of an Alaskan Dene Girl

This title earned the Kirkus Star: MIDNIGHT RUMBA by Eduardo Santiago....................................... 146

MIDNIGHT RUMBA 1950s Cuba in all its Doomed, Glamorous Glory

Santiago, Eduardo CreateSpace (426 pp.) $14.90 paper | $9.98 e-book Apr. 15, 2013 978-1-4827-5374-5

Bumppo Illus. by Parsons, Bob Publication Consultants (96 pp.) $9.95 paper | $6.99 e-book | Jul. 1, 2013 978-1-59433-400-9 A brave girl with a powerful gift travels through the Alaskan wilderness in search of her missing father and uncle in Bumppo’s first book.

Everlasting seems to have an idyllic life on the shores of the Yukon River in the mid-1800s. She has a loving family, a peaceful tribe and even friendly dog-sled puppies to play with. Then the river floods her village, destroying the residents’ homes and washing away all their food and material possessions. Everyone survives, but Everlasting’s father and uncle are missing—carried away in their canoes while fishing. The resourceful villagers start rebuilding right away. While gathering seeds and berries, Everlasting finds a special walking stick that allows her to understand and speak to animals. Armed with the stick, she sets out to find her missing relatives. Along the way, she meets many animals, including a graceful raven, a mighty king salmon and a family of wolves. Each plays a part in helping Everlasting on her journey, and she always returns the favor. Later, Everlasting meets a pair of warring tribes, but her walking stick inspires her to take on every challenge peacefully and with wisdom. A longtime resident of Alaska, Bumppo has packed his adventure story for children with authentic details about a community and a way of life that will be new to many young readers: North American aboriginal people not yet besieged by white settlers.

This tale offers many lessons about courage, compromise, resilience and faith—but they’re not trite. In fact, Everlasting’s respectful encounters with the animals along the shore resemble Mowgli’s in The Jungle Book—the human and animal worlds blend into one cooperative kingdom. The author writes with finesse, describing plot, action, nature and Déné traditions in a straightforward, absorbing way. Clean black-and-white sketches open each of the six chapters. In the end, Everlasting must make a weighty decision, one that leaves open the possibility of more stories from the new author.

A wholesome historical adventure story for preteens brings a culture to life while dealing with universal truths.

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SAVING KANDINSKY

Bittersweet in the Bitterroot

Basson, Mary Manuscript 978-0-9911496-0-5

Basson’s debut novel, a work of historical fiction, tells a poignant story of saving works of art from destruction and of salvation through art.

Gabriele “Ella” Münter, a real-life student of “Professor K” at the progressive Phalanx School in Germany in 1902, absorbs her mentor’s avant-garde theories about art. “The truest art should be like music,” he declares: “completely abstract,” with “no picture at all.” Professor K is Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian painter who, in the early 20th century, was one of the first proponents of abstraction in art. Ella, young and selfconscious but talented, falls in love with her professor, and a romantic relationship forms between them—one founded on attraction, admiration, volatility and artistic philosophy. With other artists, they found the influential Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider) group, and they travel frequently in an attempt to depict different cultural spheres on canvas. “[F]reeing art from its bonds is our mission,” Kandinsky declares. Hardship, whether pertaining to internal stability or external world events, follows them. When the Nazi Party comes into power in Germany, expressionistic artworks are deemed “threats to German culture”; Ella is forced to make a decision that is both deeply personal and historically consequential. Her dilemma, her struggles and her creativity form the basis of a quietly stunning true story. Although the relationship between Ella and Kandinsky doesn’t lack for tempestuousness, it avoids the prurience of a clichéd, passionate romance between artists, and it’s similarly disinterested in the fireworks of a raucous art-heist narrative.

In fact, other than intermittent descriptions of Münter’s paintings—presumably taken from a catalog or wall plaques adjacent to her works in museums—Basson’s novel is straight narrative; there are no stylistic experiments to mirror her subjects, but that directness and lack of pretense don’t make the novel simple. Rather, it’s an evocative study of artistic beliefs and the creative minds that form them. In particular, Basson offers a rare appreciation of Münter, who, despite creating works with mastery of color and form, hasn’t received the same attention as her better-regarded companion.

A steadily thoughtful exploration of artistry, loyalty and choice.

Black, Douglas CreateSpace (430 pp.) $16.99 paper | Nov. 25, 2013 978-1-4910-0801-0 Revolving around a young FBI agent on her first case, this seamless fusion of thriller and police procedural is tonally comparable to Thomas Harris’ iconic The Silence of the Lambs.

Set largely in and around the breathtaking Bitterroot Mountains in Montana, the story begins with fledgling FBI agent Maria Hernandez investigating the murder of a girl whose corpse was found off a hiking trail in the mountains. The local sheriff ’s main suspect is the man who found the body, Joseph Deerling, the editor of a local weekly news journal. Deerling has had numerous run-ins with the law, but Hernandez quickly realizes that Deerling is not the murderer. In fact, when it is reported that another teenage girl has gone missing in the same area, Deerling and Hernandez join forces to find the killer’s lair, which Deerling believes may be located in a virtually inaccessible area in the mountains. The collaboration pays off, and after a brief gunfight in which Hernandez is shot, the abductor is killed and the girl is saved. The media gets wind of the story, and soon, the heroic Hernandez has become “the new ‘Poster Child’ of the FBI.” But while she is in the hospital recovering, someone attempts to murder Deerling. The young FBI agent quickly realizes that finding and stopping the serial killer isn’t the end of the case but the very beginning. Although this novel is powered by a cast of credible characters, brisk pacing and an impressively intricate storyline, Hernandez’s penchant for soliloquies is slightly annoying; her romantic connection to Deerling also feels contrived. But Hernandez—like Harris’ Clarice Starling—is a deeply intriguing and endearing protagonist who, according to the author, will return in a future novel.

Murder, meth and mystery in Montana. In a word: marvelous.

THE PATTERER

Brill, Larry Black Tie Books (340 pp.) $15.00 paper | $5.99 e-book Oct. 1, 2013 978-0-9888643-4-4 A comic odyssey through the world of 18th-century London trash journalism.

In Brill’s (Live @ Five, 2013) latest novel, handsome, personable Leeds Merriweather is employed by Charles McNabb, the ferret-faced editor of the London Tattler-Tribune in 1765. Leeds is a patterer, a performer who stands at busy crossroads and dramatizes the top, most lurid stories for passing crowds. “Life is constantly delivering important lessons,” he

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realizes, some "more painful more painful than others,” though one lesson he refuses to accept is McNabb’s callous pronouncement: “You were made to patter, not to publish. That is your proper lot in life. Accept it.” Ever since he was a boy at Wittyglib Manor, his family’s ancestral home, Leeds has dreamed of writing and publishing his own material, not hawking the headlines of others. He’s still frustrated by his boss’s judgment when he happens to encounter the famous Benjamin Franklin.

Leeds notices that he has the kind of face you might engrave on a bank note, then stops himself: “Rubbish, I know. What country would be insane to the point of putting a commoner on its currency?” In the course of their conversation, Leeds conceives his “grand invention”: instead of shouting headlines, he’ll perform a newscast, complete with commercial breaks, every night, for the paying patrons of the Tamed Shrew tavern. The proprietress, a widow named Anastasia Fullbright, eventually warms to the moneymaking prospects of the gimmick; in one of his many clever winks at pop culture, Brill echoes Billy Joel: “It was a pretty good crowd for a Saturday and Mrs. Fullbright gave me a smile. She knew it was me they were coming to see.” Leeds’ plan is complicated not only by his forlorn love for the unattainable Kate Jasper, but also by the rise of rivals to his newscasting act. Brill juggles all these elements with considerable skill, and his Dickensian London is vividly evoked.

A fine historical novel and a witty, effervescent satire of media saturation.

FIRST TIME ACROSS Kat Atomic World Tour Cash, James F. CreateSpace (301 pp.) $14.95 paper | Nov. 27, 2013 978-1-4912-0559-4

Cash achieves a realistic, if occasionally monotonous, account of life at sea in this travel memoir.

Nearly two years after working in a high-pressure career, where he struggled to relax, the author finds himself at sea, sailing almost halfway around the world with his crew. The journey takes him to the coastline of South Africa, the Panama Canal and the Western Seaboard of America. The memoir opens with the author recalling his first experiences of sailing as a 10-year-old, when his uncle offered him a sailing-rigged kayak, which led to a lifetime love of the ocean. As the years passed, the author convinced himself that his retirement boat would be a cruising catamaran. This book is about the realization of that dream and the exhilarating journey that followed. Each stage of preparation is carefully detailed, from initial dealings with the catamaran factory to swinging the compass, the process of pointing a boat at various landmarks to determine “the deviation from an accurate reading of the magnetic compass created by metal and electronics on board.”

Once at sea, every aspect of life on the waves is examined. The author describes the dogwatch and the perils of nodding off and colliding with a tanker ship. He also details an alarming incident off the coast of Africa, when a crack appeared where the ship’s keel attached

to its hull. However, he’s keen to point out that many books concerning the sea deal with disaster, whereas in reality, life-threatening events prove rare. Here, the joys of circumnavigating the globe are paramount. The author recalls glorious mornings waking in paradise, seeing native fishermen sailing by in canoes. He also revels in the cuisine experienced on the cruise, including a selection of his favorite recipes at the end of the book. His glossary of nautical terminology is concise without relying heavily on jargon. Extended discussions of spinnakers and suchlike may prove monotonous, but it’s a valuable education nonetheless.

The pleasures of ocean adventure captured eloquently, affably and without bravado, perfect for long-distance sailors and those hoping to find their sea legs.

The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte

Chatlien, Ruth Hull Amika Press (484 pp.) $17.95 paper | $3.99 e-book | Dec. 2, 2013 978-1-937484-16-3 Chatlien’s debut historical fiction celebrates the drive and desires of the real-life Betsy Patterson, a Baltimore merchant’s daughter who married a Bonaparte.

As a child and young woman, Betsy Patterson was precocious, lovely, dismissive of America and not terribly eager to sit around and do what she was told. Of her American suitors, she laments, “Marriage to any one of them would sentence me to a life...bearing child after child until my mind is rusted from disuse.” When a European lieutenant comes to Baltimore, Betsy finds love and opportunity—the lieutenant is, after all, Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon’s youngest brother.

The two wed, but when Napoleon refuses to acknowledge the marriage, which may hinder the potential for political alliances, the newly minted Madame Bonaparte discovers that a court life is not so easily attainable for an American girl. Her ambition doesn’t subside, however. Instead, it underlies her new mission to receive recognition of her union, which means pitting herself against the most powerful man in the world. “Napoleon dismissed me as expendable because I am American and a woman,” she says. “Someday I will make him see that he was wrong on both counts.” Betsy is a captivating heroine whose independence and intelligence are given their proper due in Chatlien’s novel. Against the backdrop of world events, such as the battle at Waterloo and the War of 1812, Betsy fights her own, smaller battles, ignoring censure from her stern father and other compatriots who criticize her tenacity and her scandalous French fashions. Her story has suspense, a rapidly moving plot and rich details of 19th-century life, from quotidian tasks to grand parties with Dolley and James Madison at the Presidential Mansion. The novel is so vivid, in fact, that its fictional nature can seem dubious at times. Still, it undoubtedly offers compelling insights into the minds of real, deeply engrossing individuals.

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“What might come off as judgmental in less-deft hands is here more like gentle advice from a close friend.” from four quadrant living

The Divine Manual A Holistic Approach to Raise Your Consciousness, Resolve Your Karma and Fulfill Your Life Missions Ching, Wallace CreateSpace (320 pp.) $12.99 paper | $7.99 e-book Nov. 12, 2013 978-1-4910-1089-1

A New Age antidote for all of the ills plaguing the lives of modern men and women.

Stresses related to our careers, money, health and relationships can oftentimes feel overwhelming and have the potential to grind down even the most resilient among us. But according to Ching, there are solutions to these complex problems if one comprehends that all life on Earth is just part of an elaborate stage play intended to polish and perfect developing souls on their journeys through the higher realms. The pain we experience, the losses we suffer and the sorrows we endure on this three-dimensional plane can often be disheartening and are sometimes debilitating; nevertheless, all of our trials and tribulations, according to the author, can become much more manageable if we only realize that they are all actually part of a “Prelife Plan.” “Apart from balancing our Karma, there may be additional life purposes that we are born to fulfill in a lifetime,” the author writes, and when we stray too far from these purposes, we encounter trouble. However, within the metaphysical paradigm that Ching advances, these unpleasant events are actually “Divine Nudges” meant to set us back on paths conducive to accomplishing our life missions. Sometimes, when we don’t respond to these somewhat gentle nudges, the universe steps in and delivers a real “Wake-Up Call.” These can be quite traumatic, indeed: The author includes some of his own life experiences—dealing with a failed marriage and the death of his beloved mother—to underscore just how upsetting, yet ultimately vital, these cosmic wake-up calls can be. To outline his thesis, Ching’s serviceable prose draws heavily on the works of fellow New Age authors, including Eckhart Tolle and Rhonda Byrne. Varying forms of meditation—related to the body, mindfulness, visualization and the author’s own “holistic meditation approach”—function as the primary remedies for those in crisis. While much of the author’s advice complements established tenets of Western psychoanalytical thought, a belief in reincarnation remains fundamental to the work.

A thought-provoking, practical guide for open-minded readers hoping to overcome life’s challenges.

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Four Quadrant Living Making Healthy Living Your New Way of Life Colman, Dina Four Quadrant Media (234 pp.) $15.00 paper | $7.99 e-book Oct. 1, 2013 978-1-939288-22-6

An easy approach to integrating different realms of your life and achieving a healthy lifestyle.

It was a wake-up call when doctors told Colman that she had an 87 percent chance of receiving a breast cancer diagnosis in her lifetime. With a sister already in the midst of her own grueling battle with the disease, Colman had a choice: accept that a cancer diagnosis was nearly inevitable or “create a new health destiny” for herself. She chose the latter, stepping off the corporate fast track to earn a master’s degree in holistic health education and remake her life. Colman rejects the idea that healthy living simply means eating well or getting enough exercise, instead choosing to see health as “a state that emerges from four areas—four quadrants—Mind, Body, Relationships, and Environment.” By taking positive actions in each of these four areas, Colman says, the reader can improve his or her health, reduce the risk of serious disease and live a better life. The book’s four sections discuss each quadrant in detail, offering straightforward solutions for improving health, many of which can be implemented right away. This small-step approach to improving life is notably appealing, since it’s easy enough to follow suggestions such as striving to find humor in stressful situations or switching to nontoxic household cleaners. Other recommendations are more intensive and won’t be as easy to put into action as Colman sometimes makes them sound. For instance, getting out of toxic relationships by “exiting stage left” may be a real challenge for some, and Colman offers few tips on how to break free from such unhealthy bonds. Some of the advice is so brief that it seems like filler, including a chapter on rethinking one’s attitude toward weeds, which features vague tips on avoiding pesticides and embracing native plants. Nonetheless, Colman packs plenty of sensible suggestions into this slim book. What might come off as judgmental in less-deft hands is here more like gentle advice from a close friend.

Useful tools for living a more balanced life.

DIFFERENT COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN Volume II of II

Cornejo, Carlos V. AuthorHouse (252 pp.) $28.99 | $19.95 paper | Nov. 1, 2013 978-1-4918-2455-9 A quietly bizarre collection of short fiction.

Cornejo’s (Different Coins in the Fountain, Volume I, 2013, etc.) second volume of short stories is peopled with ordinary people living in extraordinary circumstances. Using a direct, matter-of-fact style that belies his frequently strange subject matter, the author chronicles a variety of curiosities, including a marriage driven apart by the smell of fried chicken; a prodigiously intelligent (and inexplicably multilingual) baby; and a fierce—and fiercely loyal—invisible dog. Many of the stories’ plot elements suggest the tradition of magical realism, although the author crafts his tales with a delightfully nonchalant, deadpan humor and never quite acknowledges that anything unusual is going on. Although some awkward phrases occasionally bog down the prose, Cornejo’s unconventional way of saying things sometimes becomes an endearing quirk, as when he sums up a budding relationship: “From kissing, things progressed in the regular way that offered the bonding that such consequences enable. I obtained some space in one of her closets for some of my things.” Or when he reveals that a death has occurred: “The funeral took place as medically predicted.” Just as the stories’ peculiar events slyly destabilize reality, his sometimes-odd phrasing sheds light on readers’ preconceptions of what is “normal.” Throughout, Cornejo works to defy expectations and subvert narrative clichés; if a story’s building suspense suggests an inevitably grisly climax, he’s more likely to opt for a softer, evasive ending; an anticipated scene of romantic confession may be replaced by a character’s decision to move on. Most stories are about five pages long, and each makes for a quick, stimulating read. Although the collection could have been leaner, with a more carefully crafted arc including only the very best stories, the fact that it can be dipped into at random will likely appeal to busy readers.

Enchanting, nuanced, comic stories that provide a wonderful escape from the mundane.

DON’T SPEND IT ALL ON CANDY A Memoir DeKam, Audrey Meier Self (332 pp.) $3.99 e-book | Jan. 7, 2013

A funny and touching memoir about an impoverished girlhood.

Poverty is never glamorous, as DeKam makes clear in her debut, but it’s sometimes possible to escape from its stranglehold. Born in 1972, DeKam was the third daughter of parents who vacillated between charming incompetence and abusive neglect. Her mother, Colleen, was a faded Irish beauty–turned–“champion complainer” prone to welfare fraud. Her father, Fred, was a dreamer, schemer and restless wanderer who dragged his family from New York to California and everywhere in between and then abandoned them for months. Fred was charming yet distant, and DeKam adapted quickly to his unreliability. Her mother didn’t learn the same lesson, and she stuck with her alcoholic husband, even when he stranded her in a tiny Wisconsin town with no job opportunities. While Colleen seemed incapable of taking charge of her own life, her daughters learned the power of independence, and each eventually broke free of their dysfunctional heritage. In a genre crowded with tales of difficult childhoods, DeKam’s plainspoken memoir stands out. Her voice is honest, and she doesn’t wallow in self-pity or give in to bitterness, even when recounting trying circumstances—the house in upstate New York that lacked indoor plumbing, the cockroach-infested studio apartment she shared with her parents in Arizona. In the most affecting passages, Meier describes the shame and anxiety that come with growing up poor. In one memorable scene, she visited a grocery store with a friend and had to use the family’s food stamps for the purchase. Her “anguish about how to pay” is palpable, as is her relief when the friend tactfully ignored the situation. While much of the book is laugh-out-loud funny, there are also darker moments, such as when Meier’s oldest sister permanently left home after discovering that her mother had opened credit accounts in her name. Meier’s inevitable breaking point comes years later, when she realized that her “feckless, lawless, and dysfunctional parents gave me that selfreliance” she needed to make her own way in the world.

An affecting, tragicomic account of growing up poor.

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THE WHITE GOSPEL SINGER Edel, Herman CreateSpace (296 pp.) $15.00 paper | $10.00 e-book Sep. 26, 2013 978-1-4840-5799-5

In Edel’s novel, a white woman wants to be a great gospel singer.

An Episcopalian in her 40s, Marcie is hooked on gospel music after hearing a stirring performance by a church choir.

She’s aided in her quest to sing by her Jewish husband, Zack; her son, Sam, who’s involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement; daughter, Marissa, an attorney; best friend, African-American Josie; and reliable Rev. Chaunce. Although not a “true believer,” Marcie wants to belt out a gospel number like the best of the black gospel singers—a dream that may be out of reach. As Josie puts it, “[W]e’re going to take a typical white, middle-class lady from New York and make her the top white female gospel singer in the world.” And if Zack’s “fair-haired shicksa” tries her best, he’ll be “the happiest Yid in the world.” Zack astutely tells Marcie of the historic Fisk Jubilee Singers and of the Fisk Free Colored School, wherein George White, a white man, was instrumental in promoting black music, including spirituals. Coach Joe Williams attempts to teach Marcie to feel the music, “swing her ass all over,” spread the joy and thereby transform the lives of “fifty too fat women who have nothing but shit in their lives.” The novel is an endearing, pitch-perfect, stand-up-and-cheer ensemble piece with a tightly knit cast of characters, some related by blood, functioning together as a raucous, supportive family unit. The mission may be important, but thankfully, no one takes themselves too seriously. Delivery is brisk, crisp and brimming with humor. Each character tells Marcie’s story (and his or her own) from a distinctive viewpoint, as the narrative torch easily passes from Marcie to Zack, from Josie to Chaunce, from Marissa to Sam, etc. Arguably, Marcie’s wattage is lower than that of high-voltage Josie, and the wrap-up doesn’t arrive as expected. Yet there’s a worthwhile message about hope, friendship, leaps of faith, and the chutzpah necessary to succeed or fail and move on.

A delightful blend of nerve, verve and voice that will hit the right notes for anyone who’s fantasized about a seemingly impossible dream.

Quantum Demonology A Novel

Eggenberger, Sheila Nigel’s Flight (610 pp.) $25.00 | $9.99 e-book | Dec. 17, 2013 978-0-9911059-0-8 In Eggenberger’s debut novel, an aging heavy-metal music fan and aspiring writer sells her soul to the devil and finds there’s a lot more to life than good and evil.

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The novel’s unnamed, Scandinavian narrator has long enjoyed the freedom of being an unattached, self-described “nympho slut” and “metalhead.” However, she struggles to find time to write between shifts at her day job, and as she approaches her 47th birthday, she begins to worry that her writing career may never take off the way she’d planned and that her steady stream of young one-night stands may soon dry up. One day, as she steals a few hours to write in a Copenhagen coffee shop, a dead ringer for her favorite metal musician approaches her. She recognizes him, not as the rock icon he resembles, but as the devil himself. He offers her the promise of the writing career—and love life—she’s always dreamed of in exchange for her soul, but she’s reluctant. The devil is not accustomed to hearing “no,” and so he instead persuades her to help him destroy his wife, the biblical Lilith, before she destroys the world. As the tough-as-nails narrator’s sultry romance with the devil begins and her writing career skyrockets toward celebrity status, she finds that the real world is a lot more nuanced than the one purported by so-called moralists. The novel has distinct, welldeveloped feminist undertones and proves to be about much more than a powerful woman destroying another powerful woman. Fans of the long-esteemed feminist heroine Lilith may be disappointed to see her as the villain here, but she proves to be an antagonist of Maleficent-esque proportions, and readers may be torn between fearing and loving her character. Feminist readers may also be pleased to see that the tomboy narrator ultimately finds camaraderie with a well-researched group of legendary women, including the Norse goddess, Freya, and her handmaiden Fulla.

An engaging, modern-day Faust for brainy rockers.

Prince Iggy and the Kingdom of Naysayer

Fynn, Aldo Illus. by Vicencio, Richie Amazon Digital Services (133 pp.) $1.99 e-book | Nov. 6, 2013

A lonely boy learns how to stand up against a cast of mean bullies in Flynn’s debut middle-grade novel.

Iggy Rose is living a life of hell at the Naysayer Academy. In a school where only bad children survive, not only are the children bullying him, but the headmistress is giving him a hard time, too. Poor Iggy is thrown down a garbage chute by the spiteful Teddy, where, unbeknown to his persecutors, he’s rescued by a mysterious man who insists that the young boy is a long-lost prince who must now stand up and reclaim his kingdom. That’s not going to be easy given that Iggy isn’t convinced he’s a prince and the King of Naysayer has stolen a magic ring from his finger. There’s plenty of knockabout farce to enjoy with Iggy’s new friends: a professor who’s losing his mind, a sea captain whose strength has diminished, a fortuneteller who can’t read the future, and the wonderfully named Henry O’Henry, whose poetic powers are wasting away. Only by reclaiming the ring and his throne can Iggy and his friends halt the withering of their powers and escape the evil Kingdom of Naysayer. The

“ ‘What does one buy with a life?’ For readers interested in such questions, Heisler’s latest will be an immersive delight.” from reading emily dickinson in icelandic

underlying message that bullying never pays is handled with skill, and a humorous approach keeps the story light. The blackand-white illustrations resemble watercolor sketches and possess a rustic charm that complements the tale. It won’t be long before readers are cheering for Iggy as he gets back at the nasty people who’ve made his life a misery at the academy. A second book, Iggy and the Tower of Decisions, follows the intrepid hero’s adventures in his new role as Prince Rose of the Rose Kingdom.

An entertaining fantasy with a quirky, inventive storyline that shows how things invariably turn out badly for bullies.

EXIT RIGHT Avoiding Detours and Roadblocks Along the Baby Boomer Highway Hazewski, Daniel P. CreateSpace (132 pp.) $12.00 paper | $2.99 e-book Oct. 6, 2013 978-1-4839-7836-9

A financial adviser offers practical advice to baby boomers about leaving a legacy and protecting assets in old age.

Many baby boomers facing the inevitability of aging and death seem to be largely unprepared financially and emotionally.

Hazewski, a financial adviser who’s also a boomer, wrote this brief yet authoritative guide “to help you understand the fundamental factors that determine whether you will grow old with dignity or difficulty.” This isn’t a guide to investments or accumulating wealth, though; rather, the author addresses the vexing financial and legal issues that individuals often overlook until it’s too late.

On the financial and legal side, Hazewski turns his attention specifically to living wills, advanced directives, last wills and trusts.

On the practical side, he also talks about the need for long-term care and the importance of making one’s final wishes known to family. “We should never be afraid to share thoughts about our final arrangements with family,” he says. “As awkward as it may seem, it can be done if addressed openly and without emotion.”

The writing is clear and concise, and the book’s structure makes it engaging and easy to read. Each chapter begins with a vignette dramatizing a particular scenario related to certain financial or health issues one faces in old age. Hazewski then offers his personal commentary on every scenario, provides a discussion of the broader topic and closes the chapter with a number of “lessons.”

The author assembled the scenarios from his experiences with a number of clients, so the realism of the stories helps make Hazewski’s counsel all the more relevant. At times, it seems the author focuses a bit too much on the requirements for Medicaid, giving the impression that many seniors may eventually run out of the money needed to pay for health expenses. Still, Hazewski covers enough other bases that boomers and their families should benefit from the information he shares.

Imparts basic, well-targeted knowledge while not burdening readers with an overwhelming amount of detail.

Reading Emily Dickinson in Icelandic Heisler, Eva Kore Press (100 pp.) $15.95 paper | Mar. 1, 2013 978-1-888553-53-6

An evocative new collection of literary-minded verse from the winner of the 2006 Chelsea Poetry Prize and the 2011 Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America.

Written during Heisler’s (Drawing Water, 2013, etc.) nine years living in Iceland, these poems draw fruitfully from her experiences navigating a deeply foreign land. The majority of the entries are seemingly autobiographical prose poems that read almost as memoir and that feel truer for their inclusion of surreal, sharply rendered details. Heisler writes, for example, of “a face with eyes like fists of gray silk” and a “yellow house that careened above a bog.” Returning frequently to translations and reflections, the collection gradually becomes a subtle exploration of identity and expression and of how the two interact.

Best of all are the sections that veer into metapoetry, as the narrator relates her difficulties negotiating language differences and, especially, the translated works of Emily Dickinson: “The wish,” Heisler writes, “as noun, has a specific shape that I will not describe.” The collection has its flaws; in particular, the straightforward, declarative sentence structure that many of the poems rely on can become repetitive, as can the narrator’s ongoing tribulations with her Icelandic lover. The end of the collection, which strays significantly from the form and style of its earlier sections, is also a little jarring in context. On the whole, however, the collection is vibrant and insightful, offering careful readers an intimate look into the complex business of remembering and relating things past. “To ‘spend a life’—as if a life, its years, were currency,” one poem asks, “What does one buy with a life?” For readers interested in such questions, Heisler’s latest will be an immersive delight.

A vivid setting, fresh imagery and a heartfelt search for meaning easily make up for a handful of minor flaws.

SEEDS OF REBELLION The First French and Indian War Irvin, Teresa HeartChild, Inc. (109 pp.) $2.99 e-book | May 14, 2013 978-0-9799395-4-9

In her historical fiction debut, Irvin (Let the Tail Go with the Hide, 2001) follows a young man as he comes of age in the 1700s during the French and Indian War. In 1755, Josh Bedford doesn’t fit in. Thinking him unreliable, his father favors Josh’s older brother, Matt, who tortures Josh the way older brothers do. His mother coddles him, having lost |

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Interviews & Profiles

Jeri Parker

A memoir about an unexpected friendship becomes a love song to language

By Sarah Rettger

Photo courtesy Kent Miles

Jeri Parker knows how to maintain a sense of patience and wonder: When a bear wandered into her Idaho cabin one morning, for instance, she refused to panic, instead telling herself, “He’ll only be here once, so take it in.” She observed the bear instead of chasing it away—it eventually departed peacefully—and now cherishes the memory.

With a similar sense of purpose, Parker waited until the time was right to publish her first book.

“I seem to want to have a highly refined, thoughtthrough piece,” she says, which is why she went through multiple revisions, considered and decided against working with several traditional publishers, and finally joined with friends to form a publishing company, Winter Beach Press, before sharing her memoir, A Thousand Voices, with the public.

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What Parker calls “a long gestation period in the refining stage” seems to have worked for the book, which has gained both local and national attention.

Kirkus Reviews calls A Thousand Voices “a loving tribute to friendship that proves how one person can influence the life of another,” noting that it “transcends the ubiquitous ‘me’ and ‘I’ of memoir and hovers on the brink of being a compassionate cautionary tale.”

The book tells the story of Parker’s relationship with a deaf boy who both charmed her and expanded the limits of her world. “I was teaching high school. I was about 28,” Parker says, when a friend told her, “I have a boy you must meet” and introduced her to Carlos Salazar. The teacher and the student quickly formed a bond, although Parker makes it clear that they educated each other: “He taught me to hear, essentially,” she says, and she learned to understand the variety and importance of nonverbal methods of communication.

When, many years later, she decided to write about Salazar’s story, Parker found that beneath the tale of a boy who, despite his inability to hear, was “preternaturally quick” and “central to any group he was in,” she was writing on a more universal theme.

“Little by little, what emerged was the story beneath the story,” she says. Eventually she realized the book was “a love song to language,” an appropriate theme for a writer whose style tends toward the poetic.

Parker, who has roots in Idaho and now lives much of the time in Salt Lake City, finds that her association with the West is a key part of both her identity as a writer and her more recent work as a book publisher. She read A Thousand Voices at The King’s English, a landmark bookstore in Salt Lake City, and has found that promoting an independently published book works best in “a region you have command of.”

Although she has found an enthusiastic audience in Salt Lake City, Parker does much of her writing in a cabin in rural Idaho, which she calls “the ideal circumstance for writing.” She built the cabin slowly, treating her Idaho property as a summer refuge during her years of teaching. “I lived there for 12 summers, three or four of them in a tent,” she says, until the house was finished. The building process reflected the same patient and deliberate approach she takes to crafting a narrative, and in fact, she linked the construction process to her writing aspirations, telling herself, “When I get this finished, I’m going to be a writer.”

The rural setting also provides a link to Parker’s youth, when she first developed a love of storytelling, inventing new identities for herself, her sister and a cousin. The three looked so alike “we could pretend to be triplets,” she says, which inspired their roleplaying and offered their imaginations free rein. “I guess you could say we came out of the oral tradition of an earlier time,” Parker says. “I cried when we got electricity.”

Parker continued to develop her writing in college, where she “fell in love with Willa Cather” and found that her teachers appreciated her writing style and offered support. “When your cover is blown, people begin to mentor you” as a writer, she says.

By now, of course, Parker has adapted to telling her stories within an electricity-driven world, but the traditions and forms of oral storytelling still shape her writing habits. Although she primarily relies on human colleagues for feedback during the revision process, there are times when she reads her work aloud to a more unconventional audience: her flock of chickens. “They’ll tell you what your good passages are and walk off at your bad passages,” she says.

After many sessions with the chickens, A Thousand Voices made its way to a human audience through Parker’s Winter Beach Press. Parker hopes to use the press to publish the work of other writers as well: “I didn’t want it to exist as a vehicle for just my endeavors,” she says, and she continues to look for other venues to publish her own work. She currently has agent representation for her first novel, which is on submission to traditional publishers.

But there are no immediate plans to invite submissions to Winter Beach Press, since Parker, who is also part-owner of a bed-and-breakfast, wants to

make sure she does not take on more than she can handle in the literary world. “We’re quoting E.B. White right now, saying ‘don’t buy 300 chicks if you only need eight eggs,’ ” she explains.

Parker’s first priority is making time for her own art—she is also a painter, and her works have sold throughout the United States, as well as internationally—and for writing. Although writing is a late-inlife career for Parker, who spent years working as a teacher and then as a corporate writing consultant, she has no concerns about waiting to publish until her poet’s ear was satisfied with A Thousand Voices.

“It’s never too late, until you don’t recognize the words on the page,” she says.

Sarah Rettger is a writer and bookseller in Massachusetts.

A Thousand Voices was reviewed in the Dec. 15, 2011, issue of Kirkus Reviews.

A Thousand Voices Parker, Jeri Winter Beach Press (213 pp.) $18.20 | $12.88 paper | $9.99 e-book | Nov. 18, 2011 978-0-983-62940-5 |

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“[T]he amount of rich dialogue, smart detailing and evocative descriptions make it easy to focus on the fun love story being told so well.” from the last macklenna

Josh’s twin brother at birth, but also doesn’t defend him against his father’s disapproval. Josh longs for adventure, not the hardtoiling farming life he was born into; he often shirks his chores, which only exacerbates his problems at home. When his idol, Uncle Harry, a veteran of the famous battle at Fort Necessity, Pa., visits the family before returning to war, Josh takes the opportunity to run away. He hides in his uncle’s wagon, eventually arriving at Fort Cumberland in the company of the joined forces—the Redcoats, colonists and Native Americans—battling the French for control of America. To avoid discovery, Josh assumes a new name, Jed, and soon finds himself in service to not one but two famous historical figures: Daniel Boone and Capt. George Washington, who in turn show Josh the value of reliability and hard work, as well as the horrors of war. Whatever illusions of grandeur Josh may have harbored before witnessing battle firsthand are shattered when he sees his comrades fall. No longer a child, he returns home to the farm a changed young man. Irvin is wellversed in this period of history; in fact, a letter from her greatgreat-great-great-grandmother inspired one of the anecdotes about tense relations between the native population and the settlers. Her appreciation for detail shines in apt and engaging descriptions of the terrain, dress and speech, and though she writes for a YA audience, she never dumbs down the story or her language. Rather, Irvin uses her young protagonist’s inexperience with war as a vehicle to describe the hardships of living in 1755 without neglecting the equally important and timeless ideas of family, friendship and even love.

An enjoyable gallop through a crucial period in the struggle for America’s independence.

Tales from Ma’s Watering Hole

Linden, Kaye Booklocker.com, Inc. (162 pp.) $14.95 paper | $2.99 e-book | Jul. 1, 2013 978-1-62646-434-6 A debut collection of stories about a traditional Australian tribal community, told in the voices of shamans, elders and tricksters.

Ma, the 99-year-old shaman who runs a cafe on the border between a city and Aboriginal lands, dishes out stories, laughter, beer and biscuits together with healings and body decoration to her local regulars. She shares the spotlight with her sheepdog, Bruce; her brother Midget, who has extra fingers and sometimes feigns Scottish heritage; her sister Possum, who serves cake and tells scary tales; and Rabbi Wingspan, who combines his shamanic training with the Torah and has a strange sense of what counts as kosher. The stories’ language is simple, and they mostly come from the characters’ own lives; although there may be lessons here, the stories are meant to entertain. Linden winds her themes through the traditional stories and the scenes in the cafe. Culture clashes between city people and locals, and between those who leave their ancestors’ land and those who stay behind, manifest in Ma’s teasing of her 142

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tourist visitors and in the harsher tales of city girls lost and tribal law succeeding where city law fails. Ma and her companions acknowledge the modern world when it suits them, mixing coffee and aspirin to use as a potion and selling paintings to tourists at crazy prices while also remaining part of an older worldview.

Stories about shamanic journeys, healing practices and justice explore the relationships among the people, their land and their ancestors. The net effect is rough yet magical, practical yet playful, with an internally consistent authenticity that comes more from the author’s modern imagination than from tradition.

A fine collection evoking nostalgia for a simpler way of life.

THE LAST MACKLENNA

Logan, Katherine Lowry Katherine Lowry Logan (462 pp.) $16.99 paper | $3.99 e-book Sep. 11, 2013 978-0-615-88050-1 The worlds of thoroughbred racing and high-end wine-making provide a backdrop to this novel that mixes international romance with a mysterious death.

Meredith Montgomery is always racing to something, whether it’s a meeting to talk about her new wine that’s about to launch or to hit the trails in preparation for another marathon. She’s the kind of woman who seems to have it all—but that description also includes breast cancer. A second bout with the disease has Meredith running scared. Before she undergoes surgery, she takes what she hopes will be a quick trip to Edinburgh to do some research on her family’s winery.

There, she runs into an intriguing character, thoroughbred breeder Elliott Fraser. The two are immediately attracted to one another, but their ties to their work and their smartphones threaten their budding romance. The second novel in the Fraser family story proves that author Logan (The Ruby Brooch, 2012) has a smooth, sincere storytelling style that turns what could be an ordinary romance into much more. The heroes, Meredith and Elliott, are extremely human despite their wealth and power. Meredith is wounded from a bad marriage and her cancer trauma, and Elliott is recovering from a past attack on his life and reeling from a current attack on his horses, which could cost him his family business. When the two ultimately get together, their volatile love is strained by their inability to relinquish control—which is part of the reason the story works, since every time it looks like the couple is going to succeed, a realistic problem gets in their way. At times, however, the book wanders into typical romance land with silly plotlines (one involving a ghost that interferes in everyone’s lives) and a rather easily solved mystery plot. Despite these minor flaws, though, the amount of rich dialogue, smart detailing and evocative descriptions make it easy to focus on the fun love story being told so well.

A human and humorous look at two headstrong characters battling the challenges that come with falling in love.

A ROSE FROM CHARLIE AND MARIE

Macek, Dennis Frank BookSurge Publishing (504 pp.) $20.75 paper | $2.99 e-book Nov. 6, 2006 978-1-4196-4765-9 A couple decides to become clandestine couriers for shadowy U.S. government agencies in a metaphysically charged spy tale involving black-market nukes and a mad general’s dream of creating a perfect Chinese state.

Charlie and Marie were simply meant to be. Both possess almost preternatural skills and abilities, along with a burning need to experience a kind of hyperreality at all times, all of which makes the globe-trekking duo uniquely suited to execute the specialized “errands” that they are regularly assigned. They also can’t keep their hands off each other. Problems soon arise, however, when the starcrossed lovers in this absorbing but overly long thriller begin to doubt whether their otherwise lucrative international missions are truly in the service of good. At one point, Marie explains, “It’s really kind of abstract. We want to contribute to justice in the world; we try to make a difference. Plus, we need challenges, stimulation.” When the high-powered husband and wife do, indeed, start systematically undermining certain missions they deem suspect, they open themselves up to the fiendish machinations of Chang K’ung and his zeal to secure and detonate a spate of football-sized nuclear bombs in the U.S. Astonishingly, the truly explosive element in the whole affair remains the ethereal relationship between Charlie and Marie. In fact, others, including a beautiful and enigmatic covert agent named Suzy Wu and a charming and good-hearted intelligence officer named Sam Wallaby, crave the couple’s happiness as much as K’ung craves world domination. After Charlie and Marie do their level best to unravel K’ung’s terrorist plot, Wu and Wallaby set their sights on undermining Charlie and Marie’s singular union.

A multifaceted meditation on the ephemeral nature of existence, doubling as an equally intricate espionage thriller.

A Place in the World

MacKinnon, Cinda Crabbe Virtualbookworm.com Publishing (342 pp.) $14.99 paper | $2.99 e-book Apr. 3, 2013 978-0-9888483-0-6 In this novel set in the 1970s and early ’80s, a free-spirited American girl struggles to fit in on a coffee plantation in the Colombian Andes.

Debut novelist MacKinnon tells the story of Alicia Collier, a young woman with no particular home and little connection to her family. American-born Alicia has lived all over the world, especially South America, as a result of her father’s job for the U.S. Agency for International Development. By the time she

begins college in Virginia, she has spent more time outside the U.S. than in it, so it’s no surprise when she decides to follow her Colombian boyfriend, Jorge, to his country for the summer. Before long, she becomes pregnant and feels trapped into accepting Jorge’s marriage proposal. Alicia rapidly becomes a part of the Carvallo coffee farm and, after a series of calamities, ends up running it alone. She tries to acclimate, and it seems she might resign herself to her situation over time. That is, until Peter Shalmers arrives from America. Peter comes to Colombia in search of gold and other treasures indigenous to the dense cloud forest. As he accepts hospitality from the Carvallo family, he and Alicia gravitate toward each other. An aspiring botanist, Alicia is quick to accompany Peter on tours of the forest, and her affection for him grows beyond her control. In the midst of this familial and romantic drama are many compelling, detailed descriptions of the rain forest. MacKinnon brings to life the forest’s flora and fauna, the ominous and ever-present wildlife, and the tribal people hiding in the forest. The author’s meticulous detail and knowledge of the locale bring a unique richness to the novel. Although the narrative pacing at times slows to a crawl, MacKinnon redeems the tale through the glory of the surroundings she describes. As complications unfold in Alicia’s marriage and her relationship with Peter evolves, readers will wonder along with Alicia whether the Carvallo coffee finca is really where she belongs after all.

A quiet romantic adventure well-suited for those who enjoy travelogues.

GAMMIE

Nickerson, Nakeshia Illus. by Feldman, Steve AuthorHouse (44 pp.) $21.99 paper | $3.99 e-book Aug. 21, 2013 978-1-4817-7986-9 Debut author Nickerson teams up with veteran illustrator Feldman in this beautifully illustrated, sensitive chapter book about losing a grandparent, the launch title in Nickerson’s Tulvia Lane series.

Kylie is excited to spend her summer vacation hanging out with friends, especially her best friend, Ally. The fifth-grade girls are practically inseparable; Ally’s mother watches Kylie while Kylie’s parents are at work, so they’re together every day. They hang out with friends at their ice cream clubhouse in Ally’s yard. But along with playing with friends, Ally is planning to spend lots of time with her beloved Gammie, whose illness has changed Ally’s schedule from spending every weekend with her grandmother to visiting Gammie with her mother every evening to help take care of her. The day after Ally has the best birthday ever, and tells Gammie about everything over the phone, Gammie dies, and Ally’s world is turned upside down.

Since the story is told from Kylie’s first-person perspective, the brief sections where she describes Ally’s point of view feel out of place. But Kylie and Ally’s friendship feels genuine, and the girls act like fifth-graders throughout. Ally’s struggles with losing her |

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“By the end of the book, readers may feel like they’ve been brought into the inner circle of grilling wisdom.” from grilling reinvented

grandmother don’t always depict her in the best light, however, as when she loses her temper with her friends, including Kylie, after they try to do something nice for her. Yet moments like that may help readers dealing with loss recognize that even if they take their grief out on their friends, their friendships are fixable. The illustrations are colorful and poignant, showing both the joy and sadness the characters experience. The diversity of the characters—Ally is African-American, Kylie is white, and they have multiracial friends—is appealing, especially as the races are never explicitly mentioned in the text, making it clear that for Kylie, race isn’t a factor in friendship. The narrative does meander between present and past tense, but the emotions still come through.

Beautiful images enhance this sympathetic story about friendship and loss.

Lavender Blue and the Faeries of Galtee Wood Richardson, Steve R. Illus. by MacDougall, Larry Impossible Dreams Publishing Co. (75 pp.) $18.95 | $7.99 e-book | Jul. 10, 2013 978-0-9786422-4-2

Photographer Richardson wrote this, his impressive debut, to help process his grief.

Lavender Blue is devastated to learn that her friend Rose O’Brien doesn’t have long to live. Vowing to the stars that she will do anything to prevent Rose’s death, Lavender falls asleep clutching a rosebud but awakens feeling peaceful and holding a necklace and charm instead of the rosebud. Her teacher, Professor Priddle, consults a volume on the history of the faeries of Galtee Wood and concludes that the symbol on the charm represents the golden rainbow. He believes that the faeries consider Lavender blessed and are trying to communicate with her. Professor Priddle gives her a pouch filled with iron dust to ward away evil faeries. She starts to walk home when she sees a rainbow peek through the clouds. Wondering if it’s a sign, she runs toward it and encounters a leprechaun, who tells her that if she delivers the necklace to Rose by midnight, her friend will be saved; if not, Rose will die. Thus begins Lavender’s journey through the Galtee Wood, by turns worrying, terrifying and occasionally joyous. Just when Lavender gives up all hope, she meets the beautiful faerie queen, Wisteria. Inspired by the reallife Galtee Woods and Lismore Castle, the story is beautifully crafted, with a believable mixture of fay folk, both good and evil. Although the chapter book is exquisitely illustrated—MacDougall’s watercolorlike drawings are one of the book’s main attractions—it shouldn’t be mistaken for a picture book, since the subject matter will be too disturbing for younger children.

Despite the serious subject matter, the book just narrowly avoids being morbid or too sad. Rose’s undisclosed illness is puzzling, most of all to Lavender, who isn’t quite convincing as the heroic protagonist the faeries consider her to be. Although she claims to be devoted to her dying friend, she is too easily 144

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distracted and excessively gullible. Nonetheless, the paranormal elements are engaging, as are the book’s reassuring, simple morals of loyalty and doing anything for your friends.

A lovely story with charming illustrations, though it may be disturbing for some younger readers.

GRILLING REINVENTED A Return to Fun, Family, and Safe Nutritious Food Rose, Pete W. Photos by Rose, Christi CreateSpace (178 pp.) $33.50 paper | Jan. 14, 2014 978-1-4923-0350-3

A grilling guide from a man who has your interests—food that is delicious, nutritious and safe—at heart.

Rose dodges the brawny barbecue bozo—with the blast-furnace heat and the dance of the repeated meat-flip—on his way to a less dramatic, more luscious and decidedly less poisonous grilling experience. The book is best approached in two steps: a good read-through and then as an occasional reference on grill day. Rose takes great pains throughout the book to show the griller how to avoid contamination of food—from freezing to washing to high racks for rendering fat during the cooking process to (it can’t be repeated enough) washing your hands—and an equal amount of time is spent describing how to get the best flavor out of your meat, as well as the greatest nutritional value (hint: go slow). Ribs, steaks, pork chops, chicken and burgers are each handled in separate chapters, which all come fully complemented with color photographs that convey a visual sense of how things ought to look on the grill. The big picture is drawn step by step. Rose is a good coach, leaving nothing unspoken this first time through, but once he feels he has covered the bases, he also gets into greater nuance, explaining hot spots, which cuts to put where on the grill, the single-flip technique, when to sauce and what to do when you encounter raw spots when cutting the meats. From there, he moves on to sauces and wood types. By the end of the book, readers may feel like they’ve been brought into the inner circle of grilling wisdom.

Throughout, Rose has a homey voice, but it is plainly evident that he’s done his homework: “Over time this low-pH sauce will build and begin eating your grill from the bottom up. Much, much worse will be the risk of producing cancer-causing agents in the bottom of your grill.” And you thought you were just eating a pork chop.

Good eats from a grilling expert.

INSIDE

The Celestial Proposal Our Invitation to Join the God Kind

Ross, Charles L. CreateSpace (454 pp.) $15.99 paper | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 5, 2013 978-1-4922-3710-5 In this debut mystery, an ambitious young man’s rise in the magazine world is stymied by a secret history of murder and betrayal.

When Leaf Wyks, the editor of the high-end interior design magazine Inside, is found poisoned to death in her Los Angeles home, the police immediately suspect Anthony Dimora. Before Leaf abruptly fired him, Anthony was Inside’s art director and the man most likely to take her place on the masthead. Worse yet, it was Anthony who discovered Leaf ’s corpse after an early morning phone call lured him to the scene. In his novel, Ross eschews the conventions of the whodunit in favor of a dishy flashback account of Anthony’s rise to the top of the interior design world and the precipitous fall that preceded Leaf ’s death. Anthony was initially hired to design advertisements, but his good looks and hairy chest attracted the attention of Timmy, Leaf ’s young and sexually game assistant, who, while trying to coax the new hire out of his clothes, gave up the dirt on Inside: Leaf is on the hunt for a new art director; Claret Bruin, the magazine’s publisher, has a beautiful 17-year-old son named Cole who’s notorious for seducing older men; etc. Thanks to Anthony’s singular vision and his pronounced Machiavellian streak, he finds himself working at Leaf ’s side, masterminding Inside’s rise to national prominence. Meanwhile, Anthony begins to shed his sexual inhibitions, enjoying trysts with a succession of interior designers, photographers and shop boys, as he bides his time until Cole’s 18th birthday and the consummation of their burgeoning romance. To his credit, Ross manages to pack a great deal of interest and suspense into even the most technical aspects of the magazine business. When Anthony directs a photo shoot, the stakes are high, and the sexiness of the work comes through.

Despite a few belabored descriptions of rooms and their furnishings, this world is so enticing that readers might nearly forget to wonder who killed Leaf Wyks and why.

A sexy, scathing insider’s view of an interior design magazine that hardly needs its murder plot to keep readers enthralled.

Rozek, Jane Catherine Books of Life Publishing House (353 pp.) $14.95 paper | $9.99 e-book Nov. 25, 2013 978-0-9919917-0-9 A passionate rereading of Christianity and the nature of personal faith.

Canadian author Rozek’s debut takes the form of an enthusiastic top-to-bottom re-envisioning of the Christian mythos. Rozek cites such influences as C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters (1942), Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods (1970) and the Christian-mystic writings of Zecharia Sitchin as she goes back to the Bible with fresh eyes and reads it anew in search of the answers to basic questions such as “Why am I here?” or “What’s the purpose of life anyway?”

She views these questions as central to “the game of life” and tells her readers, “To get to the ultimate level, we must play it seriously with all the skills we have.” The schema of quasi– Judeo-Christian faith she derives from her readings is personal and interactive. She reminds her readers that the Bible is full of references to heavenly interactions with the lives of humans, and in her view, this is a necessary thing. “Our world today still needs celestial intervention desperately.” That intervention comes about at the behest of “the Great Ones”—“a collection of benevolent, celestial God-beings: the Source, the Son and Spirit.” She also spends a good deal of time on forerunners and servants, the supernatural beings known as angels. Rozek’s conceptual revamping of traditional biblical ideas ultimately appeals to the well-known Christian narrative: Jesus died as a sacrifice and as a living key to redemption. “By accepting the death of this Great One as a ransom for our freedom,” Rozek writes, “each of us can belong to something far greater than ourselves.” The book then broadens from this dramatized 21st-century recasting of the Messiah story to include some intriguingly wider suggestions for how the faithful of any denomination can find meaning: “The Great Ones know that in order for us to have abundant lives, we must first learn how to love.” Familiar concepts, sure, but Rozek’s unconventional perspective makes them seem invigoratingly new.

A well-written and welcoming take on the traditional tenets of Western religion.

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“[Stoner’s] ideas are well-supported with extensive citations found in the endnotes, and dozens of charts effectively explain the complex data behind climate change and energy use.” from small change, big gains

MIDNIGHT RUMBA 1950s Cuba in all its Doomed, Glamorous Glory

Santiago, Eduardo CreateSpace (426 pp.) $14.90 paper | $9.98 e-book Apr. 15, 2013 978-1-4827-5374-5 In Santiago’s (Tomorrow They Will Kiss, 2006) masterful novel, a daughter dedicates her life to reuniting with her father in 1950s Cuba during the revolution.

Cuba is the true star of his novel, which takes place during the vulnerable period just before Fidel Castro’s uprising; each of Santiago’s characters has a different take and level of involvement in the fate of their country. The story begins with a traveling dance troupe on a circuit through the country’s eastern provinces. Estelita de la Cruz is forced to create a new life after her father, a drunken, fading rumba performer, is taken to an asylum. She and Aspirrina, the brash modern dancer of the troupe, flee to Havana. Soon after their arrival, Estelita receives great recognition for her beauty and natural stage talent, which lands her a starring role in a casino production. She soon becomes more ambitious and severs her ties to Aspirrina to pursue greater success; in doing so, she allows Aspirrina to realize her own dream of dedicating herself to the revolution: “Fidel was her saint, her imaginary lover.” Estelita revels in her newfound independence and falls in love, and her lover finds himself politically obligated to the forces opposing the revolution. As the people whom Estelita loves fight for Cuba, she sets her sights on fame, love, security and reconciliation with her father—but her future is tied to her city’s tribulations. Santiago’s prose style is intricate, and his descriptions of Cuba and its inhabitants are as vivid as hallucinations (“In yards full of flowering shrubs and fruit trees, honey-haired children played, shouting at each other in a foreign language”). The diversity of his characters is astounding, and he has an amazing talent for capturing the women’s strengths and vulnerabilities. He provides rich histories for his main cast, and readers will feel nothing but sympathy for their plights.

A historically sound, sublimely heartbreaking novel about the soul of the Cuban revolution.

TEACH ME TIGER!

Stevens, April CreateSpace (216 pp.) $14.98 paper | $6.99 e-book Oct. 18, 2013 978-1-4904-3465-0 Grammy Award winner and debut memoirist Stevens recounts the evolution of her pop singing career and personal life.

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Born in 1929 to a working-class Italian-American family, Stevens (nee Caroline Vincinette LoTempio) grew up in Niagara Falls, N.Y. She loved to sing at an early age, and brother Nino, six years her junior, joined in as soon as he could on vocals and instrumental accompaniment. Their parents nurtured the children’s musical talents and moved to Los Angeles in 1940 to improve their show-business opportunities. By 1948, Stevens was performing locally in various venues with a unique style that she describes as an “untrained voice, rather breathy and husky, especially if I sang softly.” This suggestive quality became her hallmark. Two years later, she landed her first recording contract for a single, “No, No, No, Not That,” which most radio stations refused to air because of its risqué overtones. She signed with RCA Victor the following year and began to attract a wide following of fans, particularly among American servicemen overseas. While touring domestically in 1952, she met wealthy, married businessman Glenn McCarthy, with whom she began a seven-year affair during which she put her singing on hold. After the relationship ended, she concentrated on rebuilding her career and found success featuring her signature style in “Teach Me Tiger,” which she and Nino recorded in 1959. Other hits followed, and the two reached their pinnacle when their single, “Deep Purple,” won the Grammy Award for the best rock ’n’ roll record of 1963. They enjoyed a spotty string of success in the following years, and she settled into a happy married life in 1985, largely leaving her career behind. Although not deeply introspective, Stevens’ account will likely appeal to her fans and to baby boomers nostalgic for the music of their youth. Those unfamiliar with her career may enjoy reading of 1950s and ’60s Hollywood and the music scenes and celebrities with whom she rubbed shoulders: Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Cher and family friend Carey Grant. Short chapters and a smooth conversational tone move Stevens’ story along briskly. Bonuses include 21 pages of photos, discographies, and her mother’s recipe for spaghetti sauce and meatballs.

An upbeat memoir from a sultry songstress of the baby boomer era.

Small Change, Big Gains: Reflections of an Energy Entrepreneur Stoner, Thomas Greenleaf Book Group Press (556 pp.) $24.95 paper | $9.99 e-book Sep. 17, 2013 978-1-62634-002-2

Debut author Stoner provides an in-depth look at climate change and the world’s energy use, offering bold, new policies that could save the planet and the global economy.

Drawing on more than 25 years’ experience as an energy company executive and capital formation expert, Stoner displays a wide-ranging grasp of the political, economic, historical and scientific issues surrounding climate change and energy policy. He maintains that rising global temperatures and sea

levels and escalating superstorms such as Katrina and Sandy present an existential threat to human survival rivaling previous threats such as nuclear proliferation. Stoner avoids debate about the science of climate change and whether it’s man-made; instead, he takes a pragmatic approach, suggesting that determining the best forms of renewable energy for a healthy environment is essentially a business problem. And, like all business proposals, it’s essential that the interests of all the stakeholders are met—in this case, lender, supplier, user and environmental steward. Stoner contends that a market-based approach will lead to inexhaustible energy supplies, a better environment and a thriving economy. Using forecasts created by Project Butterfly, his not-for-profit clean-energy enterprise, Stoner establishes a worthwhile business goal for this century: “[I]f we can keep atmospheric CO2 concentration below 550 ppm, the Project Butterfly Financial Model forecasts that the increase in average global temperatures will slightly exceed 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), a situation to which humans may still be able to adapt.” But how? He advocates using natural gas as a transitional energy source and promoting voluntary carbon credit exchanges. However, his primary recommendation is carbon taxes, for which he advocates using what could become the next political slogan: “[T]ax what you burn, not what you earn.” Although the material reads at times like a textbook, the author’s references to his family lend a personal feel, and interesting historical side notes—about topics such as the failure of Solyndra, rural electrification under FDR and the rise of nuclear power—also help enliven the text. His ideas are well-supported with extensive citations found in the endnotes, and dozens of charts effectively explain the complex data behind climate change and energy use.

A thoughtful contribution to the climate change debate, with a unique, businesscentric approach to setting energy and environmental policies.

88x50 A Memoir of Sexual Discovery, Modern Music and The United States of America Tendler, Adam Dissonant States Press (244 pp.) $10.00 paper | Dec. 9, 2013 978-0-615-70009-0

In this debut memoir, a young pianist recalls touring the United States with his program of contemporary American music while struggling with his closeted sexuality.

After graduating from music school with honors, Tendler came up with a bold idea: “I’d always wanted to travel, I loved modern American music, and I had nothing else to do. I would call it America 88x50—eighty-eight keys by fifty states.” His program showcased four American art-music composers— Charles Ives, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Alberto Ginastera and Aaron Copland. After emailing his proposal—which he now describes as “a grandiose web of half-truths”—to 50 presenters,

he got no positive responses. “Clearly, you are not a professional musician,” said one presenter in an email reply. He decided to tour anyway. Tendler was ill-prepared, at first lacking a website, publicist or even a poster. (He now has a website with sound files, photographs and reviews.) Nevertheless, Tendler lined up a handful of concerts and hit the road, playing wherever he could get a booking—a nursing home, an elementary school, a noisy coffee shop—and eventually, he reached his goal. Even nonmusical readers could become engrossed in Tendler’s narrative as he struggles with self-doubt, logistics, health and coming out, as well as the underlying fight to maintain his pursuit of art through the generosity of others when funding is slim and audiences tiny. The elderly, he discovered, are the most likely to take chances and show up, “while my own hipper-than-thou demographic of twenty-somethings could scarcely ever be found.” In many ways, his quest is personal, though Tendler “learned long ago that only by playing before an audience can a pianist really discover the truth about what they know or don’t know about a piece of music,” and his exploration of this relationship is fascinating. For instance, when he played his dissonant music at a Hurricane Katrina benefit and a disrupted family was in the audience, his host told him that, to them, “Your program made perfect sense.”

An honest, searching exploration of the artist as a young man.

The Girl Who Saved Christmas

Thach, William Thomas Bowrider Press LLC (32 pp.) $24.00 | Jan. 1, 2013 978-0-9825663-1-2 In this lovingly packaged illustrated children’s book, everyone has been naughty this year, and Santa is ready to exchange toys for coal, until a very good and wise little girl named Molly sets him straight.

At home in the North Pole, Santa is distressed to learn from one of his elves that the world’s children, from “Alice in Dallas” to “Pio in Rio,” have been unusually bad this year. No presents this year, he decrees, ordering the elf to load the sleigh with coal. “This Christmas I’ll bring them the thing they deserve!” Readers will probably find this uncharacteristically harsh, and so does Molly, who encounters Santa on her hearth as a frowning “stranger in black” (he’s covered with ash). He softens when he realizes that Molly is one of the few “good” children on his list, so much so that he’s willing to be reminded by her that Christmas “marks the birth of a glorious child” who “taught us it’s best if we learn to forgive!”

As the story ends, Molly and Santa, along with Molly’s mouse, Nibbles, drive off in the sleigh together to deliver presents. Thach’s book, his first, is a Christian allegory, with Molly’s gentle faith in her fellow children amending Santa’s Old Testament–inspired sense of crime and punishment. (Nibbles’ role is somewhat more difficult to parse.) But the overtly religious content is minimal, and the rhyming text—with the same meter and opening words as “A |

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Visit from St. Nicholas”—is enjoyable and generally not preachy.

A glossary in the back explains some of the more poetic words scattered throughout the author’s verse—e.g., “abode,” “espy” and “wrath.” The book’s production values are high, with a red and gold velvet binding and lush, full-color illustrations by Bernal (Brother Jerome and the Angels in the Bakery, 2010, etc.). Bernal’s palette can be a bit oversaturated, but otherwise, his warm illustrations have much the same appeal as Norman Rockwell’s and Fred Mizen’s iconic paintings of Santa. A two-page spread showing Molly, on one page, looking up at Santa beseechingly, and Santa, on the other, glowering downward, is particularly well-done.

A charming Christmas book for all ages.

SEEING BY MOONLIGHT Thomas, MF; Thurkettle, Nicholas BookBaby (319 pp.) $3.99 e-book | Oct. 16, 2013

Nazi war secrets, Cold War politics, modern space technology and science fiction come together in Thomas and Thurkettle’s debut historical thriller.

American Alex Pyke was adopted from Germany as an infant, and he’s living the American dream as an adult: He

This Issue’s Contributors # Adult Elfrieda Abbe • Maude Adjarian • Hephzibah Anderson • Mark Athitakis • Joseph Barbato • Adam benShea • Amy Boaz • Jeffrey Burke • Lee E. Cart • Derek Charles Catsam • Sara Catterall • Dave DeChristopher • Kathleen Devereaux • Bobbi Dumas • Daniel Dyer • Sophia Efthimiatou • Lisa Elliott Julie Foster • Peter Franck • Bob Garber • David Garza • Amy Goldschlager • Alan Goldsher Michael Griffith • Jenny Hendrix • Jeff Hoffman • April Holder • Robert M. Knight • Christina M. Kratzner Paul Lamey • Louise Leetch • Judith Leitch • Angela Leroux-Lindsey • Peter Lewis • Elsbeth Lindner • Georgia Lowe • Joe Maniscalco • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Carole Moore Clayton Moore • Liza Nelson • John Noffsinger • Mike Oppenheim • Jim Piechota • Gary Presley Sarah Rettger • Erika Rohrbach • Sean Rose • Lloyd Sachs • Leslie Safford • Bob Sanchez • Michael Sandlin • Neha Sharma • David Shribman • William P. Shumaker • Rosanne Simeone • Linda Simon Elaine Sioufi Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Andria Spencer • Claire Trazenfeld Pete Warzel • Carol White • Chris White Children’s & Teen Alison Anholt-White • Kim Becnel • Elizabeth Bird • Marcie Bovetz • Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Louise Brueggemann • Connie Burns • Timothy Capehart • Ann Childs • GraceAnne A. DeCandido Dave DeChristopher • Elise DeGuiseppi • Lisa Dennis • Andi Diehn • Carol Edwards • Brooke Faulkner • Laurie Flynn • Omar Gallaga • Laurel Gardner • Judith Gire • Melinda Greenblatt • Megan Honig • Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Laura Jenkins • Betsy Judkins • Deborah Kaplan Joy Kim • K. Lesley Knieriem • Robin Fogle Kurz • Megan Dowd Lambert • Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis • Lori Low • Wendy Lukehart • Meredith Madyda • Joan Malewitz • Michelle H. Martin PhD Jeanne McDermott • Kathie Meizner • Daniel Meyer • Lisa Moore • Deb Paulson • John Edward Peters • Susan Pine • Melissa Rabey • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Kristy Raffensberger • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Amy Robinson • Erika Rohrbach • Ronnie Rom • Leslie L. Rounds • Mindy Schanback Katie Scherrer • Mary Ann Scheuer • Dean Schneider • Hillary Foote Schwartz • Stephanie Seales John W. Shannon • Robin Smith • Karin Snelson • Rita Soltan • Edward T. Sullivan • Deborah D. Taylor • Jessica Thomas • Bette Wendell-Branco • Gordon West • Monica Wyatt • Melissa Yurechko Indie Alana Abbott • Paul Allen • Vicki Borah Bloom • Kevin Brannon • Sheri Caplan • Darren Carlaw Stephanie Cerra • Holly DeRubeis • Steve Donoghue • Nora Dunne • Karen Dybis • Megan Elliott Joe Ferguson • Jameson Fitzpatrick • Jackie Friedland • Susan J.E. Illis • Grace Labatt • Peter Lewis Judith B. Long • Joe Maniscalco • Richard Monte • Julie Nilson Chyna • Judy Quinn • Jackson Radish Jessica Skwire Routhier • Hannah Sheldon-Dean • Lucy Silberman • Barry Silverstein • Jack Spring

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has a successful business, a new home in an exclusive neighborhood and plenty of romantic companionship. When a business trip takes him back to the country of his birth, he meets a mysterious scientist and his beautiful, charismatic niece for what should be a quick transaction. However, they soon entice him into an increasingly dangerous situation, in which he begins to uncover secrets about his biological parents’ history during World War II as well as his own childhood. He eventually finds out that the Nazis were using psychics and scientists to develop an unbeatable superweapon, but they were unable to complete it before the Allies gained ground against them.

However, the research continued during the Cold War era. It soon becomes clear that Alex and his ancestors are inextricably tied to a treacherous network of scientists, spies, assassins and rebels. The novel kicks into high gear at the very start, with a curious, creepy prologue that takes place in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Oval Office; the rest of the story takes place primarily in 1999, with frequent flashbacks to the 1940s and ’60s.

The various timelines’ twists and turns introduce many new characters and offer clues to the primary mystery. As the action builds toward the book’s climax, the puzzle pieces click satisfyingly and unpredictably into place. The authors skillfully manage the multiple time frames and large cast and never leave any plot threads dangling. The book’s science-fiction element drives the major plot twists, but the most engaging scenes are those in which readers learn the real relationships and histories between the characters.

A complex thriller that offers new revelations up until the very end.

WE NEVER TRAVEL ALONE A Collection of Essays on Journeys Near and Far Voss, R. A. CreateSpace (266 pp.) $16.59 paper | $6.99 e-book Aug. 6, 2013 978-1-4826-1089-5

In this collection of essays, the author taps into various travels as pivots for her midlife reflection.

In 13 chapters, Voss, a 50-something registered nurse, meditates upon her life’s trajectory in the context of what she has identified as key travel moments, encompassing childhood and adult experiences. In particular, she details trips within her native state of Iowa to the Mines of Spain Recreation Area; her visit to “Claus-Land,” i.e., Germany, the land of her ancestors and specifically great-great-grandfather Claus; and to Spain, the destination she set for herself as part of her process of obtaining a later-in-life graduate degree in creative writing. The chapter “Steps that Count” reflects the perspective taken in all her essays—that to document certain journeys is to hold a mirror up both to nature and one’s life. Her most affecting stories are often those of treks more near than far; for instance, a treacherous sailboat experience in Canada that she endures with a

soon-to-be-ex-husband, who she realizes cares more about adventure than her safety, and her connection to Iowa eagles and their shared “history of endocrine disruptor chemicals that led to the eagles’ near extinction and to the total extinction of my dreams of motherhood.” The autobiographical details are sometimes intense, as in a loaded sentence within “Claus-Land”: “Despite twelve years of trying to conceive, four lost babies, two lost husbands, five major surgeries, four outpatient procedures, fifteen artificial inseminations, three in vitro fertilizations, forty thousand dollars and countless daily hormone injections, motherhood wasn’t to be.” Still, Voss’ largely elliptical approach in unfolding her life’s stories is elegantly executed and effective.

Readers may be left wanting more from this engaging author, who touches a variety of relatable topics, including a charming riff, while on Prince Edward Island, about her affinity with Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables (1908) and the character’s love of fashion as well as Mother Earth.

A gracefully written, travel-focused memoir with particular appeal for midlife and female readers.

tome includes an introduction, chronology, notes, list of abbreviations, bibliography, and museums and galleries where the paintings can be viewed. Waters makes no bones about taking sides: He’s clearly in Copley’s corner, even taking editorial snipes at West and making disparaging conjecture beyond the known facts. Galt, whom West tasks with writing his biography, “wrote the apotheosis West wanted, that is, to be remembered almost in a divine light as a great artist. West’s puffing was outrageous.”

A well-written, fact-filled history of two American artists; a must for fans of history and art.

A PORTRAIT OF RIVALRY An Untold Story

Waters, Douglas G. Archway Publishing (178 pp.) $30.99 | $13.99 paper | $3.99 e-book Aug. 20, 2013 978-1-4808-0138-7 Against a backdrop of the American Revolution, Waters’ debut history explores the lives of expatriate colonial painters John Singleton Copley and Benjamin West as they move from friendship to bitter rivalry in George III’s London.

Both Copley and West were sons of Irish immigrants born in 1738; Copley in Boston, West near Philadelphia. Both began their careers painting portraits in America, and both left the Colonies as the American Revolution was brewing.

West arrived in England before Copley and, through a series of introductions and coincidences, gained a royal patronage from King George, also born in 1738. West arrived with no political baggage, however, and had an easier time than Copley, whose painting of Samuel Adams made him suspicious to British eyes.

In 1774, when Copley first met West in London, their relations were cordial, and West even tried to help his fellow artist. But time and again, Copley’s artistry was recognized as superior, and West came to view him as a threat and attempted to thwart Copley clandestinely and, in the end, quite openly. This slim but information-packed volume reads like an enjoyable high school text filled with enticing factual tidbits that bring the story to life. For instance, Copley’s Tory father-in-law, Richard Clarke, was responsible for the security of the tea that was dumped into Boston Harbor. Copley, who was town warden but apolitical, tried to mediate “a solution acceptable to both parties.” However, “[i]n the face of serious threats from a mob that smashed windows in the Clarke residence,” he fled to Salem. This small

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INDIE

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Appreciations: Octavio Paz, Poet of the Elements B Y G RE G OR Y M C NAMEE

Born nearly a century ago, on March 31, 1914, Octavio Paz landed on this planet square in what the Aztecs called “the navel of the world”—Mexico City, that is, as cosmopolitan as London or New York. His arrival coincided with the rise of literary modernism, a movement he would embrace and improve on, and over the decades preceding his death in 1998, Paz worked steadily to enrich world literature with his many books of poems and prose studies on a range of topics: anthropology, poetics, linguistics, art, religion, politics, history. His best-known book remains The Labyrinth of Solitude (1950), an incisive critique of Mexican society that won him readers and enemies.

Paz published his first book of poems, Luna silvestre (Wild Moon), at 19. He joined the loyalist cause during the Spanish Civil War, and in Spain, he met a number of poets whose influences would transform his work, including Antonio Machado and Pablo Neruda. He returned to Mexico in 1938, working as a journalist and editor for socialist newspapers and founding a series of literary journals and writing his first books of prose, along with several collections of poems. In a sense, though, Paz’s literary career really began in earnest with the publication, in 1957, of a long poem called Piedra de sol (Sunstone), a meditation inspired by the Aztec calendar from which it takes its name. It was the first of Paz’s books to be widely recognized beyond Mexico, with translations quickly issued in all the major European languages. It also initiated an artistic period whose characteristics define Paz’s mature work: His sensibility became aggressively modernist, in revolt against a world that, as Paz wrote, is at its core anti-modern.

Drawing inspiration in equal parts from Buddhism, European modernism and preColumbian Mexican beliefs, Paz moved from the world of duality into the timeless, his language slowly becoming a private code, an idiom lying within but not encased by Spanish. He was fascinated by words, by typography, by books, by the realities and paradoxes (“the day is short/the hour long”) that language enables. As the years passed, Paz was increasingly given to making connections between language and the world of rocks and sand and water, of flowers and stars. His poems inhabited a world where humans scarcely matter: “I will speak to you in stone-language / (answer with a green syllable) / I will speak to you in snow-language / (answer with a fan of bees).”

Paz served briefly as ambassador to India, a post he resigned in protest against the Mexican government’s massacre of hundreds of student demonstrators at the 1968 Olympic Games. He founded literary magazines, published book after book, lectured, criticized. He made a study of apparitions, hallucinations, inconstant winds, and more and more, his work took on a disquieting otherworldliness. His last major sequence of poems was called, fittingly, Arbol adentro (A Tree Within), evoking the mysterious places Paz sought to inhabit throughout a lifetime’s work. A century after his birth, his words resound, preparing the way for the world without us: “Between being and nonbeing / the grasses waver.”

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FROM THE FILES OF

RANSOM NOTE

J

ackie sighed and sat down on a stack of tires. “My dog’s gone.”

Squeak gasped. “Not Lysistrata?

She’s the best watchdog I’ve ever seen!”

“Loudest bark this side of the Mortmain Mountains,” Jackie said with pride, “but someone swiped her last night, and left this note for me taped to the Dilemma’s windshield.”

The mechanic took a sheet of paper out of a dirty pocket, and we all leaned in to see: If you ever want to see your dog alive again, bring a complete set of Dugga Drills to 1300 Blotted Boulevard at midnight tonight.

Be sensible. Come alone.

Yours sincerely, The Person Who Kidnapped Your Dog

978-0-316-28403-5

“Dugga makes the best drills money can buy,” Jackie said, “but I’d give anything to have my dog back.”

Find Out What Happened

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