February 15, 2015: Volume LXXXIII, No 4

Featuring 353 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction and Children's & Teen

KIRKUS VOL. LXXXIII, NO.

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REVIEWS

D.J. Molles makes his point (and many, many readers agree). p. 140

FICTION

The Children's Crusade

by Ann Packer Meet the Blairs, a wonderfully complicated Bay Area family confronting its past and future. p. 27

CHILDREN'S & TEEN

Troto and the Trucks

by Uri Shulevitz A picture-book master shows that he's still at the top of his game over 40 years after winning the Caldecott. p. 122

NONFICTION

Days of Rage

by Bryan Burrough A superb chronicle, long—but no longer than needed—and detailed, that sheds light on how the war on terror is being waged today p. 49

on the cover

We talk to Anne Tyler, one of America's most beloved novelists, who has been publishing for 50 years: "All I'm really trying to do is learn how it would feel to be living a different existence,” she says. p. 14

from the editor’s desk:

Seeing Double B Y C la i b orne

Smi t h

Photo courtesy Michael Thad Carter

When a publicist stresses the uniqueness of the book she or he is handling, I feel lucky that the form of communication is almost always email and not by phone. If it’s by phone, I usually feel tempted to blurt out, “But three weeks ago there was another novel set in Prague in the 19th century by a talented debut writer,” and saying that can feel uncomfortable all around. You’ve got to feel a little sympathy for a publicist who’s pushing a book about a topic covered just weeks prior in a different book when it’s the first book out of the gate that nabs all the coverage. Even though I understand Malcolm Gladwell’s insight that ideas aren’t borne out of solitary meditation (“we are inclined to think that genuine innovators are Claiborne Smith loners, that they do not need the social reinforcement the rest of us crave,” he wrote in a 2002 article. “But that’s not how it works, whether it’s television comedy or, for that matter, the more exalted realms of art and politics and ideas”), I still find it remarkable how many books on the same topic emerge at almost exactly the same time from different publishers. Here are a few upcoming titles that have me seeing double: Going Into the City: Portrait of a Critic as a Young Man (Feb. 24) is by Robert Christgau, who’s often referred to as the Dean of American rock critics. Christgau is one of the early writers who championed the idea that pop culture could be covered and criticized seriously. Guess who’s also considered a formative voice in rock criticism?

Richard Goldstein, whose Another Little Piece of My Heart: My Life of Rock and Revolution in the ’60s is out Apr. 14. (It’s actually going to be a great year for books about rock: Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth is publishing her memoir, Girl in a Band, on Feb. 24, and M Train, Patti Smith’s sequel of sorts to Just Kids, is out Oct. 6)….Jan Jarboe Russell (The Train to Crystal City, Jan. 20) and Richard Reeves (Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II, Apr. 21) investigate different aspects of FDR’s WWII internment camps….Enchanted by the idea of living on a farm in rural France? You’re in luck: Picnic in Provence: A Memoir with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard is out on Apr. 7, while Dave Goulson’s A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm is available exactly three weeks later….

Drones don’t just land haphazardly on the White House lawn; they’re in books, too. On Mar. 10, look for both Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins by Andrew Cockburn and The Future of Violence: Robots and Germs, Hackers and Drones: Confronting a New Age of Threat by Benjamin Wittes and Gabriella Blum….Perhaps marking the 70th anniversary this year of the liberation of Auschwitz, two crucial books about the concentration camps will be out in April, KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps by Nikolaus Wachsmann (Apr. 14); the day before that book, Walter Kempowski’s Swansong 1945: A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich is available.

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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 editor’s note..................................................................................... 6 On the Cover: Anne Tyler.......................................................... 14 Mystery...............................................................................................33 Science Fiction & Fantasy.......................................................... 39 Romance............................................................................................40

nonfiction Index to Starred Reviews.......................................................... 43 REVIEWS.............................................................................................. 43 editor’s note...................................................................................44 Karl Marx’s forgotten Daughter......................................... 58

children’s & teen Index to Starred Reviews.......................................................... 81 REVIEWS.............................................................................................. 81 editor’s note................................................................................... 82 The Couple That Creates Together, Stays Together......98 continuing series........................................................................ 131

indie Index to Starred Reviews......................................................... 133 REVIEWS............................................................................................. 133 editor’s note..................................................................................134 D.J. Molles Goes for the Big Time......................................... 140 best of indie....................................................................................154

Love and Death have been playing their game for millennia; the greatest iteration may be in this haunting teen novel, set in Depression-era Seattle. Read the review on p. 89.

Appreciations: Velvet Brown’s Angst-y Adolescence, 80 Years Later................................................................................155

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

that examines the power of music to inspire beauty in a world overrun with fear and intolerance,” says its starred Kirkus review. Look for our interview with Ryan this month on Kirkus.com.

Check out these highlights from Kirkus’ online coverage at www.kirkus.com 9

An unvarnished account of a midcentury doctor’s descent into madness—and his daughter’s attempt to piece his life back together—comes into focus in Mimi Baird’s He Wanted the Moon. Texas-born and Harvard-educated, Dr. Perry Baird was a rising medical star in the late 1920s and 1930s. Early in his career, ahead of his time, he grew fascinated with identifying the biochemical root of manic depression, just as he began to suffer from it himself.

By the time the results of his groundbreaking experiments were published, Dr. Baird had been institutionalized multiple times, his medical license revoked, and his wife and daughters estranged. He later received a lobotomy and died from a consequent seizure, his research incomplete, his achievements unrecognized. Mimi Baird grew up never fully knowing this story, as her family went silent about the father who had been absent for most of her childhood. Fifty years after being told her father would forever be “ill” and “away,” Mimi Baird set off on a quest to piece the man together; we interview her this month on Kirkus.com.

In Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Press, James McGrath Morris depicts the life of one of the most significant yet least known figures of the civil rights era. Morris draws on an untapped collection of Payne’s personal papers documenting her private and professional affairs, combing through oral histories, FBI documents and newspapers to fully capture Payne’s life, achievements and legacy. A self-proclaimed “instrument of change,” Payne broke new ground as the Washington correspondent for the Chicago Defender. She also publicly prodded President Dwight D. Eisenhower to support desegregation, and her reporting on legislative and judicial civil rights battles enlightened and activated black readers across the nation. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized Payne’s seminal role by presenting her with a pen used in signing the Civil Rights Act. And in 1972, she became the first female African-American radio and television commentator on a national network, working for CBS. “A deeply researched, skillfully written biography,” our Kirkus reviewer notes; we talk to Morris this month on Kirkus.com.

Photo courtesy Sean B. Masterson

Music, magic and a real-life miracle meld together in Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Echo, a multilayered work of historical fiction.

Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise and a harmonica. Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania and Ivy in California each, in turn, become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family together. Richly imagined, Echo not only pushes the boundaries of genre and form, it’s also a “grand narrative

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fiction INHERITANCES Stories

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Black, William Dufour (224 pp.) $15.00 paper | Apr. 20, 2015 978-0-8023-1359-1

THE STRANGER by Harlan Coben....................................................... 9 THIS IS HOW IT REALLY SOUNDS by Stuart Archer Cohen............10 MY STRUGGLE by Karl Ove Knausgaard; trans. by Don Bartlett... 20

It used to be Pennsylvania coal country, and even now that the mining jobs have gone, many in Black’s first story collection find it hard to leave.

The narrator of “Wildcats” and his buddy R.J. are typical. The high school students waste their energy skirmishing with older guys drilling for oil. R.J. will end up a solitary woodsman, the narrator, a third-generation farm manager. His fatalistic counterpart in “It Burns” seems college-bound but disappoints his more ambitious girlfriend by hanging out with a troublemaker whose ex-miner dad is dying of cancer. Further back in time, the fact-based “Susquehanna, 1960” explores the aftermath of a flooding river and mine cavein which killed dozens and left a community of Poles and Italians without work. Young Joe Kovalevsky has a ruined leg. An older miner, Rora, suggests they build a boat, a modest way of restoring the balance between man and nature. Rora’s fatherly concern for Joe gives the story a glow, making it the standout.

Black is less successful with higher income brackets. “Leaving” is the portrait of a tenured academic who’s left two women after detaching them from their previous guys and will in time dump his current girlfriend, leading him to the banal conclusion that we are all alone. In “Architecture,” retiring lawyer Mark and his wife, Elizabeth, have decided to stay put in their coal-belt city because of its gentrifying downtown. The story plays with an irony. Elizabeth loves the city’s grand old structures, yet the story has no corresponding structure. In a postmodern moment, the narrator jumps in to urge the importance of elegant narrative design and then, before withdrawing, points to an unscripted dead body that contradicts his message. It’s a bit of mischief that doesn’t quite work.

Black is at his best as a social realist in a blue-collar milieu; elsewhere, the strain shows.

WHERE THEY FOUND HER by Kimberly McCreight...................... 26 The children’s crusade by Ann Packer.....................................27 THE THRILLING ADVENTURES OF LOVELACE AND BABBAGE

by Sydney Padua; illus. by the author.................................................. 28 WAR OF THE ENCYCLOPAEDISTS by Christopher Robinson & Gavin Kovite....................................................................................... 29 THE MIRACLE GIRL by Andrew Roe...................................................30 LITTLE BASTARDS IN SPRINGTIME by Katja Rudolph...................30 THE BLONDES by Emily Schultz........................................................ 31 BORDERLINE by Liza Marklund........................................................ 37 A HEART REVEALED by Josi S. Kilpack............................................ 42 MY STRUGGLE Book Four

Knausgaard, Karl Ove; trans. by Bartlett, Don Archipelago (350 pp.) $27.00 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-914671-17-6

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looking for intrigue? hop on a train THE SILVER WITCH

The first publishing sensation of 2015 is Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train, a psychological thriller that’s being touted as this year’s answer to Gone Girl; there are three narrators, none of them reliable—especially not Rachel, the eponymous commuter, who drinks so much she can’t remember crucial details of the night she may have witnessed a murder. It’s unusual for a first novel by an unknown writer to shoot to the top of the best-seller lists in a single week, and it’s hard not to wonder what it was about this one that caught people’s attention. Part of the book’s success is certainly due to Riverhead’s marketing and publicity efforts, but I can’t help thinking the title gave the book a boost.

There’s something about trains that evokes mystery, no matter how grubby the reality may be. Think of Patricia Highsmith’s Stranger on a Train, made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock, and the scenes in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest where Cary Grant meets Eva Marie Saint on the 20th Century Limited and she helps him hide from the police in an overhead bin (though of course she’s actually working for the men who set him up for murder). People who take trains in novels tend to have a secret; Rachel pretends to be traveling to work in London every day, but what no one knows (especially her roommate) is that she’s lost her job and she’s just going back and forth to create the appearance that everything’s OK. A novel being published in March, Jill Alexander Essbaum’s Hausfrau, also features a heroine (or antiheroine) who rides the trains every day. Anna, an American, is traveling between Zurich, where’s she’s taking language classes and sleeping with a variety of men, and the suburb where she lives with her Swiss husband and children. Driving a car would make Rachel and Anna seem much more powerful than riding the train, which leaves them dependent on timetables and open to the gazes of their fellow travelers. Anything could happen on a train—at least a fictional one.—L.M.

Brackston, Paula Dunne/St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-250-02879-2 Grief, magic and the ancient world collide in Brackston’s (The Midnight Witch, 2014, etc.) fourth novel.

Still grieving the unexpected death of her husband, artist Tilda Fordwells moves into the remote cottage on a Welsh lake they had intended to share. But as Tilda becomes the center of a series of paranormal events, she soon realizes her pull to the area is anything but accidental. Equally unsettling are the curious new effect Tilda seems to have on electricity and the terrifying visions she’s been having since settling into the cottage.

Even as Tilda seeks to understand the bizarre new powers she possesses, she’s blindsided by her attraction to Dylan, an archaeological diver hired to explore the ancient crannog that once dominated the lake. Alternating smoothly with the modern storyline is the tale of Seren Arianaidd, a 10th-century shaman charged with protecting Prince Brynach, the handsome royal who rules from the crannog on the lake. As the two stories unfold, the reader learns what ancient act of love and revenge ties the two women together—and what deadly, dark power has awoken from the dark waters of the lake. The story has moments of glory, but Brackston’s writing, so solid in earlier books, vacillates unpredictably between evocative and uninventive. Her use of description also founders: A full page is dedicated to detailing the interior contents of a hut, and three various men are described as “wiry” in the first hundred pages. And while the reader may thrill to the idea of both a contemporary and a historical romantic storyline, the romance between Prince Brynach and seer Seren feels disappointingly devoid of foundation, chemistry and heart. It may be only the die-hard fans of Brackston’s particular blend of history and fantasy that are able to overlook such missed opportunities.

A stunning setting and bewitching premise make this book appealing, but Brackston’s execution falls short of its mark.

THE PERFUME GARDEN

Brown, Kate Lord Dunne/St. Martin’s (336 pp.) $24.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-250-04827-1

The multigenerational story of a family unfolds amid the tumult of the Spanish Civil War and the emotional devastation wrought by 9/11 in this second novel from British author Brown (The Beauty Chorus, 2011).

When world-renowned perfumer Liberty Temple dies of cancer, she leaves behind a chest of letters for her daughter, Emma, along with the key to a villa in Spain, mysteriously

Laurie Muchnick is the fiction editor at Kirkus Reviews.

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While the premise of Brown’s book certainly has roots in an emotional past, this novel unfortunately fails to take flight.

purchased right before her death. Emma is still grieving the loss of her mother when her lover, Joe, is lost in the World Trade Center attacks—and that blow, combined with the fact that she’s carrying Joe’s baby and the impending sale of the perfume company she built with her mother, is enough to send her off to find the ruined villa in search of a new life. Woven clunkily into the backdrop of Emma’s story are the tales of Freya, her grandmother, and her great-uncle Charles—two young idealists from England who joined the fight against Gen. Franco’s fascist takeover of Spain in 1936. In a series of scenes that feel more like vignettes, characters are thrust together only long enough to accomplish the author’s agenda, making up their minds and then changing them, often without authentic motivation, their dialogue as tinned as the rations they likely ate. Violence, scent, sensuality, and the lush but devastated countryside of Spain make welcome appearances, but the transparency of Brown’s characters is too hard to overlook. Some guile and finesse might have gone a long way in helping the characters come more fully to life, but without it, this novel feels like too much effort for insufficient reward.

THE BRINK Stories

Bunn, Austin Perennial/HarperCollins (240 pp.) $14.99 paper | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-06-236261-2 In this wide-ranging collection, characters must cope with changing, hazardous landscapes and wrestle with fundamental truths about themselves.

The stories in Bunn’s collection are a disparate bunch, ranging from realistic period pieces to studies of intimacy and sexuality to fundamentally altered takes on history. “When You Are the Final Girl” riffs on horror-film

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tropes, as its protagonist’s reaction to past trauma is to become knowingly monstrous, while “How to Win an Unwinnable War” taps into Cold War fear to tell the story of a teenager channeling anxiety at his parents’ crumbled marriage into simulations of nuclear war. Bunn also ventures into less realistic territory with “Griefer,” largely set in the final days of an online roleplaying game slated for shutdown—though the juxtaposition of this with ripples in its narrator’s marriage leads to one of the book’s neater conclusions. “Ledge” takes the opposite approach: What begins as a story of nautical intrigue and repressed desire around the time of Queen Isabella’s reign in Spain slowly becomes something far more mysterious, playing off the reader’s expectations of history and realism. Some of this collection’s most impressive moments come when delving into emotionally messy terrain. The protagonists of “Everything, All at Once” and “Curious Father” deal with the implosions of their marriages in very different ways: in the case of the former, via investigating her mother’s romantic history; in the case of the latter, via a late-in-life reckoning with his sexuality.

Bunn’s compelling stories are at their best when navigating chaotic landscapes, whether emotional or literal.

a glimpse of what Busman is capable of—the novel rears to life, with Taylor for once using her strength against something that isn’t mysteriously set against her, but naturally so. A late episode involving a near drowning also has staggering power, again allowing something elemental to blow open the novel’s focus, which is occasionally too narrow.

Finding the depth in a character’s struggle is the novelist’s task, and Busman does get there but somehow does not make her protagonist specific enough until the very end.

WORLD GONE WATER

Clarke, Jaime Roundabout Press $15.95 paper | Apr. 15, 2015 978-0-9858812-8-3

A man struggles to navigate his life after a stay in a behavioral rehabilitation center in this character-driven novel.

Clarke’s third novel, set years before the events of Vernon Downs (2014), returns the reader to the world of Charlie Martens, a self-described “easy-going” man who will “tend toward violence, if provoked.” After his parents’ deaths, Charlie spent his childhood with various relatives in Denver, Santa Fe, Rapid City, San Diego and, finally, Phoenix, where he emancipated himself. “I am not a good person,” Charlie writes in the first sentence of the entrance essay to rehab that opens the book.

As if intent on proving this claim, Charlie relives everything from kissing Erica Ryan on the playground in fifth grade to the more recent and far more egregious sexual aggression and physical abuse that brought him to the Sonoran Rehabilitation Center. The gruesome details of his journal entries and essays force the reader to confront his capacity for cruelty along with him and could easily offend sensitive readers. But some slivers of hope still glimmer in the background. His relationship with Jenny, a Mormon and his high school sweetheart, is a brief ray of pure goodness that, though shattered, has a lasting impact on his obsessive and idealistic views of romance. While Charlie is—undoubtedly—not a good person, his appeal for sympathy and nonjudgment is warranted. As he states in the close of that opening essay: “You have to feel something to understand it.”

Clarke gives us a tortured antihero, a disturbingly selfaware man we might not root for but cannot forget.

LIKE A WOMAN

Busman, Debra Dzanc (256 pp.) $14.95 paper | Mar. 17, 2015 978-1-938103-24-7 A look at the scorched-earth terrain of a miserable childhood and hardscrabble life on the streets; there’s a tough girl named Taylor at the center, coming of age in some of the hardest circumstances.

Busman’s beautifully written debut novel takes place in dirt-poor suburban Los Angeles, though the accents and idiom seem Southern at first, but that might be immaterial—poverty and moral chaos are the setting. The novel dips into episodes in Taylor’s life, beginning when she’s 7 and part of a tightknit group of children who band together to protect each other from their nightmarish, abusive parents; the deck is stacked against them, and near the beginning of the book, they mourn the loss of a crippled child who has suffered appalling parental abuse. Later, a young teenage Taylor takes to the streets, finding a girlfriend, Jackson, and a car interior to sleep in, which, after the horrors of her childhood home, seems like a refuge. She does drugs, steals compulsively, turns tricks, and tries to nurture her relationship with Jackson, a likable girl working on being a writer amid this rough life. Busman (California State/Humanities and Communication) has perfect pitch for the street slang her characters use and a nice rhythm in her prose, but the specter of kids fighting exploitative adults seems like familiar, even generic, territory. Taylor’s fierce attitude at times verges on corny, with nothing but loss and bad luck coming her way and love also proving a roller coaster (though Busman is at her most lyrical in conveying its sweet power, too).

Near the end, a scene of Taylor battling a colt on a ranch gives 8

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This 100-proof nightmare ranks among Coben’s most potent. the stranger

THE STRANGER

that went into fitting the fictional Lyons dynasty into the timeline of the existing monarchy. Some of the details are invented while others are tweaked. Nick’s rakish brother, Freddie, stands in for Vegas-loving Prince Harry, while Bex’s twin, Lacey, hogs the camera like Pippa Middleton. (And yes, they have a fling while Freddie juggles unfortunately named socialites like Tuppence and Turret.)

On a tour of Kensington Palace, Nick and Freddie tease Bex about wanting to steal their Aunt Agatha’s collection of Fabergé eggs while complaining that Henry VIII sullied the rest of the antiques “with his great greasy bum.” Wild parties, sibling rivalry and fashion blunders inevitably land them all in the tabloids with punderful headlines—“Trouble in Porterdise?”—giving Nick doubts about putting Bex in the spotlight. Bex feels the weight of the crown when Nick heads off to military duty, leaving her with a team of stylists who stick fake hair on her head and banish her sister in an effort to improve her image. The question is not whether she loves Nick but whether his love is worth a lifetime of public scrutiny.

Pages of biting humor and breathtaking glamour rewrite a fairy tale into something more satisfying than a stack of tabloids.

Coben, Harlan Dutton (400 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 24, 2015 978-0-525-95350-0 Another one of Coben’s got-it-all New Jersey dads finds out that his wonderful wife has been hiding a whopper of a secret from him—a secret whose trail leads to even more monstrous revelations.

“We’re living the dream,” Tripp Evans assures Adam Price at their sons’ sixth-grade lacrosse all-star team draft—lacrosse, for crying out loud. But the dream is already slipping from Adam’s grasp as Tripp speaks. Minutes earlier, a young stranger who declined to give his name had sidled up to Adam and informed him that his wife had faked her first pregnancy, which had supposedly ended in a miscarriage. When an agonized Adam confronts Corinne with the story, she doesn’t deny it. Instead, she pleads for more time and promises that she’ll tell all over a restaurant dinner the following day. Adam, who’s clearly never read anything by Coben (Missing You, 2014, etc.), agrees, and Corinne checks out of her high school teaching job and vanishes, pausing just long enough to text Adam: “YOU TAKE CARE OF THE KIDS. DON’T TRY TO CONTACT ME. IT WILL BE OKAY.” Days pass, and it’s not OK. Adam’s two boys (are they really even his? should he run DNA tests?) keep asking where their mom is.

There’s no word from Corinne, who won’t answer Adam’s texts.

Her cellphone places her somewhere near Pittsburgh. Rumors about her start to percolate through the lacrosse league. And, although it’ll take Adam quite a while to find this out, a murder in far-off Ohio has implications for Corinne’s disappearance even more disturbing than anything Adam’s imagined.

Coben can always be relied on to generate thrills from the simplest premises, but his finest tales maintain a core of logic throughout the twists. This 100-proof nightmare ranks among his most potent.

THE ROYAL WE

Cocks, Heather & Morgan, Jessica Grand Central Publishing (464 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4555-5710-3 978-1-4555-5712-7 e-book Fashion bloggers Cocks and Morgan (Spoiled, 2011, etc.) debunk the princess fantasy in a fictional tell-all inspired by the courtship of Kate Middleton and Prince William.

On the night before her wedding, Rebecca Porter admits that she wasn’t an obvious match for Prince Nicholas of Wales when they first met in the dorms at Oxford. Bex’s account of going from suburban America to Westminster Abbey on the arm of a prince stretches as far back as the train on Princess Diana’s wedding gown, but royal watchers will appreciate the craftsmanship |

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THIS IS HOW IT REALLY SOUNDS

deal with most of the dirty work. All is moving along smoothly, if not virtuously, until former football player Howard Crewes tries to arrange a liver transplant for Lenny Pellegrini, a broken-down exathlete who for years has been abusing his liver with drink. Worth finds a compatible donor in Maria Campos, a young woman from Los Angeles who wants to start a new life in New York—and the $150,000 she can earn for donating 70 percent of her liver to Lenny would be an excellent start. But things start to unravel when, several days after the transplant at a disreputable New York hospital favored by Health Solutions, Lenny takes his own life, and the hospital feels obliged to start an investigation into how Lenny got his new liver. Maria desperately wants to keep the money, and she convinces Simon that DaSilva, who always needs to be in control, might be planning to kill him to hush up the scandal. Both Maria and Simon have dark secrets that they share with each other—and Maria starts to develop a plan that involves persuading Simon he might need to kill DaSilva before DaSilva can get to him.

The novel moves at a brisk pace, and DeLeeuw provides back stories for his characters that make them complex and convincing.

Cohen, Stuart Archer St. Martin’s (368 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-250-04882-0 978-1-4668-4997-6 e-book An impressive and dramatic novel about three men who share a surname and intertwining fortunes.

Pete Harrington is a fading rock star who’s shocked to find his fancy car being repossessed. Harry Harrington used to be the best “extreme skier” in the world, dominating a sport few knew existed. Wall Street financier and greed-hound Peter Harrington has “amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in five short years” through legal tactics that have hurt many other investors. He has made “more in interest each day doing nothing than most people earned working all year.”

Meanwhile, Pete’s $8 million holdings have shrunk to $400,000 due to a poor investment—in Crossroads Partners, an enterprise set up by Peter. Now Pete must sell off costly tchotchkes to pay off his debts, as “fifteen years of his life turned into yellow tags at a secondhand store.” He becomes obsessed with payback. Pete wants more than anything else to walk up to Peter and sock him in the nose. “Once in a while somebody’s got to kick the crap out of greed,” he says. He hires an old CIA retiree, Charlie Pico, to teach him how to deliver the best possible punch. Meanwhile, friends remind Pete that he’ll be committing assault, so maybe he can do the deed in China? Pete is a sympathetic jerk whose odyssey is fun to follow as he trains for the big confrontation and recalls a fight he once had with the bass player from the rock band Uncle Sam’s Erection. Harry’s storyline is less tightly connected to the others, with dazzling skiing scenes in which he courts death and races megaton-sized avalanches.

Anyone who’s bet his or her future on Wall Street, strapped on a pair of skis or savored a well-told story will want to read this one.

APOCALYPSE BABY

Despentes, Virginie Translated by Reynolds, Siân Feminist (352 pp.) $17.95 paper | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-55861-891-6 Structured like a classic noir, this French novel exposes the rotten core of contemporary European society through the perspectives of several female characters.

When she loses track of Valentine, the rich teenager she’s been hired to follow, Parisian private eye Lucie Toledo makes contact with the Hyena, an aggressive lesbian freelance investigator, and they travel from Paris to Barcelona (and back again) in their search, encountering orgies, nuns and repressed housewives along the way. Despentes’ (King Kong Theory, 2010, etc.) novel was first published in France in 2010 and is being translated into English for the first time. There are classic elements of noir—the PI, the femme fatale, the family full of secrets and repression, the chance encounter with a lover who might just save the damaged hero(ine). And in many ways, these are the elements that most succeed; within these familiar tropes, Despentes explores deeply flawed but interesting characters; the limits of traditional female roles; the ravages of the European class system; the challenge of Internet control; and the destructive self-indulgence of a youth culture that lacks its own deeply held beliefs and is, as such, easily manipulated by the darkest authority. But the climax of the novel sends the dense, exaggerated narrative fully off the rails. The dystopian final chapter wants to inhabit the world of science fiction rather than noir, and the genre clash leaves a rather unsatisfactory taste behind.

Powerful and empowered to a point, but this could have used sharper editing.

THE DISMANTLING

DeLeeuw, Brian Plume (288 pp.) $16.00 paper | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-14-218174-4 A smart novel focusing on two moral issues: organ trafficking and, literally, getting away with murder.

Simon Worth, a medical school dropout in his mid-20s, has committed himself for a time to Health Solutions, a sleazy company that brokers organ transplants between clients willing to pay top dollar for a kidney or liver and people so desperate for money they’re willing to undergo dubious surgery to make a buck. The company is run by Peter DaSilva, who greases wheels by altering medical records, laundering money and letting Simon 10

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ONE NIGHT

to reconsider. Jackie uses his business card to call and invite the man to meet her at a local diner. Set against a newscast in the background—a woman has killed her three children, and a businessman has been found beaten, likely the victim of a home invasion—their conversation turns very personal indeed.

Continually distracted by the newscast, the man from Orange County is reluctant to return to his unfaithful wife, who he has discovered is visiting sex clubs. Neglected by her current, rather deadbeat boyfriend, Jackie needs something or someone to help her deflect the memories of a daughter lost years ago to a Christmas-tree fire. Seeking solace in each other’s arms at an upscale hotel, the pair succumbs to a brief, raw, passionate affair. Dickey (A Wanted Woman, 2014, etc.) creates an erotic tale of acceptance and forgiveness marred by clunky phrasing and coarse attitudes toward women.

Unflinching in its acceptance of bad behavior by likable characters, Dickey’s latest will thrill his fans.

Dickey, Eric Jerome Dutton (368 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-525-95485-9 A chance encounter leads to one night of passion—and spiritual redemption—between strangers.

Down on her luck and two months behind on her rent, Jackie needs to make money fast, before she’s evicted from her apartment. Approaching a well-dressed man while he’s pumping gas seems like a good idea. Maybe she can convince him the box in her hands truly contains a laptop; maybe she can convince him it’s worth $700. But she hadn’t counted on the man from Orange County being not only wealthy, but also charming. Soon she’s sold the box for $2,000 and discovered that she really doesn’t want to con this man. Although he drives away, sleet, sirens and a traffic snarl give both of them time

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THE QUEEN’S CAPRICE Stories

divides into the perspectives of Lelah, Troy and Charlie “Cha Cha” Turner, interspersed with their father’s flashbacks of surviving in gritty Detroit 60 years earlier. Cha-Cha, the oldest at 64, drives trucks for Chrysler and is recovering from an accident after a vision of a luminous ghost, which he’d last seen 40 years earlier at Yarrow, caused him to veer off the road. Meanwhile, Lelah has been evicted from her apartment due to a gambling addiction and takes up residence in the now-abandoned house. And Troy, a disillusioned policeman, wants to illegally short sell the house to his sometime girlfriend. As the story progresses, the siblings’ dilemmas become increasingly knotty.

Lelah’s roulette addiction, evocatively described—“the chips looked like candy. Pastel, melt-away things that didn’t make sense to save”—worsens; Cha-Cha is visited by the ghost, dredging up ugly childhood memories; and Troy tries to con Viola into selling the house. Flournoy ramps up the suspense until, one night, the three are all drawn to Yarrow Street, leading to a fight with intractable results. Flournoy’s strength lies in her meticulous examination of each character’s inner life.

Lelah, who uses gambling as a balm for her fractured relationship with her daughter, is an especially sympathetic character—she seeks “proof that she could be cherished by someone, if only for a while.” Flournoy’s writing is precise and sharp, and despite several loose ends—Troy doesn’t experience significant emotional change by the book’s end, and the house’s fate remains unclear—the novel draws readers to the Turner family almost magnetically.

A talent to watch.

Echenoz, Jean Translated by Coverdale, Linda New Press (128 pp.) $19.95 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-62097-065-2

Seven odd little vignettes that add up to a book of beauty.

French author Echenoz has visited American readers several times previously with wry novels such as the recent revision of I’m Gone (2014). This collection of stories is something entirely different. The translator, Coverdale, describes the tales as récits, but Echenoz’s own description is preferable—“little literary objects.” In some of the stories, nothing happens other than a literary description of the landscape for 360 degrees around the writer’s chair (“The Queen’s Caprice”) or a series of walks around a decaying French town that will not see better days again (“Three Sandwiches at Le Bourget”). The collection proceeds with Echenoz’s distinctive voice, and Coverdale appends various endnotes to explain some of the arcane facts he freely inserts into his tales. One of the gems, “Nelson,” is a fair representation of what’s at work here.

Adm. Nelson sits down to dinner, certainly the center of attention and affection. The admiral’s afflictions and injuries are obliquely unveiled over the course of the evening. When given a newspaper covering the Treaty of Amiens, he “places the page to his left, at an angle, and seems able to read it only in this manner, sideways,” having been blinded in his right eye during the bombardment of Calvi. When Nelson rises from the table between courses, leaving the other guests behind, with quirky elegance Echenoz reveals him taking acorns from his pocket, “retimbering” at the edge of the woods outside. “He has set his heart on planting trees whose trunks will serve to build the future royal fleet.” There is an echo of García Márquez in these simple yet enigmatic pages.

Echenoz gives us a slim series of elegant, tightly written tales, achieving a simple kind of magic.

GARDEN FOR THE BLIND

Fordon, Kelly Wayne State Univ. Press (288 pp.) $18.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2015 978-0-8143-4104-9

This collection of linked stories follows the lives of Alice Townley and Mike Gallagher, two people starved for affection from their affluent families, and the one decision that both haunts and shapes the rest of their lives.

Set mostly in Detroit, the collection progresses chronologically, beginning in 1974 with Alice, who is then 5 years old. Alice’s world is glitteringly wealthy, cold and tinged with a tragedy that begins to unfold in the first story, “The Great Gatsby Party.”

Our introduction to Mike is more complicated and comes at a distance in “Use Everything in Your Arsenal,” in which Mike’s childhood neighbor, Johnny, tells us, “It wasn’t long before Mikey began to frighten me.” Mike and Alice form an intense and, at times, destructive relationship. United by loneliness and wealth, they make a decision that both come to regret deeply.

Occasionally Alice or Mike appears only as a secondary character, as in “The Guest Room,” but each story affords further insight into their lives. While individually they are not always entirely successful, as a collection, the stories work together to add weight and meaning to the larger scope of events. Detroit

THE TURNER HOUSE

Flournoy, Angela Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (320 pp.) $23.00 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-544-30316-4 A complicated portrait of the modern American family emerges in Flournoy’s debut novel.

For the 13 Turner siblings, the house on Detroit’s East Side isn’t just their childhood home. It’s also the crux of memories of their dead father and a link among 13 very different adults. But the house has built up debt, their ill mother, Viola, lives elsewhere, and a question hangs—what to do with the Yarrow Street house? As the children debate, the narrative 12

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It’s not unusual for small towns off the beaten path to develop quirky rituals. Lumen Ann Fowler’s hometown goes beyond that. when we were animals

WHEN WE WERE ANIMALS

itself plays a large role throughout the collection as a way to highlight the racial and economic divides that underscore every interaction the characters have. This is chillingly clear in “Opportunity Cost,” which examines the true motivations and beliefs of a well-meaning teacher at an affluent high school who has only two black students in his class. While the writing can feel lackluster at times, the stories have an emotional depth that carries the reader forward.

Simply written, these stories reveal how easy it is to be misunderstood and how difficult it is to reconcile past mistakes.

Gaylord, Joshua Mulholland Books/Little, Brown (336 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-316-29793-6 978-0-316-29792-9 e-book In this coming-of-age tale with a gory twist, Gaylord recounts the troubled adolescence of a good girl in a not-so-good town.

It’s not unusual for small towns off the beaten path to develop quirky rituals. Lumen Ann Fowler’s hometown goes beyond that. When puberty hits, teenagers experience what’s known as “breaching,” a year-long period of cyclical sex and violence, akin to an orgiastic Rumspringa, which takes place at every full moon on the streets of the town and in the nearby woods.

Lumen—the kind of girl with few friends, excellent grades and a great relationship with her widowed dad—is convinced she’ll never breach (her mother never did), let alone get her first period. Gaylord

ALL INVOLVED

Gattis, Ryan Ecco/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $27.99 | $16.99 e-book | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-06-237879-8 978-0-06-237881-1 e-book A novel of Los Angeles tormented by racial tension and gang violence in the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict.

Readers who were alive and aware then will remember the news footage from Southern California when, on April 29, 1992, a jury acquitted two police officers of using excessive force—though clearly King, an African-American, had been beaten. Novelist and street artist Gattis (Kung Fu High School, 2005, etc.) takes the rising post-verdict mayhem as backdrop for a series of linked, episodic stories in which Chicano gangsters, Anglo emergency responders, Korean vigilantes and members of just about every other ethnic group in melting-pot LA share the stage. As the book opens, a young food server remarks that he and a fellow worker, arriving at a catering site, “saw smoke, four black towers going up like burning oil wells in Kuwait. Maybe not that big, but big.” The violence soon sweeps young Ernesto up, as it does his co-worker, who bears, among other sobriquets, the resonant nom de guerre Termite. The latter lad aspires to something better, and he can be downright philosophical: “All of us are just some fucked-up little smart kids born in the wrong places....I mean, we’re not all smart.

Some of us are just fucked-up or drugged out, but we do get fixated on shit.” Check. Gattis does a good job of rounding out and differentiating the 17 or so major players who figure in his pages, some phony confident and some Hamlet-like in their uncertainty (“we are technically vigilantes, and I don’t know how I feel about that”), and there are lashings of pyrotechnic violence and flowing adrenalin to keep the story moving.

Still, the reader will be forgiven for wondering what the point might be, other than that life is unfair, confusing and often ugly—and for that, we have the film Magnolia.

Competent but not especially memorable.

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Anne Tyler

A conversation with one of America’s most beloved novelists

By Claiborne Smith Inspirations for fiction can be amorphous and difficult to articulate, but do you recall how the characters in A Spool of Blue Thread came to you?

A Spool of Blue Thread was unusual for me because it began with something other than the characters: I was reflecting on how every family seems to have two or three family stories that it obsessively tells and retells, mysteriously ignoring other stories. Thinking up ways to illustrate this, I was conscious of calculatedly inventing characters to suit my purposes, rather than having them come to me on their own. But then, thank heaven, they began breathing for themselves and took charge of the rest of the book.

I’ve read that you once said that “any large ‘questions of life’ that emerge in my novels are accidental—not a reason for writing the novel in the first place.” Do all of your novels emerge strictly from character? There are never moments when you find yourself thinking that you’d like to write a novel about, say, regrets or secrets or marriage and the characters result from that desire?

Several of my novels, including this latest one, have started with something other than character. I’ll take it into my head to explore how a person deals with the feeling that he has come to the end of the road, say (in Noah’s Compass), or to imagine what it’s like to be an immigrant, in Digging to America. But I distrust any novel that sets out to teach some universal lesson. All I’m really trying to do is learn how it would feel to be living a different existence, and whatever truths emerge are incidental.

Photo courtesy Michael Lionstar

Unpretentious, elegiac, whimsical, quirky, affecting: to describe Anne Tyler’s novels, critics routinely use adjectives that are antonyms of one another. That’s because Tyler creates in her novels complex, entire worlds (set in Baltimore, where she lives) that are both serious and funny in a style that doesn’t call attention to itself but is also provocative and memorable. A Spool of Blue Thread, her latest, follows the life and memories of social worker Abby Whitshank and her marriage to Red Whitshank and the grappling they must do to keep their grown children in some semblance of a loving family. We gave a starred review to the novel, which is her 20th; Tyler has been publishing novels for 50 years. She doesn’t interact with journalists very often (or readers, as you’ll see below), but she recently answered my questions over email.

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In a novel like A Spool of Blue Thread, which moves between the past and the present, I’m curious about what kind of research you do to make the past feel real to a reader. |

they did. (I am guiltily aware that I’m a great deal more tolerant of flawed people on paper than I am in real life.)

I’ve found that supplying just one or two quirky, supposedly inconsequential details can do more to establish a sense of authenticity than reams of laborious description. For instance, a plumber once told me that during the Depression, his grandfather had to ferry his pipes to his job sites on the streetcar because he couldn’t afford a truck. He would pay an extra fare for them and lash them along the outside of the car. Mentioning something like that suggests that I probably know way more about Depression-era work conditions than I actually do.

What is the editing process like for you now (or, if it changes from novel to novel, what was it like for A Spool of Blue Thread)?

With my first four books, which I wish would vanish from the face of the Earth, I seem to have been under the impression that it was cheating to edit a manuscript in any way at all. Just scribble the thing down and send it off to New York! I thought. But with every book since those, including A Spool of Blue Thread, I have taken great pleasure in rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. The process seems to work only if I rewrite completely— from scratch, and in longhand—at least two times and often many more. For me, the first draft is only a weak skeleton, and not till my hand forms each word all over again do I see a point where I went wrong, or a theme I’d missed.

You’ve published a number of novels. Do you still have occasions when you think an idea for a novel will work out but in the end it doesn’t? How do you know when the ideas or characters for a novel actually will succeed as a novel?

I do still have that happen, although it’s clear to me earlier in the process now than it used to be. When a book isn’t going to work, I seem to be stopped short at every turn; I feel as if my gears have jammed. When it is going to work, I can tell because new characters suddenly start showing up out of nowhere, and snatches of surprising conversation float by, and I am startled to discover that so-and-so is not the kind of person I’d meant him to be but someone else entirely. Reaching that point takes drudgery and many, many wrong turns and idle doodles and discarded beginnings, but it all seems worth it when I finally get that sense of “Ah, so that’s what this book is about!”

Do you get tired of responding to questions about why you set your novels in Baltimore?

Sometimes I fantasize about not setting a novel in Baltimore, and I picture a collection of characters huddled together against an absolutely blank white background—no longer enmeshed in Baltimore’s color and texture and complexity. And they are looking very lost and bewildered.

Claiborne Smith is the editor in chief at Kirkus Reviews.

In 2013, there was a debate about the likability of fictional female characters, centered around Claire Messud’s novel The Woman Upstairs. But you were writing female characters who weren’t all that likable far before that debate. I’m thinking in particular of Pearl from Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. (Junior in A Spool of Blue Thread also isn’t all that likable.) I wonder if you have any thoughts about that debate in 2013, and do you have any thoughts about how critics and readers have reacted to your more unlikable characters (whether they’re male or female)?

I haven’t heard about that debate, and I know very little about how critics and readers have reacted to any of my characters. But I do believe that I myself have to feel some degree of sympathy for my characters, because I’m going to be living with them for the two or three years it will take to write a book. Even Pearl in Dinner, even Junior in Spool: They may have had terrible flaws, but gradually I began to see why they behaved the way

A Spool of Blue Thread received a starred review in the Nov. 15, 2014, issue.

A Spool of Blue Thread Tyler, Anne Knopf (368 pp.) $25.95 | Feb. 10, 2015 978-1-101-87427-1

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GUTSHOT Stories

cleverly weaves in Lumen’s present-day narration, in which she’s a happily married mother known as Ann whose husband and young son know nothing about her past, with the events leading up to and including her inevitable inclusion in the bizarre breaching rituals.

The usual drama between teenage girls and the boys they covet is heightened not only at school, where the students whisper about their exploits under the previous night’s moon, but also during the hypersexualized breaching scenes themselves. At first the tentative Lumen feels outmatched, but as she comes into her own—while unearthing secrets from her mother’s past—she discovers that she’s a force to be reckoned with.

Though the buildup, like Lumen’s agonizing wait to breach, is slow, once Gaylord finds his momentum, there’s no stopping this bizarrely fascinating journey of dark self-discovery.

Gray, Amelia Farrar, Straus and Giroux (224 pp.) $14.00 paper | Apr. 15, 2015 978-0-374-17544-3 The minute details of life are memorably rendered in surreal and sometimes grotesque ways.

Many of the stories in this collection are set in a formerly familiar corner of the world that’s been turned on its head. “It was my idea to rent the girl,” writes the narrator of “House Heart,” and the story that follows takes familiar elements and pushes them toward an eerie, transgressive place. A couple living in a space that was once “the preparation wing of a garment factory” rents a young woman for a game called House Heart, in which the threat of violence looms and the industrial remains of the residence become hiding spaces. This is Gray’s fourth book (and third story collection), and it features the widest stylistic range of any of her books to date. Its predecessor, the novel Threats (2012), blended surreal imagery with questions of crime, violence and perception. Here, Gray combines those aspects of Threats with the concise and sometimes-absurdist tendencies that characterized her earlier collections. The irreverent “Go for It and Raise Hell” is metafiction walking into a bar for an unheard-of bender, while “Year of the Snake” begins as a riff on folk tales and shifts gears into something stranger, laced with body horror.

There’s also a grim, bittersweet comedy that comes to the forefront in stories such as “Device,” in which a scientist creates a device that predicts the future; after two decidedly specific predictions, the inventor asks it what his future spouse will be like. “ ‘Skin, hair.’ The device buzzed lightly. ‘Fingernails.’ ” The response is both comic, with the machine eventually enveloped in a fit of pastoral reverie, and emotionally harrowing.

The best of Gray’s stories find that balance between devastation and humor and navigate an uneasy territory with agility; in this book, there are many that reach that mark.

INSIDE THE O’BRIENS

Genova, Lisa Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $26.00 | $13.99 e-book | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4767-1777-7 978-1-4767-1783-8 e-book Best-selling neuroscientist-turned-novelist Genova, author of several popular stories based on the experience of suffering debilitating diseases—notably Still Alice (2009), about a woman with early-onset Alzheimer’s—now tackles the impact of Huntington’s disease on one blue-collar Boston family.

Patrol officer Joe O’Brien is third-generation Irish in Charlestown. A tough cop with a soft interior, a loving wife and four adult children, Joe “doesn’t do doctors” but is going to have to learn, because there’s no dodging the diagnosis heading his way—one that Genova outlines on her opening page: Huntington’s is “an inherited neurodegenerative disease characterized by a progressive loss of voluntary motor control...proceeding inexorably to death in ten to twenty years.” Not only is there no cure, but there’s a 50 percent chance that Joe’s children will carry the gene, too. Genova’s straightforward storytelling lays out this unhappy scenario with maximum empathy as she switches between the perspectives of Joe and daughter Katie, a 21-year-old yoga instructor. While the parents worry and the siblings bicker and confront—or don’t—their fears and options, Genova conveys the facts of HD through encounters with doctors and genetic counselors, continuing the education as Joe’s symptoms intensify and the disease, or its possibility, undermines and redefines jobs, finances and relationships. Minor events do occur, but the stiflingly circular topic of the disease drives everything—Joe’s mood swings and suicidal thoughts, his wife’s wavering faith and Katie’s onand-off wish to know her own fate. Genova’s intention once again is acceptance, and the wrung-out reader bids farewell to the family at a relatively calm and united moment.

This journey to a place of mindfulness, while inevitably affecting, often reads like fictionalized campaign literature for a worthy cause.

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Gray, Casey Overlook (352 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4683-0730-6 The Superstore is the biggest retail operation in the world—so take that, Walmart.

You can’t see the forest for the trees in this first novel, a timidly satirical treatment of a big-box store. (The author speaks from experience, having once worked at Wal-Mart.) Its dead founder emphasized humility, which is why the managers are known as Servant/Leaders and the CEO flies coach. That’s a self-righteous bubble waiting to be pricked, but Gray misses |

Hancock herself, an actress who’s written memoirs ( Just Me, 2008, etc.)—proves that old age is not a time to languish, having published her first novel at age 81.

the opportunity. He focuses on a branch in Las Cruces, New Mexico, starting with an orientation for new employees from a company cheerleader. The newbies are a freaky bunch, ranging from the girl who wants head-to-toe tattoos to the Guatemalan immigrant who’s had a vision of the Virgin. Another guy, Bicho, is a member of the notorious Limón family, some of whom we accompany as they smuggle guns to the border (again, there’s no follow-up). The store’s most beautiful employee, Claudia Limón, has just received a graphic image on her phone. Ron, a married S/L, has sent her a picture of his penis thrusting into his daughter’s dollhouse. The author depicts him as more clueless than creepy, but the episode will end badly for him. Gray touches on customer bait (there’s Action Alley, the central aisle where the hottest items are displayed) while introducing a large number of employees, and he casts his net wider to include customers such as Dolly, whose RV is in the parking lot. She needs bags of ice to preserve her husband, dead from a heart attack. The retired nurse has her own twisted logic for not calling an ambulance, but this is a labored venture into the surreal. The real action has been happening elsewhere—a criminal assault on Claudia which will end the CEO’s ballyhooed visit before it begins—but Gray is extraordinarily evasive when it comes to details.

A circus without a ringmaster.

THE INVENTION OF FIRE

Holsinger, Bruce Morrow/HarperCollins (432 pp.) $26.99 | $15.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-06-235645-1 978-0-06-235647-5 e-book Second installment in Holsinger’s series starring medieval detective John Gower.

While investigating a grisly mass murder—the bodies of 16 men were dumped in a London sewer—Gower makes the startling discovery that all were, apparently, killed by a recent innovation: a rudimentary rifle known as a “handgonne.” As in the previous volume (A Burnable Book, 2014), the narration

MISS CARTER’S WAR

Hancock, Sheila Bloomsbury (432 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-4088-2917-2

Marguerite Carter never found life easy.

She lost her parents as a child and worked for the French Resistance during World War II before coming to England with a desire to make the world a better place.

She left behind her French lover after the war rather than live a quiet life in rural France. Marguerite pours her energy into teaching, immersing herself in her students’ lives, while supporting political causes and attending marches and protests. She falls in love with fellow teacher Tony, but their relationship, to her disappointment, is destined to remain platonic. Eventually, she feels her age and growing irrelevance.

Retirement and Tony’s death leave her feeling empty, until she travels back to France to reunite with her past. Hancock sometimes props Marguerite on a soapbox and uses her to speak out against 20th-century injustices—racial and economic issues, the arms race, the AIDS epidemic—but Miss Carter’s backbone is strong enough for the events of postwar England to be placed on her shoulders for an attempted fix. Hancock has managed to create a likable character in Marguerite, balancing her messiah complex with enough flaws to be fully human. Though the story covers a half-century of change, Marguerite remains the same.

She retains her ideals and the determination she and Tony shared “to not do nothing.” She’s not happy even in old age without a cause to fight. Perhaps because of this, she’s never seemed truly happy. “We are who we are,” Hancock seems to say. |

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occasionally shifts away from Gower to the voices of others whose connections to the central mystery emerge in increments.

Stephen Marsh, a blacksmith whose error in tipping a cauldron of molten metal caused his master’s death, has been sentenced to 10 years’ indenture to the master’s widow, Hawisia. Marsh’s skills have attracted the attention of Snell, chief armorer to King Richard. Soon Marsh is crafting handgonnes at night, without Hawisia’s knowledge, or so he thinks. Robert and Margery, disguised as pilgrims, are on the road north, having broken out of jail. (She’s wanted for killing her brutal husband and he for poaching the king’s game.) They may have escaped just in time to avoid the fate of the sewer-bound 16. After happening on a forest splintered by shot, Gower and his best friend, Chaucer, are briefly detained by the Duke of Gloucester. Another massacre occurs: a surprise attack on a busy Calais market with handgonnes—a more unwieldy variant that requires two men to shoot. The killers wear armbands of cloth bearing Gloucester’s heraldry of intertwined swans; similar badges were found on 10 of the London victims. To employ parlance never stooped to by Holsinger, is someone trying to frame Gloucester? One of the chief delights here is the language, which convincingly mimics Chaucerian speech. Exhaustive detail on London infrastructure and the newly forged handgun industry can sometimes stultify compared to the vivid scenes of daily life circa 1386: the endless bribery required to get anything done, the struggles of women high and low, even Gower’s losing battle with what appears to be encroaching macular degeneration.

A cautionary tale that argues powerfully against handgonnes and their modern descendants.

a Kerouac-style journey of discovery. Introverted and cautious, guilt-plagued and aware of his frailties, Roy believed he was playing “a cosmic chess match” to reconnect to normality.

Memorable characters live on every page—some major, like empathetic burnt-out former SEAL Purcell, alone in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains, and Viktor, a Russian immigrant marriage broker; others minor, like a clerk with a “nose shriveled like a dried fig” or “a tough old bastard” wearily posting flyers seeking a missing, drug-addled grandson.

Bracketed by stunning revelations, Horack’s luminous tale offers perceptive insights about the elemental connections of family.

THE BONE TREE

Iles, Greg Morrow/HarperCollins (816 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-06-231111-5 The second installment of his hardboiled Natchez trilogy finds Iles’ (Natchez Burning, 2014, etc.) hero Penn Cage on even swampier, and surely deadlier, ground than before.

Natchez, Mississippi, to Dallas is a far piece, but it’s just a rifle bullet’s trajectory away. Or so find Penn and his sidekick/fiancee, Caitlin Masters, when, surely unwisely, they poke deep into the klavernous doings of the local white-supremacy klatch. The Double Eagles were bad enough when resonantly named Brody Royal was in charge, but it seems he’s on sabbatical, and a new boss even more viperous has moved into town. As ever, Iles’ account of his hometown of Natchez is sure to displease local boosters, and as ever, he skillfully weaves family saga with local history (real and imagined) and world events, in this case the murders of civil rights workers and the not-coincidental assassination of a certain president half a century ago. As the evidence mounts, the prey begins to get testy: Warns one well-meaning ally, “If you push the Double Eagles too soon, or too hard, Forrest Knox could move to bury whatever evidence might remain. That might mean killing some of his own family, and I don’t think he’d hesitate.” Blood may be thicker than water, but in the South, it’s thicker than even all that, so that’s sayin’ something: The bad guy is really bad. In a scenario swarming with FBI agents (one of whom, we learn early on, “had decided to use the authority granted him under the Patriot Act to take a step that under any other circumstances would have been a violation of the Constitution”), villains, reporters, and a red herring or two, Iles allows Cage and Masters plenty of room to operate—and so they do, with all the missteps of ordinary people, unlike the supercops and superagents of so many other procedurals.

Fans will find that the pace has picked up a touch from the first volume—and that’s a good thing. We’ll need to wait for the next one before toting up the body count, but it’s sure to be massive.

THE OTHER JOSEPH

Horack, Skip Ecco/HarperCollins (256 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 17, 2015 978-0-06-230085-0 In Horack’s (The Eden Hunter, 2010, etc.) latest, Roy Joseph learns that “grief never leaves, it just mutates.”

Roy and his beloved older brother, Thomas, had an idyllic rural Louisiana childhood. With loving, “almost hippietype” schoolteacher parents, education was key. Instead, goldenboy Tom joined the Navy SEALs, only to disappear during the first Gulf War. Family stumbling through recovery, Roy entered LSU. Then a grief counselor knocked and “told of a slick bridge and a flipped car and a deep creek.” At 19, Roy went home to settle his parents’ affairs and slept with his 16-year-old neighbor. Her parents turned vengeful, and Roy became an on-parole registered sex offender. He retreated to the Gulf ’s offshore oil rigs, realizing he’d “come to prefer the comfort and security of seclusion over the uncertainty of the unknown.” Then, after a distracting email, an electric winch cost Roy his little finger.

The email was from a California teen, Joni, who claimed to be Tom’s daughter, thus for lonely Roy, “a foundling left by gods to prove they exist.” In a beat-up Chrysler LeBaron, Roy began 18

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BEYOND THE HORIZON

people.” A nomad band passes, leaving behind a pregnant young woman. She becomes a promise of something the man’s never had—home, family. A mysterious stranger arrives and tells the man he must go register the family for a census. After the man sets off, the stranger kills the pregnant woman. As the man treks across the mountains, pursued by the stranger, all that transpires shifts and shuttles through time—from Anasazi settlements to shopping malls to the Dust Bowl and back to Custer and Jackson, Pizarro and Cortés. Amid cannibalism, genocide, slave labor and other horrors, allegories abound: the man as a seeker of idyllic pastoral life and the stranger as the ravenous industrial future; or the man as peaceful aboriginal people and the stranger as invading whites, who believe “the ancient formula of progress...needed casualties....Death is progress.”

Intellectual in theme, literary in execution: think Gabriel García Márquez reimagining Little Big Man.

Ireland, Ryan Oneworld Publications (288 pp.) $14.95 paper | $14.95 e-book Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-78074-774-3 978-1-78704-598-5 e-book Ireland finds no heroes in his debut novel, which blends fanciful history with magic realism to create a critical allegory of the American expansionist experience.

Three primary characters roam the tale, all nameless, all symbolic rather than fully realized. One’s a boy raised aboard various vessels by an illiterate sailor. Shipwrecked, father and son wash up somewhere on America’s shores. The man’s killed; the young man—freed of his father’s dominance—heads west in a mule-drawn wagon. The man homesteads on the great western prairie, a place of welcome solitude. “He wondered how long it might be before this place he traversed became infected with

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An entertaining portrait of the artist as a young lout. my struggle: book four

THE WINTER FAMILY

gig as a steppingstone to becoming a writer, using his off hours to work on his fiction. Naturally, his plans are undone in short order. Neighbors, fellow teachers and even some students in the tiny town come knocking unannounced, hard-drinking parties are the sole entertainment, and teaching is more challenging than he’d expected. After an agonizing hangover, the story shifts to Karl Ove at 16, as his mind operates on two tracks: cultivating his dreams of being a writer (he finagles a gig writing record reviews for a paper) and scheming to lose his virginity.

Standing in the way of the latter goal are his pretentiousness, a growing alcohol habit to match his dad’s and a premature ejaculation problem, but he’s keenly aware of only the last issue. Of the four books in this series published in English thus far, this one is the most rhetorically conventional: Knausgaard employs humor, irony and melodrama in ways that he studiously avoided in previous episodes. But he’s done so not to pander but to criticize, echoing the mindset of a sex-obsessed and callow young man still in his teens and unshaped as a person and as a writer.

And when the story arrives at its climax (and you can likely guess what that involves), Knausgaard uses the plainspokenness that defined his previous books to powerfully evoke the depth of his obliviousness, the hollowness of his triumph.

An entertaining portrait of the artist as a young lout.

Jackman, Clifford Doubleday (352 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-385-53948-7

In Jackman’s allegorical Western tale, Augustus Winter, with “the strength of will, the sense of purpose, radiating off him like heat,” is cut from the same bloody cloth as Blood Meridian’s mysterious nihilist, Judge Holden.

From the opening page, a vortex of violence rages through the book, leading from Sherman’s March to the Sea to Chicago, Arizona and Oklahoma. The men who will become the Winter Family are initially a group of “bummers,” foragers scouting ahead of Sherman’s army. They’re first led by psychopathic Lt. Quentin Ross, who has a face “powerful but empty and alien,” but it’s Winter, with “a shuttered light of madness” in his eyes, who will soon seize control. His henchmen will be the brothers Empire, each “stupid and cruel,” and other characters less diabolical, like Fred Johnson, a master-murdering slave, or immigrant Jan Müller, who even in Georgia believes he’s “doing something very, very wrong in the service of some higher ideal that was slipping farther away all the time.” The gang wreaks havoc across Georgia, next joins the rape of the Reconstruction South, and then hires on as mercenaries to keep Chicago government from being seized by Democrats. The Chicago settings are Sinclair Lewis’ The Jungle writ large, from slaughterhouse to saloons to street fights. Genocide’s next, with the marauders killing Native Americans in Oklahoma amid the land rush’s “lawless and chaotic” aftermath. Add St. Augustine, Hobbes, scalp-hunting and, yes, waterboarding, and it’s evident that the unrelenting violence is symbolic of Jackman’s belief that “every society has at its core an animating myth, a guiding narrative, a shared lens through which to view the world”—and here, it’s persuasion by Spencer rifle.

Bloodletting as philosophical exercise, and not for the faint of heart.

LINCOLN’S BILLY

LeClair, Tom Permanent Press (176 pp.) $28.00 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-57962-408-8 In LeClair’s (Passing Through, 2008, etc.) novel, Abraham Lincoln’s law partner, William Herndon, wants to “provide a naturalistic and profound analysis of how different traits combine to form a complex individual” when he writes the

great man’s biography.

Lincoln’s a martyr. Herndon wants the Emancipator’s story told by someone other than “religion-based hagiographers.”

After all, Lincoln was an “infidel,” a nonbeliever. Is Herndon reliable, or is he “Judas in Springfield”? Herndon’s Lincoln employed his “Kaintuck” mannerisms when useful, offered stories, some ribald, punctuated by a “high whinny laugh,” but he was always “forthright, frank, true, plainspoken.” Neglecting his law practice, Herndon sets out to “wage my own civil war against a confederacy of secessionists from the truth,” only to grow bitterly frustrated over betrayals by Lincoln intimates and then by Jesse Weik’s Herndon’s Lincoln, a collaborative effort for which Herndon received little recognition or compensation.

The narrative is easily followed, conversational rather than riddled with the 19th century’s florid verbiage, with Lincoln rendered as a man in full, especially as Herndon relates Lincoln’s fractious relationship with his father, his deep love for Ann Rutledge, and his stuttering courtship and marriage to Mary Todd.

It is, however, from escapades during Lincoln’s flatboat trips to New Orleans as a young man that Herndon proposes reasons

MY STRUGGLE Book Four

Knausgaard, Karl Ove; Translated by Bartlett, Don Archipelago (350 pp.) $27.00 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-914671-17-6 The narrator of the six-volume memoir-novel confronts his late teens, in which he defies his father by behaving much like him.

As the book opens, Karl Ove is 18 and bent on proving his independence. Instead of going to college, he’s taken a teaching job at a school in rural north Norway, much as his father did a few years earlier. Karl Ove, though, is determined to use the 20

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AFTER ABEL AND OTHER STORIES

far different from the apocryphal observation of a slave auction that shaped Lincoln’s opposition to slavery. Herndon’s a sympathetic though flawed observer, intent on truth-telling—Lincoln not as “a prairie demigod or Christian saint.” LeClair’s Herndon—like Lincoln, “a man of fused contradictions”—struggles through his own failures to reveal the enigma that was Lincoln.

Herndon’s an interesting fellow, but Abraham Lincoln is the book’s star.

Lemberger, Michal Prospect Park Books (276 pp.) $16.00 paper | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-938849-47-3 In this debut collection, nine stories shed light on Old Testament women famous, infamous and obscure.

“God said one thing. The snake said another. Which is how I learned that someone had to be lying,” Eve remarks in the title story. Where the Bible’s women are concerned, Lemberger, a respected scholar in the field, is as skeptical as Eve. After her husband (in “Lot’s Wife”) threatens to throw his daughters to a mob of rapists, Lot’s wife rescues the girls, torches Sodom and escapes—no divine wrath or pillar of salt in sight. The familiar story of Sarah and Hagar (“The Watery Season”) highlights the downside of selling young women as handmaidens to produce children for men whose wives are barren. In Lemberger’s take on

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OH! YOU PRETTY THINGS

Exodus (“Drawn from the Water”), colicky, wailing Moses can’t be hidden, like other male newborns, from the Egyptian slave masters, so his sister Miriam, a wisecracking adolescent, is charged with setting him afloat in the Nile. The reader’s sympathy will be drawn not to established biblical heroes but to misunderstood or otherwise marginalized minor players. Vashti, the deposed queen of Persia, and her sister Zeresh, the narrator, are the focus of “Zeresh, His Wife,” not Esther, who takes Vashti’s place, nor her uncle Mordechai, who brings down Zeresh’s hapless husband, Haman. When Yael, in “City of Refuge,” kills enemy general Sisera, she is glorified by warrior queen Deborah; but Yael is revealed as a true pacifist.

In “Shiloh,” fecund Penina, another woman sold as a “breeder” and traditionally seen as resentful, nobly forgoes an opportunity to displace her rival wife, Hannah. The most villainous character here is King David: Not only does he overthrow his mentor, King Saul, but he abandons his first wife, Saul’s daughter Michel, for years, forcibly reclaiming her out of spite (“Saul’s Daughter”). While avoiding outright irreverence or anachronism, Lemberger’s diction gives cogent voice to all her underestimated or overlooked narrators.

Original and thought-provoking.

Mahin, Shanna Dutton (368 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-525-95504-7

A debut roman à clef from the wry perspective of a celebrity assistant.

A proud third-generation Hollywood resident, Jess has a well-honed ability to see through the endless layers of LA bullshit and render the revelations in sarcastic bons mots. At the same time, she’s just as susceptible to the power of celebrity as any average American. In the course of the book, she manages to land two ascending assistantships, first for an nonfamous but successful movie composer, which she then leverages into working for Eva, soap star on the rise.

Being Eva’s personal assistant gets Jess the fame and fortune contact high she so craves. Of course, it comes with complications, and not just the type endemic to celebrity assistantships (being essential but disposable, meeting ludicrous demands).

Eva is the best friend of Jess’ friend Scout. Eva is also a potential rival of Jess’ best friend, Megan, a hardworking actress. Add Jess’ mother to the mix, newly arrived in LA and representing a damaging legacy of being alternately absentee and narcissistic, and Jess is living in her own soap opera, largely of her own making. Like many novels of this genre, a traditional plot arc is substituted with a series of vignettes, many of which seem added just for fun. And they are fun—gossipy scenes and highliving details, loaded with specificity. Jess’ sardonic views are not limited to Hollywood; she’s equally effacing about herself but doesn’t seem to have the same ability to peel back layers and discover the genuine, independent person striving right below the surface. Though tensions pile up, the novel falls short of a satisfyingly cathartic resolution.

Mahin’s writing is more thoughtful than a gossip blog and occasionally delivers something poignant or lovely but inclines toward voyeuristic pleasures.

PLEASANTVILLE

Locke, Attica Harper/HarperCollins (432 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-06-225940-0 Race, politics and petty grievances muddy the quest for justice when a young election volunteer is kidnapped and murdered.

On election night 1996, in the primarily African-American area of Pleasantville, in the north of Houston, a young woman named Alicia Nowell is chased by a mystery figure. That same night, the home of attorney Jay Porter (Black Water Rising, 2009) is broken into. The police are blasé. After they leave, a young intruder comes out of hiding. Jay brandishes his gun but allows the kid to get away. In the absence of a clear election winner, a runoff pits Jay’s candidate, former police chief Axel Hathorne, against Sandy Wolcott, a “political upstart.”

Jay attends a community meeting about the missing girl, who’s the third one in recent memory, though the police haven’t aggressively investigated the earlier two. He’s particularly worried because he’s raising his teenage daughter, Ellie, as a single parent. Everyone is surprised when Axel’s nephew Neal is arrested. Jay agrees to represent him, and his investigator, Lonnie, learns that the police are monitoring hotheaded Alonzo Hollis as a person of interest. As Jay begins to track Hollis, the wheels of justice turn, and Alicia’s body is found. Former Houston mayor Cynthia Maddox, who may have higher ambitions, arrives to urge Jay to drop the case. Instead of complying, he prepares for the trial, which unfolds with methodical precision, the final picture taking shape piece by piece. The killer’s identity is a genuine surprise.

A thriller wrapped in an involving story of community and family dynamics. Locke serves up a panorama of nuanced characters and writes with intelligence and depth.

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ELLE

Mars, Emma Translated by Pernsteiner, Alexis Perennial/HarperCollins (448 pp.) $15.99 paper | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-06-227419-9 Series: Hotelles, 2 The erotic education of former escort Elle Lorand continues, plunging her into a world of sensual delights. But she soon finds herself on a quest not only to solve the mystery of her ex-fiance’s birth, but also to save her partner from jail.

Having broken her engagement to David Barlet and fallen in love with his older brother, Louie, her sexual tutor, Elle impetuously asks for Louie’s hand in marriage. Startled yet |

Great Books

FOR EVERY READER

The Saga of Quest Inc. The New Q.I. Lynn Mathai www.authorhouse.com 978-1-4817-1759-5 | Hardback | $27.99 978-1-4817-1760-1 | Paperback | $16.95 978-1-4817-1758-8 | E-book | $3.99

Phil’s surprising discovery of his grandfather’s secret life will lead him to a fight against mysterious foes. He swears vengeance and begins his war on evil by reforming Quest Inc. Together with his grandfather’s compatriots and friends of his own, Phil will journey to battle monsters, engage in time travel and look for the Chalice of Youth.

Tony Turtle and Friends

LIFE Learning Is For Everyone The True Story of How South Carolina Came to be a Leader in Providing Opportunities for Postsecondary Education to Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

Mary Bowyer www.iuniverse.com

Donald Bailey

978-0-5953-2152-0 | Paperback | $9.95 978-0-5957-6959-9 | E-book | $6.00

www.iuniverse.com 978-1-4697-7928-7 | Hardback | $22.95 978-1-4697-7927-0 | Paperback | $12.95 978-1-4697-7929-4 | E-book | $3.99

Mary Bowyer shares an illustrated collection of children’s verse in her book. She spins stories in poetry filled with amusing characters from turtles to towels, from chandeliers to octopi. Tony Turtle and Friends offers a variety of rhyme sometimes whimsical, sometimes funny - all of which are fun to read and highly recommended for children of all ages.

In Life: Learning Is for Everyone, Donald Bailey provides a firsthand account of how he spearheaded the effort to alter the world of postsecondary education for those with intellectual disabilities in South Carolina, inspired by his son’s struggle. This true story of determination demonstrates the power parents have to create new and better options for their children with intellectual disabilities.

Double Lover

Is There Anybody Out There?

Confessions of a Hermaphrodite

Anonymous

A must-read story If not for yourself, Then for your children’s or others’ sake Abused, Confused, and Ashamed The Story of My Life

www.iuniverse.com

Susana Hernandez

978-1-4759-8527-6 | Hardback | $37.95 978-1-4759-8526-9 | Paperback | $27.95 978-1-4759-8528-3 | E-book | $4.99

www.xlibris.com 978-1-4836-3231-5 | Hardback | $24.99 978-1-4836-3230-8 | Paperback | $15.99 978-1-4836-3232-2 | E-book | $3.99

Miss, you’re also a boy! exclaims a startled gynecologist when Millie Nemos is sixteen.

Millie/Willie is propelled from a sensitive girl who only wants her brother’s love, to a Harvard Man who impregnates himself, to a double-sexed CEO who wants the whole country’s love.

A moving story, Is There Anybody Out There? chronicles the life of a little girl who went through so much since she was three years old. She experienced abuse – sexually, mentally and physically – but found enough courage to heal and forgive.

“An utterly captivating story of identity”* and “a hugely entertaining tale.”

“A modern classic.”

-Kirkus Review

REMARKABLE BOOKS TO ENJOY AGAIN AND AGAIN. ORDER YOURS TODAY!

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Maynard knows the outdoors and the thrill of an honest-to-goodness road trip, but he dilutes the story with repetitious angst. Too bad he didn’t just get on with it.

pleased, Louie consents, on the condition that Elle complete her amorous education through a series of tests. Elle agrees, and the games begin. Mars (Hotelles, 2014) excels at orchestrating elaborate, emotionally charged sex scenes, making the physically implausible ring psychologically true in this, the second novel in a steamy trilogy translated from the French. More Anaïs Nin than E.L. James, Mars weaves a psychologically complex tale; she creates a world in which sex sanctifies. Elle and Louie do truly communicate through their bodies, planning sexual adventures for each other that test trust and vulnerability.

Yet an art exhibit at Louie’s gallery sends the entire enterprise spiraling down. Tipped off that the gallery would project pornographic images into the night sky, the police descend, arresting Louie. While Louie awaits his trial, Elle faces a number of quandaries: Can she physically survive without Louie’s addictive, sensual touch? Has she lost her identity in his bed? Who has stolen their shared journal, detailing each erotic encounter? Is Louie truly behind the blog spilling all of their secrets?

Bereft and bewildered, Elle cannot resist David’s offers to help, despite her suspicions that he may be less interested in exonerating his brother than in covering up more secrets of his own.

Perhaps the answers lie hidden in the Hotel des Charmes.

An explicit, erotic, entrancing detective story for the seriously committed lover of erotica.

CINCO BECKNELL

Maynard, Lee Vandalia Press/West Virginia Univ.

(298 pp.) $16.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-940425-45-0 A fictional mélange that’s part thriller and part social commentary, set against the beautiful scenic backdrop of the southwest—and it works.

Maynard begins with a timeline of 400-plus years of historical and fictional Santa Fe, New Mexico.

William Becknell blazed the original ruts of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821—history. Cinco Becknell, the fifth William, is homeless on the streets of Santa Fe in current time—fiction. He wakes up in El Paso and has no memory of who he is or why he’s there.

He uses a bus ticket to Santa Fe from his shirt pocket to illuminate the flashbacks he’s having of torture, pain and the old scars on his body. Little Jimmy befriends him on the streets and teaches the tricks of survival—how to get food, where to sleep, how to move through the city like a ghost. Jimmy names him Stick, the only name Cinco knows, and they both run from two psychopaths who need to silence Jimmy, who saw them brutally dispose of a woman in the desert night. There’s also another person shadowing Cinco’s movements—an elegant, mysterious, lethal black woman who calls him Pyat and is a connection to some dark pieces of a Russian memory. A lovely woman from Cinco’s teenage past, Elena, sister of one of three boys whose photograph hangs in her gallery, begins to see the Cinco she knew from the photo in this beaten shadow of a stick man, and a love story sneaks into the action.

Maynard is a consummate storyteller, and the thriller elements run parallel to the tough life of the homeless on the streets of The City Different.

MAGNETIC NORTH

Maynard, Lee Vandalia Press/West Virginia Univ.

(384 pp.) $16.99 paper | $16.99 e-book Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-940425-48-1 978-1-9404-25-49-8 e-book A buddy quest on motorcycles in Maynard’s (The Pale Light of Sunset, 2012, etc.) tough-as-nails voice.

A writer of an undetermined older age, Morgan drinks through his angst-ridden days and nights in an old adobe home on a 50-acre ranch in southern New Mexico. His friends—Slade, his Army buddy, and Arturo, a mystical Apache Indian—worry about him, for good reason. When he decides to cleanse his soul by riding a motorcycle to the Arctic Circle, he makes a stop at an office on his way north and proceeds to beat the daylights out of the man who moved in with his ex. He picks up Slade in Colorado Springs, and they’re off on a bike trip that takes them on the back roads of Wyoming, Montana, Canada and Alaska. In spite of some tense moments on the road and flashbacks to a time when Slade saved him from “unfriendlies” in the jungle during what is probably the Vietnam War, Maynard seems to be stretching the story with filler—bad weather, soulful sniffling, the same rain and dreariness over and over. It’s unfortunate because Maynard can write extremely well and tell a hard-boiled tale. The two do reach their promised land of the Arctic Circle, and on the way home, there’s a stunning turnabout. Morgan is an insufferable guy but a memorable character in the modern Wild West.

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MORNING SEA

Mazzantini, Margaret Oneworld Publications (224 pp.) $16.99 paper | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-78074-633-3 As in her novel about Sarajevo (Twice Born, 2011), Mazzantini explores displacement and the effect of political chaos on individual lives in this extremely brief but intense story of Libyans seeking refuge in Italy and Italians seeking their lost past in Libya.

The novel divides into three loosely connected sections written in prose stripped down to the essentials. The Bedouin |

child Farid lives in an oasis town on the edge of the Sahara with his young mother, Jamila, and his father, Omar, who installs TV antennas for a living. Although the family is basically apolitical, Farid is vaguely aware that a war is occurring. Then Omar is killed by loyalist troops. Farid and Jamila quickly leave their home. Mother and son survive desert travel and make their way onto a boat they hope will take them to Italy. Farid’s greatgrandfather traveled over the same sea years earlier and never returned, but Farid “looks at the sea and thinks of paradise.”

His hopefulness is heartbreaking in its simplicity. Meanwhile, on the Italian coast, Vito is at loose ends after graduating from high school. His mother, Angelina, a divorced teacher, is an intimidating yet inspiring iconoclast shaped by her experience living the first 11 years of her life in Libya. In a history paper for school, Vito has written about the experience of the “Tripolini”—Italians banished from Libya when Gadhafi came to power. Vito’s grandparents, Angelina’s parents, arrived in Libya separately as children just before World War II. Born in 1959, Angelina considered Tripoli her only home until the family’s forced return to Italy. Angelina’s parents never readjusted

to their native country; Angelina learned to fit in but remained nostalgic. When Gadhafi opened Libya to the West, Angelina visited but nothing was as she remembered. While Vito begins a collage from debris of capsized boats he has collected while walking on the beach, Farid and Jamali spend days at sea, helpless against the elements.

A tragedy for our time.

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Genuinely suspenseful and disturbing. where they found her

WHERE THEY FOUND HER

the kids—sweet-natured Zack and the selfish, incredibly annoying Hannah. Livy became best friends with Julia following the murder of Livy’s younger sister, Kara, who had been Julia’s good friend, and now Julia, a single freelance journalist, is Hannah’s godmother. When Livy and the kids go to Julia’s house and find her dead of an apparent overdose of Nembutal and alcohol, the day after Livy didn’t respond to her messages, she becomes convinced that Julia was murdered. When her investigation shows Julia’s life was both happy and fulfilled and that she had been looking into Kara’s killing, Livy becomes even more convinced that she’s right. McKenzie employs two of the same techniques she used in Close My Eyes: She offers an alternate voice in the form of chapters narrated by the unnamed killer, talking about cruelty to the family cat and all the women he’s killed in sometimes very explicit detail. She also alternates from present to past tense, depending upon which character tells the story, with the murderer speaking in the past and Livy’s tale told in the present. The killer’s story works best, with less self-conscious prose, but unlike authors who foreshadow so much that the reader knows the identity of the killer, McKenzie employs a light touch, surprising readers as they follow along.

McKenzie ups her game in this one.

McCreight, Kimberly Harper/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-06-222546-7 The discovery of an infant’s body rocks a seemingly idyllic New Jersey town in McCreight’s intense sophomore effort.

Accustomed to writing lifestyle articles, reporter Molly Sanderson—a recent transplant to upscale Ridgedale with her English-professor husband and young daughter—never expected her first hard-news story to involve a dead baby. She’s still reeling from her own miscarriage, and when an unidentified newborn girl is found in the woods near the college campus, it hits close to home. Expanding on the alternating-perspectives technique she used in her first novel, Reconstructing Amelia (2013), McCreight slowly lays out the pieces of the grim puzzle, which include Molly’s ever widening investigation; the fears of the town as expertly conveyed through comments left on Molly’s online news stories; and a complex relationship between two teenage girls from different sides of the tracks. At 16, Sandy Mendelson is more mature than her hard-partying mother, Jenna, who thinks nothing of parading a series of men (and drugs) in front of her daughter. After dropping out of school to help earn money for rent, Sandy is trying to get her GED diploma with the help of tutor Hannah Carlson, a high school senior whose life couldn’t be more different. The daughter of Ridgedale’s police chief—who’s a reluctant source for Molly—and a demanding mother, Hannah is a tightly coiled spring. As rumors abound and Molly investigates the town’s—and the college’s—squeaky clean image, the baby’s identity and her parentage threaten to tear Ridgedale apart.

Genuinely suspenseful and disturbing; McCreight delivers a provocative, timely novel that reminds us that sometimes the things that shine the brightest have the dirtiest underbellies.

THE JAZZ PALACE

Morris, Mary Talese/Doubleday (256 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-385-53973-9 A panoramic portrait of jazz-era Chicago, where, against a background of speak-easies, racial tension and gangsters, a Jewish boy with a talent for “the devil’s music” observes and participates in the vibrancy of the day.

Chicago in 1915, inspiration for local writer L. Frank Baum’s Oz, “a place where you could package beef, ship wheat and make a fortune,” emerges as perhaps the most memorable character in Morris’ (The River Queen, 2007, etc.) new novel.

Herself Chicago-raised, the author moves fluidly among the city’s beachfronts and back streets, nightclubs and sweatshops, introducing a sizable cast of characters but focusing on three in particular. The first is Benny Lehrman, born with the century, an instinctive jazz pianist and composer. He first crosses paths with Pearl Chimbrova when both are children, on the fateful day the steamship Eastland sinks in the river, killing 844 people, including three of Pearl’s brothers. Last there is Napoleon Hill, a black jazz trumpeter whose struggles and defiance are part of the novel’s emphasis on racial injustice. All three seek escape, Benny and Napoleon in their music, Pearl in the deep waters of Lake Michigan, where she swims. Their destinies are intertwined with the city’s history, evoked by Morris through events large and small and the presence of famous figures: Rudolf Valentino, Louis Armstrong, Leopold and Loeb, and, of course, Al Capone. Sometimes evocative, sometimes overburdened by research, this is fiction as urban biography, the city’s hectic

YOU CAN TRUST ME

McKenzie, Sophie St. Martin’s (336 pp.) $24.99 | $11.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-250-03399-4 978-1-250-03398-7 e-book

Children’s-book author McKenzie follows her first adult novel (Close My Eyes, 2013) with another intense thriller.

Livy’s best friend, Julia, both texts and calls her, saying that she needs to speak to her right away, but Livy ignores her pleas. Livy’s having issues of her own: She’s about to attend an office party with her husband, Will, where she’s going to have to meet Catrina, a woman Will had an affair with six years earlier. Livy almost left Will when she found out about the affair, but she stayed for 26

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THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE

years connected via the hazy, overlapping fates of three particular faces in the crowd.

Atmospheric but amorphous, Morris’ restless novel works hard to encompass a cultural moment.

Packer, Ann Scribner (448 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4767-1045-7

NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE

A young doctor buys a piece of land in a place that will later be known as Silicon Valley, building a house that will shape his family for decades.

Packer (Swim Back to Me, 2011, etc.) is an expert at complicated relationships; she likes to show more than two sides to every story. Who’s responsible for the fracturing of the Blair family? The obvious answer is Penny, a woman oppressed by domesticity, who retreats from her husband and four children to spend all her time in the shed—she calls it her studio—where she works on collages and mugs made of too-thick pottery, eventually even sleeping there. Or could her husband, Bill, a pediatrician with endless patience and empathy for kids, have pushed his wife away? Perhaps it was James, the youngest (and unplanned) child, a holy terror from the day he was born, who tipped his family over the edge. In beautifully precise prose, Packer tells the Blairs’ story, alternating chapters between the past, when the children were young, and the present, four years after their father’s death, when they each get a chance to tell their own stories in the first person. While James has bounced around the world, his siblings—Robert, a doctor; Rebecca, a psychiatrist; and Ryan, a teacher—all live near their childhood home, which James wants to sell. Emotions have never had so many shadings as in Packer’s fiction; she can tease apart every degree of ambivalence in her characters, multiplying that exponentially when everyone has different desires and they all worry about finding fulfillment while also caring for each other—except, perhaps, Penny. But though we rarely see Penny’s perspective on why she withdrew from her family, we can fill in the blanks; it’s the 1960s and ’70s, a time when women were searching for a larger role in the world. Packer seems to set Penny up as the villain, but even that view becomes complicated by the end.

When you read Packer, you’ll know you’re in the hands of a writer who knows what she’s doing. A marvelously absorbing novel.

Nevill, Adam St. Martin’s (640 pp.) $26.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 28, 2015 978-1-250-04128-9 978-1-4668-3739-3 e-book British author Nevill (House of Small Shadows, 2014, etc.) out-Kings Stephen in this intense tale of séances, houses of ill repute and pervert convicts captured

by The Other.

Stephanie Booth is “a minimum wage temp, who couldn’t afford to go to university.” She rents a room at 82 Edgehill Rd. in Birmingham—a dwelling once occupied by The Friends of Light spiritualist group and then by the Bennets, a midcentury father/ son pair of pimps and murderers. The current landlord, Knacker McGuire, “bloodless face...slit-eyed sneer,” gives Stephanie a room which “looked like the scene of a potential suicide following an occupant’s long period of depression, isolation and poverty.”

But it’s Knacker’s cousin, Fergal, “haggard and feral,” whose perversions reveal to Stephanie that she resides in a house of horrors, one inhabited by the spirit of Black Maggie, a creature rooted in ancient fertility rites. Stephanie’s an empathetic protagonist, killing her way out of peril, but Nevill’s most vivid character is Knacker, right down to his Brummie (“bovver wiv all vat”) accent.

Stephanie, free of the Edgehill horror, grows rich on book and film rights, reinventing herself as Amber Hare. However, even after settling in southern England, Stephanie’s nightmarish apparitions convince her that “the poor souls...had followed her from their wretched graves in Edgehill Road.” Overwhelmed by “fear, regret, anxiety, hope and despair,” Stephanie/Amber learns “the Bennets and Fergal [were] mere tools, homicidal tools...for something that found them useful.” Tensions are high, the settings are ominous, and Nevill even offers cogent social observations, such as Stephanie learning that “everything she took for granted...like cooperation and manners and civility and privacy and laws,” is lost when notoriety arrives.

A macabre, otherworldly tale of a young woman “swallowed whole and alive by the horror that refused to be sated.”

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THE THRILLING ADVENTURES OF LOVELACE AND BABBAGE The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer

WHEN THE NIGHT COMES

Parrett, Favel Atria (256 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-4767-5489-5

A soulful fictional homage to a beloved Antarctic vessel, from Australian author Parrett (Past the Shallows, 2014).

The red-hulled Antarctic supply ship Nella Dan, like its fictional counterpart, was decommissioned and sunk in the mid-1980s after running aground on the sub-Antarctic island of Macquarie. In Parrett’s second novel, the Nella Dan brings together, however temporarily, a broken Australian family and a Danish sailor. Teenager Isla, her unnamed younger brother and her mother (known only as Mum) move to Hobart, Tasmania.

The implication is that Mum has left the children’s father. (The precise nature of the domestic difficulties will emerge but is not the main focus here.) Watching as Nella Dan docks in Hobart, Isla notices a man on deck waving to her. From there, a series of vignettes narrated in turn by Isla and the man who waved—Bo, the ship’s chief cook—reveal in small, earthy details how kind people can be. Somehow Bo meets Mum, and while he’s in port, he tries to be a father to her children. He shows them how to shell walnuts with a pocketknife, introduces them to the warm delights of Nella Dan’s kitchen, gives Mum cooking tips, and encourages Isla, as she enters high school, to pursue science.

From the ship’s logs we learn the progress of the Nella Dan as she transports personnel to and from an Antarctic research station, making frequent stops in Hobart, and spends weeks trapped in ice. Although all hands survive Nella Dan’s final mishap, she is scuttled by her owners. Bo—who, like his father before him, joined Nella Dan’s crew as a teenager—is a gentle giant, and Mum, though apparently grateful for the help and companionship, is too damaged by her history to let him join her family. All these facts are approached obliquely, without any trace of sentimentality. Although the specter of child endangerment does arise—the brother is menaced by a white van, a young schoolmate is hit by a car—Parrett’s emphasis is on the opposite: child nurturing in whatever unexpected guise it may occur.

An accretion of exquisite moments.

Padua, Sydney Illus. by the author Pantheon (320 pp.) $28.95 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-307-90827-8

An audaciously imagined alternate history of the invention of the computer—in 19th-century Victorian England.

This graphic novel, written and illustrated by an artist and computer animator, begins with a sliver of fact—the brief, apparently unproductive “intellectual partnership” between Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage. She was 18 when they met, the daughter of Lord Byron, steered toward mathematics and science in order to avoid the irrationality and even madness of poetry and, in her words from the novel, “redeem my father’s irrational legacy.” He was a 42-year-old mathematics professor, “a super-genius inventor” according to the narrative, committed to developing “the radical non-human calculating machine.” “In a sense the stubborn, rigid Babbage and mercurial, airy Lovelace embody the division between hardware and software,” explains one of the voluminous footnotes (and endnotes) that take even more space than the graphic narrative. The historical version, such as it is, takes less than a tenth of the book, ending with Lovelace’s death from cancer at age 36, having written only one paper, while Babbage “never did finish any of his calculating machines. He died at seventynine, a bitter man. The first computers were not built until the 1940s.” Yet the historical account merely serves as a launching pad for the narrative’s alternative history, as the “multiverse” finds the development of oversized, steam-driven computers, with huge gears and IBM-style punch cards. The “Difference Engine” that Babbage conceived and Lovelace documented was initially championed by Queen Victoria, and Padua develops an account that encompasses the literary development of Samuel Coleridge, Charles Dickens, George Eliot and Lewis Carroll. Like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, readers can get lost in the explosion of imagery and overwhelming notes that document the history that never was.

A prodigious feat of historically based fantasy that engages on a number of levels.

PORTRAIT OF A MAN KNOWN AS IL CONDOTTIERE

Perec, Georges Translated by Bellos, David Univ. of Chicago (144 pp.) $20.00 | Apr. 6, 2015 978-0-226-05425-4

“Leonardo is dead, Antonello is dead, and I’m not feeling too well myself.”

Thus we read in French experimentalist Perec’s long-forgotten, rejected debut, now rescued from the dustbin of literary history.

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One sympathizes with the Gallimard editor who turned the book down nearly 60 years ago for its “excessive clumsiness and chatter.” Though there’s no real sign of the Oulipo extravagance that would follow, there’s plenty of busy wordplay, a plot that’s not always coherent, and a curiously doubled narrative that turns from internal monologue, complete with bursts of furious paddling down the stream of consciousness (“A single movement and then curtains....One thrust would be enough....His arm raised, the glint of the blade...a single movement”), to more or less ordinary expository prose, though always with a twist.

(Or a thrust, for that matter.) The plot, as it is, is fairly slender: A well-born young man with mad skills and loose ethics meets up with an art forger and goes to work revising the history of the Renaissance, churning out an occasional impressionist masterpiece in the bargain, while keeping his cover working the legit side of the art world. Naturally, young Gaspard soon aspires to outdo himself, creating a supposedly unknown work by an Italian master that will be the glory of his career—and accepted at once as the real goods. Blood figures into the plot, as does then Communist Yugoslavia. Not surprisingly, given the time of composition, there are some Camus-ian moments (“Nothing is easy.

Nothing is quick. Everything is wrong.”). There are also plenty of loose threads, befitting a work that recounts “the double, triple, quadruple game of a fake artist pastiching his own pastiche.”

The translation is pleasingly idiomatic, the translator’s introduction illuminating. Perec’s yarn, though, will largely be of interest to students of postwar French literature and social history, who will find that it makes a nice if not especially memorable puzzle.

BMW sedan.” In a nice piece of plotting, Corderoy’s roommate, Tricia, embeds near Montauk’s unit, and Mani migrates back from Seattle to her Massachusetts roots, not far from Corderoy in Cambridge. The authors give these principal women enough of their own growing up to balance all the manning up by the male leads. There are many nice touches in the writing, including a witty show and tell concerning female anatomy at a difficult moment and some Shandy-esque fun with display pages for Wikipedia entries and military forms. Minor cavils concern a simplistic sense of politics that yet might be age-appropriate for the characters and a fairly restrained rendering of the occupation, surprising given that Kovite in real life occupied the same role as his character and clearly wrote the words “a hundred horrific possibilities every single day.”

That two different writers are at work is sometimes apparent but not bothersome given that two distinctive characters are in play, and the overall narrative’s smart and entertaining.

OYE WHAT I’M GONNA TELL YOU

Rodríguez Milanés, Cecilia Ig Publishing (224 pp.) $16.95 paper | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-632460-04-2

Cuban-Americans grapple with the beauty, boundaries and nuances of their cultural heritage in this irregular, multifaceted new collection from Rodríguez Milanés (Literature and Writing/Univ. of Central Florida; Marielitos, Balseros and Other Exiles, 2009, etc.).

These characters’ lives all intersect with Cuba—whether they have immigrated to it, been exiled from it, never known it, or lived and died within its shores. And, given current events, there may be no better time in recent memory for this chorus of voices to resound. Here, tradition collides with modern ideals on and off the island, and all of them implore all of the others to listen to what they have to say. In the opening story, “Niñas de Casa,” girls are undone by the men around them, and one young woman develops a ferocious resolution to do right by their memories. (The theme of men and women being haunted by machismo’s innocuous and terrifying iterations appears throughout.) An aging mother laments her grown children’s choices and longs to give homes—and second chances—to kids who have been stranded at the U.S.–Mexico border (“Poor and Unhappy”). A gay man tries to explain to his sister that his niece’s boyfriend might be gay as well (“Who Knows Best”).

A teenager leaves Florida to visit her summer fling in the frozen New Jersey winter (“Big Difference”). A tough-talking girl invites her Haitian boyfriend to Thanksgiving dinner with her family, with heartbreaking results (“The Law of Progress”). The characters are in turn trapped beneath the details of their identities—Cuban, American, male, female, straight, queer, oldfashioned, forward-thinking, religious or not—and uplifted by them. The stories that don’t work fall flat and seem uncertain of their own purpose. The stories that do work, however, are

WAR OF THE ENCYCLOPAEDISTS

Robinson, Christopher & Kovite, Gavin Scribner (448 pp.) $26.00 | May 19, 2015 978-1-4767-7542-5

Two “twentysomethings of early-millennium Seattle” take different paths to maturity in this likable, highly readable, double-bylined coming-of-age first novel.

Mickey Montauk and Halifax Corderoy are best buds sharing a large house and a sense of irony that leads them to put on faux art shows as “The Encyclopaedists,” complete with their own Wikipedia entry. When Corderoy dumps his girlfriend, Mani, before leaving for grad school, Montauk helps her through the aftermath of an auto accident before he heads overseas as an Army lieutenant in the Iraq occupation of 2004. Chapters alternate between Corderoy’s ill-prepared and humorous immersion in lit-crit seminars and his friend’s hard-edged life amid the threats and slaughter of insurgency. Both areas have fun with the lingo.

A four-page analytical romp through Star Wars dips into New Criticism, Marxist theory, post-colonialism and semiotics. The military’s love of shorthand gets a workout: “LN sources indicate coordinated attack mixing VBIED with SAF. BOLO for a silver |

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Personal tragedy meets the tragedy of our time in Roe’s winning debut novel. the miracle girl

LITTLE BASTARDS IN SPRINGTIME

high-wire balancing acts, a blend of sorrow, wit and loveliness, and the kind of real that catches in a reader’s throat.

Uneven at times, but when it sparks, it catches fire.

Rudolph, Katja Steerforth (400 pp.) $16.00 paper | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-58642-233-2

THE MIRACLE GIRL

Roe, Andrew Algonquin (336 pp.) $24.95 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-61620-360-3

A boy survives the 1992 siege of Sarajevo and finds refuge, if not peace, in North America.

Jevrem Andric is 11 when his family endures four years of “the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern war.” Depicting their suffering through Jevrem’s eyes, Rudolph uses remarkable historical research to craft a deeply affecting psychological portrayal of the cost of war upon one boy, his family and the society they are later thrown into. His mother is Croatian, a pianist; his father is Serb, an activist and journalist. In short time the family goes from protesting in the street and playing concerts to starving in a basement without medicine. Jevrem witnesses rape and sees his friends killed. Half his family, which includes his war-hero Communist grandmother, an older brother, and two younger sisters, dies in the war, a fight among “Muslim paramilitaries, Croatian paramilitaries, the JNA, Serbian police, and irregulars.” The dead haunt Jevrem after his escape to Canada, where he gets high and robs people in Toronto with fellow refugees who dub themselves “the Bastards of Yugoslavia” because “it’s what the nationalists who took over our country” called children of mixed parentage. Rudolph deeply inhabits Jevrem, a highly intelligent teen with PTSD, modulating the prose subtly as the boy ages, showing great restraint as a stylist in order to let the effects of war drive each scene. After a brutal stint in juvenile detention, Jevrem finds himself once again in an idealistic family placing hope in revolution, ending a story sure to make readers tremble at the cost of war paid by children “scattered across the world, figuring things out, finding stuff to do, forgetting and remembering, trying to get by.”

A first-rate novel about the horrors of nationalism, as moving as it is instructive in its historical import.

Personal tragedy meets the tragedy of our time in Roe’s winning debut novel.

A girl falls down a well, captures national attention and is saved. A boy survives a tsunami. What happens to such people? Roe builds to a mournful answer: They make lists. They live, and then, like but not like the rest of us, they die. In the case of young Anabelle Vincent, death was part of the bargain from the moment she slipped into a coma— and into the international spotlight. Just as every unhappy family is different in its unhappiness, per Tolstoy, so Anabelle’s is always on the verge of implosion: “You leave a family once,” writes Roe, wisely. “But then you leave them every day after that, too.” Mom, who’s “always felt an allegiance to the place where she’s from, even if there isn’t much there,” may share Dad’s desperation, but there’s nothing like a crisis to bring people together. And as for Anabelle, well, she’s always been an enigma, and now, unconscious, even more so. What’s happening behind those closed eyes? The world conjectures, and waits, the event of Anabelle’s slipping into a different reality providing the excuse for all kinds of questers—women whose daughters are lying ill with cancer, fathers with children fighting overseas—and for all kinds of cads and quacks. Roe’s story, with its careful unfolding, looks behind the psychology of the “victim soul” to examine why it is that needful people crave miracles in the first place; it’s an old question, and writers as diverse as Chaucer and Flannery O’Connor have had their go at it, putting him in good company. But though an old question, Roe’s story feels just right for our desperate and despairing time, when a miracle—any miracle—will do, and when Anabelle may have been better off, after all, not to know what was going on on this side of the curtain.

Lively, pitch-perfect and assured. Readers will be wanting to hear more from this writer.

HAYMAKER

Schuitema, Adam Switchgrass Books (300 pp.) $17.95 paper | Apr. 15, 2015 978-0-87580-719-5 Libertarians decide to take over the town of Haymaker on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but the locals have a decidedly different opinion about the wisdom of this move.

The Freedom Congress, a libertarian organization of six members, has been looking for a congenial place to settle where they can put their political philosophy into action. After much study they choose Haymaker for its allAmerican flavor, its lax zoning laws and what they perceive as

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The world is altered by a pandemic in which blonde women attack the people around them in this smart thriller. the blondes

a culture amenable to libertarianism. The leader of the group is Gorman Tate, a ponytailed, charismatic figure who tends to stay in the background when they and some sympathetic followers move to Freedom Springs, as they dub their corner of Haymaker. Much more directly involved in Haymaker politics is Josef Novak, a Freedom Congress member who winds up running for mayor. While the local community is scarcely welcoming, there is nevertheless a variety of attitudes toward the newcomers ranging from begrudging respect to utter hostility. The hostility comes from Donnie Sarver, a young man who owns a towing business and whose dislike of the libertarian contingent borders on the xenophobic. Ironically, Haymaker prides itself on its independent past, for it arose from a tumultuous culture of lumbermen, “gamblers, prostitutes, and miscellaneous roughnecks”—each September the town celebrates this past in “Boomtown Days”—but this romanticized history can’t really accommodate what the townspeople perceive as a very real threat to their future.

Thoughtful fiction with an unusual political twist on the theme of insiders vs. outsiders.

the mistress and wife at each other’s throats—are utterly recast, and nestled in the wry political commentary are moments of pure horror.

A nail-biter that is equal parts suspense, science fiction, and a funny, dark sendup of the stranglehold of gender.

WHISPERING SHADOWS

Sendker, Jan-Philipp 37 Ink/Atria (352 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-4767-9364-1

Sendker’s most recent offering continues his literary love affair with Asia, this time following two broken men and the ways in which their lives intersect.

After Paul and Meredith Leibovitz’s little boy, Justin, dies of leukemia, the couple breaks up, and Paul withdraws from life almost entirely.

He buys a house on Lamma, an island that’s a ferry ride from Hong Kong, and every year he climbs a peak he used to hike with his son. On one such trip he meets Elizabeth Owen, an older woman whose son Michael, who lived in Hong Kong to manage their family business, has disappeared in Shenzhen; Elizabeth and her husband, Richard, are in Hong Kong looking for him. Elizabeth asks Paul to help her, which he reluctantly agrees to do. Since Justin’s death, he’s associated with almost no one except Christine, a Hong Kong–based single mother, and Zhang, a homicide detective in Shenzhen. Once Paul brings Zhang into the investigation, they discover that a foreign man’s body has been found in a park, and a shadowy and prosperous businessman named Victor Tang may be involved. Much of Sendker’s story rests on the shoulders of Paul and Zhang. As broken as Paul in his own way, Zhang continues to confront demons from his past—demons that have left him to atone for terrible guilt from the actions, and inactions, of his youth. The story is rich with detail about Chinese culture and cuisine, but the pacing is very, very slow, and while Sendker’s descriptive passages are beautiful and absorbing, sometimes the book feels more like a travel guide than a suspense novel.

This novel explores a side of Hong Kong tourists rarely experience, but it has a conclusion that feels rushed despite action that moves at an almost glacial pace.

THE BLONDES

Schultz, Emily Dunne/St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-250-04335-1 978-1-466-84146-8 e-book A Canadian grad student, newly pregnant with her married professor’s baby, must navigate a world altered by a pandemic in which blonde women attack the people around them in this smart new literary thriller from Schultz (Heaven Is Small, 2009, etc.).

On her first day in New York City, Hazel Hayes discovers her unexpected pregnancy, dyes her hair orange and sees a businesswoman drag a young girl to her death on the subway tracks.

At first, it seems like a random act of violence, but soon, the streets are filled with women and girls acting rabid, killing people and perishing themselves. The only thing connecting the infected? Their (natural, dyed, highlighted) blonde hair. Hazel is recounting these events—and her herculean struggle to get home to Toronto as the disease tears across the world—months later to her unborn child while holed up in a cabin with her professor’s wife. The premise seems ludicrous—almost as if it’s not meant to be taken very seriously—but that’s intentional, and Schultz plays with this expectation. Before a violent attack at JFK, Hazel witnesses a group of flight attendants preparing to strike. She attempts to describe the scene and then stops. “You see, I’m not telling this right,” she says. “It sounds comical, even to me. Part of the difficulty has to do with the fact that they were very beautiful women.” This is the best kind of satire: The disease doesn’t stand in cleanly for any single idea but rather an amalgamation of double standards, dismissals, expectations, abuses, and injustices large and small that any woman will recognize. What could be sexist clichés—the student/professor affair,

EARLY WARNING

Smiley, Jane Knopf (496 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-307-70032-2

Opening with the 1953 funeral of patriarch Walter, Smiley follows the Langdon family introduced in Some Luck (2014, etc.) through its second and third generations. |

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Only steady second son Joe stayed home on the Iowa farm; he watches the land soar in value during the 1970s, though the farmer fatalism he inherited from Walter is justified when crop prices tank in the ’80s. Brilliant, predatory older brother Frank rises through the Manhattan business world while wife Andy raises their kids on automatic pilot, devoting her principal energies to psychoanalysis and worrying about nuclear war. Lillian has the happiest marriage among the siblings, though husband Arthur’s employment at the CIA provokes several crises of conscience. Observing them all in her customary critical spirit, widowed Rosanna cautiously expands her horizons, learning to drive and paying a visit to youngest son Henry, a gay academic, in Chicago. His sister Claire finally dumps her husband in 1979, after years of never talking back. “He had failed to pass the test,” she judges, “not daring to recognize that all was changed.”

Smiley’s narrative web snares almost every major postwar social change, and inevitably there are some generic touches: One member of the third generation is killed in Vietnam, another gets involved with Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple. Such boilerplate is generally redeemed with nicely specific details, as when Andy imagines the impending nuclear apocalypse to be something like the Ragnarök envisioned by her Norse forebears. Each of the large cast of characters has sharply individualized traits, and though we’re seldom emotionally wrapped up in their experiences—Smiley has never been the warmest of writers—they are unfailingly interesting. The surprise 1986 appearance of a hitherto unsuspected relative prompts a semiconfrontation between Arthur and resentful daughter Debbie that reminds us life and love are never perfect—they simply are.

Sags a bit, as trilogy middle sections often do, but strong storytelling and a judicious number of loose ends will keep most readers looking forward to the promised third volume.

even hell’s masters (wherever they are) will tolerate. And when bodies of young people start turning up in such horrifically deformed shapes that their very souls are sucked clean, Fool is compelled both from within and without this underworld to investigate this bewildering serial murder case—which may auger yet another transfiguration of this Very Bad Place. With wit, ingenuity and prodigious timing, first-time British novelist Unsworth imagines an unsettling afterlife that at times feels uncomfortably close to some of the more unbearable regions of our waking dreams. The whodunit aspects of this novel may, in the end, be less interesting than the phantasmagorical details surrounding it. But that’s far less a complaint than a compliment of the author’s visionary gifts.

A grand, nightmarish page-turner that will have you riveted no matter how much you’d prefer to look away.

WHERE WOMEN ARE KINGS

Watson, Christie Other Press (256 pp.) $16.95 paper | Apr. 28, 2015 978-1-59051-709-3

London-born Elijah is just 5 years old when he’s taken from his Nigerian birth mother, Deborah, because of signs of abuse, but he still dreams of her when adopted by the British foster parents— one white, one of Nigerian origin—who are determined to heal his wounds and give him a new life.

Elijah’s much-anticipated birth was a moment of joy for Deborah and her husband, Akpan. But with Apkan’s death a few months afterward, Deborah finds herself alone in a foreign country, separated from her homeland and family. She falls into a deep depression, convinced something is wrong with baby Elijah. Seeking help, Deborah turns to her faith, but Bishop Fortune Oladipo, owner and manager of Deliverance Christian Church, is less interested in helping her than in manipulating this sick, desperate woman out of her entire life savings. Bishop Fortune convinces Deborah that Elijah is “possessed by evil” and needs a series of increasingly expensive and dangerous treatments to “exorcise a demon from Elijah’s body,” one treatment being a bath in a “medicine” that turns out to be skin-burning acid. Even after child protective services removes Elijah from Deborah and places him in foster care, Elijah still believes he has an evil spirit, or “wizard,” living inside him and forcing him to do bad things.

And what Elijah feels the “wizard” wants him to do will have lifeand-death consequences for Elijah and his new adoptive family.

Although there is more than a whiff of exotic otherness in the crafting of the African characters, Watson (Tiny Sunbirds, Far Way, 2011) wins when the love Deborah feels for Elijah comes to the fore. Rather than demonizing Deborah, her story becomes a call for social action in the Dickensian tradition, highlighting the need for better postpartum services, better child welfare services and better mental health services.

A multilayered, sophisticated book that gets to the heart of what family is and what we will do to love them.

THE DEVIL’S DETECTIVE

Unsworth, Simon Kurt Doubleday (304 pp.) $25.95 | $12.99 e-book | Mar. 3, 2015 978-0-385-53934-0 978-0-385-53935-7 e-book Even hell has crime. And somebody has to go through...well, you know...to bring criminals to justice.

Keeping up with changing times, hell is no longer a smoldering, glowing array of cauldrons, ovens and other barbecue pits that smell like brimstone. Think, instead, of the worst city you’ve visited in your life and imagine it being even ickier; where nothing smells or tastes good, public transportation is literally the pits, and there are pesky little demons waiting at every dimly illuminated corner to snap at you and bite your skin. This being hell, there is also a bureaucracy with rules. And when the rules are violated by theft and even murder, hell has at its disposal condemned little people such as Thomas Fool, one of the nether region’s “Information Men” assigned to look into egregious brutalities that not 32

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WISHFUL THINKING

she becomes nanny for Shashi and Samir, the children of Indian royalty, but when they ask her to follow them back to India, her father balks and instead sends her across the Atlantic to live with relatives in Canada. There, she meets the handsome and charming Christian Hunter and embarks on a love story that will consume her for the rest of her life. The narrative hinges on secrets that Gillian keeps from her family and the reader while dangling hints of their magnitude throughout the novel. The main question at the onset circles around her abrupt departure from Canada after spending a blissful, romantic summer with Christian. The story jumps through time, showing the perspectives of Gillian, her granddaughter, Gilly, and Christian. Gillian asks Gilly to piece together her life story in the form of a novel, giving her a trove of notes, letters and original poetry, but when Gilly comes back to consult the source, Gillian is quiet.

While Gillian’s character is memorable—feisty, unexpected and a lover of language—those around her are bland in comparison, absorbing Gillian’s characteristics rather than standing firm in their own rights. It’s the secondary love stories that mark Gillian’s life—her relationship with her granddaughter, her longdistance friendship with Shashi—that make the novel fresh.

The obsession with, and constant reminder of, all that Gillian is withholding muddies what might otherwise be a charming and evocative love story.

Wicoff, Kamy She Writes Press (370 pp.) $16.95 paper | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-63152-976-4

Wicoff ’s first novel is a quirky timetraveling adventure mixed with a treatise on the plight of the working mother.

Jennifer Sharpe’s story is a familiar one: A divorced mother of two, she struggles to make ends meet, sleeping on the sofa bed in her tiny apartment while the boys’ father pursues his acting “career.” She has a rewarding job with the New York City Housing Authority, though her newly hired boss expects private sector hours without the commensurate pay. Her babysitter spends more time with the boys than she does, and her future hinges on even more hours at work. If only she could be in two places at once. And voilà, she can. She loses her cellphone, and when she finds it outside her door the next day, a new app has appeared: Wishful Thinking, An App for Women Who Need to Be in More Than One Place at the Same Time, courtesy of her mysterious next-door neighbor, physicist-cum–fairygodmother Dr. Diane Sexton. Though there’s some talk about wormholes and quantum foam, this is no sci-fi novel, and the mechanics of time travel (and the problematic paradoxes) are left aside to focus on every working mother’s dream come true, killing it at work while baking cookies for the school fundraiser.

Jennifer even finds time for a love life, dating her older son’s dreamy guitar teacher. But of course these Faustian bargains have unforeseen consequences. Jennifer is living three lives in 24 hours (aging her rapidly), traveling back and forth in time to be with the kids after school, stay at work until 8:00 and go on dates with her new beau. Time is beginning to bleed together, and her partner at work (also a mom, but without the handy app) is falling apart trying to keep up. But can Jennifer ever live happily without the app?

First-time novelist Wicoff has a comic touch with this amiable fantasy.

m ys t e r y AUNT DIMITY AND THE SUMMER KING

Atherton, Nancy Viking (288 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-670-02670-8

Once again, something strange is going on in a lovely Cotswold village.

The birth of her daughter, Bess, has kept Lori Shepherd away from the Finch gossip mill lately. As she gets back into the swing of village life, she’s disturbed by the fact that several of the lovely cottages remain unsold and decides to find out why.

Lori has the added strain of a visit by her husband’s unpleasant aunts, who are expected for the wedding of her father-in-law, William Willis Sr., to the delightful watercolorist Amelia Thistle.

One thing that brightens her day is a chance meeting with William’s neighbor Arthur Hargreaves, who fixes her broken pram.

She finds him charming and wonders why she’d never heard of him, no less met him. When she mentions him in the village, however, she’s astounded to hear about a long-running feud started in the time of Arthur’s great-great grandfather Quentin. After a few hours spent in the aunts’ company, Lori’s glad to escape to Hillfont Abbey, where once again she’s charmed by Arthur and his bright, appealing grandchildren. Seeking advice

THE PARTICULAR APPEAL OF GILLIAN PUGSLEY

Örnbratt, Susan Light Messages (340 pp.) $20.95 paper | $7.99 e-book Apr. 23, 2015 978-1-61153-111-4 978-1-61153-112-1 e-book

A brief young love and its impact nearly 60 years later are at the core of Örnbratt’s debut.

Gillian Pugsley (nee McAllister) is a free-spirited and adventurous young woman in the early 1930s. From her childhood home in Longford, Ireland, she is sent to London by her father to live with her sister and later find employment. From there, |

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OH SAY CAN YOU FUDGE

from her otherworldly muse, Aunt Dimity, Lori talks to the villagers about the real estate agent who’s listed the cottages.

What she discovers is some shocking news about her newfound friend that leaves her with some important decisions to make.

As usual, not much happens to Lori (Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well, 2014, etc.), but the slight story is gracefully told.

Coco, Nancy Kensington (288 pp.) $7.99 paper | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-7582-8714-4

Beautiful Mackinac Island provides the setting for a puzzling series of crimes.

Now that Allie McMurphy has taken over her grandparents’ hotel and fudge shop, life on Mackinac is good, although her little dog, Mal, does tend to nose out trouble. A strange message from technician Rodney Rivers that someone has tampered with the Fourth of July fireworks sends Allie, who’s in charge of the display, straight to the warehouse, where she arrives just in time to see Rivers apparently dead before the building seasonally explodes.

Her cuts, bruises and broken finger make her more than willing to accept help from her friends and employees, who take over the fudge making. After Rivers’ partner, Henry Schulte, refuses to help despite his contractual obligations, Trent Jessop, Allie’s handsome, wealthy boyfriend, helps her look for another fireworks provider. When Mal smells out a fire, Allie and the police realize that all the little fires that have popped up in the vicinity are arson and may be connected to the warehouse fire.

Although the police warn her off, Allie and Mal keep finding fires, and she brainstorms with friends in an attempt to find the guilty party. Not only the police, but the killer take due notice of her sleuthing, with predictable results.

Allie’s third (To Fudge or Not to Fudge, 2014, etc.) offers plenty of plausible suspects and mouthwatering fudge recipes. But enough already with the detailed descriptions of every character’s hair and clothing.

A JUNE OF ORDINARY MURDERS

Brady, Conor Minotaur (400 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-250-05756-3 978-1-4668-6126-8 e-book A police detective lands a case that could ruin his career.

DS Joe Swallow is a member of the elite G Division of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. In June 1887, the country awaits the arrival of British royalty to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee at a time when many are fighting for independence. Swallow has gone far for a Catholic. He lost his chance to become a doctor when he drank his way through a few years of college, but he’s a dedicated detective investigating what’s called ordinary crime, that with no political connections. Called to a murder scene in a quiet park, Swallow and his men find two bodies, one a young boy, shot to death, their faces badly disfigured. The next day, Swallow’s friend Dr. Lafeyre, the medical examiner (who’s engaged to the sister of Swallow’s landlady and lover, pub owner Maria Walsh), discovers that the second body is not a man but a woman wearing men’s clothes. Swallow takes a lot of heat from the newspapers over the mistake. With few clues and no identification, he knows it won’t be easy to find the killer. To make matters worse, the country is baking in the midst of an unusual heat wave, and the death of formidable criminal Ces Downes has caused tension between two warring factions of her criminal enterprise. While Swallow is still mired in his first case, he gets another: A woman found in a canal, a servant in the house of the influential Alderman Thomas Fitzpatrick, has been bludgeoned to death. This case is quickly taken away from him because of its political import. But when he finds a link between the two cases, he puts his whole career in jeopardy to pursue them.

Brady’s powerful first mystery novel is evocative of the period. The many aspects of life in 19th-century Dublin are cleverly woven through a baffling mystery.

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GHOST IMAGE

Crosby, Ellen Scribner (320 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-4516-5937-5 A photojournalist searches for clues to a suspicious death.

Freelance photojournalist Sophie Medina has recently moved from London to Washington with her ex-CIA husband, Nick Canning, who’s off on a trip as a troubleshooter for an oil company. Sophie’s photographing a high-society party thrown by Sen. Ursula Gilberti to celebrate her daughter Yasmin’s engagement to Archduke Victor Hauptvon Vessey. Sophie’s friend Brother Kevin, a Franciscan friar wellknown for his work on various green projects, is on hand to give the blessing. The conversations range from politics to Kevin’s planned book about gardening and agriculture in Colonial times, and before he leaves, Kevin arranges to meet Sophie at the Tidal Basin the next day, ostensibly to help her with a photo project.

There, he tells her that someone’s been following him for quite a |

Haunted by the death of a vagabond he befriended, a young Icelandic cop vows to learn the truth. reykjavik nights

PRIDE V. PREJUDICE

while, but he gives her no details. After Kevin leaves, Sophie finds a key he may have dropped, but before she can ask him about it, she finds him dead at the foot of a staircase at the monastery.

Searching for answers, Sophie discovers that the key is to a locker where Kevin had placed a book on gardening in the Colonial period, a book that turns out to be worth millions. On a trip to England with her wealthy stepfather, she learns more about Kevin’s quest for missing seeds said to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson, some of which may help to cure Alzheimer’s disease. Now it’s Sophie who’s being followed. She narrowly escapes death several times before her return to the United States, where she can’t be sure whom to trust.

The second in Crosby’s new series (Multiple Exposure, 2013) is a quick-moving mystery with a wealth of fascinating material on gardening in Colonial times and the value of plants in sustaining life on Earth.

Hess, Joan Minotaur (320 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-250-01195-4 978-1-250-02999-7 e-book Bookseller Claire Malloy (Murder as a Second Language, 2013, etc.) gets pissed off at a local prosecutor.

After getting bounced from a jury after a voir dire she thought had not enough voir and too much dire, Claire does what any selfrespecting, educated adult would do: goes on a rampage against Prosecuting Attorney Edwin Wessell, hoping to ruin his case against Sarah Swift, who’s accused of killing her husband, John “Tuck” Cunningham. With no reason to think Sarah didn’t in fact kill Tuck, Claire has her work cut out for her. Sarah trumpeted her frustration with Tuck to anyone who’d listen. She has no alibi, and her explanation—that she somehow slept through the shotgun blast that killed her spouse and simply found his body when she awoke and went to the barn on their organic blueberry farm the next morning—sounds absurd even to Claire. Sarah’s court-appointed lawyer, Evan Toffle, strikes her as someone who “lives in his parents’ basement and has yet to lose his virginity.” And the only witness who offers any alternative explanation for Tuck’s demise is Billy, 4-year-old grandson of fellow organic blueberry farmers William and Junie Lund, who insists that on the night in question, Tuck went to the barn to escape the zombies cavorting in a nearby field. Determined to make a fool of Wessell anyway, Claire persists until a figure from Sarah and Tuck’s past casts a new, more sinister light on his death.

Even a dreamboat husband and a dream house don’t seem to satisfy Claire, whose sulky sense of amour-propre makes her teenage daughter, Caron, seem mature.

THRESHOLD

Ford, G.M. Thomas & Mercer (284 pp.) $15.95 paper | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-4778-2217-3 A beleaguered big-city cop works with and against an equally troubled young woman with the uncanny ability to help long-comatose patients return to life.

Given Grace Pressman’s miraculous powers, you’d think families of hopeless cases would be falling all over themselves to get her help. And a look at her history indicates that many of them have done exactly that. But in order to revive Joseph Reeves from the coma he’s been in for nearly a year, she has to fight off first the SWAT team surrounding his room with the help of his father, Paul, and then Paul’s ex-wife, Roberta, who’s so incensed by the resurrection that she goes tooth and nail for the spectral Grace, the Silver Angel who suffers from albinism. Grace’s path crosses that of DS Mickey Dolan, just back on the job after his wife very publicly deserted him for a female TV newscaster, when he’s assigned the job of recovering Maddie and Tessa Royster from their bipolar mother, Cassie, who’s spirited them away from her ex-husband, Edwin. It doesn’t take long for Mickey to decide that although he may be a powerful city councilman, Edwin Royster is also an abusive molester. So he has very mixed feelings when he realizes that Grace Pressman, whose mother, Eve, founded the Women’s Transitional Center, probably knows where the little Royster girls are. The revelations that follow have a decisive force that makes it clear why Ford didn’t call on one of his series regulars, Leo Waterman or Frank Corso (Nameless Night, 2008, etc.), for this particular job.

If you can accept the hook of Grace’s extraordinary powers, Ford strings the rest of the tale expertly between extended chases and moments of unexpected compassion the characters show each other and eventually themselves.

REYKJAVIK NIGHTS

Indridason, Arnaldur Minotaur (336 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-250-04842-4 978-1-4668-4941-9 e-book Haunted by the inexplicable death of a vagabond he befriended, a young Icelandic cop vows to learn the truth.

Decades before the events of the Inspector Erlendur novels (Strange Shores, 2014, etc.), Erlendur Sveinsson serves on patrol with Gardar and Marteinn, law students working for the police over the summer. Answering a domestic violence call, the young detective is reminded of an unsolved case from a year ago in which a homeless man named Hannibal drowned not far away. It may have been an accident, but Erlendur’s instincts tell him otherwise.

Maybe it’s just because he took a liking to Hannibal. Flashbacks |

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Commissario Guido Brunetti returns to La Fenice for another dramatic encounter with the diva Flavia Petrelli. falling in love

FALLING IN LOVE

depict their budding friendship as Erlendur methodically investigates on his own time. He questions some of Hannibal’s homeless mates and tracks down his sister, a possible lover and a pair of brothers who lived next door to him as a child and may have brutalized him. The deeper he probes, the more secrets he uncovers and the more he suspects foul play. Hannibal’s is the most involving, but far from the only, case that the ambitious Erlendur is tackling. He makes a habit of trawling through police archives to study missing persons cases from the past and present. He’s particularly intrigued by the disappearance of a young woman named Oddny from nearby Thorskaffi that he thinks just might be connected to Hannibal’s death.

Indridason’s prequel unfolds with the same precision, economically depicted characters and authenticity as his Inspector Erlendur novels, but a livelier energy replaces the middle-aged Erlendur’s noir melancholy.

Leon, Donna Atlantic Monthly (256 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-8021-2353-4 Commissario Guido Brunetti returns to La Fenice for another dramatic encounter with the diva Flavia Petrelli.

In his first appearance (Death at La Fenice, 1992), Brunetti looked into the murder of an eminent conductor, proving that Flavia wasn’t the killer. A few years later, in Aqua Alta (1996), he saved her female lover’s life. Now Flavia’s back in Venice, and trouble follows as surely as the pigeons flock to Piazza San Marco.

Someone has been showering her with too many yellow roses at performances around Europe, and things get creepier when she finds flowers by the door of the apartment she’s borrowing in her friend—and former lover—Freddy’s palazzo, especially when Freddy tells her he hasn’t let anyone into the building. Then a voice student Flavia had complimented at La Fenice is pushed down the steps of a bridge, and Freddy is attacked. Brunetti needs to find Flavia’s stalker (a strange word the computer-phobic detective finds mostly on English-language websites when he deigns to give Google a whirl) before someone gets killed. There isn’t much of a mystery here, but there are the usual pleasures of following Brunetti as he walks around the city he knows like the back of his hand; goes home for lunch with his bookish wife, Paola, and their two teenagers; has dinner with his wealthy and surprisingly sensible in-laws; outmaneuvers his dim boss, Vice-Questore Giuseppe Patta; and looks the other way while Patta’s supercompetent secretary, Signorina Elettra, finds the information he needs in a possibly extra-legal manner. Leon begins each of her mysteries with an epigraph from an opera, and she obviously loves placing Brunetti backstage at La Fenice during a performance.

Come for the Venetian atmosphere and backstage tour of the opera house, and don’t worry too much about the crime.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE DEAD

Kelly, Stephen Pegasus Crime (256 pp.) $24.95 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-60598-696-8

Bombing runs by the Luftwaffe are only the most obvious sign of lethal conflict in journalist Kelly’s fine-grained first novel.

July 1940. Despite the proximity of a Spitfire factory, nobody thinks there’s anything in the Hampshire village of Quimby that the Fuhrer would want to destroy. So despite nightly blackouts and air-raid sirens and the heartbreaking absence of so many young men, the locals have plenty of leisure to ask who thrust farmhand Will Blackwell’s pitchfork through his neck, carved a cross onto his forehead and impaled his scythe in his chest. And who beat pregnant infirmary volunteer Emily Fordham to death along the road to Lipscombe. And who treated farmer Michael Bradford, who’d complained that one of his chickens had been stolen and ritually slaughtered, to more of the same. DCI Thomas Lamb and DS David Wallace, both facing running battles in their private lives, wonder whether and how the crimes are related and what Peter Wilkins, the mute teenager who lives on Lord Jeffrey Pembroke’s estate, may know about the case—and may be trying to communicate through his beautifully executed, deeply disturbing drawings of insects. And they can’t help wondering too about the villagers’ 60-year history of summarily executing innocents thought to be witches. As Lamb and Wallace and resentful DI Harry Rivers probe beneath Quimby’s decorous surface for mystery upon mystery—some of them a lot harder to figure out than others—the Blitz is coming closer than they can imagine.

Perhaps too many subplots for Kelly to knit together with complete success but by no means too many to keep readers absorbed to the end.

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BLACK RUN

Manzini, Antonio Translated by Shugaar, Antony Harper/HarperCollins (272 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-06-231004-0 Manzini’s first English translation presents an irascible policeman who’d rather be back among the fleshpots of his beloved Rome than clambering over a piste in an Alpine resort collecting evidence in a snowy murder case.

The mangled corpse that tears Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone from the side of his mistress, Nora, is identifiable only by a tattoo that matches that of the dead man’s wife and business partner, Luisa Pec. Leone Micchichè, the husband who never came home |

Annika’s ninth adventure is a bravura performance that raises Marklund’s game and lifts her above the mystery genre.

the night before, had been married barely a year, but already he and Luisa had big plans. They ran Belle Cuneaz, a successful mountainside bar and trattoria that catered to the tourist trade. Leone wanted to sell some properties he held jointly with his brother Domenico in order to raise further working capital. Luisa had recently discovered that she was pregnant. All that ended when someone shoved a handkerchief into Leone’s mouth, covered him in snow and abandoned him to his fate, which as it turned out was to be run over by a snowcat operator whose machine tore the body to pieces. Rocco’s interest in whodunit is dwarfed by his interest in arranging with his old friend Sebastiano Cecchetti to skim his cut from a marijuana shipment they plan to confiscate, or purchasing appropriate shoes for his unwelcome new case, or making time with the attractive clerk who sells him the shoes, or getting reassigned to Rome at the first opportunity, or joining his long-suffering wife, Marina, in dreaming about Rome in the meantime—though his interests in the Eternal City are clearly different from hers.

The suspects are thin as onionskin, and the culprit might have been plucked from a hat. But Rocco’s detective chops are as authentic as his crabbiness and his matter-offact corruption, and the denouement at Leone’s funeral has to set some kind of record for calculated bad taste.

MURDER IN ELY

Nelson, D-L Five Star (350 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-4328-3043-4

A writer’s visit to Britain lands her in multiple difficulties.

Though she’s American by birth, Annie Young-Perret has spent most of her life in Europe. Her language expertise makes her a nice living as a translator, but history is her passion. She and her bridegroom, French police detective Roger Perret, are visiting England for a book signing for Annie’s newly published historical biography and staying with Janet and Rod MacKenzie, their friends in Ely. When Roger suddenly has a heart attack and needs bypass surgery, Annie is happy to have the MacKenzies’ support—until Rod’s partner in their computer business, Simon Bartlett, is found murdered on his boat and Rod is a suspect. To add to her workload, Annie’s publisher has talked her into doing another history novel on St. Etheldreda, and she agrees despite the tight deadline. She loves the research but doesn’t warm to her subject and despairs of finishing. When Rod takes off, the police are sure he killed Simon.

So Annie and Janet look for ways to prove his innocence. The Ely murder is bumped from the news by a massive hacking attack that takes down the world banking system. Although Annie and Janet don’t connect Rod and Simon to that incident, a soldier of fortune does and is determined to track down Rod. Annie struggles to get Roger used to the prospect of retirement, support Janet in her attempt to run Rod’s business and finish the book on time—all while dealing with the aftermath of Simon’s murder.

Nelson (Murder On Insel Poel, 2014, etc.) combines another fine modern-day mystery with historical information, this time adding action sequences from international thrillers to the mix.

BORDERLINE

Marklund, Liza Emily Bestler/Atria (368 pp.) $16.00 paper | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-4767-7829-7 After returning from three years as a correspondent in Washington, Swedish reporter Annika Bengtzon must contend with the abduction of her husband, Thomas, in East Africa and the discovery of a nursery school mom’s body in Stockholm.

Annika has never been through the kind of ordeal she faces here. The circumstances of the woman’s death suggest there’s a serial killer at work. And the kidnappers are demanding $40 million to spare Thomas, a justice department worker on a delegation to get Kenya to close its border with Somalia. Seeing an opportunity to turn Thomas’ abduction into a boost in circulation, Annika’s newspaper offers to foot the bill—if she’ll file a first-person series on her negotiations with the abductors and her trip to Africa to deliver the ransom. An old journalist friend of hers shows up under false pretenses to get Annika to be a subject in her video report. Meanwhile, Annika’s children are wondering who the stranger in her bedroom is. It’s Thomas’ appealing boss, monitoring the phone—and growing closer to Annika. Marklund fans will find plenty of gripping suspense in the book, which boasts a doozy of a climax. Some mystery readers may be put off by the broad strokes of humor she employs in nailing the desperation of the post-Web newspaper culture and holding Thomas accountable for his philandering ways— even as he is being threatened with dismemberment. But most readers should find the book irresistible. In balancing the sharp shifts in tone, Marklund is masterful.

A PALETTE FOR MURDER

Ryan, Vanessa A. Five Star (242 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-4328-3041-0

An insurance claims agent is drafted to play detective, first by her own company and later by the owner of a tony art gallery.

Lana Davis’ problems start when her boss, Charley, insists that she’s the ideal person to fly to Santa Fe to track down Antonio Chavez, cousin to First Century Life’s client Miguel Garcia and rival to Garcia’s claim on his great-aunt’s insurance |

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THE CHILDREN RETURN

policy. Lana has no idea how to conduct a missing person investigation, but she’s worn down by Charley’s insistence and encouraged by a wan hope of rekindling her relationship with her old flame Alan Finley in Santa Fe. Her first foray into detection isn’t promising: When she gets to Chavez’s address, she’s shot at by an old geezer, then shaken down for $500 in rent the geezer claims “Lefty” owes him. In the meantime, Angelica, Lana’s only other lead to Lefty’s whereabouts, is shot dead outside the hotel where she works. With these credentials, you have to wonder why, after meeting her briefly at a party, Carone Merryweather recruits Lana to find a Picasso that’s been pilfered from the stockroom at Merryweather Galleries. At any rate, Carone chics Lana up in some of her old designer dresses adroitly enough to allow Rodney Bracken, Clyde Posten, Marny Jenkins and the rest of the Merryweather staff to swallow her cover story that she’s a curator.

Lana’s further efforts at detection, which consist mainly of getting locked into closets, stall on both fronts, until a lucky break helps her make a connection that cracks the case.

Although its denouement is more “way out” than some of the abstract canvases Carone handles, Lana’s debut is still good fun.

Walker, Martin Knopf (336 pp.) $24.95 | Apr. 30, 2015 978-0-385-35415-8

French police face down jihadis in Dordogne.

Ever since his retirement from maintaining world order as a U.N. peacekeeper in Sarajevo, Benoît “Bruno” Courreges has served as chief of police in the sleepy rural village where he divides his time between solving routine crimes and making soup from the zucchini, peppers and cucumbers he grows in his garden. But the mutilated corpse found outside St. Denis shocks even a seasoned soldier like Bruno (The Crowded Grave, 2012, etc.). And the murder of Rafiq, an undercover cop, is only the tip of the iceberg. The terrorists who killed him were looking for information that would lead them to Sami Belloumi, an autistic savant who disappeared from a school for special needs students in Toulouse. Sami’s on his way back from Afghanistan, where Taliban forces have been capitalizing on his preternatural mechanical skills. But his emaciated frame and the scars on his back suggest that his work building improvised explosive devices may not have been voluntary. With the French, British and American press howling for Sami’s hide, Bruno wants to shield the gentle, confused youth and thinks he may have an ally in Pascal Deutz, the psychiatrist sent to debrief him. The U.S. State Department sends its own debriefer: Nancy Sutton, who both charms and terrifies Bruno. Into this heady mix comes Maya Halévy, a rich Israeli widow looking for the Périgord farm that sheltered her and her brother, David, during the war, for a recipe as volatile as Bruno’s pot-au-feu.

Former journalist Walker’s seventh Bruno entry is as prescient as it is terrifying.

GRAVE CONSEQUENCES

Thurlo, David & Thurlo, Aimée Minotaur (304 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 28, 2015 978-1-250-02900-3 978-1-250-02901-0 e-book A valuable item in a pawnshop provides a motive for murder.

Former Army Ranger Charlie Henry and his best friend, Gordon Sweeney, own Albuquerque’s FOB Pawn Shop. When a Navajo man comes in looking to redeem a squash blossom necklace he claims his girlfriend pawned, they refuse him because he doesn’t have the ticket. A little later he comes back with several heavily armed friends, but the duo, forewarned by security cameras, fight them off, killing one and wounding another. Charlie is surprised to learn that his brother, Al, a tribal police officer, is working on the same case. The necklace belonged to Cordell Buck, a famous Navajo silversmith who was murdered and buried with his creation. Alas, Buck wasn’t allowed to rest in peace. His grave was dug up, his body burned, and his necklace stolen. Al’s gone undercover trying to get in with a gang of carjackers known as the Night Crew while also looking for Buck’s killer. Charlie and Gordon, who’ve worked with the police before (The Pawnbroker, 2014, etc.), set out to find Lola Tso, who originally pawned the necklace. The gang soon notices their activities and makes several attempts on their lives as they trace its ties to a restaurant owner and his mother, who used to be influential on the Navajo council. The more Charlie and Gordon find out, the more desperate the thieves are to kill them, until even their friends and family are caught up in the danger.

A fast-paced thriller that’s not very mysterious but has plenty of local color.

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A STITCH IN CRIME

Yost, Ann Five Star (232 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-4328-3042-7

Being the temporary police chief of Red Jacket, Michigan, is no sinecure.

Hatti Lehtinen, separated from her lawyer husband, Jace Night Wind, is running a combination bait and knitting shop.

When her stepfather is hospitalized, she takes on his job, never expecting a murder. The town, with its mostly Finnish heritage, is buzzing with preparations for Pikkujoulu, a pre-Christmas festival that may win them a stop on the Christmas train, which would be a welcome boost for the moribund local economy. Heading the effort is Hatti’s stepfather’s best friend, childless funeral director Arvo Maki, who has made a major mistake and several enemies by naming Liisa Pelonen, a beautiful young girl he and his wife took in, as the yearly parade’s St. Lucy. When Liisa is found |

dead in the Makis’ sauna, Hatti steps up to investigate. Suddenly Jace arrives on her doorstep, responding to a call from his grandfather Chief Joseph, who told him that his younger brother Reid had been involved with Liisa. Jace insists that Reid is innocent even though he has a record. Sparks fly as the estranged couple is forced to work together to prove Reid’s innocence. Even though the doting Makis thought she was perfect, Liisa was far from popular. It turns out that she was pregnant, in line to inherit several million dollars and planning to leave Red Jacket. Given so many perfectly good motives for murder, Hatti has her hands full.

Yost (For Better or Hearse, 2012) provides an entertaining combination of mystery and romance with a dose of Finnish tradition.

science fiction and fantasy THE MACHINE AWAKES

Christopher, Adam Tor (416 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-7653-7640-4 978-1-4668-5134-4 e-book Space opera set in the same universe as Christopher’s space-horror yarn The Burning Dark (2014).

Earth is losing its war with gigantic alien machines called Spiders. When the current Fleet Admiral’s plan to use psychic-powered psi-marines to defeat the Spiders ends in disaster, he’s overthrown by hardliners. Then the deposed Admiral is assassinated, so Cmdr. Laurel Avalon of the Fleet Bureau of Investigation tasks agent Von Kodiak to find out why and by whom—particularly when the Admiral’s usurper is immediately eliminated too. But Kodiak’s prime suspect, psi-marine Sgt. Tyler Smith, was killed in action months ago, at the same time Smith’s sister Cait vanished from the Fleet Academy. Cait, hoodwinked by crazy Samantha Flood’s dissident religious sect Morning Star into agreeing to assassinate the (first) Admiral, knows Tyler isn’t dead because she shares a telepathic bond with him. But before she can carry out her assignment, somebody else kills the Admiral. Confused, she flees, only to be captured by Morning Star agents and conveyed to Jupiter, where the Jovian Mining Corporation maintains vast facilities. Here, Flood intends to plug Cait into the JMC’s AI so as to create, or awaken, her god. But the JMC’s shadowy owner has even more unpleasant plans for Cait. And where is Tyler and the thousands of other supposedly dead psi-marines? The plot just about adds up if you aren’t too fussy and ignore the irrelevant discursions and limited action. A far more serious blemish are the characters, so paper-thin they don’t even qualify as stereotypes, |

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what with an insanely overconfident, chortling supervillain and a heroine whose accomplishments involve being duped, drugged, beaten up and plugged into a mind-blowing computer system.

Fans of the previous certainly will want to investigate.

PIRATE’S ALLEY

Johnson, Suzanne Tor (352 pp.) $26.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-7653-7697-8 978-1-4668-5284-6 e-book An urban fantasy set in a mysteriously snow-covered New Orleans.

DJ Jaco has enough problems without all this crazy snow. The wizards, elves and vampires of New Orleans are pretty much at each others’ throats, and somehow DJ and her shifter boyfriend, Alex, keep winding up right in the middle of whatever trouble is brewing. Then there’s her not-quite-husband, the seriously annoying elf Quince Randolph, and her sort-of friend, the undead pirate Jean Lafitte, who is seriously pissed off about the circumstances of his most recent death. Oh, and her best friend, Eugenie, a human who’s still adjusting to the news that Hurricane Katrina broke the boundaries between the worlds, letting preternatural creatures flood the city—well, Eugenie has some news that may destroy the city’s delicate peace. DJ is the perfect engaging, down-to-earth narrator to guide readers through this magical melee, but in this book she mostly reacts to events rather than pursuing a clear goal of her own. Johnson’s (Elysian Fields, 2013, etc.) New Orleans is a fun, fantastical world that should appeal to urban fantasy fans. But this fourth book in a series gets bogged down in political machinations, as her otherwise lively characters deal with the aftermath of events from the third book and take actions that will set up the next. This book needs a stronger narrative drive to keep readers engaged.

Still, the world and characters are appealing, and fans of the series will find enough of its charms here to keep them reading.

THE ARCHITECT OF AEONS

Wright, John C. Tor (400 pp.) $26.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-7653-2970-7 978-1-4299-5168-5 e-book Fourth of a projected six-volume series (The Judge of Ages, 2014, etc.) charting the future history of an Earth threatened by almost inconceivably advanced alien invaders.

Two rival post-human supergeniuses, boorish libertarian Menelaus Montrose and supercilious totalitarian Ximen del Azarchel, laid plans against the Hyades and then retired into

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suspended animation to await the result. They awaken, eager to learn whether humanity defeated the Hyades, as Montrose hoped, or were found worthy of being slaves, as was del Azarchel’s intent. The truth, when they finally learn it—after what seems like hundreds of pages of tedious bickering— proves disastrous for both, since whatever they do, they seem constrained to carry out the Hyades’ designs. Worse, another invasion threatens, this time by the Hyades’ bosses, the Cahetel.

Montrose prepares an elaborate fleet to combat them, while del Azarchel begins a process to transform the planet Jupiter into an intelligence 250 million times smarter than a baseline human.

Montrose and del Azarchel will fight yet another duel. And at the end of it all, 17,000 years remain before a third post-human, Princess Rania, over whom they are fighting, returns from the remote globular star cluster where she has gone to confront the Hyades’ bosses’ bosses’ bosses. Once again Wright provides plenty of intellectual food for thought, with a useful chronology as an appendix, the intent being to emulate such works as Olaf Stapledon’s classic Last and First Men. Inevitably, what plot there is deteriorates into a series of revelations that test the characters—and challenge those readers tenacious enough to stick with it, especially knowing they’ll wait two more books before finding out what happens and who gets the girl.

Impressive, with dull intervals, but for the committed only.

wife. At first, Evan resents Lia’s optimism and cheerful outlook, but as they’re forced together on a string of tours in preparation for the major corporate event, her endless energy begins to affect him, and he might have to give in to their obvious attraction and let a little sunshine into his life—and soul. For her part, Lia’s slower pace on the boat makes her question her choices, and after a series of painful and triumphant experiences she shares with the crew, the clients and especially Evan, her goals begin to shift. Christopher’s second novel is a polished and accomplished success with a terrific mix of romantic chemistry, sexual tension and a touching emotional journey to happy-everafter once two unsettled souls find sanctuary in each other.

A smart, poignant contemporary romance from an author to watch.

THIS GUN FOR HIRE

Goodman, Jo Berkley Sensation (384 pp.) $7.99 paper | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-425-27743-0 When a Colorado mine owner’s family is under attack, his right-hand man/ bodyguard, Quill McKenna, brings in famous bounty hunter Calico Nash to go undercover as a tutor to help protect them, but he finds his heart at risk to the independent woman.

On a business trip, Quill runs into Calico Nash, a renowned bounty hunter he’s surprised to learn is female. His current client, Ramsey Stonechurch, a rich Colorado mine owner, is in declining health and has survived a couple of attempts on his life. Suddenly Stonechurch’s daughter, Ann, seems to be under attack as well, though she doesn’t realize it, since the attempts have been masked as accidents. Quill convinces Calico to come to the Stonechurch estate to protect Ann, under the guise of being a tutor. Once she’s on the property, he finds himself fascinated by her, and when he realizes she reciprocates his attraction, the two fall into a secret affair. But someone is definitely after Stonechurch, and unrest in the mines could be related.

As Quill and Calico investigate labor issues and community disgruntlement while trying to keep the Stonechurches safe, the situation is complicated by Ramsey’s attraction to Calico and Ann’s attraction to Quill, plus a close, quiet enemy no one suspects. Western romance favorite Goodman’s new release includes an intriguing and entrancing main couple whose witty banter and smart interactions keep the reader engaged and invested. The complex story and well-drawn secondary characters polish the package, only slightly tarnished by a big plot element that seems a little too obvious for the sharp Quill and Calico to miss. Nonetheless, watching Quill and Calico come together, risk admitting their feelings and reaching for their hard-fought happy-ever-after is entertaining and satisfying.

Unique and charismatic main characters make this romance a success.

r om a n c e TEN GOOD REASONS

Christopher, Lauren Berkley Sensation (320 pp.) $7.99 paper | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-425-27449-1

Workaholic marketing whiz Lia is forced to slow down when a friend’s injury threatens his charter whale-watching business—as well as her own corporate promotion—and she has to keep the operation afloat with reluctant help from his sexy, vexing brother.

Lia McCabe lives life at breakneck speed. Not only does she have a corporate job with a revered Southern California ad agency, but she also does marketing jobs for businesses in her beloved Sandy Cove. Helping get her friend Drew’s whalewatching business off the ground has been personally rewarding and professionally strategic, since she’s impressed her boss with a unique idea for West Coast client entertainment. But just days before launching, Drew is in a motorcycle accident and can’t captain the boat. Determined to move forward, Lia approaches Drew’s surly brother, Evan, who’s been sailing around the world for a couple of years for reasons Lia isn’t completely sure of, though she knows they are tragic and include the death of his 40

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Rose is torn between entering into a relationship with a man and defrauding him of a fortune. the duke and the lady in red

THE DUKE AND THE LADY IN RED

for years, so when Eve is willing to move into Connor’s new home to help his kids feel more secure, he’s even more humbled. But when a social worker expresses concern over Eve’s single status, Connor proposes a pretend engagement that tumbleweeds into a real marriage, causing an uproar in both families. Eve has always had feelings for Connor, which she was never able to act on since she had inadvertently set him up with Molly. At first willing to do almost anything to help Molly’s children, Eve begins to wonder if her marriage to Connor may be the path to a happiness they never dreamed possible, even with family tensions rising, her professional career as a wildlife photographer in question, and Connor’s and Eve’s fledgling but fruitful philanthropic efforts in jeopardy. Johnston creates some sizzling sexual and emotional tension in her contemporary Western, which launches a new series connected to her popular Bitter Creek Western historicals.

A few details are threaded up a little too neatly in the end—especially a kind of blessing from beyond the grave from Molly—but overall, this is a smart, sexy and satisfying read.

A tense, sensual and conflicted love story set against an epic family drama—worth a read for romance fans.

Heath, Lorraine Avon/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $7.99 paper | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-06-227626-1 Determined to protect her clan of social outcasts, swindler Rosalind Sharpe comes to London with a con in mind but gets caught in a web of desire and deceit with the roguish Duke of Avendale.

When con artist Rose comes to London in time for the grand opening of the Twin Dragons, a former gentlemen’s gaming club now open to wealthy female patrons, she plans on making social connections with a number of rich gentlemen, in hopes of setting them up as future marks. Instead, she meets the Duke of Avendale, and the attraction between them is instant and intense. Torn between actually entering into a relationship with the man and defrauding him of a fortune, Rose decides her family secrets are too volatile to trust him with.

But when her plans go awry and she winds up beholden to him, she discovers that Avendale has a few dark secrets of his own, and he’s far more forgiving of her foibles than she ever imagined, especially after he discovers whom she’s protecting and how honorable her intentions are, even though they’ve forced her into a life of crime. Heath’s latest Victorian-set romance, the last in her Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James Place series, pits two unconventional romance leads against one another, but somewhere along the way, they fall into attraction, then fascination, and then, finally, love. An extraordinary cast of secondary characters is loosely fashioned after some of the most famous human curiosities of Victorian England.

A beautiful, unconventional romance that entwines two fierce, lonely hearts who believed they were unlovable and reminds us of the best and worst of human nature.

SINFUL

Johnston, Joan Dell (320 pp.) $7.99 paper | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-8041-7866-2 Army vet Connor Flynn enlists the aid of his late wife’s best friend, Eve, to help his children feel more secure, leading to an unexpected relationship with one of his wealthy family’s sworn enemies.

After losing his wife, Molly, in a tragic accident, Connor leaves his kids with her parents while he finishes his last tour, then comes home to a custody battle. Winning the case mainly due to Eve, Molly’s best friend and the children’s godmother, who testifies on his behalf, Connor is grateful to the woman who was willing to stand up for him, despite being the daughter of his father’s worst enemy. The wealthy and powerful Flynns and Grayhawks have nursed a feud |

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A HEART REVEALED

STILL THE ONE

Kilpack, Josi S. Shadow Mountain (336 pp.) $15.99 paper | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-60907-990-1

Shalvis, Jill Berkley (304 pp.) $7.99 paper | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-425-27018-9

A vain young woman in the Regency era gets her comeuppance when a mysterious affliction causes her to lose all her hair halfway through her first London season.

Kilpack (Wedding Cake, 2014, etc.) makes her historical romance debut with her first contribution to Shadow Mountain’s PG-rated Proper Romance series. Debutante Amber Sterlington does not lack for admirers. She’s eager to parlay her beauty and sophistication into a dynastic marriage to make her parents proud and perhaps gain a few crumbs of their love and attention. She cares little that she’s stealing the limelight from her sister Darra and thinks love is an unnecessary complication on the Marriage Mart. But her machinations are cut short when a mysterious ailment, which may be familiar to modern readers as alopecia areata, causes her to lose almost all of her hair. Her family banishes her to a rustic corner of Yorkshire, with only her goodhearted and tart-tongued maid, Suzanne Miller, to attend her.

The two become friends despite their class differences and learn to fend for themselves—baking, cleaning and even tending to livestock on their little homestead three miles from the nearest village. Amber learns humility and kindness and ultimately manages to earn the respect of the Honorable Thomas Richards. Thomas is an earnest younger son of a baron who pined after Amber in London even though he didn’t like her personality and is amazed to discover her living in seclusion near his family home in Yorkshire. In spite of the heroine and the hero both being totally unlikable at the beginning of the book, the unusually well-crafted prose draws the reader along, and Amber’s personal evolution makes the book more literary than other romances. Readers of this gentle story won’t miss the steamy scenes it lacks.

A very compelling read.

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After helping her recover from a devastating accident, physical therapist AJ Colten rejected Darcy Stone’s romantic overture; now he needs her help acquiring grants for his program, placing both their hearts in danger.

Dedicated wanderer and travel journalist Darcy is sidelined—and lucky to be alive—after icy roads and an aggressive driver forced her car into a tree. Now, nearly a year after the accident, she’s relatively healthy and mobile but not hale enough to return to her globe-trotting career. While disappointed, she’s grateful to be alive and honest enough to admit that without AJ’s help, she’d still be in a wheelchair.

Weighing her next steps, Darcy is doing a couple of part-time jobs to help pay the bills and fund her passion project of adopting former service dogs and pairing them with emotionally vulnerable patients, but it’s nowhere near the income she made as a journalist. When AJ has the opportunity to meet a potential donor for his pro bono therapy work, he arranges to have a client travel with him to Boise, but the man backs out at the last second. Darcy reluctantly agrees to step in, since her relationship with AJ is tricky. First, he’s her brother’s best friend; second, she has a mad attraction to him; third, she works for him at his clinic; and fourth, she threw herself at him during her rehabilitation and he rejected her, pushing all of her inadequacy buttons. But she also feels grateful and obligated to him and knows this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. AJ isn’t thrilled that Darcy is his best hope for funding since he has a ton of reasons to keep her at arm’s length, reasons that become less compelling as they endure a snowbound weekend and a pretend love affair. Shalvis’ newest Animal Magnetism title leverages emotional conflict and sexual tension into a satisfying romance, while physically and emotionally wounded Darcy learns lessons of love and acceptance that readers will cheer for.

Another romance winner for Shalvis.

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nonfiction THE ROSE HOTEL A Memoir of Secrets, Loss, and Love from Iran to America

These titles earned the Kirkus Star: RAIN by Cynthia Barnett.................................................................... 46

Andalibian, Rahimeh National Geographic (368 pp.) $26.00 | May 12, 2015 978-1-4262-1479-0

BLACK HOLE by Marcia Bartusiak................................................... 46 DAYS OF RAGE by Bryan Burrough.................................................. 49 HEAD CASE by Cole Cohen.................................................................50 THE SPY’S SON by Bryan Denson....................................................... 51 A PASSION FOR PARIS by David Downie........................................52 PIG TALES by Barry Estabrook...........................................................54 Battle Lines by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm & Ari Kelman; illus. by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm..............................................................54 OUR KIDS by Robert D. Putnam........................................................ 69 THE JEFFERSON RULE by David Sehat............................................ 71 THE LIFE OF IMAGES by Charles Simic............................................. 73 THE WORLD IS ON FIRE by Joni Tevis...............................................74 BORDER ODYSSEY by Charles D. Thompson Jr.................................74 THE JEFFERSON RULE Why We Think the Founding Fathers Have All the Answers

Sehat, David Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $27.00 | May 12, 2015 978-1-4767-7977-5

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A New York–based clinical psychologist tells the moving story of the life-changing trauma she and her family suffered as a result of the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

For the first four years of her life, Andalibian grew up in the protected space of her family and the Rose Hotel, a luxury guesthouse her father ran for pilgrims on their way to the holy city of Mashhad. Everything changed in late 1978 when her father became entangled in a web of religious and political intrigue involving a woman and her two teenage rapists. The new regime of Ayatollah Khomeini promised a fresh start to what everyone believed would be a more just society. Then Iranian courts charged—and later executed—Andalibian’s oldest brother, Abdollah, for a crime he didn’t commit. To protect the family, her parents told their remaining children that he had gone to America to study; yet the lie did nothing to stop the family from moving into a dark spiral of despair. In the difficult years that followed, the Andalibians moved away from their beloved Rose Hotel. Later, a health crisis forced the author’s mother to seek medical care in London and forced a long period of separation between the author and two brothers.

Even after the family reunited and then immigrated a second time to Southern California, memories of their old life in Iran and of Abdollah’s “disappearance” continued to haunt them.

Her parents, especially her devout Muslim father, were adrift in a Western society they could neither entirely accept nor understand, while alcoholism, drug abuse, divorce and undiagnosed mental illness plagued their children. Through a fierce love that was often tested beyond its limits, Andalibian helped her family understand the necessity of revealing long-held secrets and accepting each other’s foibles and vulnerabilities.

Only then could they finally emerge, scarred but whole, “from its shadows.”

A powerful and uplifting memoir of tragedy and healing.

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reading away the doldrums The doldrums of winter are officially here. I have always thought—and there are likely many who share this sentiment—that February is the bleakest month, a cold, wet, dreary slog toward the promising sunshine and flowery buds of spring. Granted, from my home down South, I may not have much to complain about, but I did my time in New York City, so I can empathize with all my colleagues in the Northeast, especially after this most recent blizzard.

In that spirit, I would like to highlight a trio of illuminating memoirs publishing in February that should provide a little literary light during these desolate weeks before spring finally arrives.

All the Wrong Places by Philip Connors In his follow-up to Fire Season, Connors investigates his brother’s suicide alongside his coming-of-age as a journalist and outdoorsman. The topic may seem dark, but the fierce clarity of the prose and what we called the “unique and brutally raw accounts of his search for connection” burn bright.

Displacement by Lucy Knisley Over the past two decades, graphic memoirs have continued to gain the cultural currency they deserve (see Alison Bechdel, Roz Chast, Gabrielle Bell, Joann Sfar, Marjane Satrapi, Guy Delisle et al.), and Knisley’s story of a Caribbean cruise she undertook with her nonagenarian parents is a uniquely humorous installment in the genre. In our review, we noted that the “storytelling is delightful, combining easy-to-follow layouts with the artist’s unique visual style, vivid watercolors and quirky sense of humor.”

Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly four years since the split of Gordon and Thurston Moore, the seemingly unbreakable husband-and-wife team driving the 30-year success of art-noise rockers Sonic Youth. In her memoir, Gordon tells the story of her artistic journey as a female rocker, punk-rock icon and mother. Kirkus said, “written with the same cool passion she brings to her lyrics, Gordon delivers a generous look at life inside the punk whirlwind.”—E.L. Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction and managing editor at Kirkus Reviews.

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THE HOUSE OF OWLS

Angell, Tony Illus. by the author Yale Univ. (192 pp.) $30.00 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-300-20344-8

Angell (Puget Sound Through An Artist’s Eye, 2010, etc.) combines his skills as a naturalist and illustrator in this chronicle of a family of screech owls that nested in the backyard of his home and became part of his extended family; it’s followed by an account of the unique characteristics of the species.

In 1969, the author and his family moved to a Seattle suburb. He built an owl nesting box strategically placed outside his bedroom window, from which to observe the owls, beginning with their extended courtship rituals in February (when the male perched on the nesting box and called to attract a female) to egg-laying in April and hatching in May. He recounts an incident when the male owl failed to heed his chicks’ begging calls for food, prompting the female to fly out of the nest and knock him off his perch in an adjoining tree. Angell accompanies anecdotes about the owls he observes with illustrations— e.g., a series of drawings showing an owl descending on prey. For more than 25 years, the family observed five different pairs of owls who nested in the box and produced about 50 young. The author gives a solid overview of the 217 species of owls. Their fossil record dates back 23 million years, and their sizes range from ounces to 10 pounds. The author attributes their success as predators to their keen hearing, which enables them to hunt in relative darkness. In one illustration, he shows a great gray owl locating a small mammal covered by a blanket of snow.

Angell also reminds us that the owls he loves have been cultural icons throughout human history, famous as companions of the Greek goddess Athena and even Harry Potter.

A charming personal account, accompanied by nearly 100 illustrations, that underscores how owls and other birds enrich our lives.

LOST DESTINY Joe Kennedy Jr. and the Doomed WWII Mission to Save London

Axelrod, Alan Palgrave Macmillan (304 pp.) $28.00 | May 19, 2015 978-1-137-27904-0

A probing, technical exploration of the competition between the two eldest Kennedy brothers that probably drove Joe Jr. to volunteer for his last fatal flying mission.

Author of a range of histories, biographies and management books, Axelrod (Mercenaries: A Guide to Private Armies and Private Military Companies, 2014, etc.) offers both a thorough chronicle of this celebrated family during the years of Joseph |

Sr.’s stint as ambassador to London as well as a highly specialized look inside the technology that produced the pilotless V weapons (“vengeance weapons”) that terrorized London toward the end of the war. As ambassador from 1938 to 1940—a plum assignment for the former chair of the Maritime Commission that kept him out of President Roosevelt’s hair and far from running for office—Kennedy was known for his pro-appeasement, defeatist stance regarding Britain’s ability to withstand a German onslaught. While his shining eldest son, Joe Jr., largely held his same isolationist views, his sickly second son, Jack, showed more backbone, according to Axelrod’s assessment of JFK’s 1940 Harvard thesis–turned–first book, Why England Slept. Nonetheless, when war broke out, the two sons vied to volunteer for the more dangerous mission: Jack became a PT boat jockey and made a spectacularly heroic mission in the Solomon Islands when his PT-109 was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Joe Jr., on the other hand, jealous, bitter and itching to distinguish himself, went from training to fly the Martin PBM Mariner “flying boat” to joining the top-secret Project Anvil/Operation Aphrodite strategic flying mission, which targeted the launching fortresses of the V weapons at Pas-deCalais, France. Using recycled, war-weary B-17s equipped with bombs, the mission employed highly experimental remote-control technology that frequently backfired—in Joe Jr.’s case, on Aug. 12, 1944, his PB4Y-1 blew up over Suffolk. Throughout the book, Axelrod chronicles both the Kennedy family dynamics and the technology of the aircraft.

Within the frame of this sad family drama, the author delivers deeply technical details of aviation and bomb-making.

two case studies of Washington state and Colorado, possession and use of pot are legal, and the federal-state divide looms very wide—even as the public perception of marijuana is radically changing, such that in 2013, 58 percent of the respondents to a Gallup poll favored legalization. No stranger to on-the-ground research, the author secured a medical marijuana card, and he takes readers on a grand tour of dispensaries, potions, tinctures and his own blown mind: “When you absorb more than 40 years of messages about the horrors of marijuana, walking into a dispensary where it’s all on display, without shame or fear, can be an utterly disorienting experience.” Yet, silly title aside, Barcott’s book is entirely earnest. As the author notes, the feared explosion in crime has not happened in those test-case states, but its opposite has, while instances of racially based injustice and needless prosecutorial expenses have fallen dramatically.

Will the rest of the country follow suit? To judge by Barcott’s useful book, you’d do well not to bet against it.

WEED THE PEOPLE The Future of Legal Marijuana in America

Barcott, Bruce Time Home Entertainment, Inc. (336 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-61893-140-5

Journalist Barcott (The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird, 2008, etc.) goes on a long, strange trip to document the changing fortunes of Big Dope.

Fortunes is the operative word: There’s plenty of money to be made in the marijuana business, and there are countless variations that can be found in the industry trade shows the author pops in on at various points in this engaging book. As he observes, it was the days of Richard Nixon that saw both a sharp upswing in prosecution for drug offenses and a loosening on the edges of various hemp-related crimes. Even in places such as North Carolina, not everyone bought Nixon’s call for the death penalty for dealers, and several states “passed laws that made the possession of small amounts of pot legal or, at worst, a minor infraction.” The pattern holds today: In Barcott’s |

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Highlights the severity of some of our environmental problems with knowledge, humor, urgency and hope. rain

RAIN A Natural and Cultural History Barnett, Cynthia Crown (368 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-8041-3709-6

An environmental journalist returns with a multifaceted examination of the science, the art, the technology and even the smell of rain throughout history.

Barnett, who has written previously about hydrology (Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis, 2011, etc.), has an eclectic agenda for her new work. She takes us back to the Big Bang and then moves rapidly forward, explaining in crisp, evocative sentences why Earth is our solar system’s only habitable planet. She then discusses rainfall issues around the globe before commencing her focus on individual facets of the subject. Barnett writes about historical cycles of drought and flood and how they affected the world’s principal religions—from Noah to Indian rain dances. She segues into weather forecasting, with an emphasis on the meticulous records that Thomas Jefferson kept (she returns to him at various other times). She pauses to tell us about the developments of the raincoat and the umbrella and provides a couple chapters on rain in American history—with details in one chapter about the westward migration, including the difficulties in Nebraska and elsewhere on the Great Plains. A particularly engaging chapter deals with “rainmakers,” from charlatans to scientists. The author then tries to show the influence of rain on various arts, from Chopin to Dickens to Dickinson to Woody Allen. (This topic needs an entire book of its own.) Next comes the scent of rain, the perfume industry in India, and the problems of rainwater in urban areas, with a focus on Seattle and Los Angeles. Barnett also deals with the oddities of rain (frogs falling from the sky), and she ends with some sharp comments for climate change deniers—and with a visit to the rainiest place on earth, a town in India.

Highlights the severity of some of our environmental problems with knowledge, humor, urgency and hope.

LIVE RIGHT AND FIND HAPPINESS (ALTHOUGH BEER IS MUCH FASTER) Life Lessons and Other Ravings from Dave Barry

Barry, Dave Putnam (240 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 3, 2015 978-0-399-16595-5

Humorist Barry (You Can Date Boys When You’re Forty: Dave Barry on Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About, 2014, etc.) departs from the collections of his now-defunct syndicated newspaper column and his goofy full-length novels to write a dozen original essays gathered loosely around a theme: happiness and its discontents.

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In a semiserious introduction, the author notes that the topics of the essays might seem random at first but that they all touch on happiness in some way, however oblique. He carries out his quasi-theme as promised, providing laugh-out-loud moments throughout the book. In one essay, Barry discusses homeownership. Though it may constitute a significant part of the American dream, it is often not a good way to achieve happiness. In the longest essay, about the author’s travel to Brazil, where supposedly friendly citizenry rob tourists regularly, Barry shifts into an exploration of the Brazilian mania for soccer. This then leads into an extended discussion about his daughter, a high school soccer player, and ends with a critique of recent World Cup matches and how futile it was to hate the Belgian team even as its members were defeating the U.S. national team. Additional essays cover Barry’s travels to Russia with fellow writer Ridley Pearson, Barry’s experiment wearing Google Glass, the mindlessness of 24/7 TV news, why Barry’s own generation (he was born in 1947) seems less content than the generation that came before it, advice to his daughter as she reaches the age she can obtain a driver’s license and a letter to his infant grandson centering on the ritual of circumcision.

Needless to say, effective humor is extremely personal.

For those who have found Barry funny in a good way, these latest essays will cause outright, prolonged laughter.

BLACK HOLE How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved

Bartusiak, Marcia Yale Univ. (256 pp.) $27.50 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-300-21085-9

Black holes enthrall physicists and astronomers, as well as Hollywood filmmakers, and readers of this fine popular science account will understand why.

It all begins with gravity, writes Bartusiak (Science Writing/MIT; The Day We Found the Universe, 2009) in this entirely engaging narrative of “the cosmic object [astrophysicists are] most likely to be asked about.” Although the concept of black holes is ancient, it was Isaac Newton who explained it more or less correctly in 1687. By the 18th century, imaginative scientists realized that since gravity was a universal force, light was not exempt. Gravity from a star far more massive than the sun would slow the light it emitted to zero, and it would become invisible: a black hole. They were right—sort of. In 1916, Einstein’s theory of relativity showed that light speed never slows but that gravity distorts space, so light near a large body appears to curve. Examining Einstein’s equations, early researchers calculated that as gravity increases, distortion becomes so great that the light would double back. Einstein insisted that no such invisible star existed, and few disagreed until the 1960s, when astronomers detected quasars: strange, distant objects emitting |

unimaginable quantities of energy equivalent to billions of suns.

These turned out to be supermassive black holes; most galaxies have one, ours included. Formerly a mathematical hypothesis, black holes of all sizes became front-page news, occupying brilliant scientists such as Stephen Hawking and John Wheeler, who revealed that they are a normal product of stellar evolution and even more bizarre than predicted.

Superior science writing that eschews the usual fulsome biographies of eccentric geniuses, droll anecdotes and breathless prognostication to deliver a persistently fascinating portrait of an odd but routine feature of the cosmos.

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THE CHINA MIRAGE The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia Bradley, James Little, Brown (400 pp.) $35.00 | $16.99 e-book $25.98 Audiobook | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-316-19667-3 978-0-316-19666-6 e-book 978-1-47898-262-3 Audiobook

Best-selling author Bradley (The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War, 2009, etc.) uncovers the 19th-century plan to create a “New China” and “Americanize Asia.”

The author clearly feels duped by American foreign policy since the debacle in Vietnam shamed his World War II father and destroyed his soldier brother. In this relentless critique of wrongheaded thinking by government officials who did not speak the Asian languages and had little hands-on experience, Bradley focuses especially on the foreign policy of the two

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Roosevelts. Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905 for negotiating the peace in the Russo-Japanese War, thereby secretly offering Japan the opportunity to swallow Korea and begin its aggressive stalking into China. Franklin Roosevelt was clearly seduced by the Chiang Kai-sheks (Generalissimo and Madame) and the China Lobby into giving financial support that did nothing to resist the Japanese invaders and could not defeat Mao Zedong, whose peasant army had the wide support of the people. Bradley begins with the imperial aggression by Britain and America in pushing Indian-grown opium on the Chinese populace, a lucrative trade that enriched the well-born families like the Delanos (FDR’s maternal side) and caused the two disastrous Opium Wars. While the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese immigration to the United States, prodded by labor strife across the Western states, the Christian missionaries propagated the ideal of a New China, westernized, Christianized and democratized, led by leaders who had studied in the U.S. Ultimately, the China Lobby misled FDR on the true gains of Mao and pressured the U.S. to cut off the oil spigot to Japan, causing it to cast its covetous eyes to the Dutch East Indies.

Bradley delivers a strenuous exposé about the initial building of the “rickety bridge of fellowship crossing the Pacific.” (63 b/w illustrations)

CURSED VICTORY A History of Israel and the Occupied Territories, 1967 to the Present Bregman, Ahron Pegasus (416 pp.) $27.95 | May 15, 2015 978-1-60598-780-4

As the Israeli occupation digs in, an Israeli-English journalist and academic unforgivingly delineates its long, grue-

some history.

Since the book’s first appearance in the U.K. last summer, war between the Palestinians and Israelis has again broken out in a brutal new chapter of this ongoing, inexorable conflict, as noted by Bregman (Department of War Studies/King’s Coll. London; Warfare in the Middle East Since 1945, 2008, etc.), who served in the Israeli Army during its war in Lebanon in 1982. Israel’s manipulative economic system and policies in the Israeli-occupied territories since the victory of the Six-Day War of 1967 gained vast tracts of land from Egypt, Jordan and Syria have allowed Israel, over four decades, to become a brutal occupier. Bregman claims that the time for making a deal with the Palestinians was ripe during the first decade of that occupation, when Moshe Dayan was still defense minister and his “invisible occupation” was fairly benign and tolerant—before the right-wing Likud Party rendered the occupation “irreversible.” However, in short order, Palestinian land was seized by specious legal means, and messianic settlers were allowed to move into the biblical Hebron (West Bank) in 1968, which 48

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Dayan himself recognized later as a catastrophic precedent.

Many of the finer points of the demarcations of territory are in dispute, but what remains is the perceived need by Israel to isolate these regions—e.g., after the barriers were erected between the Golan and the rest of Syria in 1975, the residents climbed to “Hills of Shouts” with megaphones to exchange news between families—severely control their economies, restrict movement and maintain surveillance on their citizens, leading to one angry and desperate outbreak after another by the oppressed. After numerous failed peace negotiations and two intifadas, Bregman asserts pessimistically that it may take “many generations before a true reconciliation takes hold.”

A plainspoken but urgent account that is deeply critical of Israel’s policies. (8 pages of photos)

DANGEROUS WHEN WET A Memoir

Brickhouse, Jamie St. Martin’s (288 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 28, 2015 978-1-250-04115-9 978-1-4668-3730-0 e-book A former New York publishing executive’s darkly humorous memoir about the difficult relationship he had with his mother and the alcoholism that came to

define his life.

Even as a child, Texas native Brickhouse knew that all he wanted was “to be at a cocktail party with a drink in one hand [and] a cigarette in the other.” He also knew that he wanted as much of his larger-than-life mother Mama Jean’s attention as he could get. By the time the author was a teenager, Mama Jean had introduced him to both champagne cocktails and a dazzling New York world she encouraged him to make his own. She also forced him into the role of her “happy little prince,” the little boy who could never express his true feelings. In the meantime, Brickhouse indulged liberally—and at times dangerously—with gay sex and alcohol, while Mama Jean showered him with expensive trips, clothes and a private college education. But her generosity had a price: Anything he did that his mother didn’t like “meant that [he] didn’t love her.” Brickhouse moved to New York to live out the dream to which Mama Jean had helped him give birth. Yet for all his outward signs of success in the publishing industry, in private, the author drank heavily, experimented with drugs, routinely cheated on his long-suffering partner and eventually contracted HIV. Only after a less-than-glamorous film noir–inspired suicide attempt, a stint in rehabilitation— funded by Mama Jean—and his mother’s dramatic decline and death did an older, wiser and newly sober Brickhouse realize the truth. Not only would Mama Jean always be “a bigger star to [him] than Joan Crawford or Elizabeth Taylor,” but Brickhouse would never be able to outrun his attachment to her because it “was love in its purest form.”

Unabashedly campy but always candid.

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A stirring history of that bad time, 45-odd years ago, when we didn’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind was blowing, though we knew it was loud. days of rage

DAYS OF RAGE America’s Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence Burrough, Bryan Penguin Press (608 pp.) $29.95 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-59420-429-6

A stirring history of that bad time, 45-odd years ago, when we didn’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind was blowing, though we knew it was loud.

The 1970s, writes Vanity Fair special correspondent Burrough (The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes, 2009, etc.), saw something unknown since the American Revolution: a group of radical leftists forming “an underground resistance movement” that, as his subtitle notes, is all but forgotten today. The statistics are daunting and astonishing: In 1971 and 1972, the FBI recorded more than 2,500 bombings, only 1 percent of which led to a fatality. In contrast to the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, which killed 168 people, the “single deadliest radical-underground attack of the decade killed four people.”

The FBI, of course, took this very seriously. As Burrough records, it embarked on a campaign of infiltration and interdiction that soon overstepped its bounds, legally speaking. The author takes a deep look into this history on both sides, interviewing veterans of the underground on one hand and of the FBI on the other. He traces the bombing campaign back to the man he deems a “kind of Patient Zero for the underground groups of the 1970s,” who began seeding Manhattan with bombs in the year of Woodstock and provided a blueprint for radicals right and left ever since. It is clear that the FBI has Burrough’s sympathy; after all, many of those who went underground got off lightly, while overly zealous federal agents (the man who would later be unmasked as Watergate’s Deep Throat among them) were prosecuted. The author’s history is thoroughgoing and fascinating, though with a couple of curious notes—e.g., the likening of the Weathermen et al. to the Nazi Werewolf guerrillas “who briefly attempted to resist Allied forces after the end of World War II.” A superb chronicle, long—but no longer than needed— and detailed, that sheds light on how the war on terror is being waged today.

If readers can wade through the mystifying details of the struggle for supremacy between the Burgundians (allied to the English and King Henry V) and the Armagnacs (devoted to Charles of Valois), a reward awaits when Joan finally appears midway in British author Castor’s (She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, 2010, etc.) historical account.

Deciding which side God was on seemed to be the order of the day, and after their humiliating defeat by the English at Agincourt in 1415, the French were hard-pressed to understand why God had chosen the aggressive English invaders to punish them for some unspecified sin. Indeed, Joan was not the first female visionary to appear to advocate for the cause of France. Both Marie Robine (d. 1399) and Jeanne-Marie de Maillé (1331-1414) had broadcast their visions to urge an end to schism. Joan, an illiterate shepherdess at age 16, had left her home village to set out on a mission to speak with the dauphin, housed at Chinon.

Her astonishing claims to have been instructed by God to raise an army and drive the English from France so that Charles could be properly crowned required some testing of her integrity, including her virginity. Her adoption of male clothing seemed

JOAN OF ARC A History

Castor, Helen Harper/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $27.99 | May 19, 2015 978-0-06-238439-3 A fresh attempt to put young, willful Joan the Maid squarely back at the center of the French-English drama of early- to mid-15th-century France. |

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both an aid in riding and waging war and a way to thwart the sexual advances of men, which plagued her constantly up until her imprisonment. Her victories at Orleans, Jargeau, Patay and Meung, sending the English fleeing in confusion, galvanized the soldiers and townspeople, while her capture at Compiègne suddenly indicated that God had forsaken her. Castor carefully combs the record of her interrogation then and rehabilitation 25 years later.

An unorthodox yet erudite and elegant biography of this “massive star.”

PIECES OF MY MOTHER A Memoir Cistaro, Melissa Sourcebooks (320 pp.) $24.99 | May 5, 2015 978-1-4926-1538-5

A debut memoir about a woman’s emotionally charged relationship with the mother who walked away from her marriage and family.

The youngest of three children, Cistaro was barely out of toddlerhood when her mother got into her Dodge Dart and suddenly drove off. She neither called nor acknowledged her children’s birthdays for the first few years of her absence. Only later would she connect with them, but only for short periods of time. When she did, it was often in the company of different men with whom she shared homes as well as alcohol and drugs. Cistaro’s mother was constantly—and painfully—“just out of...reach” of the children who craved her love. The author and her brothers became each other’s main sources of support, and their father did his imperfect best to hold the family together. However, the children each carried a deep anguish that marked them for life. Both her brothers eventually became substance abusers, while Cistaro narrowly avoided a similar fate. She went on to build a happy, stable marriage and family, but privately, she lived with the constant fear that she carried a “leaving gene” that would cause her to want to abandon her own family. When she learned one Christmas that her mother was dying, all her old fears of being left behind resurfaced. The author went to her mother’s side to “hold [the] body” she had not touched since childhood. During her stay, she discovered letters her mother had written but not sent to Cistaro and her brothers. From them, she gained insight into the powerfully contradictory impulses that drove her mother and that often surfaced in herself. The author finally found peace knowing that while her mother ultimately needed to fly free, Cistaro could embrace “the messy, maddening beauty” that responsibilities brought to her life with equanimity and even joy.

An honest and affecting story of the many complexities involved with family relationships.

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HEAD CASE My Brain and Other Wonders

Cohen, Cole Henry Holt (240 pp.) $25.00 | May 19, 2015 978-1-62779-189-2

The story of a woman with a hole in her brain the size of a lemon.

We meet Cohen when she is 26 years old. For many of those years, she has suffered from disorientation, exhaustion, and not knowing left from right, which in turn have given her a shattering combination of insecurity, fear, shame, anxiety and panic. “I can’t judge distance, time, or space, read maps, travel independently without getting lost; or drive...you would never realize that as I’m walking next to you down the street, you are leading us both,” she writes. The author is verbally dexterous, however, and her memoir is rich with yearning and ache, conveying a scrunched sense of claustrophobia and imagery of cinematic quality. Throughout the book, Cohen ably conveys the gravity of her condition: “Being a fuck-up is an excuse as flimsy as it is sturdy. It’s a container for the cluttered detritus of all my smaller mistakes”; “I am thrown into the adult world like a match into gasoline. Burning down everything in my path is an organic reaction.” This is the story of her days from her first diagnosis—with digressions into her youth, when doctors were clueless about the causes of her condition—until today, in her early 30s.

She follows her tracks through college and dialectical behavioral therapy, her tender and grueling first real romantic relationship, graduate school in writing, and the simple, everyday activities that spook her, such as walking out the door. This is not a short period of time, and the writing has a vital compression and severity, which is likely the result of a lifetime of an “anger, sadness, and pain...so epic as to only be properly graphed seismically.” The author also delivers flashes of humor to add levity to the proceedings.

A beautifully wrenching memoir as piercing as smelling salts.

IT STARTS WITH TROUBLE William Goyen and the Life of Writing

Davis, Clark Univ. of Texas (380 pp.) $30.00 | May 15, 2015 978-0-292-76730-0

The first biography of a tormented writer.

Joyce Carol Oates called William Goyen (1915-1983) “the most mysterious of writers...a seer; a troubled visionary; a spiritual presence in a national literature largely deprived of the spiritual.” Admired but hardly popular, Goyen never achieved the readership he coveted, as his difficult, emotionally effuse fiction read like “anguished confessions or emblem-rich sermons.” In this sympathetic study, |

Other than spies, this book has little in common with spy thrillers, but it’s just as captivating. the spy ’s son

Davis (English/Univ. of Denver; Hawthorne’s Shyness: Ethics, Politics, and the Question of Engagement, 2005, etc.) draws extensively on that fiction, in addition to letters, interviews, and a memoir by Goyen’s wife, actress Doris Roberts. Goyen grew up in East Texas and Houston, alienated and lonely. An emotionally fragile child, he was intimidated by his strict father, who quashed his desire to study music and dance. All of Goyen’s work, Davis writes, “can be understood as experimental spiritual autobiography,” centered on characters “set in opposition to the world”: “exiles, loners, kept apart less by a conscious rebelliousness than by an innate but often inexpressible difference.” Goyen felt different, in part, because he was bisexual. Intense affairs with men and the homophobic writer Katherine Anne Porter preceded his marriage to Roberts, at the age of 48. An artist, Goyen said, “is a disturbed, distressed, obsessed human being.” Fellow writer Anaïs Nin described him as “a man in pain...a wounded man.” His efforts to assuage his pain led to alcoholism; his search for spiritual comfort led to a religious conversion that resulted in his writing A Book of Jesus and taking on the role of “an eccentric evangelist,” treating dinner companions to readings from the New Testament.

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Goyen’s “intensely poetic style” may dissuade contemporary readers, but for those who return to his work, this biography offers a thorough and illuminating grounding.

(19 b/w photos)

THE SPY’S SON The True Story of the Highest-Ranking CIA Officer Ever Convicted of Espionage and the Son He Trained to Spy for Russia

Denson, Bryan Atlantic Monthly (368 pp.) $26.00 | May 5, 2015 978-0-8021-2358-9

The uncommon family business of selling information to Russia proves exciting, lucrative and remarkably misguided.

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An adolescent Nathan Nicholson didn’t believe the FBI agents who came to his door and announced that his father had been arrested for espionage. Though he had suspicions that his father might be a spy, he thought the charges of selling secrets to Russia must have been a setup. Nathan grew up idolizing his dad, and even when Jim admitted to Nathan and his siblings that the charges were true, Nathan had a hard time believing it. Convinced there was some other explanation, he remained certain of Jim’s good character and strove to please the father he only saw in prison visiting rooms. After an injury resulting in an honorable discharge from the Army, Nathan went into an emotional tailspin, leaning on his beloved father for support. In need of money and, more importantly, a sense of direction, Nathan agreed to make contact with Russia on his dad’s behalf, asking for money and passing on information from Jim in return. Oregonian investigative reporter Denson, winner of the George Polk Award, traced Nathan’s and Jim’s stories all the way to the beginning, and he spends a good deal of the narrative setting the scene for Nathan’s eventual willingness to betray the country he loved at his father’s behest. The intricate portrait of Nicholson family life makes the father-son crime feel inevitable without ever coming off as dull. Denson puts his reporting chops to good use, packing the book with information but never overwhelming readers and maintaining tension, interest and momentum. Despite a confusing—but thankfully short—digression into a 2010 spy swap between Russia and the U.S., the author proves himself more than capable of taking the leap from long-form newspaper stories to books.

Other than spies, this book has little in common with spy thrillers, but it’s just as captivating.

A PASSION FOR PARIS Romanticism and Romance in the City of Light

Downie, David St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-1-250-04315-3

Join Downie (Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of St. James, 2013, etc.) for a top-notch walking tour

of Paris.

In search of what makes Paris romantic, the author takes us to the 19th century. Early on he notes that Paris may be romantic just because writers, artists and musicians say it is.

But romanticism is not just literary or artistic; it’s also political. Throughout the 1800s, there was a host of activists who mocked the status quo. Victor Hugo based his play Hernani, about adulterous lovers and their unfortunate end, on true life, and as Paris audiences often did, they rioted, opening the war between romanticism and classicists. Throughout the book, the author shares his love of places that he has explored for 30 years. He recounts the lives and loves of Hugo, Dumas, Sand, Delacroix and so many others in the romantic shrines of the 52

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Marais, Luxembourg Gardens and the Arsenal Library. Literature of this age reflected the essence of romanticism, where chronology and logical plots were reactionary. The French are complex, ambiguous and contradictory by nature, and they are proud of their weaknesses and faults. Understanding the romantics requires understanding Paris, and searching for the real Paris is part of the journey. On that journey, Downie is the consummate guide. Reflecting on Foucault’s pendulum, the author writes, “the real Paris is of the mind, so it doesn’t exist and can’t age.” The author’s encyclopedic knowledge of the city and its artists grants him a mystical gift of access: Doors left ajar and carriage gates left open foster his search for the city’s magical story.

Anyone who loves Paris will adore this joyful book.

Readers visiting the city are advised to take it with them to discover countless new experiences. (115 b/w photos)

THE OBAMA DOCTRINE American Grand Strategy Today Dueck, Colin Oxford Univ. (320 pp.) $24.95 | May 1, 2015 978-0-19-020262-0

Foreign policy expert Dueck (Policy, Government, and International Affairs/ George Mason Univ.; Hard Line: The Republican Party and U.S. Foreign Policy since World War II, 2010, etc.) explains how presidential doctrines are built and provides a primer on the methodology of establishing foreign policy.

President Barack Obama shapes his doctrine in close connection with his core advisers, with the final decisions always resting with the Oval Office. It is a centralized policy, purposely ambiguous and always with an ear to the ground on domestic issues. The president has said that this was the time for nation building at home, and his global nonintervention policy has allowed him to focus on that plan. While lauding him as one of the country’s great progressive presidents, the author feels that his disengagement, especially on nuclear issues and terrorists, is viewed as weakness throughout the world. Dueck acknowledges the president’s drive to achieve his domestic agenda but says little about how it affects the “Obama Doctrine.” In fact, in the chapter on domestic issues, the author focuses mostly on foreign policy. The book is as much about what is wrong with the administration as what goals they have achieved. It may be a useful study for Republican candidates in the 2016 campaigns, as he outlines how grand strategy should be directed and where we need to go to save America’s place as a top world power. In the final chapter, Dueck introduces as an alternative “Conservative American Realism,” which “would emphasize supporting American allies and resisting American adversaries internationally” as well as “strategic planning, bolstered deterrence, and presidential leadership on behalf of a genuinely prudent U.S. forward presence.” |

DRAWN FROM WATER

Though Dueck can be wordy and repetitive, his ideas are clear, his arguments sound and his policy proposals professional. A good book for those who think the current policy just isn’t doing its job.

Elenbogen, Dina BkMk/Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City (308 pp.) $15.95 paper | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-886157-97-2

THE HAND ON THE MIRROR A True Story of Life Beyond Death Durham, Janis Heaphy Grand Central Publishing (320 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book $24.98 Audiobook | Apr. 28, 2015 978-1-4555-3130-1 978-1-4555-3129-5 e-book 978-1-4789-0147-1 Audiobook

A widow contemplates the supernatural world after an unexplained series of occurrences.

In 2005, on the one-year anniversary of her agnostic husband Max’s death from esophageal cancer, retired newspaper publisher Durham discovered a “soft, white, powdery substance” on her bathroom mirror in the form of a handprint.

Though mystified, as the daughter of a hypercritical mother and a Presbyterian minister who taught her the value of modesty and character, the author dismissed it, claiming that “entering the unknown was intimidating.” Previous unexplained and less-reliable incidents included a clock stopped on the exact time of Max’s death, flickering lights, pulsing walls, knocks on doors and ethereal “silky golden threads sailing horizontally in front of my face,” yet still Durham (together with son, Tanner) retained a natural skepticism until she saw the handprint— which she removed. Attempting to both comprehend her grief and adapt a fresh spiritual perspective, the author writes casually of entertaining New-Age literature and a holistic, energyhealing conduit. Upon subsequent anniversaries of Max’s death, “powdery images” and more handprints appeared on the same mirror (which she again removed), but Durham attempted to move forward in addition to dating a new beau, retiring and relocating from California to central Idaho. None of that mattered, however, once she discovered the rug she’d brought with her from Sacramento had begun to shift on its own and footprints appeared on the living room furniture. Her varied attempts to solve these personal mysteries brought her face to face with parapsychologists discussing multitiered consciousness and a phantom expert who believed the “conscious spirit” of Max might be responsible. Though ably chronicled, skeptical readers will remain frustrated at Durham’s lack of credible scientific follow-through into the mirror images, despite the book’s centerpiece of photographic evidence.

A haunting and ultimately exasperating memoir leaving more unanswered questions than resolutions.

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Soul-searching memoir of the author’s visits to Israel and how she discovered an Ethiopian Jewish community in the process.

Elenbogen (Creative Writing/Univ. of Chicago Graham School; Apples of the Earth, 2005) chronicles the history of the Olim, Ethiopian Jews whose status was only confirmed by the Israeli rabbinate in 1973. However, since “the government was ambivalent about taking action to bring them to Israel,” their immigration did not begin until the airlifts between 1981 and 1991. The author does not focus on the stories of those who walked from Ethiopia to Sudan before being airlifted to Israel, and she offers little information about the lives of the Olim before they migrated. They are a reserved, quiet people, and since Elenbogen did not know their language, communication was strictly in Hebrew, which neither spoke well. She worked with the immigrants in what is called an absorption center, small enclaves where they are taught the ways of modernity and enriched in Israeli life. The author’s connection to one small group drives the memoir. They are separated from local populations, schools are underfunded and poorly staffed, and higher education is often unavailable. Though there is no specific suggestion of racism, they are black, and their ability to integrate is extremely difficult and not especially encouraged. There are those who blame them for their lack of drive, but they live in temporary housing with few jobs, poor leadership and no land. As Elenbogen’s friends grew, some found jobs or education; life is steadily improving but very slowly. The author’s poetic prose and descriptions of the country enhance the book, but it tends to be too self-orbiting.

Elenbogen occasionally illuminates important themes of identity, but there is much more to learn about these Ethiopian Jews. Perhaps one day one of them will tell the whole story; this is just an introduction.

HEADSCARVES AND HYMENS Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution

Eltahawy, Mona Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (256 pp.) $23.00 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-86547-803-9 The plight of women in the Middle East.

In her debut book, Egyptian-American journalist and commentator Eltahawy mounts an angry indictment of the treatment of women throughout the Arab world. Born in Egypt, she spent her childhood in London, moving with her family to Saudi Arabia when she was 15. Her shock was immediate

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A thoroughly researched, deftly written piece of investigative journalism. pig tales

and visceral: “It felt as though we’d moved to another planet whose inhabitants fervently wished women did not exist,” she recalls.

Women could not travel, work or even go to a doctor’s appointment without male approval. On buses, they were relegated to the last two rows at the back, and schools were segregated by gender.

Eltahawy focuses on six areas of women’s lives that demonstrate men’s hostility: the demand that women enshroud their bodies in public; maintain their virginity until marriage; submit to genital mutilation; have no recourse in the cases of domestic violence, rape or divorce; are forbidden to drive; and suffer dire repercussions if they dare to speak out on their own behalfs. In addition to her own experiences, the author draws upon interviews she conducted for a BBC documentary, Women of the Arab Spring, giving voice to a wide range of women, including some who perpetuate patriarchal values and others who risk their lives to oppose them.

Her discoveries fuel her rage and dismay. In the United Arab Emirates, for example, women are the property “not only of their sons, but of their babies,” mandated by law to breast-feed for two years.

In Jordan, a rapist can avoid punishment if he agrees to marry his victim. “When I married him it was like he was raping me again...,” one woman admitted. In Yemen and Saudi Arabia, girls as young as 8 can be married off to older men.

Although Eltahawy’s passionate book contributes to the struggle against women’s oppression, in the face of endemic misogyny, the potential for revolution seems chillingly remote.

PIG TALES An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat Estabrook, Barry Norton (320 pp.) $26.95 | Jun. 8, 2015 978-0-393-24024-5

Former Gourmet contributing editor Estabrook (Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit, 2011) presents a journalistic exposé of the pork industry with the same skill demonstrated in his exploration of the tomato industry.

The saga is difficult to resist after the opening sentence: “A pork chop nearly got me thrown in jail.” The threat originated from an irritated judge in a small-town Illinois courtroom, where the locals had filed a lawsuit against a gigantic pork producer running an industrial hog facility causing such a stench and other unpleasantness that their rural way of life had been diminished beyond redemption. Estabrook escaped jail time, but the judge expelled him from the courtroom due to a momentary exchange between the journalist and a plaintiff’s attorney. Numerous important books have appeared in the past decade about the evils of industrial slaughterhouses. In that sense, Estabrook’s book might seem like a retread, but it stands out because of its narrow rather than broad scope. He examines pork production only; no beef, chicken or sheep enter the narrative. The author is clearly appalled by the conditions he documents in a variety of large-scale facilities, but he 54

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presents the evidence with a subtle touch and rightfully allows the villains an opportunity to explain their practices. Heroes emerge in almost every chapter—e.g., hog producers who care about humane treatment, lawyers who represent rural residents on quality-oflife issues, government inspectors of slaughterhouses who try to enforce the law only to be castigated by their bosses, who are often in cahoots with corporate titans. A journey to Denmark showed Estabrook how sanitary, humane practices can produce excellent pork. Unfortunately, though, as in other realms, he discovered that many Americans don’t see the value of learning from other nations.

A thoroughly researched, deftly written piece of investigative journalism. Estabrook and his partner still eat bacon, but they are careful about the source of the pork.

BATTLE LINES A Graphic History of the Civil War

Fetter-Vorm, Jonathan & Kelman, Ari Illus. by Fetter-Vorm, Jonathan Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (224 pp.) $26.00 | May 5, 2015 978-0-8090-9474-5

A graphic rendering of epic destruction and intimate despair, as the authors make Civil War scholarship come alive for readers young and old.

The artistry of Fetter-Vorm (Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb, 2013) powerfully captures the devastation that the war wreaked on the country, extending well past the armistice, while the historical context by Bancroft Prize winner Kelman (American Civil War Era History/Penn State Univ.; A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek, 2013, etc.) provides the contextual depth. In the preface, the authors ask, “what hope could there be for a country so deeply divided against itself, a country so thoroughly drenched in the blood of its own people?” The chapters that follow humanize that history from various perspectives: the black man freed into another kind of servitude, Irish immigrants rebelling against conscription, women left behind without provisions for survival after their husbands and sons went to war. But the most arresting images throughout are panoramas, two-page spreads, where text is minimal or nonexistent and the chaos and carnage speak for themselves. The power of the art puts the “graphic” in graphic narrative, with limbs amputated by saws, corpses that could no longer be identified as belonging to one side or another, and battlefields turned to slaughter. Interspersed with these large-scale depictions are vignettes of those touched in various ways by the war, from the well-known poet Walt Whitman to soldiers only known by the journals they left behind. Without the illustrations, the text seems aimed at a young-adult or even younger readership, but the artistic impact extends far beyond.

In this gripping graphic narrative, the complexities of history achieve clarity, and the depth of the tragedy has a visceral impact.

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THE SNOWDEN READER

Fidler, David P.—Ed. Indiana Univ. (312 pp.) $30.00 paper | Apr. 24, 2015 978-0-253-01737-6

An intense examination of whistleblower Edward Snowden that successfully wades through both partisan rhetoric and ideological constraints.

Snowden, the former National Security Agency computer specialist who released classified documents to the media in 2013, presently lives a kind of self-imposed exile in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Should he come home to face modern American justice? Did his actions hurt the United States, or has he helped to rescue the nation from further slippage into an increasingly undemocratic morass? Fidler (Law/ Indiana Univ.; co-author: Responding to the National Security Letters: A Practical Guide for Legal Counsel, 2010, etc.) assembles a comprehensive collection of well-informed essays that intellectually probe Snowden’s actions from a variety of important angles. The questions being asked should be uncomfortable for both those who support Snowden and those who vilify him. For instance, William E. Scheuerman wonders if Snowden’s efforts to escape incarceration in America undermine the argument that his actions are akin to other heroes who challenged corruption and injustice, like Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After all, Scheuerman writes, “King penned a ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail,’ not ‘Letter on the Run from a Birmingham Jail.’ ” None of the answers are easy or pat, but there are definitive conclusions to be made. With that as a setup, the collection includes many of the explosive leaked documents themselves—e.g., the one revealing telephone company data mining. The documents are followed with responses from various government officials who then take their crack at deconstructing Snowden’s actions and their impact. The United States has had some 40 years to contemplate an earlier whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg, and his decision to leak the Pentagon Papers.

Fidler’s work is significant because, while events are still playing out, it is actively helping to make sense of this pressing particular American crisis a lot more quickly.

An indispensable resource for understanding the Snowden leaks. (28 b/w illustrations)

UNDER THE BUS How Working Women Are Being Run Over

Fredrickson, Caroline New Press (256 pp.) $25.95 | May 5, 2015 978-1-62097-010-2

Examination of the inequalities women still face in the workforce.

As president of the American Constitution Society and former director of the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union, |

Fredrickson understands the complex laws regarding fairness in labor practices. In this extensive analysis of gender equity and protection in the workplace, the author exposes the large proportion of workers, primarily women of color, who have slipped through the grid of legislative laws and who do not receive the same rights as other working women and, particularly, men. This large group consists of women working part-time or as independent contractors, domestic help taking care of children and/or the elderly, waitresses, hairstylists, office cleaners, receptionists and secretaries, and any others who fill many of the minimumwage jobs in the United States. Fredrickson examines how current laws have undoubtedly helped many women but still allow this section of society to be excluded from basic practices such as child care and paid maternity. The author uses personal stories to demonstrate the widespread unfairness found in the workforce—e.g., women being fired for getting pregnant or requesting time off to take care of a sick child, those who have suffered sexual harassment, then are fired when they instigate lawsuits against the perpetrator. “We have definitely not reached the promised land,” writes the author. “More and more of our jobs lack benefits; fewer of us are part of a union; almost none of us have decent or affordable child care; many are denied sick days or family leave and are forced to sign away their remaining protections to get or keep a job.” Women comprise 63.9 percent of “breadwinners or co-breadwinners,” and Fredrickson effectively bares all the loopholes and fallacies in America’s policies toward this significant, but often underappreciated and underrepresented, piece of the national workforce.

Informative, occasionally shocking exploration of the state of women’s rights in the workplace.

BREAKING THE MALE CODE Unlocking the Power of Friendship

Garfield, Robert Gotham Books (320 pp.) $26.95 | May 12, 2015 978-1-59240-904-4

Methods for fostering and enhancing relationships between men.

As a psychotherapist with more than 20 years of experience, Garfield (Psychiatry/Univ. of Pennsylvania) has heard countless stories from men about how they wish to nurture and develop their relationships with other men. Using techniques he has perfected in his “Friendship Labs,” the author gives readers the tools men need to “develop emotional competencies—The Four C’s, we call them—which include learning how to make good connections in close relationships, share heartfelt communication, develop a strong practice of commitment, and learn to manage conflict.” In order to implement these strategies, one must develop a sense of trust and overcome negative behaviors such as machismo and a desire to compete, homophobia, being unaware of the feelings of others and misogynistic attitudes. By addressing these issues, Garfield assures readers they can embrace strong

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A fine, informative life of the renowned scientist. einstein

bonds between men their own age, younger men, sons, fathers and even wives. Many of the practices he recommends to bolster the Four Cs will be familiar to those who have read or studied relationship-building strategies, whether for men toward women, women toward men or any other combination. Being honest with one another, staying in regular contact, listening empathically, creating a safe environment for the full disclosure of emotions—these are all common practices for which Garfield advocates. His message is solid, and the end results are better relationships for men with other men and women. The use of his own experiences, as well as those of men from his Friendship Labs, lends credibility to his ideas, but these concepts are not revolutionary; they simply cover well-known territory from a slightly different perspective. In an appendix, the author includes the “first published report of a national survey on men’s friendships and emotional intimacy,” which he co-wrote.

Informative but hardly groundbreaking.

would be seen and, more important, see themselves, as valuable.” The FBI considered his pacifism a sign of subversion and created a file on him. During the war, he was horrified by the potential of an atomic bomb, declaring after Hiroshima, “the war is won, but the peace is not.”

A fine, informative life of the renowned scientist.

EINSTEIN His Space and Times

Gimbel, Steven Yale Univ. (208 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-300-19671-9

How science, religion and politics shaped Einstein’s life and work.

As part of the Jewish Lives Series, Gimbel (Philosophy/Gettysburg Coll.; Einstein’s Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion, 2012, etc.) gives special emphasis to Einstein’s connections to Judaism. Born to secular Jews in Germany in 1879, Einstein attended a Catholic school, where he was bullied for being “the Jewish kid.” His response was rebellion: At the age of 8, he became “a deeply committed practicing Jew,” observing dietary and religious laws. That early conversion, however, was short-lived. By high school, he became skeptical of mysticism, preferring to believe in “a wholly material universe guided by rational principles discoverable through scientific investigation.” Continuing his education in Switzerland, his defiance against authorities of all kinds led to his renouncing his German nationality and eventually—in order to find a permanent job—taking on Swiss citizenship. Einstein’s work in a patent office is wellknown; Gimbel thinks the work was “enjoyable and challenging,” since it involved investigating the technical originality of patent applications. Being a civil servant gave Einstein time to work on his own ideas, which culminated in publications that revolutionized thinking about matter, light, and Newtonian concepts of space, time, motion and mass. After being rejected for a Nobel Prize in physics for several years, Einstein finally earned one in 1921. Gimbel examines the role of antiSemitism in Einstein’s difficulty in securing teaching appointments, as well as the scientist’s support of Zionism, which he hoped would help to create “a proud, self-possessed Jewish population who contributed to the betterment of all....Jews 56

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THE ESSENTIAL GINSBERG

Ginsberg, Allen Schumacher, Michael—Ed. Perennial/HarperCollins (464 pp.) $17.99 paper | May 26, 2015 978-0-06-236228-5

A representative sampling from an iconic American poet.

A prolific poet and political gadfly, Ginsberg (1926-1997) never wrote an autobiography, but he did keep journals, write letters to fellow poets, and reflect on his life and work in interviews and essays. Schumacher (November’s Fury: The Deadly Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913, 2013, etc.), Ginsberg’s biographer, offers a well-chosen selection of his writings in this copious collection: 34 poems, including the famous “Howl” and “Kaddish”; 10 essays, including his testimony regarding LSD before a special Senate Judiciary Committee; assorted journal entries from 1949 to 1969, several unpublished; two lengthy interviews; and a dozen letters to prominent Beat writers such as Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, William Burroughs and Robert Creeley. Forthright about fueling his creativity with a cornucopia of drugs, Ginsberg expounds on his interest in “all states of consciousness”: dreams, spiritual ecstasy, and “preconscious, quasi-sleep” states. Besides Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman and Blake, he cites as influences William James, especially Varieties of Religious Experience, and the poetry of James’ student Gertrude Stein. In an “Independence Day Manifesto” in 1959, he proclaimed that America “is having a nervous breakdown,” intent on oppressing poets for their allegedly anti-social behavior. But in a country “gone mad with materialism, a police-state America, a sexless and soulless America,” poetry offered solace and wisdom. “Poetry,” he contended, “is the record of individual insights into the secret soul of the individual and...into the soul of the world.” A few years later, he again chided Americans for living in a “mental dictatorship” of materialism and conformity. If his solution— everyone should try LSD once—seems capricious, his critique is likely to resonate with contemporary readers.

Except for brief introductions to the journal entries, Schumacher allows the selections to stand alone as testimony to an often outrageous, groundbreaking poet and tireless social activist. (16-page b/w photo section)

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THE ODD WOMAN AND THE CITY A Memoir

Gornick, Vivian Farrar, Straus and Giroux (192 pp.) $22.00 | May 19, 2015 978-0-374-29860-9

Life inspired by the buzzing humanity of a great city.

Gornick (Emma Goldman, 2011, etc.) takes her title from George Gissing’s novel The Odd Women (1893), about a “darkly handsome, high intelligent, uncompromising” woman who scorns “what she calls the slavery of love and marriage.” Courted by a man who respects and excites her, she insists on independence, fears her own emotions and retreats from their relationship. Like Gornick, a “raging” feminist in the 1970s, Gissing’s heroine “becomes a walking embodiment of the gap between theory and practice: the place in which so many of us have found ourselves, time and again.” Regret, anxiety and nostalgia inform this finely crafted memoir, built of fragmentary reflections on friendship, love, desire and the richness of living in New York. For the author, New York is a city of melancholy, peopled by “eternal groundlings who wander these mean and marvelous streets in search of a self reflected back in the eye of the stranger.” At times, she walks more than six miles per day, daydreaming, observing and trying to “dispel afternoon depression.” She interacts with beggars and shopkeepers, overhears snatches of conversation and revels in a city that she admits to romanticizing. “If you’ve grown up in New York,” she writes, “your life is an archaeology not of structures, but of voices, also piled one on top of another, also not really replacing one another.” Gornick chronicles ephemeral relationships and thwarted love affairs and, in particular, her friendship with Leonard, a gay man who, like Gornick, has “a penchant for the negative.”

They meet weekly, unfailingly, “to give each other border reports.”

Her friendship with Leonard leads her to consider Henry James’ relationship with Constance Fenimore Woolson, “a woman of taste and judgment whose self-divisions mirrored his own.”

A gentle, rueful, thoughtful memoir.

BIG WEED An Entrepreneur’s HighStakes Adventures in the Budding Legal Marijuana Business

Hageseth, Christian with D’Agnese, John Palgrave Macmillan (256 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-137-28000-8

Business narrative of the halcyon dawn of marijuana legalization.

Hageseth is an old-school drug warrior’s worst nightmare: an affable, articulate venture capitalist who argues that correcting prohibition’s folly will benefit both investors and society at large. In witty and informed, if overly casual, prose, he narrates |

his immersion in the cannabis industry, alongside the broader narrative of social resistance to the substance’s governmentengineered demonization. The author begins with his ambition to build the Green Man Cannabis ranch, a “$30 million tourist destination” where visitors could enjoy cannabis like fine wine. He still seems astonished by the speed of change, having entered the medical marijuana field in 2009. Before that, he had prospered via unorthodox investments before taking losses in the housing bubble collapse. A chance encounter with a highend grower ignited his curiosity: “It took me all of ten minutes to go from a guy falling in love with what was getting him high to a business guy” looking for opportunity. Hageseth faced a steep learning curve, dealing with eccentric, shifty growers, burglaries, and law enforcement, who were simultaneously surly and curious about the new gray areas. His business acumen helps demystify the underground growers’ culture. “Because we were doing things cheap and small-minded,” he writes, “we had unwittingly introduced glaring inefficiencies into the system.”

Though he initially seemed headed for failure, he saw “a critical element that weed had that no other industry had: opportunity.”

Sure enough, his investments in high-end grow spaces and personnel paid dividends, as his improved product began flying out of dispensaries and winning industry awards. Green Man was thus ideally positioned for the surprise 2012 legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado. Hageseth closes his overview with a set of proposals for corporate oversight, law enforcement and public safety, given that widespread acceptance of cannabis seems increasingly inevitable.

An accessible primer on the capitalistic opportunities presented by this vice gone suddenly mainstream.

MIDNIGHT’S FURIES The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition Hajari, Nisid Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (336 pp.) $28.00 | Jun. 9, 2015 978-0-547-66921-2

This evenhanded history of the appalling slaughter at the India-Pakistan Partition of 1947 puts the blame squarely on the incendiary rhetoric of the two opposing leaders.

Hindus and Muslims (and Sikhs and Christians) living tolerantly together for centuries on the subcontinent faced down their colonial oppressor, Britain, only then to turn against each other at the moment of liberation: How could this have happened? Singapore-based Asia editor for Bloomberg View Hajari sees a chasm in understanding between the two sides replete with “their own myopic and mutually contradictory version of events, which largely focus on blaming the other side or the British for provoking the slaughter.” The author begins his dark chronicle in the last year before the British transfer of power, when Viceroy Archibald Wavell passed his “breakdown plan” to the president of the Indian National Congress Party, Jawaharlal

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Rachel Holmes

A biographer lets her dream subject come to life

By Alexia Nader

Photo courtesy Sarah Hickson

A compliment often given to biographers is that they’ve managed to resurrect their subjects in their works. This seems no small feat, but perhaps an even bigger challenge for a biographer is to bring the book itself to life. As Rachel Holmes proves with her newest work, Eleanor Marx: A Life, it’s hard but not impossible. Reading the lengthy biography of Eleanor Marx, the socialist and feminist activist, literary translator and daughter of Karl Marx, I was surprised by how Holmes had managed to hold my enthusiasm. So I decided to revisit an essay on biography by one of Eleanor’s near contemporaries, Virginia Woolf. I wanted to see if Woolf could shed some light on Holmes’ techniques. In “The Art of Biography,” Woolf writes: “But almost any biographer, if he respects facts, can give us much more than another fact 58

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to add to our collection. He can give us the creative fact; the fertile fact; the fact that suggests and engenders.” As the first English activist of socialist feminism, whose own life was hemmed in by the restrictions she was fighting against but who also believed deeply in Marxist philosophy providing the possibility of social improvement, Marx’s life was ripe for the making of creative facts.

As I spoke to Holmes over video chat recently, I realized that she is well-suited to the job. A scholar known for her biography of Saartjie Baartman, African Queen: The Real Life of the Hottentot Venus, Holmes spoke with enough energy to fill both of our rooms and has an endearing habit of speaking about her subjects as if they are her living friends. (Asked about how she decided to write a book about Marx, Holmes explains that she was “in quite a serious relationship” with Arthur Conan Doyle when “Eleanor Marx just came up and tapped me on the shoulder. And I was like, ‘Go away, you’re a good friend but no, no, no….’ ”) “Eleanor Marx never saw the difference between the personal and the political—for her, they were completely integrated; she never saw that distinction, even when she sort of tripped over it and it sent her flying,” Holmes explains. Her major goal for the biography—and what she believes sets it apart from the biographies of Marx that came before it—was to fully explain and highlight Marx’s role as the inventor of socialist feminism. “Here’s historical materialism, here’s [Karl] Marx, who likes women and who talks the talk of equality, but he doesn’t build in an analysis of sexual difference and gender and the sexual division of labor in his work,” she says, adding that the writing on global patriarchy of Friedrich Engels— whom she calls Eleanor’s second father—particularly The Origins of Private Property, Family, and the State, |

was another strong influence on Eleanor Marx’s formation of feminist ideas. Holmes continues: She reads her dad’s book, and she reads her second dad’s book, but then, again, they don’t devise a program, and she does. She tests it, she works in the trade union movements, she forms new trade union movements, and what she finds out is the limitations, both philosophical and practical. So that’s why she changes the world.

Crosscutting through Eleanor’s political work was her role as a translator and performer of foreign literature, especially theater. She famously translated Madame Bovary into English for the first time and participated in early English performances of A Doll’s House. Ever since Eleanor published her translations, people (famously Vladimir Nabokov, but also contemporary Madame Bovary translators) have been criticizing them. And Holmes gently cedes that Marx was likely not the most talented actress. Nevertheless, Marx’s primary role as it’s explained in the book had little to do with the quality of her work. It was about introducing these literary feminist works to an English audience and advocating for their dissemination. Understood in this light, Holmes’ sections on Marx’s literary life and friendships don’t seem appendant to the examination of her life work as a whole.

Holmes’ writing is lively, but you notice an oldfashioned sensibility shaping Eleanor Marx. It seems to be largely a product of the biography’s overarching chronological structure—powering forward, with a few deviations, from Marx’s birth to her death at a young age. Why make the choice to go straight from beginning to end? Holmes says that she structured the book to evoke a bildungsroman, appropriate because, as she puts it, Marx was a child of Romanticism. “And quite aware of what contemporary fashions for biographies are, I’m nevertheless not going to give in to being trendy or fashionable when it’s so self-evident to me that this figure—and she’s got big shoulders, right?—that this figure is very much someone who is born in this dialectic and then she emerges,” Holmes says.

When Holmes speaks of a dialectic, she’s referring to all the literature that Marx consumed as a child—Dickens, Balzac, Zola—and how that shaped her worldview. But dialectics—of ideals and the realization of those ideals, between the conscious shap|

ing of one’s life and the active living of it—also feature in Holmes’ book itself. Marx the feminist struggled with the contradictions of embodying the feminist ideas she espoused in her own life, as a partner to the emotionally abusive Edward Aveling and as a daughter who worked as an amanuensis to Karl Marx at the expense of her own work. These dialectics are hard at work on those creative facts. “What I love is that the life will always be running up against the context and the ethics,” Holmes says. “Our individual lives and consciousness will not fit broad ideologies. Not even the lives of one family, much less one individual.”

Alexia Nader is a writer living in San Francisco and a senior editor at The Brooklyn Quarterly.

Eleanor Marx: A Life received a starred review in the Nov. 15, 2014, issue.

Eleanor Marx A Life Holmes, Rachel Bloomsbury (528 pp.) $35.00 | Feb. 24, 2015 978-1-62040-970-1 kirkus.com

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Top-notch environmental writing to shelve alongside George Perkins Marsh, Aldo Leopold, Robert Marshall and Barry Lopez. rhythm of the wild

Nehru, the Anglophile leader of the dominant Hindus and ally of Gandhi who fiercely believed that a multiethnic India was fundamental to the new nation’s identity. Nehru’s intractable nemesis, the equally urbane English barrister Mohammad Ali Jinnah, head of the powerful Muslim League, was “prideful, biting, uncompromising,” and he scorned Nehru’s offer of a token position in the Hindu-dominated government. By 1940, Jinnah had envisioned “Pakistan” (acronym for the combined Muslimdominated provinces of Punjab, tribal Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan) as allied with the British. Yet as the two sides dug in and the rhetoric escalated (Jinnah periodically calling for “Direct Action” while dismissing Gandhi’s nonviolent tactics), so did the sectarian bloodshed, rolling westward, from the Great Calcutta Killings of August 1946 to the Punjab, Delhi and Kashmir. Hajari skillfully picks through this perilous history of mayhem and assassination of biblical proportions, which has left a “deadly legacy” of paranoia, terrorism and hatred between India and Pakistan 70 years later.

A carefully restrained and delineated account makes for chilling reading. (8-page insert of 25 b/w photos)

RHYTHM OF THE WILD A Life Inspired by Alaska’s Denali National Park Heacox, Kim Lyons Press (256 pp.) $25.95 | May 7, 2015 978-1-4930-0389-1

Former National Park Service ranger Heacox (John Muir and the Ice that Started a Fire: How a Visionary and the Glaciers of Alaska Changed America, 2014, etc.) lyrically recounts his passionate and enduring relationship with Alaska’s Denali National Park, a chunk of Alaskan land the size of Massachusetts with only one road.

Established in 1917, Mount McKinley National Park is also known by its Athabaskan name of Denali, and Heacox first experienced it in 1981 while working as an interpretive ranger for the Park Service. The author builds his narrative, which spans 35 years, on his deep and personal exploration of the sacredness of wild places, especially Denali, and why these landscapes are so necessary to all humans and animals in today’s crowded, noisy world. Heacox deftly traverses a multitude of topics, including his happy childhood spent roaming the Northwest, the influence of music, especially the Beatles, during his teenage years, and the natural and human histories of the park. As the narrative unfolds, the author acknowledges his predecessors, environmental writers such as John Muir, Edward Abbey and Bill McKibben, while also touching on current environmental issues and climate change. Though Heacox voices strong opinions on land use and bemoans America’s consumer culture, his tone is never shrill or self-righteous. Rather, by recounting the stories of the explorers, scientists, government officials, historians, tourists, climbers and park employees whose lives have been touched by Denali, Heacox skillfully reveals the many 60

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benefits of this grand open space, as well as its fragility. The park’s wildlife—moose, eagles, red fox, sandhill cranes, grizzly bears, porcupines and wolves—share the stage with human actors in Heacox’s chronicle.

Top-notch environmental writing to shelve alongside George Perkins Marsh, Aldo Leopold, Robert Marshall and Barry Lopez.

OUT CAME THE SUN Overcoming the Legacy of Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide in My Family

Hemingway, Mariel Regan Arts (304 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-941393-23-9

Actress-turned-author Hemingway (Mariel’s Kitchen, 2009) ponders her life and career in light of her famous family’s self-destructive history.

Born just after her famous-author grandfather, Ernest, committed suicide in 1961, Mariel Hemingway was immediately thrust into a family legacy historically marked by suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illness. Her parents both struggled with alcohol dependency, while her sisters Muffet and Margot would fight depression their entire lives (Margot eventually died of a suicidal drug overdose at age 42). Although she grew up in rural Idaho, Mariel couldn’t resist entering the glamorous world of show business as a teenager, initially riding the coattails of Margot, who had rocketed to quick fame as a model in New York City. But with a breakout role in Woody Allen’s 1979 comedy Manhattan, Mariel’s star began eclipsing her sister’s. Mariel would then go on to a respectable career as a midlist actress in the late 1970s and 1980s, riding hit movies like Star 80 and Superman IV. In her 20s, Hemingway also found herself in one tension-filled relationship after another, first with legendary screenwriter Robert Towne, then with one of the founders of the Hard Rock Café chain—not to mention a few brief celebrity flings. Although the memoir is ostensibly about how the author conquered the so-called “Hemingway Curse,” it’s never really explicit as to how this was accomplished. However, it’s clear that Mariel never quite bought into the Hollywood dream or her own celebrity. She maturely managed her life and career without too many psychic scars and luckily ended up bypassing addiction to controlled substances or alcohol (although she did have a predilection for black coffee binges). By the end of the book, we find her psychically well-adjusted enough to be the author of a self-help book and this generically positive but fairly uneventful celebrity memoir.

Kudos to the author for mostly avoiding her family’s “curse,” but the book, occasionally revelatory, is weighed down by self-discovery platitudes.

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LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER What She Said Then, What We’re Saying Now

Imig, Ann—Ed. Putnam (256 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-399-16985-4

A collection of personal essays about the importance of connecting mothers to each other for support.

Research points toward the myriad benefits for the children when a parent stays home while a spouse goes to work. Most parents look back on having had that opportunity as a blessing, a connection with their children that is worth more than anything. It’s also true that, when it’s happening, that blessed feeling is leavened with the insane conviction that you’ve worked nonstop all day and have nothing concrete to show for it.

Enter the Internet and editor Imig. Five years ago, she was right in the thick of it, with two preschool-aged children and a husband frequently away on long trips for work. Imig began blogging about her life, which connected her to similarly minded women looking for comfort, advice and a way to laugh at it all. The author eventually started the Listen to Your Mother network, which has branched off into multiple websites, a live stage performance and this book. For a collection of writings with an ostensibly narrow focus, the range of material is impressive. A first grader collapses, and the medical tests offer no conclusions. A teenager, worried about becoming pregnant, finds an unexpected ally in her own mother, who says, “If you get pregnant, don’t get married because then you’re making two mistakes instead of one.” Daughters that hate pink; a mother’s rage at being left behind by a husband on deployment; tiny tots, their eyes aglow, eating the tiny slips of paper mother wrote her daily gratitude on—these and countless other experiences demonstrate the wide range of the ups and downs of parenting.

The essays are short, which enables the book to cover a lot of ground, but they also pack a strong emotional punch— and they’re almost certain to leave any mother feeling less alone.

BEYOND Our Future in Space

Impey, Chris Norton (320 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 13, 2015 978-0-393-23930-0

Do we have a future in space? By astronomer Impey’s (How It Began: A Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Universe, 2012, etc.) account, the answer is yes—but we must get working immediately.

“Whether we ‘outgrow’ the Solar System or are simply curious about worlds beyond, we’ll leave the safe harbor of our planetary system and venture into deep space.” So writes |

Impey, whose narrative blends the factual, the historical and the speculative—in the instance of the last, by imagining a deepspace mission in which cryogenically frozen “Frosties” chill on ice until being “reeled back into consciousness to explore a new world.” The author covers the expected basics—e.g., Isaac Newton’s wondering how a cannonball would behave if fired horizontally from above the atmosphere, affected only by gravity. Voilà: a law of motion and a basic premise of rocketry. Lightly running through the history of spaceflight, Impey observe, grimly, that NASA’s budget has been steadily shrinking over many years, with the bank bailout of 2008 costing more “than has been spent on NASA since it was started in 1959.” The author’s arguments are a little diffuse to be useful in countering a know-nothing congressperson who wonders why taxpayers should be funding space travel. Enter the entrepreneurs—Dick Rutan, Richard Branson et al.—who give Impey hope, even if the government has much deeper pockets. The author winds down his narrative with a view of what living elsewhere in the solar system might be like, a matter partially addressed by the Biosphere II project of old—which, he notes, may have been a failure but produced 200-plus published papers. He closes with a resounding cri de couer: “Space travel is urgent and it is real.”

There’s not a lot new here, and most of the information can easily be found elsewhere, including Impey’s own books.

Still, he provides a useful synthesis without prerequisites and a welcoming invitation to join the space race.

REJECTION PROOF How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection

Jia Jiang Harmony (224 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-8041-4138-3

A book written from personal experience about rejection—how to live with it and learn from it.

Jia attempted to subject himself to rejection for 100 days, thus toughening himself to what he most feared. As a boy in China, he dreamed of becoming the next Bill Gates, an entrepreneur whose ideas and accomplishments would change the world. Instead, he was trapped in a corporate environment, very successful but deeply unsatisfied after having “sold out my dream.” He’d done so out of fear of rejection—not of failure, which would at least require him to put his efforts and ideas on the line, but of the fear that those ideas would meet rejection that he couldn’t handle. So, with his wife’s blessing, the author quit his corporate job in Austin, Texas, and gave himself six months to succeed as an entrepreneur. Along the way, he steeled himself by committing to “100 Days of Rejection,” in which he would make requests of strangers that they would likely decline, and thus thicken his skin. He asked Costco and Southwest Airlines to let him make announcements over their public address systems, asked a stranger to let him play soccer in his backyard,

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An intellectual history that, while scholarly and broadly allusive, extends beyond the academy walls. the religion of democracy

asked Starbucks to let him serve as a greeter and asked people for money. As he posted blog videos of his failures, some went viral, leading to a sidelight as a motivational speaker (and to this book). He soon found that he was receiving a greater percentage of acceptances instead of the rejections he’d anticipated. It probably helped that he launched this project in Austin, a freethinking city that prides itself on its quirkiness, but the lessons he learned have wide applicability. He sees what he did as “a journey of transformation. I conquered my fear, gained knowledge and wisdom and found a new kind of freedom and power.”

A breezy guide to dealing with rejection and transforming it into a learning experience.

EMPIRE OF DECEPTION The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated a Nation

Jobb, Dean Algonquin (352 pp.) $26.95 | May 19, 2015 978-1-61620-175-3

The granddaddy of all con men, Leo Koretz (1881-1925), gives Jobb (Journalism/Univ. of King’s Coll., Halifax; The Cajuns: A People’s Story of Exile and Triumph, 2005) the opportunity to exhibit his impressive research and storytelling skills.

The original Ponzi scheme lasted less than a year, but Koretz had already laid the groundwork for the greatest fraud ever. Bored with his life as a lawyer, he discovered an easy way to make money from people who already had plenty, but selling false mortgages to acquaintances didn’t begin to support his extravagant lifestyle. Eventually, a merchant named David Nieto drew Koretz in, claiming to have acreage in the Bayano Valley in Panama that had a limitless supply of timber. After investing $1,000, Koretz convinced friends to add another $9,000. When he went to Panama to inspect the land, he knew he’d been played for a sucker. He may have lost money, but it showed him the means to get others to invest in his “big idea” to profit from “timberland” in Panama.

Throughout his fraudulent “career,” he was clever in choosing investors, never asking outright for money. Instead, he hinted at the great wealth he was making, and he flaunted it, insisting he was fully backed. Nothing drives up demand like short supply, and the wealthy friends he lavishly entertained were begging to give him money. As often as not, he turned them down, but they invariably came back with still larger checks. Koretz used the new income to pay out dividends to the investors, many of whom were his own extended family. In a stroke of evil genius, he convinced most of them to reinvest the dividends, most never taking a dime of profit. The author keeps readers on edge following the scam’s collapse and the worldwide manhunt, as they wait to see if Koretz might just get away with it.

A highly readable, entertaining story offering a solid education for anyone lacking scruples and wanting to make money. Surely Bernie Madoff studied Koretz’s methods.

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THE RELIGION OF DEMOCRACY Seven Liberals and the American Moral Tradition Kittelstrom, Amy Penguin Press (432 pp.) $32.95 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-59420-485-2

A young scholar’s first book finds in America’s 19th-century embrace of religious liberalism the seeds of modern

political liberalism.

Using the device of seven representative and variously interconnected lives spanning more than a century, Kittelstrom (History/Sonoma State Univ.) examines the history of the idea that “human beings ought to treat one another as equals who deserve to be free.” She begins with John Adams, whose devotion to independence, the practice of virtue and the notion of the individual as a moral agent applied every bit as much to his religion as to his politics. The American Reformation’s turn away from Calvinism, slightly predating the birth of our democracy, contained the raw material, she argues, for a social justice vision culminating in Jane Addams, who urged a larger role for government to fill the gaps left by the industrialized state and who insisted that “action is the sole medium of expression for ethics.” Three other characters, likely unknown to most readers, help illustrate Kittelstrom’s thesis and happily remind us that the liberal project belongs not merely to those history remembers: the fiercely independent Mary Moody Emerson (maiden aunt to Waldo), whose devotion to constant inquiry and criticism in pursuit of truth served as a model for thinkers who followed; the peripatetic, nonconformist educator Thomas Davidson, whose commitment to pluralism capped his career; and the minister William Mackintire Salter, a “spokesman for practical idealism,” whose solidarity with workers converted him to activism. In an outstanding chapter, Kittelstrom discusses preacher William Ellery Channing, his belief in human dignity and “universal inner divinity,” and his emphasis on the possibilities of virtue. In another, she considers philosopher William James, author of the phrase “religion of democracy,” and explains his centrality to the notions of reform and renewal behind liberalism’s ever widening scope.

An intellectual history that, while scholarly and broadly allusive, extends beyond the academy walls.

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THE GAME MUST GO ON Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray, and the Great Days of Baseball on the Home Front in WWII

Klima, John Dunne/St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-1-250-06479-0

A sweeping saga of baseball during World War II: of the players who enlisted and fought overseas, of the ones who replaced them and of the significant changes in the culture.

Most fans know that the war deprived Hall of Famers such as Hank Greenberg, Bob Feller and Ted Williams of what could have been prime seasons and that the motley crew who replaced them was a ragtag assemblage. Former Los Angeles Daily News baseball columnist Klima (Bushville Wins!: The Wild Saga of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and the Screwballs, Sluggers, and Beer Swiggers Who Canned the New York Yankees and Changed Baseball, 2012, etc.) has a broader scope: “The war created who we are and it created modern baseball, and from that came the evolution of modern professional sports today, because the games we play change because of the battles we fought.” Florid prose accompanies such big claims, as the author attempts to get inside the heads of players he never met, indulges in sportswriter sentiment (“He was generously listed at five foot nine, but he had a smile wider than his height”), and jumps around a little too much from character to character. Yet he makes a persuasive case that the war ushered baseball into the modern era, that night baseball, integration, TV, planes replacing trains, the hint of free agency and the proliferation of baseball wherever the soldiers went all have at least some connection with the war and that baseball helped boost morale among soldiers fighting overseas as well as the fans back home.

The author delivers some compelling narrative threads: the enlistments and returns of Greenberg, Feller and the others; the battle to the majors of one-armed Pete Gray, and, most movingly, the death of pilot Billy Southworth Jr., who sacrificed his baseball aspirations and life for his country, and the devastation of his father, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The book would have benefitted from a stronger edit, for length as well as overwriting, but the story is worth telling.

MADAM AMBASSADOR Three Years in Budapest Kounalakis, Eleni Tsakopoulos New Press (300 pp.) $26.95 | May 5, 2015 978-1-62097-111-6 978-1-62097-112-3 e-book

A memoir of Kounalakis’ three-anda-half years as ambassador to Hungary under President Barack Obama. |

Conscious about her relative youth (age 43 in 2010), female sex within a male-dominated, hand-kissing Hungarian political elite, and lack of foreign service bona fides, the author accepted the top diplomatic spot to Hungary after her first choice, Singapore, became unavailable. So how does one become a U.S. ambassador? Indeed, much of this step-by-step chronicle to power serves to answer this question. In short, you get chosen after cultivating friendships with the most powerful Democratic women of your home state, California, namely Nancy Pelosi, and proving yourself a devoted party operative and fundraiser. Having worked with her Greek-American father as a land developer for 15 years, while fostering deep ties to the Democratic Party and rainmaking for its candidates, Kounalakis was rewarded—despite having fiercely supported Hillary Clinton in her presidential campaign—with the ambassadorship to one of the more successful and elegant former Soviet satellites, now a full-fledged NATO and European Union member. While there were not any major crises between 2010 and 2013, Viktor Orbán’s center-right party had swept the socialists from power, putting in place some troubling authoritarian restrictions, such as a stifling media law. There had also been gains as well in political extremism and anti-Semitism. Kounalakis briefly delineates Hungarian history—stopping well before the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 with nary a mention—but mostly plunges into the tasks she undertook: moving her family into the large, gloomy residence, keeping Hungary committed to providing troops to aid the U.S. war in Afghanistan, planning the yearly Fourth of July celebration and trips by American luminaries—e.g., Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and then–Secretary of State Clinton.

A flat-footed and mostly self-serving account.

BEALE STREET DYNASTY Sex, Song, and the Struggle for the Soul of Memphis

Lauterbach, Preston Norton (384 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-0-393-08257-9

Excellent study of an iconic Southern place and the fraught, violent history behind it.

Many Americans have heard of W.C. Handy, but more as a practitioner of the blues than the serious student and entrepreneur that he was. Still more will likely have heard of Beale Street, the Memphis road that has put its mark on musical history—ethnic history, as well. Lauterbach (The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock ’n’ Roll, 2011) opens with a race riot directly following the Civil War, when it became immediately clear to the African-Americans of the city that nothing had changed. The author locates the center of his tale in the beating heart of a light-skinned black man, Bob Church (“Church had dark, straight hair, bear-greased and parted, intense brown eyes, and beige skin. Nothing about him betrayed African heritage”), who surveyed the scene and organized his own city within a

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Martin is unequivocal and persuasive: The best use of coal is in holiday stockings. coal wars

city. Not that Church was, strictly speaking, a philanthropist or altruist: The empire he founded included brothels, music halls that saw “the Memphis debut of the debauched dance known as the can-can,” and, in time, places where a man could buy all the cocaine, guns and whiskey he desired. The tightening racial oppression of Jim Crow, coming to full force in the 1890s, “had the somewhat paradoxical effect of strengthening black communities,” writes the author, and it was into this thriving milieu that Handy, “moving between worlds,” arrived and began to do his musicological work, setting the stage for the emergence of Memphis as a musical crossroads and center of jazz, blues, and, later, soul and R&B. In charting its rise, Lauterbach adds to the rich library devoted to the “old, weird America” established by writers such as Michael Ventura, Peter Guralnick and Greil Marcus.

Beale Street is mostly a tourist trap now, but it was a place of “whorehouses, saloons, and bullet holes” not so long ago. By Lauterbach’s illuminating account, the past was more fun—or at least more interesting. (22 photos; map)

COAL WARS The Future of Energy and the Fate of the Planet Martin, Richard Palgrave Macmillan (288 pp.) $28.00 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-137-27934-7

Coal will never stop blighting our planet, writes energy analyst Martin (SuperFuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future, 2012), and its good riddance can’t come too soon.

The author’s story is sympathetic to the human consequences of coal-production shutdowns yet unblinking about coal’s ruinous effects. There are indications that coal is on the way out but only because of economic calculations, namely costly government regulations and low-cost natural gas. For every step forward in coal’s containment, however, two steps are taken back; as a power source, it is abundant, widely distributed and economical, even if toxic for the planet. China and India are developing their coal-energy production at brisk paces (China “burns about as much coal every year as the rest of the world combined”). So, too, are Germany and Japan in the wake of recent nuclear incidents, while the United States has nearly 600 coal plants pumping out carbon dioxide, as well as the toxic sludge of arsenic, mercury, barium, chromium and other equally scary elements. Martin chronicles his visits to a handful of places where coal is an important part of not just daily life, but the region’s history and economic circumstances: the Tennessee Valley Authority landscape, now turned on its head with the withdrawal of federal funding; “dark and bloody” Harlan County, Kentucky, which can add a plague of prescription drug addiction to its black lung population; the coal boomtown catastrophe of Gillette, Wyoming; Ohio’s rollback of renewable-energy mandates. Then it’s on to China, where, despite its nods to reducing emissions, its coal burning will double by 2035, and 64

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Germany, which is fleeing the nuclear pipe dream and looking for economic surcease. The author is a levelheaded researcher and a caring individual as well as a graceful, commanding writer.

Where he stands, however, is with the climatologist who told him that coal burning must be drastically reduced in the next 20 years or, environmentally speaking, “it’s game over.”

Martin is unequivocal and persuasive: The best use of coal is in holiday stockings.

HUMAN NATURE & JEWISH THOUGHT Judaism’s Case for Why Persons Matter Mittleman, Alan L. Princeton Univ. (220 pp.) $27.95 | May 1, 2015 978-0-691-14947-9

Scholarly examination of what defines personhood in light of contemporary concepts in neuroscience and evolutionary biology.

Is human nature really only a collection of evolutionary adaptations and genetic mapping? Mittleman (Modern Jewish Thought/Jewish Theological Seminary; A Short History of Jewish Ethics: Conduct and Character in the Context of Covenant, 2012, etc.) believes Jewish teachings through the ages can help correct the wrongheaded notions of scientific “debunkers.”

He looks at early biblical sources and the Midrash, in addition to contemporary philosophers and scientists like Peter Singer and Francis Crick, for a more integral definition of human nature: What makes us “special,” both as a part of nature and apart from it? One way to consider being human is the ability to speak about ourselves in the third person, as things, yet also in the first person, as sentient creatures of lived experience.

Humans “hold on to both poles simultaneously,” and Mittleman believes deeply that it is wrong for science to diminish or reduce personhood to a set of particles or physical states.

According to American rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, we gain our personhood ultimately through our relationship to God: “I am commanded, therefore I am.” This is the “manifest image” of ourselves that we recognize as being “self-motivating individuals.” From this derives our status as moral beings and rational beings, formed in the “image of God,” as delineated in Genesis. Mittleman emphasizes that classical Jewish thought rests on the wholeness of the individual and on its irreducible ethical aspect. Humans are conflicted because they have the capacity for evil, and the author looks in-depth at the role of free will. Another important aspect of personhood is our essential need for companionship and community—crucial for “human flourishing.” Ultimately, claims the author, we matter because we are able to act in perpetuating the good that is already intrinsic in life.

A somewhat recondite argument that gently elicits the dignity of human life.

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FORAGERS, FARMERS, AND FOSSIL FUELS How Human Values Evolve

9 1/2 NARROW My Life in Shoes

Morrisroe, Patricia Gotham Books (256 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-59240-924-2

Morris, Ian Princeton Univ. (360 pp.) $29.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-0-691-16039-9

A provocative explanation for the evolution and divergence of ethical values.

Humans are genetically hard-wired to respect certain universal core ethical concerns, and yet there have been “enormous differences through time and space in what humans have taken fairness [and] justice to mean,” notes prolific academic Morris (Classics/ Stanford Univ.; War! What Is It Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots, 2014, etc.). The author contends that a culture’s interpretation of these concepts is driven by what works best for the form of energy capture on which the culture is based. That is, “our choices about what to be righteous about are...forced on us by the ways we extract energy from the world.” Cheerfully admitting that his argument is reductionist, materialist, universalist, functionalist and evolutionist, Morris sorts cultures from the end of the last ice age to the present into foragers, farmers and fossil fuel users. Each of these groups captures more energy per capita than its predecessor; each is also more materially successful and so tends to displace its predecessor over time. Each group’s interpretations of ethical concepts are reflected, among other things, in a culture’s attitudes toward political inequality, including kingship and slavery, wealth and gender inequality, and toleration of violence.

Morris concludes with some speculation about the future of ethical development as humanity’s per capita capture of energy continues its hockey-stick rise into the next century. This is, in book form, the author’s 2012 Tanner Lectures for Princeton’s Center for Human Values, and like the lectures, it includes brief reactions and rebuttal by three academics and the novelist Margaret Atwood, concluding with an author’s response in a chapter puckishly titled, “My Correct Views on Everything.”

In the hands of this talented writer and thinker, this potentially dry material becomes an engaging intellectual adventure, fully accessible to the generalist, as it ranges across millennia and disciplines including classical history, sociology, and moral and political philosophy.

(26 line illustrations; 4 maps)

Chronicling five decades of life by recounting the shoes worn during important societal and personal milestones is a quirky, possibly gimmicky, foundation for a narrative, but Morrisroe (Wide Awake: What I Learned About Sleep from Doctors, Drug Companies, Dream Experts, and a Reindeer Herder in the Arctic Circle, 2010, etc.) hits the mark.

Traversing America’s cultural landscape through shoe culture, the author explores how, for good or ill, the wedgie, glitter platforms, granny boots, and the recent cult of the high heel and bondage stilettos have affected her and our culture. Morrisroe discusses her childhood passion for Beatle Boots and how, after seeing Diane Keaton in Annie Hall, she coveted a pair of oxfords. As an adult in New York, in her hunt for the perfect narrow shoe, the author fell for an expensive “pair of loafers in the softest napa leather.” She also recalls the beginnings of “shoe porn,” fostered by Sex and the City. During a failed attempt at easing her foot pain, Morrisroe purchased a strange pair of shoes with curved “rocker” soles called MBTs (Masai Barefoot Technology). Throughout, the author weaves in entertaining footwear and foot care snippets. She notes that high heels were invented in the 16th century, and aristocratic women wore tall platforms called chopines. Marie Antoinette “wore two inch plum-black mules to her beheading.” Today, writes Morrisroe, women want pretty feet no matter the cost, so obliging podiatrists tout a procedure called a “Foot Facelift or Cinderella Surgery.” The author also laces in family portraits of a loving grandfather who administered foot massages; her mother, who could never find shoes that fit; and her husband’s bewildering attachment to an oversized collection of classic Puma sneakers.

A funny, warm and insightful trek through one woman’s life and American popular culture—a successful blend of form and function.

WHY GROW UP? Subversive Thoughts for an Infantile Age

Neiman, Susan Farrar, Straus and Giroux (240 pp.) $24.00 | May 5, 2015 978-0-374-28996-6

Moral philosopher and Einstein Forum director Neiman (Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists, 2008) examines the conundrum of juvenescence versus coming of age.

While a select few glide into maturity with a sense of privileged ease, the author surmises, others dread it and opt for years in denial. Throughout her erudite defense of adulthood, |

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Neiman emphasizes that “growing up is more a matter of courage than knowledge” since it takes a certain bravery to eschew the “dogmas of childhood” and, however disillusioned one may become by it, thrive within the world as it truly exists. Tailored for the highly literate reader more than the casual, Neiman’s intuitive assertions reference the lives and works of 18th-century Enlightenment thinker-philosophers Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose opposing viewpoints on coming of age bolster her greater central theme. Kant philosophized that immaturity resulted from a lack of personal fortitude, and for those stuck in the “mire of adolescence,” there’s a resistance to acknowledge the gap between an idealistic and a realitybased worldview. Rousseau claimed that the creation of a welladjusted adult begins with the re-evaluation of the child-rearing process, as evidenced in his outspoken treatise Emile. Neiman articulates the differing aspects affecting maturity, such as education, travel and employment, while arguing against painting adulthood as the “dimming of sparkle” because “by describing life as a downhill process, we prepare young people to expect— and demand—very little from it.” The author, whose previous books delved into the prospects of both moral nobility and wickedness, juxtaposes these divergent philosophies with dexterity and clarity. Her opening declaration that Peter Pan is “an emblem of our times” remains a resonant—if debatable—statement imploring our culture to act its age regardless of cultural influence or emotional convenience.

A scholarly, persuasive assessment of the significance of achieving mental and social maturity.

THE ROAD HOME A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path Nichtern, Ethan North Point/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (288 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-374-25193-2

“The pond never stops rippling.” Buddhist teacher Nichtern (One City: A Declaration of Interdependence, 2007) offers a wise, humane, and deeply sympathetic introduction to the practice of Buddhism.

The pond never stops rippling indeed, which means that each of us must be mindful of the stones we throw into it. As the author writes elsewhere in his vade mecum, karma may not quite work as the popular conception has it, but what we get out of life certainly depends on what we put into it.

Karma hinges on the acceptance of responsibility for how things turn out, though without interpreting it as “a kind of spiritual libertarianism, a way to praise the privileged and blame the oppressed.” (Take that, Ayn Rand!) Embracing the celebratory, friendly spirit of Thich Nhat Hanh rather than the austere solemnity of Robert Aitken, Nichtern examines the question of emptiness, which he insists is anything but nihilistic, and detachment, which is anything but uncaring, as 66

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well as the hows and whys of meditation and self-cultivation (“no fast food in this garden”). He also looks at such things as whether Buddhism is a religion, his finding that it is essentially humanistic being a matter of dispute among the many schools of thought that make it up, and at the problem of being mindful in an age of continuous partial attention. Longtime practitioners may find Nichtern’s approach a touch simplistic, but those wondering what Buddhism is all about will find plenty to think about in these pages, which make for a gentle and user-friendly invitation to explore further—understanding, of course, that there are many flavors of Buddhism, some of which would reject the author’s interpretations out of hand, others of which would embrace them wholeheartedly.

Not to be confused with Jim Harrison’s book of the same name, the product of another bodhisattva, though both are steeped in the same spirit. Thoughtful and helpful alike.

DRIVING THE FUTURE Combating Climate Change with Cleaner, Smarter Cars

Oge, Margo Arcade (352 pp.) $24.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-62872-538-4

Environmental Protection Agency insider Oge meticulously recounts the political battles that have cleared the way for more intelligent, fuel-efficient

transportation.

The author has a vision for the future of the automobile.

It’s not exactly the flying car of the future, but almost, as it comes with smartphone-synced scheduling, zero-emissions technology and the ability to park itself. The highly autonomous vehicles she describes in the opening of her astute, if not always captivating, memoir may seem like a pipe dream, but Oge knows her stuff. She is the former director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality at the EPA, where she worked for more than 30 years. The information she presents is highly detailed and carries the authority of a woman who has fought diligently and consistently for each step forward on the efficiency regulations she sees as a crucial part of our nation’s response to climate change. Readers may expect some degree of drama, as Oge chronicles her battles with climate science deniers, administrative changes of heart, and the automobile and oil industries. Instead, the author offers a more measured account of the meetings, calls, emails and political wrangling behind each improvement her team was able to push through.

Her frustration is clear, but this is not an emotional memoir; it’s about policy, and it’s thorough enough to serve as a course in how modern government really works. Anecdotes and asides occasionally add a personal tone to the writing—e.g., when Oge bought a Toyota Prius and was stunned by the difference between its stated miles per gallon (calculated by her own agency) and the much lower on-the-street reality. Soon enough, |

A significant wake-up call to increase citizens’ access to knowledge and culture, which requires both public awareness and financial support. bibliotech

SMART MONEY How High-Stakes Financial Innovation is Reshaping Our World—for the Better

though, she was back to budget meetings and court hearings— all of them important but without much emotional charge to engage readers.

An exhaustive, occasionally exhausting look at the long and winding road to a smart car future. (7 b/w photos; 15 charts)

BIBLIOTECH Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google Palfrey, John Basic (288 pp.) $26.99 | May 5, 2015 978-0-465-04299-9

Palfrey (Head of School/Phillips Andover Academy; Intellectual Property Strategy, 2011, etc.) reports on his progress setting up the Digital Public Library of America and argues that in the digital era, public libraries are more necessary than ever before.

The author, the founding chairman of the Digital Public Library, is involved with reorganizations of particular libraries, such as Harvard Law School Library. He is known for his expertise in various aspects of Internet policy, including open access and intellectual property rights. Here, Palfrey defends America’s tradition of philanthropy-based free public libraries, starting with Joshua Bates’ 1852 founding of the Boston Public Library, as well as Andrew Carnegie’s nationwide provision of library facilities. “The changes wrought by the digital revolution,” writes the author, “add up to a perfect storm for libraries and librarians. Every kind of librarian...faces a series of problems that can’t all be solved at once using the resources they have today.” The traditional job description of “collectors” and “keepers” of information is out of sync with successive waves of digital technology. Libraries, which lack sufficient financial resources, can’t keep up with the flood of printed and digital material. The author argues for the support of public libraries as core institutions of democracy, noting that “the knowledge that libraries offer and the help librarians provide are the lifeblood of an informed and engaged republic.” We must preserve the public spaces and combine them with digital platforms, as both will play an essential role in the future. Palfrey provides insight into local efforts in schools and libraries around the country and highlights the individual trailblazers. He also details national and international efforts that are bringing vast resources to the public and dealing with legal and other issues that come up along the way.

A significant wake-up call to increase citizens’ access to knowledge and culture, which requires both public awareness and financial support.

Palmer, Andrew Basic (320 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-465-06472-4

Palmer, the head of data journalism at the Economist, disagrees with those who see innovations like derivatives as responsible for recent financial bubbles and crashes, and he argues that the world needs even more financial innovation.

In a survey of monetary and financial history, the author examines the development of financial products. These include advances in peer-to-peer lending, which remove banks as middlemen in transactions that are made possible, in part, by mathematized search functions related to data mining. Palmer identifies companies across the world—e.g., Lending Club, Transfer Wise and Zest Finance—that are moving into areas where banks and other lenders provide either predatory or very little service to their customers. Nonleveraged methods of financing, providing cheaper short-term finance using nontraditional forms of collateral, are being developed for those qualified—e.g., student lending, payday loans, housing and retirement finance. Palmer traces these innovative methods to the tradition of financial mathematics begun as early as the 13th century with Leonardo Fibonacci. The author explores the respective pioneering contributions of both Fibonacci and 17th-century astronomer Edmond Halley. The former worked out how to calculate the “ ‘present value’ of cash flows—that is, how much a future amount of money is worth today, given that money can earn interest in the meantime,” and the latter helped develop the concepts of annuities and life tables for insurers.

“The problem with financial innovation is not that products have original sin,” writes Palmer, “but that the financial system is programmed to change these products in ways which make them more dangerous.” As examples, he points to recent hightech and mortgage bubbles. With state institutions apparently reaching their financial limits, the author sees plenty of room for expansion of innovations.

An intriguing argument that can bear further study.

AND THE GOOD NEWS IS...

Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side

Perino, Dana Twelve (256 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-4555-8490-1

Fox News commentator Perino, cohost of The Five, spreads sunshine in a book from which even Fox News haters could extract some useful nuggets. |

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Before the hackles rise, let it be known that we’re violating one of the no-no’s she advances in this combination of memoir and update of Miss Manners for our time: Instead of saying, “I hated everything about the Bush Administration, but I like you,” she counsels, we should say, “You were a good press secretary.” Yes: She’s that Dana Perino, still selling a Bush-Cheney agenda while lamenting the incivility and partisan divisions of Washington: “We’ve gone from being the confident leader of the free world to bickering about every living thing under the sun.” In her favor, she does allow that Republicans are sharper-tongued and meaner to each other than Democrats are to them—but, she adds brightly, “That’s okay—it makes us smarter and better at what we do.” Ever political, Perino would seem to want it both ways, though, to her credit, her relentless cheerfulness will make readers wish that politicians of every bent were just a little kinder to each other. And besides, she notes, the left indulges in name-calling, too. Probably, the left would do even more, and Harry Reid would be meaner than he is, had it a machine the like of Fox News, but that’s another matter for another day. For the time being, and again to her credit, the author allows that it’s a fair criticism to say that she’s part of the problem—“or if not me specifically,” she amends, “then cable news and talk radio.”

“A pet peeve of mine is with people who give backhanded compliments.” So: The best memoir and etiquette guide manqué we have by “the first and only Republican woman” to serve as White House press secretary. Now be nice.

RIDING ON COMETS A Memoir

Pleska, Cat Vandalia Press/West Virginia Univ.

(240 pp.) $16.99 paper | May 1, 2015 978-1-940425-51-1 A bits-and-pieces memoir of growing up in a working-class West Virginia family in the 1950s and ’60s.

Pleska (co-editor: Fed from the Blade: Tales and Poems from the Mountains, 2012)—a freelance writer, leader of writing workshops in her home state and book reviewer for the Charleston Gazette—builds her coming-of-age memoir from a few dozen brief anecdotes, an approach that frequently gives the feeling of being notes for a larger, finished work. Following an introduction in which she recalls making mud pies when she was 5, Pleska groups stories about her and her family under the headings Images, Awakening, Awareness, Reaction, Loss and Strength. An only child growing up amid assorted storytelling adults, the author absorbed their stories and retells them here. In one instance, the same incident is recounted three times, once by the grandfather, once by the father and once more from the author’s point of view. Pleska’s earliest memories often read suspiciously adult in the descriptions of settings, conversations, thoughts and emotions. The best stories are those about her hardscrabble family, which 68

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include especially vivid pictures of her paternal grandparents, Mommaw and Pawpaw. A particular gem is her account of being taken along by Pawpaw to buy a bottle of bootleg whiskey from a man who ran a cockfighting business on the side. Pleska is candid about her hard-drinking father, a mill worker whose binges and absences from home were constant trials for her long-suffering mother. The author gives a muddier image of her mother, who seems to be a mass of contradictions—though Pleska credits her with teaching her to endure the adversities of life.

An uneven portrait of rural and small-town West Virginia life that is most likely to have its greatest appeal among nostalgic West Virginians.

THE SMARTEST BOOK IN THE WORLD A Lexicon of Literacy, a Rancorous Reportage, a Concise Curriculum of Cool Proops, Greg Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $25.00 | May 5, 2015 978-1-4767-4704-0

A charmingly random omnibus from a wisecracking know-it-all.

Proops, a veteran of the popular improv show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and host of The Smartest Man in the World podcast, presents a compendium of small essays on his favorite topics, ranging from Satchel Paige to Ovid, from Blood on the Tracks to All About Eve. Listeners to the “Proopcast” will enjoy the author’s pithy prose, though fans of less-intellectual humor may become bored. Some of the verve and snark Proops displays through his podcast gets lost in the transition to prose, but this is often the case when comedians translate their performances to a book. Nevertheless, many of the author’s lines hit home: “History is a series of lies written by icky white guys who beat their maids”; “Baseball at its best is church with spitting.” The author’s passion for his subjects comes through loud and clear, and Proops has a knack for the snappy one-line description. For example, Marc Bolan of T-Rex “delivers the short sexy warlock stuff right to the edge of the enchanted guitar forest.” Major league pitcher Ryne Duren “drank like an alcoholic fish.” Alain Delon in Le Samourai is “like a jungle cat, if a cat smoked weed and wore a trench coat.” Johnny Cash’s music is “the real world exposed on a train track shuffle.” Proops sprinkles the book with a variety of fascinating tidbits; it was a surprise to learn that Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics to “Sympathy for the Devil” after reading Marianne Faithful’s copy of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. But caveat lector: if you don’t have an affinity for baseball, poetry and film noir, this book probably isn’t for you.

Snarky history and piquant criticism as delivered by the smartass in the back of the classroom.

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An insightful book that paints a disturbing picture of the collapse of the working class and the growth of an upper class that seems to be largely unaware of the other’s precarious existence. our kids

OUR KIDS The American Dream in Crisis Putnam, Robert D. Simon & Schuster (416 pp.) $28.00 | Mar. 10, 2015 978-1-4767-6989-9

A political scientist calls attention to the widening class-based opportunity gap among young people in the United States.

Putnam (Public Policy/Harvard Univ.; co-author: American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, 2010, etc.), author of the best-selling Bowling Alone (2000), argues that the American dream has faded for poor children in the past five decades.

Beginning with the stories of individuals, he compares the opportunities for upward mobility in his hometown of Port Clinton, Ohio, when he was in high school (he graduated in 1959) with the situation today, and he finds tremendous differences. For getting ahead in the world, social class mattered relatively little then, but now it is paramount, and the institutions, both public and private, that helped young people of all backgrounds are no longer serving the disadvantaged well.

Putnam expands his view from his hometown to a number of towns across the U.S., looking at how young people in different social classes fare. Using personal stories, statistics and studies, and focusing in turn on families, parenting, schooling and community, the author demonstrates that the class gap in America has been growing. Although there is a fair amount of repetition, occasional sociological jargon and perhaps too much use of illustrative personal stories, Putnam’s prose is highly readable, and the figures and tables that dot the text are generally simple and clear. In the final chapter, Putnam discusses what this disparity in opportunity means for the future of our country economically and politically, as well as what it says about our ideals and values. He then tackles the question of what to do about it, offering a number of specific ideas and citing approaches that have had positive results. The best hope is a strong economy that benefits less-educated, low-paid workers.

An insightful book that paints a disturbing picture of the collapse of the working class and the growth of an upper class that seems to be largely unaware of the other’s precarious existence.

LUTHER’S FORTRESS Martin Luther and His Reformation Under Siege

Reston Jr., James Basic (288 pp.) $27.99 | May 5, 2015 978-0-465-06393-2

An engaging study of a short but explosive period in the life of the great reformer and translator of the Bible. |

Woodrow Wilson International Center senior scholar Reston (The Accidental Victim: JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the Real Target in Dallas, 2013, etc.) immerses himself in the life of Martin Luther (1483-1546) with a contagious energy, drawing readers into the complexities of this fraught period of religious conflict without getting lost in the research. Luther’s role as a “contrarian” gave impetus to the movement that would take his name, and his many revolutionary actions included abandoning his legal studies to become a monk (thereby alienating his father) and nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Imperial Church in Wittenberg in 1517. The act of publicly denouncing the sale of “indulgences,” among other venal policies of the Catholic Church, caused an immediate counteroffensive from the pope, who tried to lure him to Rome and excommunicated him.

Nonetheless, Luther hardened his positions, questioning even the validity of Catholicism’s sacraments, the demand of celibacy from priests and the need for good works in attaining heavenly salvation rather than “by faith alone.” After a bruising interrogation by Charles V’s minions at the Diet of Worms in 1521, Luther was quietly removed from peril and sheltered by proreform sympathizer Elector Frederick the Wise at his Wartburg Castle, where Luther lived in disguise and wrote prodigiously.

His correspondence to fellow scholars and advisers would help hone his ideas and inform his translations of the New Testament. While he was wrestling over these months with Satan, as he wrote, his radicalized rival Gabriel Zwilling and others took the rebellion to violent levels, prompting Luther to re-emerge and re-establish control of his flock with new clarity. In a swiftmoving narrative, Reston examines all of the aspects of this tumultuous time for the reformer.

An intensive journey inside Luther’s thinking as it was forming in opposition to the church. (25 b/w images)

THE LOST WORLD OF THE OLD ONES Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest

Roberts, David Norton (352 pp.) $27.95 | May 4, 2015 978-0-393-24162-4

More travels in the Southwest of yore by outdoorsman/writer Roberts (Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration, 2013, etc.).

There’s a place in southern Utah, not far from the Grand Canyon and closer still to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Canyonlands, where, before 2002, the author had never been—unusual, since he’s scrambled up and down most of the rugged terrain in the Four Corners states over the last four decades or so. Interestingly, most of his “desert-rat cronies” hadn’t been there, either. More interestingly still, as he chronicles here, neither had many ancient people, save for a few outlier Kayenta Anasazi from down south who eventually “gave up on Kaiparowits...[and] returned to their homeland.”

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Roberts, a keen student of the region’s anthropology, takes time to wonder why, noting that in the last 15 years, interest has grown, with ever more sophistication in our understanding of the many ethnic and cultural groups that contributed to regional prehistory and their far-flung network of connections.

Roberts also traveled nearby to the hidden lattice of canyons where vast numbers of Fremont Culture remains were recently formally cataloged, having been “protected by a single private owner” instead of the complex of laws surrounding what are called “cultural resources.” The author journeyed to places that have been overrun and ransacked by private collectors and protected, if sometimes too late, by the long arm of federal authority. Throughout, Roberts does two things: He stands on the land himself, affording armchair travelers a fine view of the place, and he scours vast stacks of scholarly literature to give us an up-to-date take on the minefield that is historical interpretation, with scholars coming just short of blows over angelson-pinheads sorts of questions. Credit the author for including plenty of interesting photos, as well.

For fans of all things Southwestern—not quite as robust and thoughtful as Craig Childs’ House of Rain (2007) but a pleasure to read. (16 pages of color illustrations)

THE HORROR OF IT ALL One Moviegoer’s Love Affair with Masked Maniacs, Frightened Virgins, and the Living Dead...

Rockoff, Adam Scribner (272 pp.) $24.00 | May 12, 2015 978-1-4767-6183-1

One horror fan’s mélange of memories, opinions and movie facts.

Violent horror movies, especially of the slasher variety, tend to split viewers into two camps. Either you avoid them or, like horror aficionado and producer Rockoff (Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986, 2002), you adore them. This ode to the genre combines personal reminiscences, movie trivia and rambling digressions into a book that is neither film criticism nor history but more like a monologue by a well-informed and highly opinionated fan. One aspect of the book describes how the adolescent author scared himself silly watching horror movies on rented VHS cassettes and late-night cable stations and eventually worked his way into the industry as a screenwriter and producer. Another aspect is devoted to Rockoff ’s commentary, which is particular and anecdotal in its approach. In one chapter, he names his top choice in a number of categories—e.g., “Greatest Kills,” “Most Future Stars,” “Most Sequel-Worthy Killer” and “Best Holiday Slasher.” In another, he defends a series of positions heretical to the fan community (for instance, that Ridley Scott’s Alien is boring). It’s likely that no one but other self-proclaimed horror geeks will find these sections of interest, but Rockoff is an amiable and often amusing guide to all this macabre minutia. Elsewhere, the 70

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book suffers from inexplicable digressions on subjects ranging from pornography (a recurring interest) to Charlie Sheen, and the author’s flippant attitude toward critics who take a more skeptical or theoretical view of the genre is off-putting. But at his best, Rockoff is a passionate defender of the creative rights of filmmakers, no matter how shocking or disturbing their creations might be, and a convincing advocate for scary movies as transgressive art—or just plain fun.

A rich but meandering book that will mostly appeal to like-minded fans.

IN MONTMARTRE Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art

Roe, Sue Penguin Press (352 pp.) $29.95 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-59420-495-1

The history of a revolutionary decade in modern art.

Art historian Roe (The Private Lives of the Impressionists, 2006, etc.) investigates the intersection of lives and cross-fertilization of the arts in Montmartre, beginning in 1900, when Picasso first arrived, and ending in 1911, when radical reconstruction began in the storied neighborhood of shacks and cafes. Her colorful narrative includes scores of painters and the gallery owners who promoted them; dancers, such as the Duncan siblings, Nijinsky and Serge Lifar; fashion designers Paul Poiret and Charles Worth; and a host of writers, notably Gertrude Stein, Apollinaire and Max Jacob. Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Derain and Vlaminck take center stage, but as in Roger Shattuck’s classic The Banquet Years (1955), many others populate the scene. Because Roe draws on histories of the period and biographies of the major figures, much information may be familiar to readers: Picasso’s painting of Stein’s portrait, for example; his rivalry with Matisse; Matisse’s marital problems; and artists’ discovery of African art. Roe contends that Picasso first found ethnic sculpture “disgusting; they reminded him of the fusty old bits of bric-a-brac for sale at the flea market.” African art came to influence him intensely, but Roe hardly explains why other than to suggest that the artifacts “made him think about—perhaps even identify with—the people who had made them and their motives for doing so.” The author is strongest in conveying social history: the gritty reality of the Bateau-Lavoir, with its “creaking floorboards beaten by winter storms and splintered by summer heat,” where many artists made their homes; the intricate ballet of their friendships and romantic liaisons; their frustrations in exhibiting and selling their work.

Although Roe has created an informed and graceful narrative, fresh sources or insights would have greatly enriched the book.

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Sehat ably shows how the exploitation of the founders debases political debate and neglects policy evaluation. the jefferson rule

THE BIG SWIM Coming Ashore in a World Adrift Saxifrage, Carrie New Society Publishers (192 pp.) $16.95 paper | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-86571-798-5

An American-born Canadian journalist contemplates mindful living in a world threatened by climate change.

In her first book, one-time Seattle lawyer Saxifrage tells the story of how she evolved from “comfy mama to climate hawk.” Her transformation began when she participated in an organic farming program on Cortes Island, just off the coast of British Columbia. Saxifrage and her husband immediately fell in love with the island’s unspoiled natural beauty and bought a 20-acre parcel. Eager to help preserve Cortes Island for future generations, the author began to serve on community environmental boards and research climate change. What she learned from these experiences led her to implement a plan—which included buying a hybrid vehicle, line-drying clothes, riding bicycles, using electricity rather than natural gas and traveling long distances by bus—to reduce personal carbon emissions. As part of this project of “claiming [their] relationship” to the Earth, she and her husband even renamed themselves after a tiny flower of the genus Saxifragaceae.

The more invested she became in the well-being of Cortes Island and the planet, the more connected she felt to the living, the dead and herself. The ancient human jawbone discovered on a second property the family owned allowed Saxifrage to understand “the gift of limited time in this beautiful place” that she had been granted. Efforts at remembering dreams connected her to her innermost self and a Jungian collective unconscious. At the same time, heightened awareness led to increased anxiety about the rapidity of ecological destruction. Mindfulness pulled her from the depths of her own encroaching despair. Through this practice, Saxifrage learned that her task as a planetary caretaker was to find the balance to enjoy life while finding the resilience she needed to carry on the fight to save the Earth.

A soulful and sobering memoir of climate change and personal responsibilities.

THE JEFFERSON RULE Why We Think the Founding Fathers Have All the Answers Sehat, David Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $27.00 | May 12, 2015 978-1-4767-7977-5

Sehat (History/Georgia State Univ.; The Myth of American Religious Freedom, 2011) indicts the political ploy of invoking the Constitution to support projects from the sublime to the absurd. |

It’s certainly not a new game. Even the Founding Fathers railed against those who “misinterpreted” what they wrote.

Thomas Jefferson’s rhetorical posturing is often the preferred reference, particularly regarding states’ rights or first principles.

Jefferson and James Madison’s strict constructionism fought Alexander Hamilton’s federalist policies in a struggle that made the period one of the most partisan in American history. The pragmatic Jefferson understood and adjusted his politics in the face of reality, and his compromises eventually produced a neofederalism that included almost all of Hamilton’s proposals. The Constitution was indeterminate; the founders agreed on the wording but not necessarily on its many possible meanings. The author traces our history through the changing interpretations, including Henry Clay’s Missouri Compromise, his “Genuine American System” of cooperative economics and his efforts in the South Carolina nullification crisis of 1842. Up until the Civil War, nearly everyone cited the Constitution, as strict interpretations fought with adaptive, liberal ones. The founders were ignored after the Civil War through the Progressive Era, but the modern fight began in earnest with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, the tumultuous 1960s and today’s tea party activism. Current obstructive politics have taken simple-minded rhetoric, paranoid behavior, and baseless propaganda to new and wholly unsubstantiated heights. A quote from Adam Kirsch in the New York Times pinpoints the author’s view: “To believe that American institutions were ever perfect...makes it too easy to believe that they are perfect now. Both assumptions...are sins against the true spirit of the Constitution, which demands that we keep reimagining our way to a more perfect union.”

Sehat ably shows how the exploitation of the founders debases political debate and neglects policy evaluation— required reading for those desperate for sane, intelligent political arguments.

ONE OF US The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway Seierstad, Åsne Farrar, Straus and Giroux (552 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-374-27789-5

A chilling descent into the mind of mass murderer Anders Breivik.

“It was only supposed to be an article for Newsweek,” writes veteran combat journalist Seierstad (The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War, 2008, etc.) of the origins of this long book—a touch too long, in need of some judicious streamlining. The long arm of editor Tina Brown drew Seierstad deep into a story that she’d watched unfold in her native Norway, a country about which she hadn’t written before. Her explorations of Breivik, who coldly gunned down 69 people at a youth summer camp after setting off a bomb in Oslo that killed another 8, have the unsettling quality that readers will associate with novelist Stieg Larsson, whose investigative reporting in next-door Sweden turned

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up a deep-running vein of fanatical right-wing hatreds and xenophobia. In Breivik’s case, the metamorphosis from gadabout to obsessive computer gamer and then unmoored killer has no sure inevitability. It could have turned out much differently, but it also might just have had to happen, as Seierstad’s portentous opening pages suggest. As neatly as possible, given the complexity of the story, the author unfolds the narrative of a Kurdish refugee family with Breivik’s developing anti-Muslim sentiments, seemingly connected with the publication of a fake manifesto promising a Scandinavian jihad. Fakery and invented scenarios form a theme, from forged diplomas to Breivik’s certainty that the Marxists were out to get him. What is certain, however, is that his killing spree, described in gruesome detail, was thoroughly and carefully planned from the beginning. On being told that he had disrupted the sense of security that blanketed the quiet nation, Breivik smiled and said, “That’s what they call terror, isn’t it?”

Rather diffuse but thoroughly grounded in documented fact—as a result, it packs all the frightening power of a good horror novel. (8 pages of b/w illustrations)

AMERICAN ENTERPRISE A History of Business in America

Serwer, Andy & Liebhold, Peter—Eds. Smithsonian Books (256 pp.) $29.95 | May 26, 2015 978-1-58834-496-0

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History provides an illustrated overview of the country’s business history, including images of objects and artifacts in the museum’s collections.

The editors, Serwer, a former editor at Fortune magazine, and Liebhold, a curator at the museum, are joined by eight contributors from business, commerce, finance and government service. These include former treasury secretary and Goldman Sachs veteran Hank Paulson, Richard Trumka of the United Mine Workers Union, Bill Ford of the motor company, and Fisk Johnson, the fifth generation of the family in charge of SC Johnson. The editors identify four successive phases of business organization. Small businessmen and family businesses organized around trades and crafts characterized the Merchant Era, from 1770 to the 1850s. The Corporate Era (1860s-1930s) was based on the growth of industrialization, increasing capital and power, investors and limited liability. Contributor Adam Davidson, of the New York Times Magazine, writes that this period “represents a defining break between an old way of living and the new one we now know.” The editors divide the decades from the close of World War II to the present between the Consumer Era and the Global Era. The book covers the proliferation of slavery and the China trade, along with the development of the oil industry, advertising and the explosive rise of digital technology in the past few decades. The most interesting parts of the narrative are the pictures of the objects in the museum’s collection— e.g., a Singer sewing machine, an Underwood typewriter, a Bell 72

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telephone, a 1914 cash register from Marshall Field & Company in Detroit and a DuMont “Revere” entertainment center from 1947. Paulson concludes with a two-part contribution on global warming, noting that even though “we can see the crash coming...we’re sitting on our hands instead of altering course.”

An attractively presented guide and showcase to the museum and to business history. (250 full-color illustrations)

THE OBELISK AND THE ENGLISHMAN The Pioneering Discoveries of Egyptologist William Bankes Seyler, Dorothy U. Prometheus Books (300 pp.) $26.00 | May 12, 2015 978-1-63388-036-8

Seyler (Emerita, English/Northern Virginia Community Coll.) delivers a biography of William Bankes (1786-1855), one of the first Europeans to document the ruins of ancient Egypt.

A college friend of Lord Byron, a gifted painter and avid art collector, Bankes was a pioneer of archaeology. Handsome and witty, he was also gay in an era when that was a capital offense in Britain. He attended Cambridge, served a term in Commons, and in 1813, decided to see life outside England. He headed first to Spain and Portugal and began collecting art, much of it still on display in his Dorsetshire home, Kingston Lacy. In 1815, he decided on a voyage up the Nile. There, he copied art and inscriptions in tombs and temples and made careful notes of their layouts. With a few companions from his Nile trip, Bankes traveled to Palestine, disguising himself as an Arab to gain entry to sites where Europeans were unwelcome. Returning to Egypt, he made an even longer journey up the Nile, visiting numerous sites and copying inscriptions, including an important list of kings from a temple in Abydos. His careful documentation facilitated the eventual decoding of hieroglyphics. In 1820, he returned to England, where his travels brought him brief fame— but his failure to write up his discoveries denied him real recognition. In 1833, he was caught in a compromising position with a soldier. With the help of influential friends, he was acquitted, and he managed to keep a low profile until 1841, when he was arrested a second time. He fled the country and spent his final years in Italy, still buying art to send back home. Though Seyler is sometimes hazy on chronology, she provides a solid account of her subject, who was in the right place when there was important work to be done on Egypt.

The fascinating story of a figure who deserves to be much better known.

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Lucid, lyrical, educative and engaging virtually all areas of the brain. the life of images

THE LIFE OF IMAGES Selected Prose

Simic, Charles Ecco/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-06-236471-5 A Pulitzer Prize–winning poet, essayist and translator presents a motley, intriguing collection of nonfiction pieces from the past 30 years.

Simic (New and Selected Poems: 19622012, 2013, etc.) has assembled some 41 pieces (all but four appeared in previous collections) that show the vast range of his interests. Arranged chronologically, with a few exceptions, the essays—no real surprise to followers of the author—deal with art, philosophy, literature and poetry. In some cases—as in the many that previously appeared in the New York Review of Books— they deal with literary and artistic figures who may be less wellknown to the general reading public—e.g., poet Yehuda Amichai, Joseph Cornell and Odilon Redon. But familiar names dance through these pages, as well. Simic continually sprinkles glitter on the work of Emily Dickinson (whom he greatly admires), and he offers a piece celebrating the work of Buster Keaton. He also writes affectingly about his own life, mentioning several times his boyhood experiences in World War II of being bombed by both the Nazis and the Allies. Perhaps as a result, he repeatedly excoriates the let’s-make-war mentality and wonders why the United States continues to employ it as an early option in international relations. A few pieces do not have the traditional look of an essay. “Night Sky” (1996), for example, is a series of brief prose poems, each of which gets its own page. An amusing piece about bird cages (from 2011) features a series of short paragraphs connected only by their allusions to a bird cage. Simic’s prose style is often epigrammatic. Virtually all the essays include sentences that could well find a home in Bartlett’s—e.g., “Each one of us is a synthesis of the real and unreal,” he wrote in 2000.

Lucid, lyrical, educative and engaging virtually all areas of the brain.

THE UNRAVELING High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq

Sky, Emma PublicAffairs (416 pp.) $28.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-61039-593-9

A grimly clinical assessment by a former high-ranking adviser of the “modernday Crusade of ideologues and idealists” who drove the United States invasion of Iraq—to say nothing of their “ignorance, arrogance, and naïvety.”

Not my idea, not my idea. Sky, a British civilian who volunteered to help with Iraq reconstruction and wound up serving as a deputy to theater commander Raymond Odierno, or “General |

O,” might as well have used the mantra as a running head for the book. By her account, no one on the outside—including, to her credit, her—had an unimpeded view of what was going on, but all were sure of the rightness of their cause. George W. Bush and Tony Blair, writes Sky unsparingly, tried hard to sell their war internationally, but they could find only a few buyers. The ones who did come along for the ride, such as the Italians with their kiosks selling pasta and coffee, were disinclined to shed much of their own blood, leaving it to the Americans and Brits to do so. There were plenty of differences between even those allies: The Americans “pray more often than the Muslims do,” to quote one bemused Australian, and as Sky writes engagingly, the American God to whom they prayed “was also different from the one I had grown up with”—even as American chaplains “prayed for victory over our enemies rather than peace.”

Peace was not in the offing, anyway, not with the Bush administration in charge. Unfortunately, once it was Barack Obama’s turn, it didn’t get better. “Here I was,” writes the author, “sitting in on the high-level discussion of the policy decision that would perhaps determine the outcome of the Iraq war, but none of my arguments made the vice president reconsider his decision.”

One might call the events Sky describes as a comedy of errors, except that there’s nothing comedic about it. A tragedy of errors, then, crisply recounted by one who was there.

AFTER THIS When Life Is Over, Where Do We Go?

Smith, Claire Bidwell Hudson Street/Penguin (304 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-1-59463-306-5 An angst-ridden search for the afterlife.

Having lost both her parents and a close friend by her mid-20s, Smith (The Rules of Inheritance, 2012) has spent the rest of her life grappling with issues of grief and loss. This extends even to her profession as a therapist specializing in grief. In her second memoir, the author tracks her almost compulsive search for an understanding of what happens when people die and “where” the dead reside. In an often absorbing yet also self-absorbed narrative, Smith looks back on meetings with mediums, an astrologist and a past-life regression therapist. In addition, she recounts experiences with shamanism, meditation and séances. The most fascinating sections of the narrative chronicle her many encounters with mediums, as Smith seems to find a connection to lost relatives and yet cannot get past her pervasive skepticism. Oddly enough, in attempting to handle her grief, the author largely discounts out of hand any traditional religious avenue (though she did meet with a rabbi), preferring instead to stick firmly to the New-Age road. Death even permeates Smith’s relationships with her daughters, as she worries about the (albeit unlikely) possibility of leaving them alone and motherless at an early age. Each chapter ends with a letter written to her daughters for them to read once she is

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In these lyrical, finely crafted pieces, Tevis reflects on haunted places. the world is on fire

BORDER ODYSSEY Travels Along the U.S./ Mexico Divide

gone. In the end, Smith’s consolation comes in a realization that we are all part of a greater universe and that our physical deaths are more a change than an end or a beginning. In the meantime, we can only “do the best we can until we get to the other side, whatever that looks like.”

A touch morbid and obsessive, and in the end, probably not all that helpful to those struggling with grief.

THE WORLD IS ON FIRE Scrap, Treasure, and Songs of Apocalypse

Tevis, Joni Milkweed (312 pp.) $16.00 paper | May 12, 2015 978-1-57131-347-8

Evocative essays on faith, life and wonder.

In these lyrical, finely crafted pieces, Tevis (English and Creative Writing/ Furman Univ.; The Wet Collection: A Field Guide to Iridescence and Memory, 2012) reflects on haunted places: a house with 160 rooms stalked by its owner’s ghost; a nuclear bomb testing ground in Nevada; the site of Buddy Holly’s plane crash; auction rooms filled with abandoned furniture; and, not least, her own memories. Apocalypse, she writes, means “unveiling,” and she searches for wisdom in devastation and despair. In the 1950s, the Nevada Test Site was a popular vacation destination where families gathered for the thrill of seeing a nuclear bomb explode, incinerating Doom Town: model houses staged with mannequins. From 1952 until 1992, 1,021 bombs exploded, the first hundred aboveground, contaminating the land forever.

Tourists in Las Vegas could take a bus to the site; or they might have visited the Liberace Museum, where mannequins wore the performer’s gaudy costumes, “dusted with silver, crusted with cabochons,” as gorgeous and surreal as the bomb. Death haunts the Salton Sea, a vast inland body of water created by a mistake in irrigation in California’s Imperial Valley. Now it is polluted, “stark and sad....Scalded, scabbed.” Fish are gone, except for tilapia; birds, too. One year, park rangers cremated massive numbers of dead pelicans. The sea, Tevis writes, is “a practice apocalypse, terrible but local: if you’re lucky, you can leave it behind.” Like poets Gerard Manley Hopkins and Mary Oliver, Tevis sees the natural world imbued with spiritual power.

“I don’t want to be the same after this trip,” she tells herself in the stark, forbidding landscape of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And she was not, discovering she was pregnant. During labor, “spells fill the space” and “a strange glow marks this seam between life and death.”

That seam glows fiercely, startlingly bright, in these rich, revelatory essays.

Thompson Jr., Charles D. Univ. of Texas (320 pp.) $27.50 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-0-292-75663-2

An exploration of 2,000 miles of fraught, rugged and deeply contested territory.

Thompson (Documentary Studies and Cultural Anthropology/Duke Univ.; Spirits of Just Men: Mountaineers, Liquor Bosses, and Lawmen in the Moonshine Capital of the World, 2011, etc.), a former farmer, is a self-professed activist on United States–Mexico border issues. He has published scholarship on issues of immigration, agriculture and border politics and has brought groups of students to borderland regions for experiential learning, and this book represents a combination of reportage, travelogue, memoir and jeremiad. In 2010, Thompson and his wife undertook an ambitious trip in which they followed the path of the border from the Texas Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean, crossing nearly 2,000 miles through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. They tried their best not to simply follow the interstates and other major highways but to hew as closely to the border as possible throughout the trip. They explored little towns and larger communities on both sides of the border, communities that in many cases are dying due to the construction of the border wall, which has provided a concrete example of the politics of separation that have dominated conservative politics and largely won out in the current debates over immigration.

Thompson chronicles his discussions with ordinary folks, activists, border officials and just about anyone who would answer his questions. Although the author tries to be fair, his sympathies for immigrants and understandable frustrations with the wall and what it represents ring clearly throughout. He writes engagingly and elucidates both major issues as well as the subtle losses that have taken place over the years. The narrative cries out for a map or series of maps, but Thompson’s own photographs enhance his impassioned prose.

A potent cri de coeur for a more compassionate, sane and humane border policy.

THE NOODLE MAKER OF KALIMPONG The Untold Story of My Struggle for Tibet

Thondup, Gyalo & Thurston, Anne F. PublicAffairs (352 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-61039-289-1 From Thondup, the current Dalai Lama’s elder brother, a personal perspective on the history of Tibet since the Chinese occupation.

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Both proud Tibetan nationalists, Thondup and the Dalai Lama were decidedly separated at birth. The Dalai Lama was destined to “cultivate and practice love, tenderness, compassion and tolerance,” while Thondup has been well-versed in the grittiness of international political intrigue: “I do not care whether the people I work with are good or bad, whether I like them or dislike them. I just try to carry out my work.” Thondup tells his story to China specialist Thurston, who delivers plenty of her own opinions in the introduction and the afterword. Thondup doesn’t forgo family history—there is excellent background on the famed Kumbum Monastery and the Yellow Hat sect of the Gelugpa school of Buddhism—nor his latest incarnation: “I am known here as the noodle maker of Kalimpong.” But in between, the author chronicles a life of vibrant activity, which, depending on one’s political persuasion, was heroic or ill-advised, though not self-aggrandizing. What emerges from the tales of his diplomacy and interlocution, shuttling among Tibet, China, Taiwan and India, wherever he was needed; the scheming and plotting with the CIA (“My role with the CIA weighs heavily on my conscience”); and the at-times overwhelming detail, is that Thondup is a progressive Tibetan, a foe of the entrenched elite and a friend of the workingman—though he often found himself in the wrong place, with the wrong people at the wrong time. Additionally, elements of the story are hard to believe, most glaringly that the Dalai Lama had no knowledge of CIA involvement in Tibetan resistance, as well as the claim of foreign-instigation behind the recent riots (both of which Thurston notes).

A thorough but not always convincing story of foreign intrigue.

BEYOND THE PALE Folklore, Family and the Mystery of Our Hidden Genes

Urquhart, Emily Harper Avenue (288 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-06-238916-9

A child born with albinism inspires a concerned mother to uncover its genetic origins.

Canadian folklorist Urquhart’s affecting debut memoir centers around Sadie, born in 2010 with a rare skin pigmentation disorder resulting in an ethereal whiteness of the skin, hair and eyes, along with a host of maladies including photophobia and partial blindness. Together with compassionate input from her biologist husband, Urquhart presents a creative interpretation of her journey through folkloric beliefs and fables to obtain a new understanding and valuing of Sadie’s condition, whether through a new ophthalmologist or the family’s move to western Canada. As Sadie progressed through her first year, the author immersed herself in noncompetitive support groups, chatted with artistic acquaintances and networked at an international albinism conference populated by parents accompanying their albino children with “the inaudible swish of white canes sweeping side to side across the floor.” From more |

seasoned parents, Urquhart gleaned the heartbreaking reality of bullying and peer exclusion due to an albino child’s appearance and limited vision, while others offered encouragement to simply embrace their imperfections and abnormalities. Though she met hopeful test subjects for new pigmentation drug trials and briefly explored issues of genetic screening, darker chapters detail an unsettling voyage to Tanzania, where albinism can spur eerie, witchcraft-inspired atrocities. Throughout her three-year odyssey, Urquhart voraciously digested familial, archival and census material, searching out medical specialists and “tangential ancestors” in hopes of unraveling the biological nature of Sadie’s condition. A weathered photograph album renewed interest in her paternal family tree, which led to a relative who personified a “twist in my genetic lineage.” Throughout, the author remains intensely focused on comprehending the complexities of hereditary genetics while appreciating her daughter’s “unusual beauty.”

A graceful, perceptive rendering of a misunderstood condition.

BLACK SABBATH Symptom of the Universe

Wall, Mick St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-250-05134-9

A raucous biography of the legendary heavy metal band infamous for their offstage behavior.

Now recognized as one of the most influential and notorious rock bands in history, it was never easy for the four principal members of Black Sabbath. Growing up within a short distance of each other in the bleak Birmingham suburb of Aston, the band formed in unlikely, albeit coincidental circumstances when former boyhood adversaries Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi reconnected and brought together friends and fellow musicians Geezer Butler and Bill Ward to round out the core lineup of the group. The band toiled endlessly through name and lineup changes, honing their dark and sludgy sound in clubs (often getting tossed out after a few songs), and they built a devoted following on the back of their frenetic live shows. Suddenly, as quickly as it was improbable, Black Sabbath had landed a record deal and was being courted by established impresario/gangster Don Arden.

The band refused Arden’s advances, at first, but their fate was sealed when Osbourne was introduced to his daughter, Sharon, whom he would marry. Arden would later help the band recover from being ripped off by their managers. Veteran music journalist and biographer Wall (AC/DC: Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be, 2013, etc.) writes with conversational verve and wit, matching the lifestyles of his subjects, as he chronicles their unexpected rise to international fame and catastrophic downfall. The archetypal hallmarks of Black Sabbath’s career were epitomized after their sophomore album, “Paranoid,” went to No. 1 in the U.K.: “The next three years flew by in a blizzard of dope, cocaine,

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A star-studded homage to a prolific director. wild bill wellman

booze, sex, and the best music anybody in Black Sabbath would ever make.” Osbourne was ultimately expelled, and Sabbath reimagined itself with Ronnie James Dio as their new frontman and a host of other stand-ins before the original lineup reunited 35 years later.

Another straightforward, solid hard rock bio from Wall. (two 8-page photo inserts)

THE REAL-LIFE MBA Your No-BS Guide to Winning the Game, Building a Team, and Growing Your Career

Welch, Jack; Welch, Suzy Harper Business (256 pp.) $29.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-06-236280-3

A solid framework on how business works and how to be part of the game.

Drawing on decades of experience running a business, the husband-and-wife Welch team (Winning, 2005, etc.) has compiled their advice into a no-nonsense guide for anyone who wishes to learn more about the multifaceted aspects of building and maintaining a flourishing work environment. “This book is actually for anyone and everyone who is looking for a down-to-earth, no-BS primer on the big ideas and the best learn-it-today, apply-it-tomorrow techniques of an MBA,” they write. Starting with a generous explanation of what the business “game” is all about, the Welches examine the ways companies, both large and small, must organize in order to operate fruitfully in an increasingly global, highly competitive marketplace. By creating a mission statement, with employees embracing “behaviors” that promote the company mission, by communicating on a regular basis with employees and providing regular feedback on an employee’s performance, by sweeping away obstacles that hinder individual productivity and by making work fun, the Welches promote the idea of a flexible, forward-thinking company. The authors also explain the appropriate way to handle a crisis, which can spread like wildfire thanks to the speed of the Internet; how to build strong leadership based on truth and trust; the methods for finding the right employee for the right position, even if it means firing everyone and starting over from scratch; and how to use unusual resources such as IT geniuses, freelancers and contract workers to fill positions. They also show how to squelch those who drain the company of resources, time and energy. The authors’ positive attitudes and enthusiasm to share their expertise dominate the text, and these are coupled with numerous real-life examples of business practices that worked and those that didn’t.

A practical and multilayered guide to running a company effectively and profitably.

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WILD BILL WELLMAN Hollywood Rebel

Wellman Jr., William Pantheon (656 pp.) $40.00 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-307-37770-8

A star-studded homage to a prolific director.

In this loving, abundantly detailed biography, Wellman Jr. (The Man and His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture, 2006) pays tribute to his father, William Wellman (1896-1995), director of such notable movies as The Public Enemy (1931), starring James Cagney; Yellow Sky (1948), with Gregory Peck; and The High and the Mighty (1954), with John Wayne.

Although he worked in more than 100 movies and directed 76, he received only three Academy Award nominations for direction and won only for his screenwriting of the original 1937 version of A Star Is Born. Believing that both the man and his work “are decidedly underappreciated,” Wellman traces his father’s productive 40-year career, setting the stage with his restless, raucous youth.

“He found society alien and authority figures oppressive,” writes the author. Impulsive and impatient, expelled from high school, he was headed for delinquency. World War I saved him: Rejected by the American Army, he set out for France. “For me, it’s either war or jail,” he told his family. In the French Foreign Legion, he was called “Wild Bill,” an epithet that his son finds apt. He earned the Croix de Guerre, returned to join the U.S. Air Service and became a flight instructor in San Diego. A short-lived marriage to an actress connected him to Hollywood, where he briefly acted and soon became an assistant director. His first solo stint was a Western, The Man Who Won (1923), and his acclaimed Wings (1927) drew on his war experiences. Wellman went on to work for every major studio, seeking with each new contract more freedom to bring in his own projects—freedom, and money, granted to him as his stature grew.

He worked with megastars and studio moguls, all portrayed here in lively detail. A filmography reprises the producer and cast of every Wellman movie.

A rich, exuberant life, well-captured in this exuberant biography.

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GORGE My 300-Pound Journey Up Kilimanjaro

Whitely, Kara Richardson Seal Press (264 pp.) $17.00 paper | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-58005-559-8

A physical journey up Mount Kilimanjaro and an emotional journey through a lifetime of baggage.

When journalist Whitely embarked on her third trip up Kilimanjaro—Africa’s highest peak—she had already made it to the top once and made a second failed |

attempt. What caused the second and third climbs to be different, and significantly more difficult than the first, was the extra weight. At more than 300 pounds, the author was definitely not the norm on the mountain, and she was battling more than altitude sickness and fatigue. In addition to the immense physical challenges, Whitely’s journey on Kilimanjaro served as an opportunity to battle demons of abuse and abandonment and an eating addiction. The author’ story is immediately engaging, as she chronicles her initial Kilimanjaro triumph and her follow-up failure with wit, energy and color. Her general background is equally striking: Tales of her binge eating strike a visceral chord alongside her desire to find inside herself a different person, a new stereotype of “hiker girl” rather than overweight girl. The first half of the memoir, well paced, compellingly juggles the two personas of addictive eater and avid hiker. The second half of the memoir, however, becomes repetitive. Whitely spent her time on the mountain thinking about her past and her obsessive eating, and while that was clearly a long, reflective process, it becomes heavy in the retelling, overshadowing the journey. Readers expecting an inspirational story about a mountain climb may feel like they’ve lost the plot amid reminiscences of an absentee father and the author’s previous attempts at confronting her weight. The focus slips away from Kilimanjaro and lands squarely on Whitely’s weight problems, which is problematic because the book lacks resolution on that front.

Disappointing despite its honesty and flair.

BENCHWARMER An Anxious Dad’s Almanac of Fatherhood and Other Failures

Wilker, Josh PublicAffairs (320 pp.) $26.99 | May 5, 2015 978-1-61039-401-7

A sports-obsessed memoir of fatherhood.

The delights of this fatherhood confessional are various. Perhaps most striking and unusual is Wilker’s (Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards, 2010) choice of framing his narrative in the form of an almanac. The almanac becomes a moving metaphor for a universal need to organize the chaotic borders of life experience. The author divides the book into four volumes spanning the first year of his son Jack’s life. The almanac is then subdivided alphabetically, starting with Aardsma, David, ending with Zidane, Zinedine, and running a curious gamut of terms, personae, ideas and anecdotes. The first entry in Volume 4, section W, for example, is Webber, Chris—the now retired all-star NBA player. The entry beneath his name reads, “Time can’t be stopped,” referencing his disastrous timeout in the 1993 national championship game, while making light of the fact that there are no convenient timeouts in real life, either. For sports fans (who also happen to be experiencing fatherhood), Wilker’s almanac is rife with poignant, essayistic forays into these dusty |

corners of sports history. Perhaps the memoir’s most important takeaway is the acknowledgment that even the best of parents are sometimes faking it, doing what they can to make the world less dangerous for the young and still innocent. “When Jack was first born I didn’t know how to hold him,” writes the author, “but within a week or so the awkwardness of holding him gave way to the feeling that holding him was the thing I’d been born to do, the feeling that made me whole.”

This almanac of fatherhood (and other failures) is honest, relatable and humorous—an indispensable read for fathers (and sons) whose joy in life comes not from winning the big game but being alive to witness the beauty of its happening.

KEEP IT FAKE Inventing an Authentic Life

Wilson, Eric G. Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (240 pp.) $25.00 | May 5, 2015 978-0-374-18102-4

The counterargument to the cliché of “keep it real.”

Wilson (English/Wake Forest Univ.) extends his contrarian streak (Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy, 2008, etc.) with an inquiry into what is really real and whether it really matters. As he crosses disciplines—philosophy, psychology, literary and film criticism, pop-culture analysis—and genres (alternating discussions of Barthes and Nietzsche with revelatory reveries of memoir), Wilson has ultimately written a deeply personal book, almost a lifeline, though readers might find it a challenge to connect the dots between the short chapters. The author explores a central paradox: “to believe you’re authentic in a world where nothing is authentic but performed is inauthentic; to know that you’re inauthentic in a world in which nothing is not performed is authentic. So if you believe as if you’re actually authentic, then you’re a liar, and if you comport yourself with an awareness of your inauthenticity, you are as real as it gets.” The academic in Wilson draws from semiotics and Dadaist aesthetics; the popculture maven revels in the glories of Bill Murray’s work (particularly in Meatballs) and almost everything by David Lynch (particularly Blue Velvet). However, it’s his chronicles of the author’s personal experiences as a suicidal depressive where the work transcends postmodern irony and wordplay. In a world of media bombardment and technological rewiring, where death and gravity are real and everything else is up for grabs, Wilson discovered through therapy that he could construct a new narrative rather than accept the ones handed down to him or the ones that weighted him down. “Depression whipped me into grace,” he writes, bringing his book to a close with the conclusion that fakery is relative, that some serves a greater morality and higher purpose than others, and that some might, in a sense, be true.

An elliptical, provocative meditation that reads as much like a catharsis as a manifesto.

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Yoshino claims that he was riveted by the 3,000-page trial transcript; his cogent, incisive narrative is equally captivating. speak now

HELL FROM THE HEAVENS The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II’s Greatest Kamikaze Attack

Wukovits, John Da Capo/Perseus (320 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 16, 2015 978-0-306-82324-4

A prolific popular historian specializing in World War II tells the incredible story of the “destroyer with a heart that

couldn’t be broken.”

Thrust almost immediately into the war following her February 1944 commissioning, the Laffey played an important supporting role in the Normandy invasion, the assault on the Philippines and the landing at Iwo Jima. As he charts the ship’s service, Wukovits (For Crew and Country: The Inspirational True Story of Bravery and Sacrifice Aboard the USS Samuel B. Roberts, 2013, etc.) describes the vessel’s special features and explains the multipurpose role the destroyer plays at sea. He offers snapshots of a couple dozen of the 325-man crew—the vast majority naval reserves, most of them teenagers—explains the purpose of the constant drills, and charts the crew’s growing confidence under fire. He pauses, though, when the sailors encounter something entirely new and terrifying in naval warfare, something perfectly embodying the ethos of an enemy who’d vowed to “fight until we eat stones.” Desperate to defend their home islands during the war’s final years, Japanese pilots willingly sacrificed their lives in exchange for a direct hit on American ships.

All this prepares us for the final third of the narrative, devoted to a scant 80 minutes off the coast of Okinawa. There, while she manned the dangerous, exposed Picket Station No. 1, 22 kamikazes attacked Laffey: six crashed into the ship, another grazed it, and five inflicted bomb hits. Laffey responded, discharging thousands of shells and bullets. With the ship a mangled mess of shredded steel, parts flooded, other parts on fire, the destroyer (if not 32 crewmen) survived, bringing down numerous enemy planes. For outstanding performance, Laffey received a Presidential Unit Citation, and 27 individual medals were showered on the gallant crew.

For WWII buffs, surely, but also for general readers looking to understand the damage inflicted and the terror inspired by the Japanese suicide squadrons. (16 pages of b/w photos; 4 maps)

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SPEAK NOW Marriage Equality on Trial

Yoshino, Kenji Crown (384 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-385-34880-5

The story of a crucial trial to legitimize same-sex marriage.

As in his earlier book on civil rights, Covering (2006), legal scholar Yoshino (Constitutional Law/New York Univ.

School of Law; A Thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare’s Plays Teach Us About Justice, 2011, etc.) interweaves autobiography into a crisp, shrewd analysis of Hollingsworth v. Perry, the 12-day federal trial that considered California’s Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage. A gay Asian-American, Yoshino married in 2009 as the suit was filed in California, and he and his husband became parents of a daughter and son during the four years of litigation. Centered on issues of love, commitment and family, the trial had personal as well as political and professional meaning for him. Its transcript, he writes, “captured the best conversation I had seen on same-sex marriage—better than any legislative hearing, any academic debate, or any media exchange.” The transcript contained intellectually rigorous arguments, pointed cross-examination of witnesses’ claims and allegations, and intense focus on points of law. Trials about gay rights issues, as one judge noted, were educational experiences that offered “an excellent opportunity to replace ignorance with knowledge.” In the Prop 8 case, Judge Vaughn Walker insisted on moving quickly to trial; he also wanted the proceedings streamed live to federal courthouses and posted on YouTube— both of which were blocked by the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs were represented by Ted Olson and David Boies, who had argued against each other in Bush v. Gore. The “inspired” pairing of the two savvy strategists, the author contends, “symbolically reunited the two halves of the country.” Besides chronicling testimony by experts and witnesses, Yoshino clearly explains relevant legal terms and identifies the three rationales that ultimately became prominent in the case: “optimal child rearing, the prevention of the dissolution of marriage, and the suppression of irresponsible procreation.”

Yoshino claims that he was riveted by the 3,000-page trial transcript; his cogent, incisive narrative is equally captivating.

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OFF THE BOOKS On Literature and Culture

FORGOTTEN CITIZENS Deportation, Children, and the Making of American Exiles and Orphans

Zane, J. Peder Univ. of South Carolina (256 pp.) $22.95 paper | May 15, 2015 978-1-61117-508-0

A miscellany of literary musings.

Journalist and critic Zane (Journalism and Mass Communication/St. Augustine’s Univ.; co-author: Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology, and Social Organization, 2012, etc.) has gathered over 100 columns he wrote between 1997 and 2009, when he was review editor and books columnist for the Raleigh News & Observer. Organized into a dozen thematic sections—contemporary fiction, Southern writers, book culture and sensationalism, etc.—the book, writes the author, offers “an overview of a period of dazzling, and sometimes lamentable change...marked by the rise of the Internet and the confessional memoir as well as the decline of the independent bookstore and the continued marginalization of serious literature and ideas.” Although serious ideas fuel some of the essays, Zane’s breezy tone is closer to Dave Barry than Sven Birkerts or Peter Gay, whom he lists among many writers who inspire him. In a piece about Andrea Dworkin, Zane admits that he came to her memoir with the image of a “foul-mouthed, fat feminist who favored overalls” in his mind and was surprised to find that she had “a provocative mind” that “challenged convention.” The memoir, he writes, “reminded me to resist the urge to stereotype and marginalize strong women.” In “What’s Up with the Muslims?” he concludes that “the overwhelming majority...pose no danger,” and “the relatively small number of hard-core ideologues...are driven by political goals, not religion.” In a column on the environment, he writes, “my idea of roughing it is hiking to the store, hunting for bargains or fishing for something to wear.” Nevertheless, he agrees with Bill McKibben that “to save Mother Earth, we must also get to know her better.” Turning to Southern writers, Zane’s pieces on Faulkner, Welty and Sedaris are appreciative rather than analytical.

An intermittently entertaining but sometimes banal collection.

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Zayas, Luis H. Oxford Univ. (288 pp.) $24.95 | May 1, 2015 978-0-19-021112-7

The overlooked plight of American-born children of undocumented immigrants.

In a compassionate, heartbreaking book based on extensive research, Zayas (Mental Health and Social Policy/Univ. of Texas; Latinas Attempting Suicide: When Cultures, Families, and Daughters Collide, 2011) describes the lives of some 4.5 million American children living in constant fear that their immigrant parents, here illegally, will be deported. In one of many case studies, an 11-year-old girl says of her parents, “one day, they can just take them away, like that, in a second.” As a result, such anxious children must keep silent regarding their family secrets, learning to follow parental rules—“Don’t talk,” “Sit still”—so as not to draw the unwanted attention of authorities. With deportations now at the highest level since 9/11, the children are U.S. citizens (by virtue of their birth here) but are “made to feel illegitimate and flawed” due to their parents’ undocumented status. They become collateral damage when one or both parents are deported, breaking up the family, with tragic results. Furthermore, some children must live as de facto exiles in strange, impoverished, often violent countries; others remain in the U.S. as orphans living with friends or relatives or in government welfare care. Zayas tells the stories of immigrant families from throughout the country, including some of the hundreds of thousands of citizen-children victimized by the aggressive detention and deportation policies that have been prevalent in the past two decades. Against a brief overview of U.S. immigration policies, the author succeeds nicely in putting a human face on the suffering of children whose stories are lost in debates over illegal immigration. He outlines steps to reform the insensitive enforcement of punitive laws This valuable look at a national tragedy demands the attention of policymakers.

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Zoref makes a convincing case for crowdsourcing everything from careers to romance. mindsharing

MINDSHARING The Art of Crowdsourcing Everything Zoref, Lior Portfolio (272 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-1-59184-665-9

Welcome to the virtual village, where the right answers are no farther away than your keyboard.

Do too many cooks really spoil the broth? Not necessarily, claims former Microsoft marketing and online services guru Zoref in this informative look at the way crowds can help us make better, smarter decisions. You’ll get better results, writes the author, if you ask lots of people for advice, because groups can actually provide more accurate answers than the experts. Many readers will have encountered this topic and argument before, and Zoref readily refers to landmark studies such as Mark Granovetter’s 1973 paper on the strength of less intimate relationships, or “weak ties.” We’ve long recognized that a diverse group of acquaintances may be able to create a better solution to a problem than our more biased friends and families. But never before have we had ready access to such a huge number of acquaintances as we do now in the era of social media. Zoref explores how technology expands, accelerates and simplifies the process of taking a question to the people. The author writes in a friendly, conversational style and reassuringly confesses the insecurities he faced on the way to becoming an international speaker on crowd wisdom. The humorous story of how, and why, he dared to lead an ox onto the TED stage, and similar tales, makes his surprising successes with crowd wisdom all the more believable. Zoref knows the research and makes useful reference to it throughout the book, but he doesn’t pretend to be offering a survey of group psychology. Instead, he gets down to practical matters, like how readers can harness the power of the crowd by frequently updating their LinkedIn profiles and knowing what not to ask their Facebook friends.

Zoref makes a convincing case for crowdsourcing everything from careers to romance.

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children’s & teen OUT OF CONTROL

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Alderson, Sarah Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | May 12, 2015 978-1-4814-2716-6 978-1-4814-2718-0 e-book

THE GAME OF LOVE AND DEATH by Martha Brockenbrough....... 89

BY MOUSE AND FROG by Deborah Freedman................................. 96 CUCKOO SONG by Frances Hardinge ..............................................101 BEAR AND DUCK by Katy Hudson................................................... 103 THE LOST MARBLE NOTEBOOK OF FORGOTTEN GIRL & RANDOM BOY by Marie Jaskulka................................................... 104 WHERE IS PIM? by Lena Landström; illus. by Olof Landström; trans. by Julia Miller.......................................................................... 107 WILD BOY AND THE BLACK TERROR by Rob Lloyd Jones; illus. by Owen Davey..........................................................................108 THE ORPHAN ARMY by Jonathan Maberry....................................109 WHEREVER YOU GO by Pat Zietlow Miller; illus. by Eliza Wheeler........................................................................ 111 THE CASE OF THE MISSING CARROT CAKE by Robin Newman; illus. by Deborah Zemke..................................................................... 113 THE POTATO KING by Christoph Niemann...................................... 113 THE FIRST CASE by Ulf Nilsson; illus. by Gitte Spee; trans. by Julia Miller.......................................................................... 113

Two New York City teens flee murderers in this Jason Bourne–style thriller.

When she climbs up to the roof for a breath of air, Liva just misses the murder of the elderly couple with whom she is staying. While giving her statement, she meets Jay, a boy arrested for, she assumes, murder. A brutal attack out of nowhere leaves nearly everyone at the station slaughtered. Liva and Jay barely escape, and although Liva doesn’t fully trust Jay, she needs his street skills to stay ahead of their pursuers.

Liva’s father, overseas investigating international crime, sends a team to rescue her—but somebody else gets there first. Liva runs, reuniting with Jay. Readers learn that Liva is no novice in the action department. She’s been raised with guns and an understanding of criminals. As the two struggle to stay one step ahead of whoever’s intent on kidnapping her, Liva begins to worry that she’s dragged Jay and his family into serious danger and finds herself becoming attracted to him. Alderson keeps the suspense dialed up to 11 throughout most of the book, with chase scenes that will keep readers electrified, mixing them with flaming romance.

Gripping, hot thrills in the summertime. (Thriller. 12-18)

THE GRASSHOPPER & THE ANTS by Jerry Pinkney......................116

BE A STAR!

AN AMBUSH OF TIGERS by Betsy R. Rosenthal; illus. by Jago....... 118

Alexander, Heather Illus. by Le Feyer, Diane Branches/Scholastic (96 pp.) $15.99 | $4.99 paper | $4.99 e-book Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-545-75755-3 978-0-545-75754-6 paper 978-0-545-76092-8 e-book Series: Amazing Stardust Friends, 2

HIGH TIDE FOR HORSESHOE CRABS by Lisa Kahn Schnell; illus. by Alan Marks............................................................................120 ONE FAMILY by George Shannon; illus. by Blanca Gomez............... 121 SONA AND THE WEDDING GAME by Kashmira Sheth; illus. by Yoshiko Jaeggi........................................................................ 121 TROTO AND THE TRUCKS by Uri Shulevitz...................................122 LOST IN NYC by Nadja Spiegelman; illus. by Sergio García Sánchez.......................................................... 123 IN A VILLAGE BY THE SEA by Muon Van; illus. by April Chu.......124 SIX by M.M. Vaughan ....................................................................... 125

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The Stardust Girls return for a second circus-friendship tale.

The introductory title, Step into the Spotlight! (2014), centered on newcomer Marlo and her acceptance by circus girls Allie, Bella and Carly and their circle of friends. This title switches focus to Mexican-American Allie, short for Alejandra, a trapeze artist with dreams of television fame. These aspirations are |

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when “you” isn’t me It had to come as a slap in the face, Kirkus’ lukewarm, shading-negative review of Crinkle, Crackle, Crack: It’s Spring! (reviewed in our Feb. 1 issue). We had loved its almost-identical predecessor, Halloween Forest, after all. Both take a child on a nighttime adventure, chasing a mystery through a dark wood. Both have a surprise reveal at the end. Both use an intimate second-person direct address to invite readers directly into the story: “Have you ever awakened / on a late winter night / to a peculiar noise?” begins Crinkle, Crackle, Crack. It’s a brilliant device, as who hasn’t?

But where with the previous book we gushed over Bauer’s marvelously inclusive text and John Shelley’s “superbly detailed illustrations,” declaring that it “should be at the top of the book pile come autumn,” we did not do the same with its companion. What didn’t we love about it? What did they do differently? To paraphrase many a Dear John letter, it’s not them; it’s us.

Between the summer of 2012, when we reviewed Halloween Forest, and the early spring of 2015, #WeNeedDiverseBooks happened. Daniel Handler’s watermelon joke happened. Vaunda Micheaux Nelson’s keynote at the Horn Book at Simmons’ “Mind the Gaps” conference happened. And three years ago, when Kirkus saw a pink-skinned, blond child pictured as “you,” we didn’t blink, because it was very easy to see “you” as me.

But now, when I look at that towheaded child I may see me (or me as I might kind of have been a few decades ago), but I am aware that readers of color won’t. That beautifully inclusive “you” becomes not me but someone else, making the book more than just another picture book with a white protagonist but a book that actively excludes far too many “you”s.

“You come too,” invites Robert Frost in “The Pasture.”

From here on out, let’s make sure that “you” can be all of us. —V.S.

stoked by the appearance of a TV producer and cameraman on the Stardust Circus train, there to shoot footage for a behindthe-scenes special. Allie’s machinations to draw their attention threaten her friendships and even her life, when she switches leotards in order to stand out among her blue-costumed family during a show. Once again, Alexander sets recognizable earlyelementary dilemmas against an alluring backdrop for a story that feels both familiar and exotic at the same time. Allie’s delusions of greatness are completely on target for an 8-year-old; while readers will see that she has no chance at TV stardom, they will also empathize with her intense desires. Le Feyer’s grayscale illustrations (two to three to a double-page spread) break up the text for new chapter-book readers while also developing characters, working with the text to create a convincingly multiethnic circus community.

Girls who love sparkles could do far worse than to spend time with these appealing performers. (Fiction. 6-9)

MY LIFE IN DIORAMAS

Altebrando, Tara Illus. by Bonaddio, T.L. Running Press Kids (224 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-7624-5681-9

When 12-year-old Kate learns that her beloved home, Big Red, is going on the market, she is determined to stop the sale—or at least postpone it until her first dance competition.

Kate tells the story in believable preteen prose, interspersed with texts to her best friends, Stella and Naveen. “Grabbing my phone and falling onto the bed, I texted Stella, My life is over. She wrote back, ??? I tapped out, Selling Big Red.” After seeking ideas from brainy Naveen, Kate persuades him and Stella to help sabotage sales to prospective buyers. There are several very funny scenes centered on efforts to use bad smells (Naveen has placed “fecal matter” and “spoiled food” at the top of his list of resources) and annoying noises— before the real estate agent catches on. By this time, readers will love Kate enough to keep reading. It’s a bit of a stretch to believe that Kate’s parents show little empathy about Kate’s dancing dilemma, since they met each other through their own musicianship and still live alternative, arts-oriented lifestyles.

However, their struggles and triumphs, along with their daughter’s, augment the story—as do the dioramas that Kate creates, first as a school assignment and then as her own, self-discovered therapy. Family finances, transcendence via the arts, pet death and adult clinical depression are all gently eased into a pleasing tale. Final illustrations not seen.

Altebrando neatly integrates humor and poignancy into a middle-grade tale of change. (Fiction. 8-12)

Vicky Smith is the children’s & teen editor at Kirkus Reviews.

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Amateau writes a believable horse’s–point-of-view narration, giving Dante a confident, even privileged voice. dante of the maury river

FIVE STORIES

Alter, Anna Illus. by the author Knopf (112 pp.) $12.99 | $9.99 e-book | $15.99 PLB Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-385-75558-0 978-0-385-75561-0 e-book 978-0-385-75559-7 PLB Series: Sprout Street Neighbors, 1 Five neighbors learn to live together in their apartment building despite their differences.

Mouse Henry, bird Violet, squirrel Emma, cat Wilbur and rabbit Fernando are friends, but they are not alike. Some like to socialize, others like quiet, and at least one likes to give parties. Five chapters recount the five “problems” the neighbors must overcome to live together peacefully. Upstairs neighbor Emma’s rearrangement of her cache of acorns makes too much noise for quiet mouse Henry; Emma wants to throw herself the perfect birthday party; shy Fernando worries about his place in the neighborhood parade and yearns to dance; competent Violet wants to handle a leaky roof by herself; Wilbur doesn’t know how to save his garden plot from development. Each problem is solved by the humble kindness of the neighbors. New chapterbook readers will be attracted by the sweet cover showing the five different animals enjoying their respective hobbies. However, the chapters will challenge the intended audience, as they are long and slow-moving.

Here’s hoping that in the next Sprout Street tales there are fewer words and more action, which will help young readers connect with these characters. (Fiction. 6-9)

STORMBOUND

Alvarez, Jennifer Lynn Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-06-228609-3 978-0-06-228611-6 e-book Series: Guardian Herd, 2 Star, the most powerful pegasus in Anok, must learn to control his gift of starfire or risk succumbing to evil as his predecessor, Nightwing the Destroyer, did.

Uneasy in his legacy and his role in the newly formed River Herd, Star must decide whether to follow the path of a healer and peacemaker or that of a warrior. When word of a plague sweeping the herds reaches the young pegasus, he offers to help.

However, his compassion may be his undoing. He and his friends find themselves in the middle of a feud between the herds that may claim the lives of those Star holds most dear. When Star’s closest friend, Morningleaf, is captured by Rockwing as part of his plot to claim the Sun Herd’s land, it may be the death of the dream for unity among all of the herds. This epic adventure is filled with complicated ethical dilemmas and life-and-death |

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choices. Fliers and walkers alike must decide between power and humility, bitterness and forgiveness, and war and peace.

While this second installment is more richly developed than series opener Starfire (2014), it is still hobbled by a too-large cast with unnecessarily complicated names that have a tendency to run together: Rockwing, Grasswing and Nightwing, Hazelwind and Bumblewind, Echofrost and Frostfire, Darkleaf and Morningleaf—these are just a sampling.

The compelling if formulaic plot is muddled by confusing nomenclature. (Fantasy. 8-12)

DANTE OF THE MAURY RIVER

Amateau, Gigi Candlewick (320 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-7636-7004-7 Series: Horses of the Maury River, 3

A thoroughbred racehorse tells his story in this middle-grade novel.

Dante’s Inferno has it all—a superior pedigree, striking looks and a comfortable life in an upscale racing barn.

What he doesn’t have is the right attitude. He nearly dies at birth but is resuscitated with painful shots of adrenaline, leaving him with a deep distrust of pain-inflicting humans. While technically dead, Dante has an out-of-body experience, meeting his deceased grandfather, a legendary Triple Crown winner named Dante’s Paradiso, who tells him he needs to “conquer three great tests” but does not name them. Amateau writes a believable horse’s–point-of-view narration, giving Dante a confident, even privileged voice as he relates, first, his failed racing career—despite numerous advantages and even more numerous expectations—and then his second career as a dressage/hunter/ cross-country competitor in the Maury River Stables. Gradually—oh, so gradually—Dante learns humility, trust and love.

The story has a clear arc and seems to end on a powerful note, but then...there are two more chapters. One describes Dante’s meeting with a decrepit Appaloosa (the eponymous Chancey from the first in the series), and in the other, Dante provides a brief history of the thoroughbred breed and its future. Both struggle to fit into the story.

Overall, compelling and skillfully written, but in this case, less would have been more. (Fiction. 8-13)

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The mother-and-son writing team brings the setting to life. the bullet catch

THE BUK BUK BUK FESTIVAL

dies as a result of a similar trick, attracting a police detective to investigate Barzini. The mother-and-son writing team brings the setting to life, including such luminaries of the time as Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as minor characters for verisimilitude. The inside knowledge of magic adds an exotic touch.

An absorbing mystery enhanced by its intriguing backdrop. (Historical mystery. 10-14)

Auch, Mary Jane Illus. by Auch, Mary Jane & Auch, Herm Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | $16.95 e-book | May 1, 2015 978-0-8234-3201-1 978-0-8234-3356-8 e-book

The latest pun-filled poultry parody from the Auchs (Beauty and the Beaks, 2007, etc.) explores the travails and triumphs of a hen who strives to be a published writer.

Henrietta Fowler loves to read, use the library and write her own stories. When she sees a poster advertising a children’s-book festival with authors who are not chickens but people, she hatches an idea to write a new story about her young life and the concerns she has about leaving her cozy shell to go to “chickergarten.” Pretending to be a poultry farmer, she submits her manuscript to five different publishers and is thrilled when all wish to publish her work.

She chooses Holiday House “because they sounded like friendly people” who won’t mind when they learn that she is a chicken. A starred review in The Corn Book lands an invitation to the book festival, which she “egg-cepts” only to find that when she arrives, her fowl persona is unwelcome. Recognized by her friend and local librarian, Henrietta is then allowed to “scratch her autograph” for her newest fans. The numerous references to the writing and publishing process for authors coupled with the double-entendre wordplay and vivid digitally created illustrations are an imaginative way to enlighten children while simultaneously giving adults an appreciative chuckle.

This one should fly off the shelf frequently and will be eminently useful in author-visit prep. (Picture book. 5- 7)

THE BULLET CATCH Murder by Misadventure

Axelrod, Amy & Axelrod, David Holiday House (288 pp.) $17.95 | $17.95 e-book | May 1, 2015 978-0-8234-2858-8 978-0-8234-3378-0 e-book The Axelrods take readers to World War I–era New York City for a tale of magic, mystery and crime.

Orphan Leo lives in Hell’s Kitchen, getting by with his small gang by picking pockets, a skill he learned from reading Harry Houdini’s The Right Way to Do Wrong: An Exposé of Successful Criminals. When the gang’s leader kicks him out, Leo doesn’t want to return to a life of crime. He finds an ad for a magician’s assistant in a lifted wallet and follows up, landing a job as assistant to Signor Barzini, an established professional magician and friend of Houdini’s. Leo spends countless hours learning sleight of hand, how to manipulate cards and, finally, how to help Barzini perform his extraordinary new trick: the bullet catch. Leo will palm the real bullet and load a blank, pretend to shoot Barzini, then resurrect him on stage. Things go wrong when, just as they begin their performances, a famous magician 84

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A SCHOOL FOR UNUSUAL GIRLS

Baldwin, Kathleen Tor (352 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | May 19, 2015 978-0-7653-7600-8 978-1-4668-4927-3 e-book Series: Stranje House, 1 A romantic adventure set amid the chaos of the Napoleonic era.

Georgiana Fitzwilliam is packed off to boarding school after one too many failed science experiments. Her parents deposit her unceremoniously in the care of Emma Stranje, who runs a school outside London that masquerades as a glorified torture chamber for wayward society daughters but is really a front for spy training. What seems at first to be a harrowing disaster for Georgiana is in fact a uniquely tantalizing opportunity. Each of the four female students has a special gift that makes her too peculiar for society life, but their talents are of great use to the crown. Miss Stranje and her collaborators hope to leverage Georgie’s experiments with invisible ink for greater secrecy as they attempt to thwart Napoleon’s wily network of spies. Although the novel relies too heavily on genre clichés—Georgie’s budding attraction to a young viscount associate of Miss Stranje is all flashing eyes and clashing wits à la Lizzie and Darcy—the era is richly substantiated with period details. An afterword clarifies the liberties taken with historical events and encourages readers to ponder the possible outcomes to any given fork in the road.

Baldwin’s tale lacks the fizzy pop of Sarah Zettel’s Palace of Spies series, but romance readers who prize both brains and valor in a heroine will be pleased to make Georgie’s acquaintance. (Mystery/historical fiction. 12-18)

THE STORY OF LIFE A First Book About Evolution Barr, Catherine & Williams, Steve Illus. by Husband, Amy Frances Lincoln (40 pp.) $19.99 | Mar. 15, 2015 978-1-84780-485-3

Using colorful language and depicting crayon and collage creatures with wide eyes, even at the single-cell stage, this simple account retraces the history of life on Earth from “tiny floating bits” to humans. kirkus.com

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From blasting volcanoes and belching gasses to a closing panorama of buildings, factories and busy highways, Husband’s naïvestyle cartoon pictures populate the planet with cells, multicelled creatures, plants and animals on land and in the sea, dinosaurs, mammals and then humans in succession. Two major extinction events also get mentions, though they are not specifically named. A linking narrative incorporates the ideas that living things “fought for food and space” and also “evolved” to fill distinct environmental niches.

Various terms and phrases from the text are repeated in labels that point to the appropriate spots on the page—for instance those aforementioned “tiny bits.” The authors display a rather parochial point of view in claims that life only “really began to get going” when animals appeared and that following the age of dinosaurs, mammals “took over the world.” However, after noting that we really should be taking better care of our home, they do close with the broader and more accurate observation that “with or without us, our planet will spin through space for billions of years to come.”

A high-spirited lead-in to discussions of evolution’s proofs and mechanisms, despite the anthropocentric view of Earth’s biosphere. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 7-9)

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THE AMAZING AGE OF JOHN ROY LYNCH

Barton, Chris Illus. by Tate, Don Eerdmans (50 pp.) $17.00 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-0-8028-5379-0

An honestly told biography of an important politician whose name every American should know.

Published while the United States has its first AfricanAmerican president, this story of John Roy Lynch, the first African-American speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, lays bare the long and arduous path black Americans have walked to obtain equality. The title’s first three words— “The Amazing Age”—emphasize how many more freedoms African-Americans had during Reconstruction than for decades afterward. Barton and Tate do not shy away from honest depictions of slavery, floggings, the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow laws, or

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the various means of intimidation that whites employed to prevent blacks from voting and living lives equal to those of whites.

Like President Barack Obama, Lynch was of biracial descent; born to an enslaved mother and an Irish father, he did not know hard labor until his slave mistress asked him a question that he answered honestly. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, Lynch had a long and varied career that points to his resilience and perseverance. Tate’s bright watercolor illustrations often belie the harshness of what takes place within them; though this sometimes creates a visual conflict, it may also make the book more palatable for young readers unaware of the violence African-Americans have suffered than fully graphic images would. A historical note, timeline, author’s and illustrator’s notes, bibliography and map are appended.

A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering. (Picture book biography. 7-10)

EDIBLE NUMBERS

Bass, Jennifer Vogel Photos by the author Roaring Brook (32 pp.) $12.99 | May 26, 2015 978-1-62672-003-9

This companion to Edible Colors (2014) presents photographs of fruits and vegetables in groups from one to 12.

The counting pattern introduces a single variety or cultivar of a plant species, then an increasingly greater number of other cultivars of the same species. Thus, “1 pea pod”—Sugar Snap— appears on the first verso against white space; then “2 pea pods”—Blue Podded and Golden Sweet Snow—are displayed on the recto. Next, “1 cucumber”—General Lee—is followed by “3 cucumbers”—Dragon’s Egg, Boothby’s Blonde and Sikkum.

The evocative common names of the produce add charm and serendipity. For example, readers will discover the commonplace button mushroom as well as more exotic varieties such as Blue Foot, Pom Pom Blanc and Hen of the Woods. The Berkeley Tie Die tomato and the Moon and Stars watermelon should delight adults and children alike. After the 12 plant groupings, an additional spread invites readers to distinguish among an array of plums, ears of corn, watermelons and carrots. A final spread showcases all of the groups, from 1 Swiss chard leaf to 12 citrus fruits, as a dozen vertical rows of thumbnail-sized, uncaptioned photos. Many of the photographs from Edible Colors are reused. In one instance, a red pepper is captioned as “Wonder bell pepper” in the earlier volume and as “King Arthur” here.

A tasty way for preschoolers to sharpen their counting skills. (Picture book. 2-5)

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THE RISE AND FALL OF THE GALLIVANTERS

Beaufrand, M.J. Amulet/Abrams (304 pp.) $16.95 | May 12, 2015 978-1-4197-1495-5

Eighteen-year-old Noah understands pain too well: He can see it as others cannot—as the Marr, an all-encompassing darkness that is kidnapping young women and slowly causing Evan, his best friend, to disappear in front of everyone.

The mysteries in this novel, set in early 1980s Portland, Oregon, roll in like a rising tide. The horrors of Noah’s past, filled with physical abuse and grisly trauma, are slowly revealed.

Ziggy, an uber-confident David Bowie doppelgänger, suddenly appears in Noah’s life, but with his uncannily timed arrivals and departures, readers will question the nature of his existence. Evan’s physical health progressively deteriorates, but is it the Marr or something even more sinister attacking him?

Ziggy encourages Noah to reunite his band, the Gallivanters.

He must get them into the grand reopening gig at the PfefferBrau Haus, where the only vanished girl to have been found was discovered, dead and brewed into a vat of porter. Playing this show, all the Gallivanters together and Ziggy singing lead, is the key to vanquishing the Marr, saving the girls and rescuing Evan. Beaufrand’s masterful pace compels readers toward the satisfying though heartbreaking conclusion, prodding them to question throughout whether Noah’s story takes place in reality or in a dissociative hellscape.

A chilling yet poignant story about the suffering in front of us that we can’t bear to see. (Fiction. 14-17)

ROSIE AND ROLLAND IN THE LEGENDARY SHOW-AND-TELL

Berg, Jon Illus. by the author Owlkids Books (48 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-77147-058-2

A child in search of something special to bring to class finds it in a jungle temple—then loses it to a rival.

Discovering most of a torn map in her backpack, Rosie dons her grandpa’s Indiana Jones–style hat, navigates her way to a cabinet in his study, and with her dog, Rolland, goes through it to a wilderness adventure leading to a giant “monkey king” with a glowing golden ball. Up pops sneering classmate Freddy Jones with the rest of the map. He takes the ball from Rosie, leaving her with only the hat for an anticlimactic show and tell the next day. To Freddy, though, the ball is just a rock, so he tosses it aside after school. Rosie picks it up...and that night it begins to glow again. And that’s it. Berg makes the story even less meaningful, if that were possible, by leaving readers to wonder how Rosie kirkus.com

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Along with creating mildly fizzy chemistry for his squabbling trio, Bolling keeps the surprises coming. alien invasion in my backyard

and Freddy came by the map—or even what was on Freddy’s portion, since it’s only shown unreadably folded up—as well as how exactly everyone gets back home or why the stolen artifact (which seems to be just a MacGuffin with no actual agency or significance) should glow for one thief but not the other. The art is somewhat better put together than the strung-out plot, though characters’ faces are sometimes distorted.

A bewildering mishmash of unintegrated elements, long as well as incoherent. (Picture book. 7-9)

BUSTER THE LITTLE GARBAGE TRUCK

Berneger, Marcia Illus. by Zimmer, Kevin Sleeping Bear Press (32 pp.) $14.99 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-58536-894-5 Buster’s got a big problem: He’s not big enough.

Little Buster is looking forward to growing up and working with Daddy. He practices going fast in the garage with his kitty.

He practices lifting paper cups and soup cans (mostly empty) over his head. He tries to honk loud, but it’s just a tiny beep.

When his father shows him how it should be done, the blare scares Buster so much that he hides behind his mother. He’s also scared by his father’s co-workers when Daddy takes him to the truck yard. Buster’s concerned parents tell him to keep practicing...but practice can be scary too. Will Buster ever be able to work with his Daddy? He’s not sure he’ll get over his fear of loud noises—until the day he sees his kitten in danger.

Buster must honk very loud to save her, and suddenly all is well.

Berneger’s picture-book debut is wordy and predictable. Children may identify with Buster’s fears, but they will not care to listen to the stilted text. Zimmer’s digitally created illustrations feature trash trucks of all kinds with big eyes, a kitten and not much else. He does skillfully convey the trucks’ emotions with “body” positions, bumper mouths and those huge eyes, but at one point the visual sequence of events does not seem to match the text, creating potential confusion in listeners.

Bibliotherapy for timid children obsessed with vehicles.

(Picture book. 3-5)

JUST LIKE ME, CLIMBING A TREE Exploring Trees Around the World

Bernhard, Durga Yael Illus. by the author Wisdom Tales (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 24, 2015 978-1-937786-34-2

Children climb trees around the world to play, make discoveries, see what they can see and maybe pick a tasty treat. |

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“What if you / heard a bird / in the branches above, / and your feet / followed a root... // or you shimmied up a trunk / so thick and tough, / and swung / like monkeys do?” Each page turn brings readers to a different country and type of tree: a mango in West Africa, a lychee in Hawaii, a kapok in Brazil. Bernhard sprinkles the backgrounds with native flora and fauna or glimpses of people, and occasionally she employs some stereotypes: a windmill in Holland, thatched-roof huts in South Africa.

The stiff poses and static faces on the children show none of the childhood joy that accompanies tree-climbing; at best they seem content. Too, for a book that focuses on tree species, the artwork is not realistic enough to really showcase the different trees’ attributes. World maps on the endpapers mark the locations of each of the 12 trees with inset pictures, and backmatter gives a paragraph of information about each species (on a much higher reading level than the text), a few resources for more information (most related specifically to this book) and reasons to be careful climbing trees.

Not much here to make kids run out and climb a tree.

(Informational picture book. 5-8)

ALIEN INVASION IN MY BACKYARD

Bolling, Ruben Illus. by the author Andrews McMeel (112 pp.) $12.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4494-5709-9 Series: EMU Club, 1 A seemingly insignificant clue leads three young would-be detectives to mindblowing adventures in their outwardly ordinary suburban neighborhood.

Casting about for some small mystery to solve, the Exploration-Mystery-Unbelievable Club—newly founded out of boredom by preteen Stuart, his mildly OCD best bud, Brian, and tag-along little sister, Violet—starts with a loose paint chip. In no time, they are exploring a high-tech underground lair, discovering that Stuart’s pooch, Ferdinand, isn’t at all what he seems and becoming Earth’s first line of defense against an incoming extraterrestrial fleet. Along with creating mildly fizzy chemistry for his squabbling trio, Bolling, creator of the satiric comic strip “Tom the Dancing Bug,” keeps the surprises coming—with occasional pauses while Brian goes off to wash his hands or practice his didgeridoo. Stuart’s matter-of-fact narrative is strewn with Violet’s cartoon “photos” of important evidence or characters posing hammily. Turning out to be cats and therefore vulnerable to Super Soaker blasts and passing balls of yarn, the aliens are driven off handily without, happily, drawing unwanted parental attention. Stuart follows up with a handy chart of ways to repulse future attacking alien animals, plus hints about upcoming episodes.

A credible bit of sleuthing and a spectacular escalation factor give this opener a bit of bounce. (Mystery/fantasy. 8-10)

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Since Bowman is all too willing to kill off key characters, there’s a constant, strong sensation that no one will survive, ensuring a pervasive sense of danger. forged

MAPMAKER

Bomback, Mark & Craze, Galaxy Soho Teen (224 pp.) $18.99 | $18.99 e-book | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-61695-347-8 978-1-61695-350-8 e-book Tanya’s impeccable sense of direction can’t keep her from feeling lost when her father dies.

Just over six months ago, Tanya’s father disappeared in a flash flood on a mapmaking trip through rural Cambodia. She’s left with her kindergarten-teacher stepmother, Beth, and her godfather, Harrison Worth, her father’s business partner in a tech mapping startup called MapOut. Harrison has bought Beth and Tanya out to protect them from losing everything should the company fail. Far from failing, the company has thrived, and Harrison still watches over Tanya and Beth. During a summer internship at MapOut, Tanya reunites with Harrison’s son, Connor, a childhood friend.

Searching for her dad’s final emails, they crack his computer’s triple password and discover that all is not as it seems. When Connor disappears the next day, leaving a confusing text, Tanya doesn’t know what to do...and then she’s drugged and kidnapped.

Escaping her kidnappers lands her in deeper trouble. Can Tanya find her father’s old friend Cleo? And will she be able to help?

Craze and Bomback’s character-driven thriller is a bit slow out of the gate, but teens who stick with it will enjoy the few twists and identify with Tanya’s inability to hide in our high-tech world.

Readers caught up in the plot should brace themselves for a total lack of closure and a wait for Book 2. (Thriller.

12-17)

FORGED

Bowman, Erin HarperTeen (384 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2015 978-0-06-211732-8 978-0-06-211734-2 e-book Series: Taken, 3 In the last of the Taken trilogy, Gray sets out with a few of his Expat buddies to discover what villainy is taking place at the Compound, an island fortress run by the evilly dictatorial Frank.

He’s accompanied by, among others, Blaine, his twin brother, Clipper, a 13-year-old computer whiz, and Bree, one of his previously established pair of love interests, although Gray has finally conclusively settled on her as his one and only. As the mission begins, Emma, his other love interest, unexpectedly appears and lures Gray and Blaine into the enemy’s hands with horrid consequences. Although she is clearly not a Forgery—one of the vast number of cloned warriors Frank has produced—her motivations remain unclear. Taken to the Compound, Gray is subject to a nasty episode of torture and encounters the somewhat flawed 88

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Forgery of a previous ally, Harvey, who may hold the key to defeating Frank. Violence, murder, blood and gore are abundant, but suspense is palpable as well. Gray’s first-person, present-tense voice keeps the narrative edgy. Since Bowman is all too willing to kill off key characters, there’s a constant, strong sensation that no one will survive the trilogy, ensuring a pervasive sense of danger.

Even though in-depth characterization takes a distant back seat to action, the ride is compelling enough.

Gripping but not at all for the faint of heart. (Dystopian adventure. 13-18)

COSMOE’S WIENER GETAWAY

Brallier, Max Illus. by Maguire, Rachel & Kelley, Nichole Aladdin (304 pp.) $14.99 | $9.99 e-book | May 5, 2015 978-1-4814-2494-3 978-1-4814-2495-0 e-book Series: Galactic Hot Dogs, 1

This highly illustrated story has something for every demographic, offering robots, zombies, hot dogs, a princess, video games and wrestlers. This is not a complete list.

Even people who hate princesses might enjoy the book, thanks to snarky dialogue. Hero Cosmoe gasps, “What the butt?! What are you doing here??” “Stealing your ship, silly. I’m an evil princess. Y’know?” Princess Dagger knowingly responds.

Cosmoe just wants to serve up hot dogs (his food truck is called the Neon Wiener), but he’s being chased around the galaxy by Evil Queen Dagger and her Royal Armada, who are after the princess. Within a few chapters, he’s fighting zombie space pirates. The fight scenes are the weakest parts of the book.

They read like transcripts of video games: “He swings! I duck AND—WHOOSH!—The Boss Worm’s fist flies over my head.

NOW! YES!” It’s hard to engage emotionally when most of the nouns and verbs are missing. But there are some terrific jokes.

When Cosmoe is getting tossed around by a robot, he muses, “Now I know what underwear in a dryer feels like....” The overall effect is a little like flipping through every channel on cable TV. The book is so frenetic that some readers will need caffeine to get through it, but in the end, that turns out to be an advantage: If a joke doesn’t work, or if readers get bored, all they have to do is turn the page. (Graphic/science-fiction hybrid. 7-12)

SIDE BY SIDE

Bright, Rachel Illus. by Gliori, Debi Scholastic (32 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-545-81326-6 A little mouse finds a friend in this rhyming picture book. kirkus.com

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Little Mouseling, the youngest of many, is very small, and her many brothers and sisters often just don’t wait for her.

When she pops out from under the tree where her family lives, many respond to her plea for someone to “stay by [her] side.”

Unfortunately, Toad Flip likes the water (she doesn’t), and Big Squirrel Brown wants to climb (she doesn’t). Her sad tears, however, bring “a tinyful, weenimous, little black vole” to her side.

They find much in common and much to share: “all the things / you can do as a two!” Gliori has created a fanciful wood of little animals that sometimes only vaguely resemble their actual counterparts; all have big eyes and lively expressions. She uses curlicues of plants, trees and tails to show movement and pattern—and joy. Mouseling’s ladybug pull-toy is a stroke of brilliance; the little black vole’s scene of singing and dancing, with his mouth open operatically wide and waving two maple helicopters in the air like banners, is another. The text is rhymed, not always felicitously, but the language is pleasing. The penultimate spread of paired-off buddies—rabbits and foxes and owls and insects—is an affectionate paean to BFFs and/or couples.

This sweet celebration of friendship is elevated by its winsome illustrations. (Picture book. 4- 7)

THE GAME OF LOVE AND DEATH

Brockenbrough, Martha Levine/Scholastic (336 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-545-66834-7 978-0-545-66835-4 e-book A lovingly realized Depression-era Seattle becomes the field of play for the latest round in the titular, age-old game.

In February 1920, Love and Death choose their newest pawns as infants: Love’s is Henry, a white boy of privilege (though influenza and grief rob him of much of it); Death’s is Flora, the soon-to-be-orphaned daughter of African-American jazz musicians. In spring of 1937, the game begins. Flora sings in—and actually owns part of—the family’s nightclub, but her heart is in the skies, where she flies a borrowed biplane and dreams of owning her own. Henry, a talented bass player, is poised to graduate from the tony private school he attends on scholarship with his best friend, Ethan, whose family took him in upon his father’s suicide. They meet when Henry and Ethan visit the airstrip where Flora works; the boys are in pursuit of a story for Ethan’s newspaper-magnate father.

Brockenbrough’s precise, luscious prose cuts back and forth among the four protagonists, according each character equal depth, with Ethan playing a heartbreaking supporting role. The contrast between the youthful excitement of ardent Henry and pragmatic Flora and the ageless, apparent ennui of the immortals gains nuance as readers come to understand that Love and Death are not without their own complicated feelings.

Race, class, fate and choice—they join Love and Death to play their parts in Brockenbrough’s haunting and masterfully orchestrated narrative. (Magical realism. 12 & up) |

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TRAPPED! A WHALE’S RESCUE

Burleigh, Robert Illus. by Minor, Wendell Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-58089-558-3

Trapped by over 20 ropes set by a crab-trapping boat, each over 200 feet long, a humpback whale struggles to stay alive.

This true story chronicling the daring rescue off the California coast by six scuba divers and three staffers from the Sausalito Marine Mammal Center on Dec. 11, 2005, is vividly portrayed by Minor’s eye-popping gouaches. The 50-ton whale explodes out of the waves and onto the pages. The combination of these beautiful paintings with Burleigh’s strong verb choices makes the opening scenes pulse with energy. “She spanks the cold blue with her powerful tail. Bang!” The actual rescue takes over an hour of careful maneuvering. Unfortunately, a surfeit of adverbs turns the dramatic rescue into a flat recounting of events. “Divers drop cautiously into the frigid water.” As the tension limps across three double-page spreads, Burleigh fails to convey that the whale needs to breathe and is tiring, a fact he only reveals in the backmatter. The abandoned crab-trap gear cuts into the whale; it holds her down. She could die if the divers can’t free her with their knives. Yet a plodding, anticlimactic observation obliterates the oomph factor. “Slowly the tangled netting falls away.”

Minor’s illustrations carry the day, helping readers and whale get past the rescue to the informative backmatter. (resources) (Informational picture book. 4-10)

SNOW WHITE AND THE 77 DWARFS

Cali, Davide Illus. by Barbanègre, Raphaëlle Tundra (32 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-77049-763-4

What’ll it be, Snow White? A poisoned apple or keeping house for 77 hyperactive little men?

Snow White’s gratitude for her rescue from the evil witch undergoes a transformation after having to learn 77 names (all provided to readers, both on an inside spread and a dust-jacket poster), brush as many beards, serve three meals a day to 77 picky eaters and then do all those dishes single-handedly. Eventually the witch looks like the better option: “Would you like a nice poisoned apple, young girl?” asks the crone. “I’LL TAKE TWO!” is Snow White’s emphatic response. Readers will sympathize; the spreads positively teem with individually drawn little guys in pointed hats swinging from the chandelier and getting into other mischief. Snow White struggles gamely to keep up as her pretty face takes on a frowny cast and dark circles grow under her eyes. That expression turns blissful, though, as she sprawls in bespelled sleep in the final scene with a do-not-disturb sign posted to deter any princes who might happen along. |

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A must-read for all offspring...or so their parents and other caregivers are likely to feel. (Picture book. 6-8)

ROOK

Cameron, Sharon Scholastic (464 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-545-67599-4 978-0-545-67600-7 e-book A clever homage to The Scarlet Pimpernel, set in a post-apocalyptic future Europe.

In a distant future where most modern technology has been lost, Sophia Bellamy, 18, leads a double life. By day, she is a young woman of the Commonwealth whose arranged marriage will save her family from debt. By night, she’s the daring Red Rook, who rescues prisoners from the bloodthirsty revolutionaries of the Sunken City (which once was Paris). However, LeBlanc, the Sunken City’s fanatical Ministre of Security, has tracked the Red Rook back to Sophia’s home in Kent. Now Sophia must protect her family and the prisoners she has just rescued and determine whether her sly, all-too-charming fiance, René Hasard, is an enemy or an ally. Cameron (Unseen, 2014) riffs off Baroness Orczy’s sentimental classic without losing any of the romance and adventure that has made it perennially popular. Rich descriptions bring Sophia’s world—from the horrors of the Sunken City’s prisons to her glittering social milieu—to Technicolor life.

Sophia’s wits and bravado make her an irresistible protagonist; René proves to be a worthy foil, though unfortunately the same cannot be said of LeBlanc. Still, the novel’s 456 pages mostly fly by thanks to the nonstop intrigue and the occasional swoonworthy kiss.

Full of derring-do and double crosses, this romantic adventure is thoroughly engrossing. (Science fiction. 13-18)

VEGETABLES IN UNDERWEAR

Chapman, Jared Illus. by the author abramsappleseed (40 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4197-1464-1

A survey of underwear and opposites is leavened (as if talk of underwear needs to be made funnier) by anthropomorphized veggies.

There’s not much story here, though for kids who giggle at the merest mention of unmentionables, that won’t be an issue.

Basically, a stalk of broccoli sheds his shirt and shorts on the copyright and dedication pages and then launches into a spiel about underwear. “I wear underwear! / You wear underwear! // ... // There’s big underwear / and little underwear.” Underwear can also be dirty or clean, old or new, serious or funny, for boys or for girls, and for every day of the week. But though the colors 90

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and patterns may vary, apparently underwear cannot be boxers, and sadly, there’s no underwear for babies, who wear diapers.

Different colors highlight opposites in the all-caps text, though not all these words indicate opposites, per se—the days of the week are in rainbow hues. Chapman’s digital artwork features brightly colored veggie characters with stick arms and legs against white backgrounds. Simple props provide context (like the flies around the hamper), while a red, dashed line indicates movement. Front endpapers introduce the clothes-wearing veggies, while closing endpapers show them in their underwear (or not, as is the case for Pea).

Those who are making the transition from diapers are sure to laugh, though it doesn’t really stand out from the other books in the underwear drawer. (Picture book. 2-5)

THE YEAR OF THE THREE SISTERS

Cheng, Andrea Illus. by Barton, Patrice HMH Books (175 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-544-34427-3 Series: Anna Wang, 4

In this fourth novel of the Anna Wang series, seventh-grader Anna can hardly believe her waitress friend from China is coming to America.

Through a cultural exchange program, Anna and Andee invite Fan to live in their Cincinnati neighborhood during the school year. While there, Fan will attend Fenwick High School to learn to speak English more fluently, which can help her get a better job back in Beijing. The plan calls for Fan to live with Andee, but Anna becomes concerned that the two won’t get along, given their backgrounds. Fan lives in an alley with other migrant families who cook on electric hot plates, while Andee lives with her well-to-do family in a big house with a stove sporting six burners. Anna’s fears are realized when Andee becomes distant and seems all too relieved to leave Fan at Anna’s house for the weekends. Emphasizing that she must get good grades for her family’s sake, Fan buries herself in her studies, which doesn’t leave time for much else. The threesome’s friendship feels genuinely complicated and endearing, with communication mishaps, cultural differences, and unmet, early teen expectations. A true understanding among the three starts to grow, as Fan begins to share her migrant life in both conversation and writing. One essay and poem, in particular, that she shares with Anna are memorable.

This unique sisterhood beats with a gentle heart. (pronunciation guide) (Fiction. 8-10)

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Double-page spreads present dramatic views of the turbines while also providing an interesting visual explanation of the mechanics involved. when the wind blows

WHEN THE WIND BLOWS

Clark, Stacy Illus. by Sneed, Brad Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | $16.95 e-book | May 15, 2015 978-0-8234-3069-7 978-0-8234-3354-4 e-book A poetic composition celebrates the power of the wind as a renewable-energy resource.

The wind can make kites fly, beach balls roll away, balloons escape and even the shapes of clouds change. But when it blows offshore and makes turbine blades spin, energy is created that “powers a station / Charging the grid / That fuels our nation.” The essential process of how wind turbines create electricity is succinctly explained in short, uneven rhyming stanzas, each beginning with the introductory line, “When the wind blows.” Acrylic illustrations are done predominantly in shades of blue to reflect water and the daytime-nighttime sky. Double-page spreads present dramatic views of these lofty structures while also providing an interesting visual explanation of the mechanics involved. With the verse “When the wind blows / Blades rotate / Turning gears / Accelerate,” a cutaway view reveals the gears inside the top of a turbine. Similarly, in the verse “When the wind blows / Copper whirls ‘round / Between two magnets / High aboveground,” another internal view shows the parts mentioned. Blustery, natural beach scenes yield to spreads that focus on the turbines, naturally leading to images of the electric grid that powers modern life, from lighthouses to light-rail tracks to electric cars.

Intriguing, easily informative and even inspiring. (Informational picture book. 5-8)

CITY LOVE

Colasanti, Susane Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-06-230768-2 978-0-06-230772-9 e-book Series: City Love, 1 Three teenage girls take on the Big Apple when they share an apartment during the summer before freshman year in college.

Their various quests for meaning and romance in their lives play out against the backdrop of the city that never sleeps. Native New Yorker Sadie, warmhearted and grounded, asserts that “New York City is my boyfriend.” An aspiring urban designer, she wants to create spaces in which “people rejuvenate and connect,” and she shares her passion with a boy she meets in her internship.

Californian Darcy, wealthy, entitled and promiscuous, has trouble figuring out what she really wants. A previous bad relationship has made her wary of commitment, so when she feels herself attracted to a street performer, she backs away and indulges in |

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more casual hookups. Rosanna has more pressing problems. Her decision to come to New York with a huge social conscience but only pennies in her pocket makes it hard for her to stick to her principles when she is romanced by independently wealthy Donovan (who goes by D). Although the street-smart dialogue grates at times, the alternating voices of the three protagonists are clearly differentiated, and some real issues are highlighted through their different circumstances. Dramatic if sometimesforced plot twists that pop up in the final pages of the novel will presumably be further developed in Book 2.

Smart girl chick-lit. (Fiction. 14-18)

THE ELEPHANTOM

Collins, Ross Illus. by the author Templar/Candlewick (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-7636-7591-2 An elephantom? What’s that? A phantom elephant, of course.

When one turns up on Tuesday after dinner, the parents of the girl narrator don’t notice, not even when her bedroom begins to smell of dung. But the elephantom starts to bug the girl and get her into trouble, as when he invites his friends, who make a mess. The girl’s grandmother is the only one who understands the dilemma, as she has lots of ghost pets herself.

She also has a business card for Mr. Spectral, and after an hourslong search, the girl finds his shop. He has the solution: a black box that contains something that will make the elephantom disappear.

Where did he go? Check with the neighbors. The humor lies in the watercolor illustrations portraying the antics. Mr. Spectral’s shop shares street frontage with the World of Muesli, the Bucket Shop, Eyesore and Draintastic. The elephantom (and other ghost animals) is painted in pale gray. While it’s easy enough to pick the ghost animals out, too many of the spreads are composed with too little contrast among colors, making some scenes hard to discern.

While imaginary friends are a common theme in picture books, phantom animals offer a different twist—and the conceit may give kids an excuse to offer up when things go wrong. (Picture book. 5- 7)

THE PATUA PINOCCHIO

Collodi, Carlo Illus. by Chitrakar, Swarna Tara Publishing (188 pp.) $18.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-93-83145-12-6

Illustrations done in a style indigenous to West Bengal test the universality of Collodi’s classic puppet-to-boy tale.

In the text, which is Della Chiesa’s 1925 translation abridged to about half its length, proper names— Mastro Antonio, Geppetto, Pulcinella—preserve the original’s |

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The story is both an emotionally nuanced story of loss and a genuinely chilling mystery. vanished

Italian flavor. Chitrakar’s almond-eyed, dark- or golden-skinned figures definitely push that envelope. Chocolate-hued Pinocchio, clad only in a tightly wrapped loincloth and sporting a white pectoral to go with similarly lacy armlets and anklets, bears a heavy-lidded, enigmatically smiling expression throughout. This last is in keeping, as explained in the afterword, with the artist’s conception of him as a “lovable yet godly trickster figure,” like Krishna. Other humans are clad in loose traditional Bengali dress and drawn, like the animal characters, in heavylined, stylized ways that don’t always agree with the text. The azure-haired maiden, for instance, “face white as wax,” is honeycolored in the accompanying portrait. The depicted action, too, is so stylized that few if any readers would be able to connect pictures to story without prompts from the captions.

A thought-provoking if not particularly successful experiment. (afterword) (Fantasy. 11-13)

VANISHED

Cooper, E.E. Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | May 12, 2015 978-0-06-229389-3 978-0-06-229389-3 e-book Two popular girls disappear unexpectedly, leaving their closest friend behind.

Kalah plays second fiddle to Beth and Britney in every way. She’s the new girl; they’re an established duo. She’s a junior; they’re seniors. She’s Indian; they’re white. Beth and Britney have always had dimensions to their relationship that Kalah hasn’t understood, but now, Kalah and Beth have a secret too. Even though Kalah has a caring and dependable boyfriend, she and Beth have been kissing. Kalah thinks she might be in love. The day of her 18th birthday, Beth disappears, leaving Kalah both heartbroken and worried. A few days later, rumors about Beth and Britney’s longtime boyfriend surface, and Britney disappears too, apparently by suicide.What follows is both the emotionally nuanced story of Kalah’s loss and a genuinely chilling mystery. Kalah’s struggles with anxiety are handled particularly well. There are stories of therapists and past incidents, and readers see her tapping systematically to soothe herself, but the anxiety—like her samesex desires—is simply one facet in a complex and action-heavy tale. The ending provides enough emotional resolution to give a sense of closure but leaves the facts of the story interestingly open to interpretation.

An impressive blend of suspense and insight. (Mystery.

14-18)

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CHANGERS Oryon

Cooper, T. & Glock-Cooper, Allison Black Sheep/Akashic (298 pp.) $11.95 paper | $11.95 e-book | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-61775-307-7 978-1-61775-368-8 e-book Series: Changers, 2 The body-swapping Changer who spent her freshman year of high school as Drew (Changers: Drew, 2014) now spends his sophomore year as Oryon.

Changers spend each year as a different version, or V, and must keep their true nature hidden from non-Changer Statics. For Oryon, this means remeeting Audrey, the girl he fell in love with last year as Drew, as a stranger. The only people who stay in Oryon’s life are his family, his Changer mentor, Tracy, and Chase, another Changer Oryon’s age who is part of the Radical Changer movement that challenges the Changers Council’s stringent rules. This sequel’s worldbuilding still leaves questions unanswered, but Oryon’s winning and witty narrative voice is consistently engaging. Unlike Drew or his parents, Oryon is African-American, and much of what he observes is about race: He is newly welcome at the Black Table in the cafeteria, for instance, but treated with suspicion when he brings the family pit bull to a dog park. Oryon’s budding (or rebudding) romance with Audrey raises thought-provoking questions and creates tension with the Changers Council. An abrupt climax, however, interrupts the plotline and leaves both the romance and the sudden climactic action unresolved.

A mixed bag plotwise, but Oryon’s humor and insight will keep readers turning pages. (Science fiction. 12-18)

BEN DRAWS TROUBLE

Davies, Matt Illus. by the author Neal Porter/Roaring Brook (32 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-59643-795-1 Ben Lukin, the bike-loving boy from Ben Rides On (2013), loses something of special significance: his sketchbook.

Ben loves drawing: “He loved to draw in writing class / and also in math class.” He draws everything, including people—here, his sketchbook opens to two full pages of caricatures of his schoolmates. Davies’ cartoon line hums with energy. Ben’s eyebrows hover animatedly above his toothy grin; every page seems to tilt with the forward motion of the story. After an exhilarating bike ride home “the long way,” flying over hills and dales (his hair flowing free, though a sign for Acme helmets peeks cheekily out from the edge of town), Ben realizes he’s lost his sketchbook. That moment of loss is nicely done—Ben reaches into his backpack and comes back empty-handed; fireworks of dismay hit him. Attentive readers may notice its fall; here, an inset box shows a hand reaching to pick it up. The following double-page spread shows Ben’s kirkus.com

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search up and down the hills: Where could he have lost it? Readers may worry about Ben when he walks into his classroom and realizes that everyone is examining his drawings—of them. Yet when Mr. Upright picks up the sketchbook, “thoughtfully placed on his desk,” and leads Ben out of the classroom, the outcome turns into a moment of victory for the young artist.

Funny and exuberantly sweet. (Picture book. 4-8)

MAGIC LITTLE WORDS

Delaunois, Angèle Illus. by Gauthier, Manon Owlkids Books (24 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-77147-106-0

A lyrical attempt to explain the larger concepts behind 11 “magic words” of good manners.

Children are taught at a young age to say certain words or phrases such as “please” and “thank you,” but they do not often authentically feel or even understand what they mean. With the laudable goal of helping to demystify that particular path of childhood development, Delaunois pairs common polite phrases with simple explanations—some more abstract than others. “Good morning,” for instance, is paired with “I smile at a brand new day.”

“I’m sorry” is paired with “I’m so sad that I hurt you.” “I love you,” by contrast, is described as “The most beautiful song for two.” To a literal child, songs and love need not go hand in hand. “Please” is the most perplexing: “A magic key that opens most doors.” That “most” is highly problematic—even children who understand the metaphor may find themselves expecting whatever they want with a simple “please.” Gauthier’s collage illustrations more than make up for any text quibbles found here and there. The seemingly hastily sketched and quickly snipped-out characters have a charming sense of impermanence, as if a gust of wind could wisp them away at any moment.

Beautiful phrasing to be sure, but with etiquette lessons, perhaps it is better to show in action and circumstance rather than to tell. (Picture book. 3-6)

THE REPLACED

Derting, Kimberly HarperTeen (368 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-06-229363-3 Series: Taking, 2 The second entry in the Taking trilogy finds Kyra mixing it up with a group of fellow Returned and searching for her lost love.

Derting wastes no time diving right back in to Kyra’s journey, one that is just as physical as the first book’s was emotional. This change of pace is a little jarring: Gone is the exploration of Kyra’s alarming reappearance and what that means to those around her. In its place are missions, |

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camp life, sci-fi hokum and a new love interest. The least interesting part of the series’ prior installment was Kyra’s growing attraction to Tyler, a character who has little to offer besides a nice smile and cut abs. The author improves this element tremendously this time around. Kyra’s budding relationship with fellow Returned Simon is much more scintillating. Simon has Tyler beat in every way: He’s as smart and brave and capable as he is attractive, bouncing off Kyra’s negative vibes with a refreshing cautious optimism. Less exciting is the book’s overall structure, or lack thereof. Kyra and her Returned posse drift from place to place, occasionally poking the National Security Agency but more often than not just constantly moving.

Enough bread crumbs are dropped to hint at the forthcoming conclusion, and of course there’s a cliffhanger heading into the final book, but all the traveling makes for one very episodic installment.

The book suffers somewhat from middle-book syndrome, but it is still solid enough to keep fans reading.

(Science fiction. 14-18)

A MATTER OF HEART

Dominy, Amy Fellner Delacorte (320 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | $20.99 PLB May 12, 2015 978-0-385-74443-0 978-0-385-38993-8 e-book 978-0-375-99166-0 PLB It all comes down to heart for one athlete.

Abby is on top of the world. She routinely blows her competition out of the pool and is on the verge of qualifying for the Olympic trials at 16, thus fulfilling her father’s thwarted dreams for himself. She’s got her loyal best friend, Jen, and her handsome, easygoing boyfriend, Connor, both fellow swimmers. The only problem is Alec, whose questions about Connor’s performance in the pool also extend to Abby. But then Abby gets dizzy and faints after a race. A doctor’s visit reveals she has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that is often a cause of unexpected death in teen athletes.

It’s treatable with beta blockers—but Abby can’t swim fast on the pills. And without the pills, she risks death every time she’s in the pool. Abby makes all the expected mistakes as she comes to grips with her diagnosis, including offering sex to a no-longer-interested Connor. It will take time, support and love for Abby to figure out who she is without swimming. Dominy writes Abby’s narration in the first person, giving readers a poolside view to her process; it’s not flashy, but it works. All in all, this is a solid look at an elite athlete who gets benched: Only the juicing subplot underperforms, although it helps to define character motivations.

An enjoyable read even for couch potatoes. (Fiction. 13-16)

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THE END OF THE RAINBOW

wounds to throwing up force fields. Though he does pull off a clever stunt with a grenade at a climactic moment, Michael, never the brightest bulb in the room, is consistently outthought, outfought and at every turn in need of rescue. Also of having things spelled out for him—a trait that will be welcomed by readers gamely trying to slog through the murk of ambiguous agendas, half-truths, evasions and outright lies to catch some glimmer of what’s really going on. The effort will be in vain.

A hodgepodge of contrived set pieces and tired X-Files– style tropes, with no sign of resolution. (Adventure. 11-13)

Donnelly, Liza Illus. by the author Holiday House (24 pp.) $14.95 | $6.99 paper | $14.95 e-book May 1, 2015 978-0-8234-3291-2 978-0-8234-3396-4 paper 978-0-8234-3342-1 e-book Series: I Like to Read This early-reader riff on cumulative folk tales features a girl in pursuit of the end of a rainbow who discovers there’s no pot of gold.

Setting out, the girl invites in turn her cat, a rabbit, a bird, a turtle and a horse to come with her. As each animal joins, the simple, childlike illustrations show a thought bubble of the item each animal is hoping to find. The cat hopes for a fish; the rabbit, a carrot; the bird, a birdbath; the turtle, a butterfly; and the horse, an apple. When they evidently reach the end—at any rate, they can no longer see it—everyone is disappointed, but the girl, undaunted, says, “We didn’t find the end of the rainbow.

But we found something better. We found new friends.” Even for a first-level reader, the plot is thin and spans only 24 pages.

While the ink-and-watercolor illustrations are amiable, the overall effect is more of a one-liner than a sustained narrative.

Still, it fills the bill for those children just beginning to tackle independent reading and should provide a satisfying sense of mastery without much angst.

Though children will probably move on from it quickly, it will definitely help them on their ways. (Early reader. 4- 7)

ALEXANDER’S ARMY

d’Lacey, Chris Scholastic (304 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | May 26, 2015 978-0-545-60880-0 978-0-545-60881-7 e-book Series: Unicorne Files, 2 A teenager struggling to control his ability to transform reality undertakes a mission for the secretive organization that recruited him in the opener.

Airily neglecting to clarify or even significantly advance any of the plotlines introduced in Dark Inheritance (2014), d’Lacey pitches his mercurial protagonist, Michael, into inconclusive encounters with the mendacious director of UNICORNE (“UNexplained Incidents, Cryptic Occurrences, Relative Nontemporal Events”), a telekinetic foe with a squad of hobbitsized invisible World War I “Tommies” in reluctant thrall, and an ally buried in the first episode but now come back as a shapeshifting crow. Into this incoherent mess, the author also chucks arbitrary ambushes, ray guns and other futuristic tech, obscure references to an important “artifact,” and tiny organisms called Mleptra that can do anything the plot requires, from healing 94

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SEVEN SECOND DELAY

Easton, Tom Holiday House (224 pp.) $16.95 | $16.95 e-book | May 1, 2015 978-0-8234-3209-7 978-0-8234-3380-3 e-book Fleeing a dystopian future Europe, an undocumented immigrant thwarts overzealous security forces in a seemingly idyllic nation formerly known as England.

Mila was born in the U, in the remnants of Eastern Europe. Her home is a morass of civil strife, starvation and industrial projects that strip food and resources from failed states and send them to the lucky residents of the First World.

Well-timed, slowly parcelled-out flashbacks introduce the mysterious benefactor who has escorted Mila across Europe, drilling her in English, tech skills and martial arts. That benefactor dies on the perilous last leg of their journey to the Isles—the wealthy nation once known as England. People of the Isles have the right to privacy, but with phones implanted in their brains, most don’t bother to exercise that right. Mila is granted a phone—the ultimate goal of anyone who wants the rights of a Citizen—but when the government decides Mila’s a liability, the phone’s live video Feed makes it impossible for her to disappear. The Feed’s seven-second delay is Mila’s only advantage. Aided by the kind (if naïve) Citizens she encounters, Mila is off on a truly split-second race against murderous xenophobes. American readers will recognize familiar themes and a frighteningly believable dystopia in this European take on comfort, safety and exploitation.

Cinematically thrilling, passionately political and primed for a sequel. (Science fiction. 12-15)

NEVER ASK A DINOSAUR TO DINNER

Edwards, Gareth Illus. by Parker-Rees, Guy Scholastic (32 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-545-81296-2

Rhyming text and boisterous art combine to deliver a string of humorous mini–cautionary tales leading up to a peaceful bedtime. kirkus.com

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The fun is in Rauwerda’s painterly illustrations; warm and beautifully composed, they teem with child-friendly details. the day the sun did not rise and shine

Opening spreads explain that it’s a poor idea to invite a dinosaur to dinner “Because a T. rex is ferocious / And his manners are atrocious, / And you’ll find that if he’s able... // He will eat the kitchen table!” The art accompanying this text depicts a young boy observing the T. Rex’s dinnertime antics while his mother looks on, aghast, and then faints. The text makes no comment regarding race or culture, but the illustrations depict mother and child with brown skin and dark hair—and these aren’t pusillanimous, tokenistic representations that give way to multicultural depictions of diverse children in subsequent scenes. Instead, ensuing pages follow the same boy through his nighttime routine and warn against sharing one’s toothbrush with a shark, letting a beaver in a sink, using a tiger for a towel, choosing a bison for a blanket and letting a barn owl in one’s bed. Humorous consequences for such scenarios are described in the text while illustrations rendered in bright colors and with energetic lines enhance the comic mood. As the boy hunkers down for sleep at book’s end, a teddy bear is deemed an acceptable animal companion for drifting off to sleep, and a herd of sheep for counting creates a pleasing closing scene.

A silly bedtime read. (Picture book. 3-5)

ENCORE TO AN EMPTY ROOM

Emerson, Kevin Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-06-213398-4 978-0-06-213400-4 e-book Series: Exile, 2

Summer and the band she manages, Dangerheart, are still searching for the lost songs of Eli White in this sequel to

Exile (2014).

The world now knows that Dangerheart’s lead singer Caleb (also Summer’s boyfriend) is the son of the late, talented but troubled rocker Eli White. Prior to his death, Eli hid three songs for Caleb to find one day, and so far the group has found one. Though the band is in-sync musically, escalating personal tensions threaten to rip them apart, as individual members struggle with family problems, alcohol abuse, relationship drama and mounting resentment toward one another. The pressure increases when record-deal options begin to appear. Summer feels pulled apart as well, wanting to continue managing the band after high school but also beginning to think that pursuing college as her parents want might not be such a bad idea. When new information arises about the lost songs, the bandmates find themselves in a race to uncover the others before the record executives at Candy Shell steal them. This mission takes Dangerheart on a cross-country tour and an adventure that might just turn out to be a wild ghost chase. Emerson’s talents for creating cool characters, writing effortless dialogue and maintaining a quick pace continue to shine.

A solid follow-up to Exile that will leave readers clamoring for the final installment. (Fiction. 14-17) |

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THE DAY THE SUN DID NOT RISE AND SHINE

Enzerink, Mirjam Illus. by Rauwerda, Peter-Paul Lemniscaat USA (32 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-935954-43-9

Will the morning never come?

After his customary all-night flight, Owl returns home quite drowsy; in fact, he’s so sleepy that he takes a wrong turn and ends up in an attic instead of his nest. (This is furnished with a tiny grandfather clock and canopy bed in the illustration, which makes it quite clear how he goes wrong). When he wakes up, he’s alarmed to find that it’s still dark. What’s more, “the forest” is full of weird things, like a toy train and an old couch and a humongous grandfather clock. Did the sun forget to wake up? He looks everywhere and finally finds it. (The illustrations show that it’s actually a round mirror in the shape of the sun, with carved rays for a frame.) He tries, without success, to wake it up, pushing “the world” (a globe) over to it and turning the attic light on to help it remember its job. Of course, while all this is happening, time is passing, and as if by magic, the sun finally appears. “Hooray!” It’s been a long night. Owl settles into his tree-branch bed for a well-deserved sleep. Enzerink’s premise is clever, though the story’s end is a bit of a letdown after Owl’s bumbling. The fun is in Rauwerda’s painterly illustrations; warm and beautifully composed, they teem with child-friendly details that clue readers in to Owl’s mistake.

This Dutch import offers a sweet and funny twist on the bedtime book. (Picture book. 4- 7)

IZZY & OSCAR

Estes, Allison & Stark, Dan Illus. by Dockray, Tracy Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4926-0150-0 Pirate captain Izzy finds a treasure of a pet in an octopus.

With his surprising ability to survive outside the water, Oscar the octopus isn’t much like a real octopus, but he isn’t much like an ordinary pet, either. He doesn’t fetch or shake hands. He sleeps under the bed instead of on it, doesn’t always behave well on a leash and doesn’t want to be ridden. His best trick is camouflage, but that backfires when, surprised in a hiding place, he inks Izzy’s mother. Dockray’s lively illustrations portray the action and add to the humor of this cheery, unusual pet story, especially through Oscar’s expressive body language.

Done with digitally friendly Doc Martin dyes and pencil, these images are colorful and engaging and will show well to a group.

The diversity of the four seashore-exploring children in Izzy’s crew is suggested through their different hair styles and colors.

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The conflict’s crescendo is a visual whirlwind. by mouse and frog

figure out just what to do with this animal. “Oscar ate a lot. He grew bigger. So did his octopoop.” Young listeners may finally, sadly agree that “[a]n octopus belongs in the ocean,” but they’ll cheer at the unexpected resolution.

A grand addition to any pet-themed read-aloud session.

(Picture book. 3- 7)

TOMMY CAN’T STOP!

Federle, Tim Illus. by Fearing, Mark Disney-Hyperion (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-4231-6917-8

Little brother Tommy is a perpetualmotion machine, and he is driving his family bonkers.

The tireless tyke bounces like a pogo stick, kicks like a bulldozer, clomps like an elephant and jumps hurdles like an antelope. He never stops, putting his parents and sister into an exhausted state of weary exasperation. Fortunately his sister, attired in a pink tutu, comes up with a solution and hands Tommy a pair of tap shoes. No pink! No tutus! But tap-dance class is a revelation. The teacher also bounces like a pogo stick. No, she informs Tommy, she is performing a “HOP.” The teacher kicks like a bulldozer. No, she informs Tommy, she is performing a “BRUSH.” Tommy is thrilled and is soon appearing on stage in a solo. Broadway veteran and middle-grade novelist Federle has good fun with language and similes in his picture-book debut. His little tapper is a strong and sturdy boy who finds the perfect outlet for his volcanic energy. Fearing’s full-bleed artwork is full of motion, with his Tommy sporting a mop of blond hair and googly eyes. An animated line of dashes that flits around the apartment allows readers to truly appreciate Tommy’s energy spurts.

An enjoyable performance for both the boisterous and the calm. (Picture book. 4- 7)

SOME KIND OF MAGIC

Fogelin, Adrian Peachtree (232 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-56145-820-2 Series: Neighborhood, 5

Old friends Ben, Cass, Jemmie and Justin start high school in the fall, so this might be their last summer together; though they hope for an exciting summer, they get more intrigue than they bargained for.

“Here’s the thing,” says Ben. “We’ve lived in this one place our whole lives. And nothing ever happens here.” But his little brother, Cody, just seven days shy of 7, finds an old fedora in the closet, and mystery and magic ensue. Cody wears the hat everywhere and claims it has powers: He actually hits shots 96

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in basketball, discovers an abandoned building in the woods and finds answers to family secrets. The abandoned building becomes the kids’ secret hideout, though secrets are hard to keep for Cody, who’s included in the older friends’ summer plans. The young teens know they’re changing, and the narrative, related in each of their voices, effectively dramatizes the complexities of friendships and budding romances. As some stretches are in the first-person and others are in the third, the shifting of points of view sometimes fragments the story and diffuses rising tensions. Still, the mystery of the abandoned building and its connections to Ben and Cody’s family will pull readers into the tale and hold them to the end.

A fine, complex tale of family, friends and magic. (Fiction.

10-14)

BY MOUSE AND FROG

Freedman, Deborah Illus. by the author Viking (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-670-78490-5

Mouse wants to tell a simple, gentle story, but Frog bounces in and stirs it up.

With metafiction crowding picture-book shelves these days, each new piece needs to earn its place, and this one does. On the opening endpapers, Mouse stands on a ladder painting the page’s off-white, textured drawing paper a smooth, glossy white.

“Once upon a time,” Mouse begins, sketching in pencil, “Mouse woke up early and set the table...”—“For F-r-r-o-o-g-g!” yells Frog in large type, leaping jubilantly onto the page from above.

The conflict’s set: Mouse wants to tell—and draw—a calm, domestic story about tea, while Frog wants a king, a dragon and “elevendy-seven” flavors of ice cream. He bundles these elements and more into a breathless stream-of-consciousness plot with tumbling highlights from nursery rhymes, children’s literature (stinky cheese, chicken soup, a bus-driving request) and breakfast cereal (or perhaps Elvis: “frankooberry mush”).

Mouse screams “STOP!” amid an explosion of narrative images.

Freedman renders Mouse, Frog, bits from their stories and most of the ensuing mess in watercolor, gouache, pencil and pastel; the stories under construction are largely dark gray pencil. The conflict’s crescendo is a visual whirlwind, the penciled king and dragon crashing and splashing down into watery paint alongside Frog and Mouse. Luckily, Frog finds the pencil’s eraser, and the pals find a sunny compromise.

An elegant, exuberant portrayal of stylistic differences and child-writer passion. (Picture book. 4-8)

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CHOCOLATE Sweet Science & Dark Secrets of the World’s Most Favorite Treat Frydenborg, Kay HMH Books (256 pp.) $18.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-544-17566-2

Stories of ancient cultures, religion, conquest, slavery, privilege, invention, medicine, culinary experimentation, science and more are all confected together in this flavorful, richly textured historical chronicle of chocolate.

Once confined to religious rituals and royalty, consumption of chocolate is now an $83 billion worldwide business, with the average European eating 24 pounds per year and the average U.S. citizen, 11 pounds per year. Frydenborg begins this fascinating history in Mesoamerica, where cocoa beans were used as currency; it was so valuable that its consumption was reserved for emperors. The conquistadors brought cocoa to Europe, where its popularity grew quickly among the privileged. With the decimation of indigenous populations thanks to European invaders, African slaves had to be imported for cocoa bean cultivation.

The kind of chocolate we know today was developed through experimentation in the 19th century. We have the Swiss to thank for milk chocolate and the Dutch for the chocolate bar.

The author lays it all out in a lively text punctuated by archival illustrations, photographs and sidebars, taking care to impress upon readers that even today, chocolate is more than just dessert. Its medicinal properties and applications have long been noted, as has its usefulness as a stimulant.

A deliciously informative, engaging and sweeping chronicle of one of the most popular treats in the world. (timeline, bibliography, websites) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

CHU’S DAY AT THE BEACH

Gaiman, Neil Illus. by Rex, Adam Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-06-222399-9

Gaiman and Rex return with Chu’s third picture book, sending the sneezehappy panda cub to visit the surf and sand.

Big things happen when little Chu sneezes—especially at the beach. When Chu and his family first arrive, all is peachy.

Chu’s mother sits and reads, while Chu’s father wades in the water. A bespectacled octopus offers Chu a refreshing ice cream cone to beat the heat. Soon Chu, decked out in a striped, retro-style full-body swimsuit, takes off his sunglasses. In the sunlight, his nose starts to tickle, a tickling that “fill[s] his whole head.” Fans of the Chu books will know what comes next and will sneeze right along with him. With the big deed done, the unthinkable happens. The sea is split, the waves stopping |

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Exodus-like, and it’s up to Chu to sneeze again so he can save the stuck sea animals. Alas, sneezing on cue isn’t so easy. Rex’s comical and lively illustrations are enchanting gems. These include a family of merpandas, a gopher carrying his surfboard and chill amphibians sunning themselves. Chu’s charm and silliness abound throughout this sneezefest. However, his final ah-choo doesn’t provide the kind of satisfaction a just-expelled sneeze can give. That’s because Chu doesn’t come up with the solution himself.

Nonetheless, fans will delight and pass the tissue, as the aviator-goggle–wearing panda pleases with most of his sneezes. (Picture book. 4-8)

THE TRAVELING CIRCUS

Gay, Marie-Louise & Homel, David Illus. by Gay, Marie-Louise Groundwood (144 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-55498-420-6 A Canadian family’s vacation in Croatia offers both typical road-trip zaniness and opportunities for deep reflection.

When Charlie and Max find (under the kitchen stove) the postcard from Fred inviting the family to visit them on Vrgada, they know they are in for it. Older brother Charlie narrates the high jinks in a voice that is endearingly both knowing and impressionable. He is wise in the ways of his family, but he is also ready to try to understand Croatia. Mixed in with the usual vacation travails (car sickness, border pit stops, keeping tabs on his perpetually hungry little brother, Max) are sights and incidents very specific to their destination. Some are funny—apparently just about all Croatian men are named Slobodan, including family friend Fred—but just as many are poignant. They stop in an abandoned village seeded with land mines during Yugoslavia’s brutal civil war; they encounter psychologically maimed war survivors.

All of this is related in Charlie’s convincing voice—he only half understands it but is deeply moved all the same. These hints of gravity punctuate but do not puncture the holiday fun; readers like Max and Charlie who have grown up in safety will emerge thoughtful but not traumatized.

A salutary, unusual look at part of the world rarely seen in North American children’s literature, wrapped up in family fun. (Fiction. 7-10)

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Selina Alko & Sean Qualls The couple that creates together, stays together (or at least this couple does)

By Jessie Grearson

Photo courtesy Ted Lewis

Though Canadian-born author/illustrator Selina Alko had long been aware of Richard and Mildred Loving’s historic court battle to legalize their interracial marriage in the state of Virginia, her impulse to create her picture book The Case for Loving came much later. In her own interracial marriage, to illustrator Sean Qualls, Alko credits a “slow, nudging awareness” of America’s underlying racism, how “even today some people may view couples like us with disapproval,” as sparking her desire to explore the story further—a desire that was catalyzed by watching an HBO documentary and visiting a photography exhibit on the Lovings.

She found it “shocking…that marriages like ours were illegal just a few decades ago,” she says.

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Court case—their union was illegal in Jim Crow Virginia of 1958—The Case for Loving is, at its heart, a love story. Creating portraits of Mildred and Richard (he’s a kind, caring man who sunburns easily and sees past differences, she’s a slender woman nicknamed “String Bean”), the story personalizes the couple’s courtship and eventual marriage in bright mixed-media illustrations that build an undeniable case for love—one that’s kid-friendly and clear but never condescending.

Alko began work by steeping herself in the Lovings’ history, “reading books very carefully, taking notes, rereading my notes and going back, making sure I got all details right, cross-referencing,” she says. “Over time, as the details became familiar, it was much easier to simplify the story.” She and Qualls had been thinking about illustrating together for some time, and this book seemed to offer the perfect opportunity. “We’d done some wedding gifts together, and sometimes we draw together when we’re out at a restaurant,” explains Qualls. But this was different: the couple’s first professional collaboration, which posed the twin challenges of blending professional schedules as well as individual artistic approaches.

Their early discussions of ideas happened over “lunch meetings looking at sketches where we’d both brought thumbnails,” Qualls recalls. “At that point we were just coming up with sample art.” They had agreed on some initial sketches but had worked on them separately. “We generally agree on what’s working best visually and what’s telling the story best,” he says. “Once we agree on that, we just have to decide who starts with it.” The two hand the art back and forth; sometimes who begins is “just a matter of priority and circumstance.”

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positive, dynamic terms. “I’ve really been influenced

by Sean’s way of working,” she acknowledges. “I used to only work in gouache. But Sean’s really turned me on to the benefits of using acrylic, building layers. I think our collaboration is becoming more seamless.”

One of the biggest challenges to their artistic collaboration, Qualls observes, was “just letting go. When you’re working on a book you have to let it go….”

“Yes! You have to let go of control,” Alko agrees, enthusiastically finishing his sentence. Before The Case for Loving, she says she would lock herself in her studio, on her own schedule, finishing the art when she finished it. “Now it’s like when we were first married,” she says. “There’s another person in the house, making a mess, another person in the art doing what he does—and when he’s ready to do it.” They’ve each learned, Alko says, not to be “overly controlling. It’s like not needing the house to be perfect and to have everything put away. It’s a family—it’s messy! It’s art—it’s messy!” She’s “loosened up” as a result. And it’s done more than calm her: “I think the art is coming out better,” she adds. “There’s less stuffiness; I’m less worried about having input into every image. I’m very pleased and happy when I see something that Sean adds that I would never have thought of.” Qualls says he especially loves having a partner take over when he gets stuck. “Selina’s able to put her spin on something,” what color to add, for example. “I’m not sure and she’ll go in. And I’ll say, ‘OK. Wow, Nice!’ ” The Case for Loving has strengthened their marriage, they say. “It was so much hard work but so rewarding…the power of the story and getting it out there,” Alko says. “Together it just feels like it’s strengthened our bond and our family overall.”

Qualls deeply values the sense of something “beyond getting the kids off to school and dinner and the day to day…that connects to what we do, gives us a larger purpose. The bonding…has been an unexpected gift.”

Recently, Alko read the book to their son. “He said, ‘Really? They were arrested?’ There’s a shock factor…it struck him that his mom and dad could have been arrested for the same thing, just for loving each other.” Qualls notes that their son had been learning in school about civil rights—“but in a textbook sort of way….With this picture book, Selina found a very simple way to tell a complex story. When she read it to Isaiah, it really brought things home in a way he hadn’t seen before.” |

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Alko hopes The Case for Loving “becomes a tool that helps teach children to stick with what they believe is right.” The book also serves as a reminder that change doesn’t happen overnight; the Lovings’ case took nine years until it was legally resolved. “I want to share that idea of believing in yourself and your values and fighting for what’s right,” Alko says. “What I love about the Lovings—especially watching the video of them, and I hope the book conveys it—is their strong commitment to their values and their commitment to not allowing anyone to tell them what’s wrong or right,” Qualls adds. “As an adult, I feel like that’s something I’m still learning. To really listen to what I believe and define the world for myself, rather than having other people define it for me.”

Jessie C. Grearson is a freelance writer and writing teacher living in Falmouth, Maine. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

The Case for Loving received a starred review in the Nov. 1, 2014, issue.

The Case for Loving The Fight for Interracial Marriage Selina Alko, illus. by Sean Qualls & Selina Alko Levine/Scholastic (40 pp.) $18.99 | Jan. 6, 2015 978-0-545-47853-3 |

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LIFE UNAWARE

Gibsen, Cole Entangled Teen (320 pp.) $9.99 paper | Apr. 28, 2015 978-1-62266-396-5 The persecutor becomes the persecuted when personal texts and emails are leaked, outing Regan Flay as the scheming mean girl she really is.

Life for Regan is about perfection at all costs. Following in her congresswoman mother’s political ways, Regan selects friends based on their social value and activities by how they will look on her college application. She relies on caffeine to keep her going and Xanax to calm her down. When she is exposed, her friends disappear. Only Nolan, her best friend’s irreverent brother, seems unperturbed by her social downfall. He suggests a way to salvage her reputation as well as do some good. Together, they film a documentary chronicling high school bullying and hatch a plan to build people up rather than tearing them down. By humanizing the mean girls, Gibsen complicates the familiar theme of bullying, revealing that everyone has something he or she would rather keep hidden. Secondary characters suffer from a tooheavy hand, however; Regan’s mother might even give Cruella de Vil pause. While the dialogue is spot-on, the sheer volume of expletives will make this a hard sell for some.

This well-intentioned story would have profited from a more delicate touch. (Fiction. 14-18)

BECOMING JINN

Goldstein, Lori Feiwel & Friends (384 pp.) $17.99 | May 12, 2015 978-1-250-05539-2 “[W]hen genies are involved, there’s always a trick.”

Azra Nadira awakes on her 16th birthday to a magical makeover and a silver wrist bangle. She views these more as punishments than gifts, as they signify that Azra is now a full-fledged genie (properly, Jinn), with all the arts and powers (and responsibilities and restrictions) of the species.

Since a childhood tragedy, Azra has fought against her heritage, rejecting her “model Jinn” mother’s example and pushing away her Zar—her cohort of “sisters.” But the tyrannical Afrit won’t permit her to escape the duty to grant wishes, even if the results are unexpected, disastrous...or reveal secrets Azra isn’t ready to learn. Through Azra’s first-person, present-tense narration, the act of “becoming Jinn” provides a rich metaphor for the potency and frustration of adolescence. Bonds between women and girls are celebrated, while such tired teen-lit tropes as romantic triangles and mean cheerleaders are subtly subverted. Unfortunately, Azra herself is the worst sort of wish-fulfillment cliché. She’s covertly desired by all the boys and envied by all the girls; she has 100

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superspecial talents, an angst-y back story and mysterious parentage; and above all, she’s infuriatingly self-centered—even the narrative’s climactic cliffhanger depends less upon the catastrophic events than on how very sad it makes Azra feel.

Those who can get past the protagonist’s tiresome pity party will be eager for further exploration of her Zar family and the subterranean intrigues of Jinn society.

(Fantasy. 12 & up)

KILLER WITHIN

Green, S.E. Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | May 19, 2015 978-1-4814-0288-0 978-1-4814-0290-3 e-book This sequel to Killer Instinct (2014), about a teenage serial killer, amps up the suspense.

Lane may be only 17, but she’s an experienced murderer and has killed her mother, an FBI agent tasked to investigate the infamous serial killer the Decapitator—although actually she herself was the Decapitator.

Worse, she trained Lane from an early age to follow in her footsteps.

With her mother dead, everyone believes Lane is in mourning. Actually, Lane worries more about her own secret identity. Instead of killing people, she has become the Masked Savior, beating up bad guys who abuse animals and bully teens, but it seems she’s got a copycat who’s begun to attack people who don’t deserve it. Meanwhile, forced into group grief-counseling sessions, she meets biker Tommy, a possible romantic interest, and she worries about her younger sister and what their mom might have taught her. And it looks as though someone else knows the true identity of the Decapitator and intends to continue the gruesome killings if Lane won’t. Green keeps the mystery and suspense at fever pitch even as she thickens her plot with new characters and complications. Lane’s presenttense narration keeps readers guessing right along with her.

The twists keep turning right up to the blood-soaked ending in this satisfying thriller. (Thriller. 12-18)

FIRST FLIGHT AROUND THE WORLD The Adventures of the American Fliers Who Won the Race

Grove, Tim Abrams (96 pp.) $21.95 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4197-1482-5

An epic feat from an era in which radio was still newfangled and many people “had never seen an airplane, except in pictures.”

In fact, the U.S. Army aviators chosen for this 1924 expedition left radios behind—along with life preservers and parachutes—to lighten the load on their planes (they did take a pair kirkus.com

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Evocative descriptions of the parallel settings, sharply drawn characters and fast-paced action pull readers along. cuckoo song

of stuffed toy monkeys). Fortunately, as Grove, a Smithsonian educator, makes clear in a meticulous account based on journals and other documentary evidence, not only were diplomatic and other preparations made for each planned stop on the carefully mapped course, but the Navy provided near-continual monitoring. Not that the flight went smoothly: One of the four planes crashed into an Alaska mountain, and another sank in the North Atlantic. Along with awful weather (“The Aleutians have but two kinds of weather it seems, bad and worse,” wrote one pilot) and multiple forced landings, so rickety were the aircraft in general that wear and tear required multiple full engine replacements along the way. The flight took 150 days, and the aviators lost a bet with the Prince of Wales that he could beat them across the Atlantic by boat. Of six nations competing to be first to circle the globe, only the U.S. team was able to finish. It’s a grand tale, set handsomely here amid sheaves of maps, short journal passages and contemporary photos.

A high spot in aviation history, particularly noteworthy for the rugged perseverance of those who achieved it. (endnotes, summary charts, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction.

10-13)

GWENDOLYN GRACE

Hannigan, Katherine Illus. by the author Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-06-234519-6 Gwendolyn Grace, an anthropomorphic alligator, is having a hard time adjusting to being a big sister.

From offstage, an adult voice tells Gwendolyn Grace to “[s]top making so much noise,” because the baby is sleeping.

The frontmatter pages have already established her as a boisterous, noisy girl, and on subsequent spreads, she enacts repeated, noisy scenarios—ostensibly to clarify whether certain activities fall under the admonition to be quiet. Of course, all of her antics do cross the line into “so much noise,” and page turns consistently deliver the offstage parent’s disapproval. A baby’s cries are never apparent, though, and when the exasperated mama finally sighs and calls Gwendolyn Grace to her, there is no dramatic scolding or change. Instead, the big sister whispers and asks if they can play when the baby is done sleeping, and Mama says yes while the baby slumbers on. Not even Gwendolyn Grace’s exuberant “Yay!” rouses the baby, and after so much high-spirited, onomatopoeic text and art, the culmination of the story lacks satisfying resolution. Gwendolyn Grace simply goes on being noisy, and the baby keeps sleeping. Hannigan’s brightly colored artwork has a certain expressive vitality, but while the illustrations do provide support for characterization (Gwendolyn Grace is one spunky alligator girl in her pink skirt), they do little to enhance the sparse narrative.

More character study than story. (Picture book. 3-5)

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CUCKOO SONG

Hardinge, Frances Amulet/Abrams (416 pp.) $17.95 | May 8, 2015 978-1-4197-1480-1 This dense and twisty fantasy set in post–World War I Great Britain mixes monstrous creatures, sibling rivalry, a supernatural doppelgänger, family dysfunction and a kidnapping into a complex brew of eerie atmosphere and

unexpected events.

Hardinge is a master stylist whose imaginative works resemble one another only in the consistently impressive quality of her writing. Each narrative builds a unique world, and this combination of postwar tristesse and scary magical beings known as Besiders is no different. Evocative descriptions of the parallel settings, sharply drawn characters and fast-paced action pull readers along, though some may occasionally be distracted rather than transported by the heavy use of metaphor. Freakish actions and confusion on the part of the main character set the stage for an unsettling revelation a quarter of the way through that adds even more suspense and challenges readers’ ability to empathize. While sisters Triss and Penelope are 11 and 9, the dangers they face and the issues their family grapples with suggest that readers slightly older than the protagonists will be best equipped to sort through the murky motivations, painful betrayals and matter-of-factly presented alternate reality.

Nuanced and intense, this painstakingly created tale mimics the Escher-like constructions of its villainous Architect, fooling the eyes and entangling the emotions of readers willing and able to enter into a world like no other.

(Fantasy. 11-14)

TURTLE AND ME

Harris, Robie H. Illus. by Freeman, Tor Little Bee (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4998-0046-3

Mussed, chewed, torn, stained—no matter what condition this stuffed animal is in, it remains dearly loved.

From the day he was born, a little unnamed boy has been inseparable from his stuffed Turtle. Now he’s much older, and Turtle’s a bit worse for the wear, having survived spaghetti sauce, a dog’s savage attack, vomit and a brief period of abandonment in the park. Yet it’s a fight with a friend who insists that Turtle’s “a BABY thing!” that almost proves the ungendered toy’s undoing. The boy attempts to go to bed without his childhood companion but finds himself unable to sleep. It takes his father’s intervention to show him how even big boys need their beloved toys from time to time. Wrestling with the desire to be “big” against the equal need for comfort is a rite of passage many children can relate to. Freeman’s images of the porkpie-hatted |

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In a refreshing departure from the norm, the complexity of the conclusion matches the magnitude of the foe faced. crimson bound

Turtle show the stuffed animal blessedly free of any emotions save his perpetually cheery smile. The wordless last image of the boy reunited with his friend while his mother fixes Turtle (yet again) will assuage many readers’ fears.

Though she breaks little new ground, Harris attacks a common childhood anxiety with her customary smarts and bracing lack of sentiment. (Picture book. 3-6)

MAKING PRETTY

Haydu, Corey Ann Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | May 12, 2015 978-0-06-229408-1 978-0-06-229410-4 e-book Family, first love and the search for identity butt heads in this coming-of-age story set in the heat of a Manhattan summer.

Seventeen-year-old Montana looks forward to bonding with her sister, Arizona, and her best friend, Roxanne, both of whom have just returned from their first year of college. Montana’s hopes are dashed when Arizona comes home with a boob job, and her friendship with Roxanne is compromised by Roxanne’s Montana-less college life. Feeling left behind by the two people who know her best, Montana seeks friendship and sisterhood with Karissa, a 23-year-old bohemian and aspiring actress with a tragic past. When Montana meets Bernardo, a hipster boy sporting a scarf and thick black-framed glasses, she falls pink-hair–over-heels in love, but with her plastic-surgeon father freshly divorced from wife No. 4, she doesn’t exactly have a positive role model for romantic bliss. Character development is strong: Although Montana spends most of the novel attempting to reinvent herself to suit what she thinks other people want her to be, she learns to accept herself and her life as they are, complete with imperfections and uncertainty.

This summer read has the ubiquitous quirkiness that has become a marker of contemporary adolescent realism and will appeal to fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell.

(Fiction. 15-18)

MAGONIA

Headley, Maria Dahvana Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 paper | $10.99 e-book Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-06-232052-0 978-0-06-239167-4 paper 978-0-06-232054-4 e-book A girl with a rare fatal disease discovers a magical secret about herself.

Aza Ray Boyle, nearly 16, is sentenced to death by a breathing disorder medical science calls Azaray syndrome (though Aza herself thinks it should be called “Clive” 102

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or maybe “the Jackass”). Somehow she keeps surviving: hating the hospital, snarking at her teachers, loving her batty family, and completely relying on her anti-social best friend, Jason.

When the worst happens, Aza’s shocked at how unprepared she really is. She’s even less prepared to wake up on an airship, surrounded by blue-skinned sailors and giant bird people who call her Aza Ray Quel. Aza, it seems, is the lost savior of the sky people of Magonia, stolen away and hidden on land. Politicking and conspiracies confuse Aza (and set up a sequel). She really ought to relish being special as she masters her newfound powers of singing and working with a bird familiar (shaky worldbuilding leaves the magical structure somewhat hand-wavy). The painful, sarcastic beauty of Aza’s interactions down below in the everyday world begs comparisons to John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars (2012), yet passive savior Aza of Magonia is a pale shadow of her nonmagical self.

Striking an uneven balance between gorgeous realism and banal fantasy, this requires readers tolerant of books with split personalities. (Fantasy. 13-15)

CRIMSON BOUND

Hodge, Rosamund Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (448 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | May 5, 2015 978-0-06-222476-7 978-0-06-222478-1 e-book A high fantasy loosely based on “Little Red Riding Hood” and the less wellknown “The Girl with No Hands.”

Hoping to save the world, 15-yearold Rachelle defiantly leaves the safe forest path to speak with a forestborn—one of those humans who gained supernatural powers by accepting the Devourer as their lord. The forestborn marks Rachelle: In three days’ time she must either kill and become a bloodbound—destined to become a forestborn—or be killed. Rachelle kills, and the story of the killing is revealed as she grapples with debilitating guilt.

Three years later, Rachelle is one of the king’s bloodbound.

When she discovers the Devourer will soon return, she redoubles her efforts to find the sword that can defeat him. However, orders to protect the king’s illegitimate son, Armand, impede her search. Predictably, Rachelle falls in love with Armand, causing a love triangle to form between the pair and the rakish Erec, captain of the king’s bloodbound. Though Armand is likable enough, Rachelle’s love feels sudden and unfounded, and thus it’s never entirely convincing. A fairy tale that’s critical to understanding Rachelle’s ultimate task is interspersed throughout, and in a refreshing departure from the norm, the complexity of the conclusion matches the magnitude of the foe faced.

Rachelle’s flaws make her an incredibly sympathetic character; though her romance is not so compelling, the unusual, intricately woven story and themes make for a worthwhile read. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

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THE MESSENGERS

herself about her most sorrowful loss. Real to the period and place, subtle and gently paced, Tate’s story is heartbreaking but hopeful; when she sings, Tate remembers the good times.

Soulful and satisfying. (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Hogan, Edward Candlewick (224 pp.) $16.99 | May 12, 2015 978-0-7636-7112-9

Frances is taking a break from her troubled family life and spending some time with cousins in a coastal English village.

The blackouts that she’s had off and on for years are becoming more frequent.

What she hasn’t shared with anyone is that following each blackout, she creates drawings that are beginning to unnerve her. She meets a man in his 20s named Peter who sells postcards from his beach hut in Helmstown and who recognizes her as someone like him: a messenger of death. Peter also has blackouts, after which he paints minutely detailed scenes of someone dying. Within two days he must deliver the painting to that person or risk harm coming to someone he’s close to. Frances decides to take a different approach by trying to change events to prevent the deaths her drawings depict, but that has its own consequences. This unusual story’s strength lies in the depth of characterization that the author teases out of Frances’ introspection about her brother, who’s on the run from the police, as well as strong dialogue that reveals Peter’s struggle with the effects his strange power has had on his personal relationships.

The premise is a bit thin, but it neatly serves as the vehicle by which Frances comes into her own.

Quietly thrilling. (Fantasy. 12-17)

DEAR HANK WILLIAMS

Holt, Kimberly Willis Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (224 pp.) $16.99 | May 19, 2015 978-0-8050-8022-3 Tate has gumption, and it’s a good thing: She’s the only one who has faith in her ability to sing—except for her little brother, Frog, and everyone seems surprised whenever Tate mentions him.

Tate explains all this and more in her pen-pal letters to Hank Williams. Her teacher has arranged an exchange of letters with Japanese students, but it’s too soon after World War II for Tate’s comfort; besides, she and Hank have singing in common. Sassy and observant, Tate also tells him how her parents travel while she lives in a house by a cemetery with her aunt, uncle and Frog.

She helps Aunt Patty Cake sell cosmetics—except in Pine Bend where colored folks live, but her aunt won’t explain why this is. Writing proves therapeutic, and Tate begins to revise halftruths: She has no idea where her father is, and Momma is in jail. And Tate almost gives up the idea of the talent contest she’s had her heart set on entering when her new dog, Lovie, goes missing: She’s too sad to sing. It’s while searching for Lovie in the cemetery that Tate faces, finally, the lie she’s been telling |

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LAST OF THE SANDWALKERS

Hosler, Jay Illus. by the author First Second (320 pp.) $16.99 paper | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-62672-024-4

Entomologist Hosler offers an epic adventure that delivers an astonishing amount of information in its interstices.

Impetuous, baseball-cap–clad Lucy, a rising young beetle researcher, heads the first expedition to leave New Coleopolis since its founding 1,002 years ago, when the god Scarabus annihilated old Coleopolis with a barrage of coconuts. As in any good quest novel, her band is made up of a variety of types: There’s maternal Prof. Bombardier, pun-loving firefly Raef, doughty Hercules beetle Mossy, and crusty Prof.

Owen, a Cape stag beetle. New Coleopolis is a beetlecentric theocracy, and Lucy’s expedition poses significant threats to the status quo—which is why very early on, Prof. Owen (who is evil as well as crusty) engineers its abandonment. Lost in the wilderness, Lucy and her companions encounter spiders, birds, bats and an enormous variety of insects—even beetles—that they’ve never heard of. Cool bug facts are presented in infodumps (and further explained in disarmingly personal closing annotations); fortunately, they are so interesting that readers are likely to forgive the contrivance. Hosler’s clean lines sometimes make foliage difficult to distinguish from characters, but he invests his beetles with tremendous personality, and the dialogue never lags. Though the novel’s a trifle overstuffed, the clarity of its theme and appeal of its characters carry the day.

Hosler’s sincere excitement in both the pursuit of knowledge and the power of comics makes these bugs eminently memorable. (illustrated cast of characters) (Graphic fantasy. 10 & up)

BEAR AND DUCK

Hudson, Katy Illus. by the author Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $17.99 | May 12, 2015 978-0-06-232051-3 Fed up and frustrated with the indignities of life as a bear, Bear joins a family of ducks only to end up realizing that being a bear has its own compensations.

“That’s it!” Bear growls after angry bees sting his nose. “I am done being a bear.” When a family of ducks passes by, Bear slips into line, hoping he can join in unnoticed. Young children (and their parents) will recognize Bear’s angry frustration |

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and then his eager hopefulness as he begs his new friend to teach him how to be a perfect duck. Bear tries to be a good student, building a giant nest to keep an egg safe and warm, swimming with gleeful—and splashy—joy, and finding the perfect hill to practice flying. But of course, all does not go as planned. After a crash landing, Bear realizes that he isn’t so good at being a duck and climbs a tree to sulk. Debut author/ illustrator Hudson delights readers with expressive, endearing characters and sweetly ridiculous situations. Her watercolors are softly shaded, with lovely texture. Ink details add fine points, both in the setting and characters. In the end, Bear and readers realize that being “a really good bear... / and a really good friend” are as sweet as licking a paw (or wing) full of honey.

A charming story of friendship and acceptance, distinguished by humorous and affectionate illustrations. (Picture book. 3-6)

BIRD AND BEAR

James, Ann Illus. by the author Little Bee (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4998-0037-1

ONE THING STOLEN

A slice-of-life story describes the friendship enjoyed by the eponymous Bird and Bear.

When Bird visits Bear on his birthday, they spy his reflection in a mirror; Bear identifies it as his “friend, the other bear.”

This anticipates the pair’s discovery of a bird and a bear in the reflection they see when they gaze into the water while on a picnic at a nearby pier. Eventually, ripples in the water indicate that these are not real creatures in the water after all, and Bird and Bear are both disappointed. They recover quickly, however, and decide that although the thought of having friends just like them was nice, it’s also nice that they are friends who are different from each other. Not much else happens in this very simple book, and the writing ends up feeling rather sparse. The illustrations, on the other hand, are exemplary in their fearless use of white space and delicate watercolor and line work.

Ultimately, Bird and Bear are charming characters to look at, but their story needs more...story. (Picture book. 2-4)

THE LOST MARBLE NOTEBOOK OF FORGOTTEN GIRL & RANDOM BOY

Jaskulka, Marie Sky Pony Press (272 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-63220-426-4

Trying to escape their broken worlds, two teens fall in love with devastating results.

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The story begins with the first meeting between Random Boy and Forgotten Girl. They are never given proper names, and their labels indicate their template relationship—“insert your name here,” Jaskulka seems to invite readers. Forgotten Girl and Random Boy write their first-person free-verse poems in notebooks—this is the structure of the narrative—sharing their doubts, fears, hopes and needs as they fall in love and hope to erase the pain of their home lives. Readers learn that Forgotten Girl’s father has recently abandoned her, and Random Boy’s father physically abuses both Random Boy and his mother.

Eventually the love between Random Boy and Forgotten Girl teeters into obsession and then worse. “As much as he loves / is as hard as he hits, / which makes the pain / reassuring / in a sick way.” Why Random Boy begins abusing Forgotten Girl and why she stays with him (ultimately getting herself out) is told with such complete believability that the descent seems almost foregone, given the wounds that each has brought to the relationship. Jaskulka’s narrative explores the hows and whys of an abusive teenage relationship with heartbreaking honesty, and her delicate touch renders the dark story even more powerful.

Graceful. Searing. Haunting. (Verse fiction. 12-17)

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Kephart, Beth Chronicle (280 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-4521-2831-3

Something very bad is happening to 17-year-old Nadia.

Ever since her family relocated to Florence for her father’s sabbatical, she’s been slipping out at night to steal random objects and then weave them into bizarre nest-shaped forms she hides from her family, and she’s losing her ability to speak. The first section of the novel is related by Nadia in brief, near-breathless, panicky sentences that effectively capture her increasing disintegration. Switching smoothly between entrancing flashbacks of her promising past—“It was so easy, being me”—and her painful, confusing present, which includes visions of a “fluorescent” boy with a pink duffle, real or imagined, Nadia relates her story in fragments. Her parents, remarkably slow to realize Nadia isn’t just having trouble adjusting, finally contact wise, nurturing Katherine, a doctor, for help. The narrative switches to the voice of Maggie, Nadia’s beloved friend and soul mate, who joins the family in Italy to help Nadia and to find the duffle boy, whose existence—or not—has become critically important. It is he who narrates the final brief section.

With Nadia’s jumbled personality slipping away, the change of narrative voice is especially disquieting, offering few guarantees of a happy outcome.

Disturbing, sometimes unsettling and ultimately offering a sliver of hope, this effort rivetingly captures the destructive effects of mental and physical illness on a likable, sweet-natured teen. (Fiction. 11-18)

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Predictable and a little syrupy, this effort is ultimately sustained by well-rounded characters and the romantic tension of unrevealed secrets. the things we know by heart

LITTLE PEACH

Kern, Peggy Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (208 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Mar. 10, 2015 978-0-06-226695-8 978-0-06-226697-2 e-book A 14-year-old flees a terrible home situation only to land in child prostitution.

Michelle lives in North Philadelphia with her drug-addicted mother. When Michelle’s mom, unable to stop her sexual predator boyfriend from attempting to assault her daughter, evicts Michelle from their home, Michelle has nowhere to go.

She hops a bus to New York City, where a young man is kind to her in the bus station. Devon takes Michelle to his home, and soon she finds herself mired in enforced prostitution among the Bloods. She befriends her fellow underage prostitutes, who convince her to use drugs to soften the blow of the repeated rapes.

At least Michelle’s abuse isn’t as horrifying as that of 12-yearold Baby, who’s intentionally infantilized and repeatedly sold to pedophiles. Michelle rockets from one variety of victimization to another with little time to develop a relationship with readers, a device that may be true to life (Kern interviewed former child prostitutes as part of her research) but that keeps Michelle and her misery safely at a distance. There’s a generic quality to her character that may represent the experience in broad strokes but that gives readers little to latch on to. Though some teen readers may be moved to take action, as the author hopes, more may well just be happy they are not Michelle.

Despite clear good intentions, the book’s focus on victimization is ultimately distancing, creating a likable-butalienating protagonist. (Fiction. 14-18)

THINGS WE KNOW BY HEART

Kirby, Jessi HarperTeen (304 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-06-229943-7 978-0-06-229945-1 e-book

Trent died in a car accident 400 days ago, leaving Quinn, his girlfriend, with crushing, unremitting grief that has derailed her life.

Trent’s organs were donated, and Quinn believes that if she could just make contact with the person who received his heart, it might, somehow, help her deal with the pain. So she tracks Colton down, discovering a charming 18-year-old surfer and kayaker who is just beginning to get his life back together after years of illness. She falls for him— and he for her—in a big way. It’s not what she had planned, but when he presents her with a sunflower, the same type of blossom that Trent kicked off their relationship with, she’s hooked.

Their connection is based on lies: He doesn’t reveal that he’s had a heart transplant, and she doesn’t tell him about her |

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connection either. Kindly advice from her older sister, who is recovering from her own recently ended relationship, and from other members of her gentle, loving family (who, surprisingly, have allowed her to virtually wallow in grief for so long), and Colton’s tender, genial demeanor help Quinn rediscover happiness. Predictable and a little syrupy, this effort is ultimately sustained by well-rounded characters and the romantic tension of unrevealed secrets.

Just the thing for a day or two at the beach. (Romance.

11-16)

THE ARCTIC CODE

Kirby, Matthew J. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-06-222487-3 978-0-06-222487-7 e-book Series: Dark Gravity Sequence, 1 A sudden ice age has near-future humanity on the ropes, but neither glaciers nor a vast conspiracy to hide their cause stops a preteen from heading into the Arctic in search of her missing mother.

Galvanized by a set of secret files sent just before her geologist mom disappears, Eleanor sets out from frigid Phoenix for a research lab in nearly uninhabitable Alaska. She finds that both the area and the search have been taken over by climatologist Aaron Skinner, smooth-talking CEO of gigantic Global Energy Trust. Eleanor’s suspicions that G.E.T. is up to no good are confirmed after she is (wait for it) rescued by a Paleolithic hunter with weird eyes who takes her to a huge ice cavern. There, an ancient alien machine called a Concentrator is sucking “telluric current” from Earth’s ley lines and beaming it to a previously unknown rogue planet that has knocked Earth out of its orbit.

Taking all of this in stride more easily than readers, particularly thinking ones, are likely to, Eleanor marshals her forces, at least temporarily deals with the current bad guys and flies off to find other Concentrators in future episodes before G.E.T. can.

A confused jumble of fantasy and science-fictional elements make a notably unsteady foundation for Kirby’s newest series. (Science fantasy. 11-13)

SHABBAT SHALOM, HEY!

Koffsky, Ann D. Illus. by the author Kar-Ben (24 pp.) $16.95 | $6.95 paper | $6.99 e-book Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-4677-4917-6 978-1-4677-5052-3 paper 978-1-4677-6208-3 e-book Preparing for the Friday night Shabbat ceremony and meal is a joyous expression of faith and tradition. |

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Costello’s pen-and-watercolor illustrations are a happy vehicle for the story, with colors from deep in the big crayon box, expressive penwork and a pleasing hominess to the farm. a crow of his own

Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in Judaism, beginning on Friday night at sundown and lasting until Saturday night at sundown. It is a day of prayer and rest, an abstention from all forms of work. “Shabbat Shalom, Hey” is a song that children sing in anticipation of Shabbat, and here, the song lyrics are the only text. The slight tale is told solely via the illustrations, which are viewed by turning the book vertically. Bright color blocks surrounded by white provide the backgrounds.

A lion states the Sabbath greeting and is startled to hear a response of “Hey!” from a toucan peeking over the top edge of the frame. Repeating the greeting elicits the same response from a monkey and a snake, this time at the bottom edge. The lion continues his greetings with increasing levels of excitement until the other creatures join in with him, bringing the traditional accouterments of the Shabbat dinner in the form of candlesticks, a wine goblet and the traditional braided bread called challah. It is lively and entertaining, but it presumes an audience that knows the traditions. A recording of the song can be downloaded via QR code on the back of the book.

Charming and joyous but not for the uninitiated. (Picture book. 3-5)

ANYONE BUT IVY POCKET

Krisp, Caleb Illus. by Cantini, Barbara Greenwillow/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2015 978-0-06-236434-0 978-0-06-236436-4 e-book If Amelia Bedelia stumbled into a particularly wacky episode of Dr. Who, this book might be the result.

Self-deluded and self-important, with a propensity for chaos that boggles the mind, 12-year-old Ivy Pocket is the kind of maid that should be avoided at all costs.

Her most recent employment ends when the Countess Carbunkle escapes her too-attentive “help” for South America, stranding the girl in Paris. Almost immediately she is tapped by the dying Duchess of Trinity to deliver the exceedingly rare Clock Diamond to a particular girl on her 12th birthday. Next thing Ivy knows, she’s wrapped up in some very mysterious business. What are the visions she’s seeing in the diamond? Why is she suddenly able to see ghosts? And perhaps most importantly, who exactly is trying to kill her—and why can’t she die? Ivy is a rarity—an unreliable middle-grade narrator—and as such, Ivy is hilarious in and of herself. Yet what starts off as a straightforward cursed-necklace tale gets bogged down in a mythology that seems to want to keep topping itself. Ivy and readers are already knee-deep in ghosts, attempted murders and bratty heirs. Do they really need prophecies and alternate worlds on top of that?

Ivy’s charming ego carries the book far, just barely making up for any superfluous extras. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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TRUE SON

Krumwiede, Lana Candlewick (288 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-7636-7262-1 Series: PSI Chronicles, 3 The third and final installment in the dystopian Psi Chronicles.

Gevri, bitter from Taemon’s perceived betrayal in Archon (2013), has embraced his father, the cruel Gen. Sarin, and his military tactics. However, when his small group of young archons—people with psychic abilities, like himself—is captured and tortured by the Nau, it’s Taemon who saves them.

Despite this, Gevri allows himself to continue on his father’s path until his father’s actions cause him to doubt. The narrative switches between Gevri and Taemon—the True Son of Deliverance, who possesses great psychic ability—with Amma getting the last word (or at least perspective) at the end. When Taemon realizes Gen. Sarin won’t keep his word to leave Deliverance in peace if Taemon saves Gevri, he communes with the Heart of the Earth and decides to lead his people away. However, even outside their city, the people of Deliverance are not safe. Each chapter begins with a Nau military correspondence, cluing readers into their actions, which affect both Deliverance and the Republik. The story’s biggest liability is in occasionally unrealistic characterization; Gen. Sarin in particular is too much the quintessentially evil villain to be believable, and the role of a True Son pretender is equally unconvincing.

It would behoove those new to the series to begin with the first book, but those anticipating the conclusion of the trilogy will not be disappointed by the ever-so-slightly-tidy ending. (Dystopian adventure. 10-14)

A CROW OF HIS OWN

Lambert, Megan Dowd Illus. by Costello, David Hyde Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-58089-447-0

A scrawny young rooster named Clyde tries to fill the big shoes of his predecessor, Larry, in Lambert’s verbally dexterous ode to identity.

Larry the rooster brought star power to Sunrise Farm. He knew how, in the farmspun words of motherly goose Roberta, to make “quite a show of it”—“it” being the morning cock-a-doodledoo. When Clyde pops from his crate to greet his new farm mates, all bumble-footed and insecure in the shadow of the great Larry, the other animals (minus Roberta) find him wanting: in word bubbles of disappointment, “What a worthless chicken.” Clyde endeavors to top Larry at Larry’s game—two-stepping, riding a unicycle, parachuting into the dawn—and he makes a hash of it, because Clyde isn’t Larry. Clyde must find his own voice, and he does so with a little help from Roberta. Where Lambert hoes a kirkus.com

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row of her own is in the wording of the story. No “said” or “asked” makes an appearance. Rather, readers discover “stammered” and “soothed,” “assured” and “chirped,” “mused” and “fussed.” Costello’s pen-and-watercolor illustrations are a happy vehicle for the story, with colors from deep in the big crayon box, expressive penwork and a pleasing hominess to the farm.

An invitation to be your own showman, crow your own crow, cock-a-doodle-doo with “a little warble at the beginning, and a crescendo at the ‘doodle’...and oh, that raspy growl.” (Picture book. 4-6) (Note: Lambert is a freelance contributor to Kirkus.)

WHERE IS PIM?

Landström, Lena Illus. by Landström, Olof Translated by Marshall, Julia Gecko Press (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-927271-73-5

to bailing Maddy out, so it’s no surprise when Maddy needs Ella to pick her up from a party. As the two argue over their growing separation, Ella crashes the car, killing Maddy instantly. In an implausible story straight out of Hollywood, Ella, not certain who she is when she wakes up after the accident, assumes she is Maddy, especially when Maddy’s boyfriend, Alex, is at her side. Although she quickly realizes the truth about Maddy, Ella pretends to be her twin sister in an effort to trade her own life for the life Maddy should have had. She seems to fool her family and friends, but can she convince herself to be Maddy? The effort, described in hyperbolic prose that seems determined to tell instead of show, becomes more difficult when Alex begins pressuring her to resume Maddy’s physical relationship, and Ella’s best friend, Josh, proclaims his love for the Ella he presumes dead. The discovery of Maddy’s secret involvement in a school scandal weaves a mild thriller plot into the building romance.

For lovers of melodrama only. (Fiction. 13-18)

THE COST OF ALL THINGS

Dog takes Pom’s Pim in this return of one of the most heart-gladdening creatures on Earth (Pom and Pim, 2014).

Pim is an unidentified stuffed-animal product—say, a big crab cake with four legs and sightless eyes—that is Pom’s companion in their progress through the day. Toddler Pom has a high forehead and a short mop of red hair; he is tubular and berobed in a long, purple sweater. This day, Pom and Pim are at the park. Pom is tossing Pim in the air. Pim likes this: “Pim wants to fly. / Pim is flying high.” Easy-peasy for readers just starting out. Enter stage left a dog that snatches Pim out of the air and hares off. “Where is Pim?” Another dog comforts Pom, and the two search high and low.

(Really sharp readers will note that this dog is a mirror image of the dog that made off with Pim and not the same one.) Not under the bench, nor in the rhododendrons. Not in the fountain’s waters— electric fear makes Pom’s hair stand on end—but ho! Here comes the other dog, Pim safely in tow. No more flying for Pim today, especially with that beagle still mooching around. Given a soupedup reading or delivered quietly, Pom’s adventure is a pure grabber.

Pom is the elemental Everychild—and just darlin’. (Picture book. 2-7)

THE SECRETS WE KEEP

Leaver, Trisha Farrar, Straus and Giroux (304 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-374-30046-3

Lehrman, Maggie Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $17.99 | May 12, 2015 978-0-06-232074-2 Reeling from the death of her boyfriend, a girl enlists the help of a hekamist to forget him just as other spells taken by those closest to her reveal their true, unforgiving costs.

When Ari visits the hekamist who lives behind her high school, she’s well-aware this won’t be the first spell she’s ever taken. When she was a little girl, her parents were killed in a fire, and her wrist still aches as a side effect of the trauma-erasing spell she took then. The death of Win, her boyfriend, drives her back without regard to the compounded consequences of taking on multiple spells. Through the alternating voices of Ari, Win, and their friends Kay and Markos, readers see a dense knot of intertwining spells—cast knowingly on some and unknowingly on others—slowly unraveling. And as the hekamist’s daughter relates, spells protect themselves.

They don’t want to be broken. As the magic reveals its true power, each character charts remarkably complex courses in painful growth. Perspectives propelled by angst and obsession, like those of Kay and Markos, can drag, but the stories of Ari and Win shine in their depth. Though he’s absent, Win’s journey resonates, and the mark he leaves is felt long after the final page.

An engrossing, emotionally resonant spin on the old adage: Be careful what you wish for. (Urban fantasy. 14 & up)

A fatal accident leaves one twin sister dead and the other trying to figure out her identity.

Ella has always been smart, quiet and artistic, while her identical twin sister, Maddy, became part of the social elite once they reached high school. Ella has also become accustomed |

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THE FLYING HAND OF MARCO B.

tendency to speak like college professors, hampering their development significantly. Also hindering the story’s effectiveness are interspersed excerpts from Tad’s ancestor’s 19th-century diary, rendered in florid prose.

Few will make it to the monster’s first mention, nearly halfway through. (Horror. 9-12)

Leiter, Richard Illus. by Kober, Shahar Sleeping Bear Press (24 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-58536-888-4

Just how high can a wayward hand fly?

Marco B. and his family are on a road trip. With his window rolled down, he sticks his hand out and lets it glide and soar on the breezes. “My fingers float without a care / But as I’m swooping through the air / My mommy’s voice yells from afar, / ‘Please get your hand back in the car!’ ” But his parents just don’t understand that his hand just has to fly. The last time it sneaks out, Marco’s sucked out too. He soars above the car, then above the town, then he’s above the Earth with the astronauts and ETs, and he’s scared. “If only I could make this end / I’d NEVER fly the hand again. / I curl into a little ball / And just like that... / ...I start to fall.” He zooms back to the car and promises himself he won’t fly his hand again...but that may not be a promise he can keep. Musician and adman Leiter’s debut’s a rhyming romp of creative play, and Marco’s quick trip into the sky will be familiar to imaginative tots. Israeli illustrator Kober’s soaring, colorful illustrations are an ideal match. He renders Marco with lightbrown skin and short, straight black hair that almost comes to a kewpie curl in front.

Little listeners will be hoping their hands will take flight on their next road trips. (Picture book. 3-6)

THE MURK

Lettrick, Robert Disney-Hyperion (320 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 21, 2015 978-1-4231-8695-3 Is there a secret in the swamp that can cure all ills? Piper’s banking on it.

Piper Canfield wished for a baby sister when she learned her parents couldn’t have any more children. She promised to watch over the baby if it came. Miraculously, baby Grace arrived, and Piper has made good on her promise, but one lapse puts Grace in danger when a rabid wolverine threatens her in her bassinet while the family is camping. Grace is fine, but Piper blames her best friend, Tad, and freezes him out. She starts running with the popular, pretty crowd until baby Grace comes down with Alpers syndrome, a virtual death sentence...and Tad suggests they use his ancestor’s notes to search the Okefenokee Swamp for a fabled silver flower that cures all diseases. Piper, Tad, Monty (aka Creeper, Piper’s little brother) and swamp-boat driver Perch head out on what they think will be a one-day excursion, but the wildlife is attacking when it shouldn’t—and something deeper in the swamp is even more dangerous. Readers drawn in by the Goosebumps-like cover will quickly set aside Lettrick’s second animalsattack tale (Frenzy, 2014). The kid characters have an unfortunate 108

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WILD BOY AND THE BLACK TERROR

Lloyd Jones, Rob Illus. by Davey, Owen Candlewick (336 pp.) $16.99 | May 12, 2015 978-0-7636-6253-0 Series: Wild Boy, 2

Adventure, conspiracy and adrenaline intermingle with dark deeds, devil worship and blood diamonds in this sequel to Wild Boy (2013).

Wild Boy and his acrobat comrade, Clarissa, left the trenches of the circus and its freak show four months ago to reside in St. James’s Palace under the tutelage of Marcus, one of the high-ranking members of the secret crime-fighting group called the Gentlemen. When an attempt is made on the life of Queen Victoria, Wild Boy’s skills of deduction and intellect as well as Clarissa’s athletic prowess are required. The queen and the Gentlemen need them to unearth the cause of a mysterious sickness that blackens veins and sends victims into a stupor of madness before tragic death.

Though this is a book about proving one’s worth and disproving public assumption, it isn’t finger-wagging, didactic drivel about not judging book covers. It’s a thrilling, gory, head-rushing adventure.

And essential characterization isn’t neglected, as Wild Boy and Clarissa begin to butt heads; he relies on his eyes and instinct, and she relies on her acrobatics and unadulterated bravado, but when it comes to relying on each other, the path gets muddled as the dynamic of their remarkable friendship is tested. Can the duo save all of London from a hellbent killer?

Diamonds are a Wild Boy’s worst enemy in this steampunk romp not intended for the faint—or black—of heart.

(Steampunk. 9-14)

RISE OF THE ZOMBIE SCARECROWS

Loughead, Deb Orca (128 pp.) $9.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-4598-0996-3

The subject of a teenage filmmaker’s horror flick transitions from fiction to fact.

Dylan’s itching to make his own zombie movie, and he’s got the perfect spin on the ubiquitous subgenre: zombie scarecrows. With his best friend, Cory, kirkus.com

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Maberry’s well-crafted story balances over-the-top battle scenes with the quiet moments between characters that give substance to what could be a heartless thriller. the orphan army

and girlfriend, Monica, at his side, he’s confident he’ll make an excellent movie on Halloween—the perfect night to shoot a film filled with terror. But then Dylan sees a real, live—err, undead—zombie scarecrow attack one of his neighbors. As the attacks and tension increase, it’s up to Dylan and his friends to figure out who’s behind it all. There’s a solid-enough premise here but very little else. The characters are all flat figures, spouting awkward dialogue and sounding improbably similar to one another. The novel is also incredibly short, clocking in at just 123 pages, but even there it feels like a short story stretched far beyond its limits. But these issues pale in comparison to the book’s biggest sin: It’s not scary. There’s no suspense or intrigue or danger on hand, not even any gore or guts or blood.

Great title, not-so-great book. (Horror. 12-16)

WHEN THE ANIMALS SAVED EARTH An Eco-Fable

Lumbard, Alexis York Illus. by Demi Wisdom Tales (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 22, 2015 978-1-937786-37-3

In this version of an ancient but topical tale first recorded in 10th-century Iraq, abused animals and the heedless humans who afflict them argue their cases before a celestial judge.

The “winged and webbed, hoofed and horned” creatures of Emerald Isle live in peace until people arrive to cut down the trees for homes and to hunt the animals for food and luxuries.

Finally, the remaining animals summon their Spirit King, Bersaf, to call on the humans to answer for their acts. The humans respond first with blank denial, then a claim that they’re only bringing order to wild nature, and finally just bluster. When the animals effectively counter each of these arguments, Bersaf rules that henceforth the humans shall feel the animals’ pain in their own hearts. This establishes a “hopeful peace” on the island...which is called Earth. Lumbard adds a loving lad named Adam to the original as a stand-in for young readers and also has Bersaf speak (usually) in lumbering verse: “O human folk, please answer now / This charge of rule by fear. / The beasts say you do great harm / Throughout my Emerald Sphere.” In a rare departure from Demi’s usual reverent or gently humorous spirituality, the illustrations include gory views of whipped animals and dripping meat hanging in a butcher’s stall interspersed with more typical scenes of delicately drawn figures floating gracefully in diaphanous settings.

Some explicit brutality in the pictures adds sobering notes to this pointed fable. (source note) (Picture book/folk tale. 6-9)

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THE ORPHAN ARMY

Maberry, Jonathan Simon & Schuster (400 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | May 19, 2015 978-1-4814-1575-0 978-1-4814-1577-4 e-book Series: Nightsiders, 1 Ever since the alien invasion, 11-yearold Milo has suffered from nightmares, but when a voice in his dreams tells him the world needs a hero, he has a hard time believing it could be him.

It’s been six years since the Dissosterin, a race of giant, buglike creatures, invaded Earth, knocking out communications, destroying cities and decimating the human race. The surviving population has banded together into small nomadic groups, intent on surviving and on finding a way to strike back at the evil extraterrestrial swarm. During a routine scavenging trip, Milo and his friends Shark, Lizabeth and Barnaby stumble upon the Nightsiders, magical creatures who are staging their own battle against the interlopers. This riveting, sci-fi tale of the Earth’s last stand is enhanced by the addition of fantastical elements, which fall into place seamlessly. A fast-paced and explosive plot is enriched by strong characters, amusing dialogue and impossible odds. Maberry’s prowess in fiction as well as comic books is evident in his well-crafted story, which balances overthe-top battle scenes with the quiet moments between characters that give substance to what could be a heartless thriller.

This first book in an explosive new series is the perfect mix of science fiction and magic. (Fantasy/science fiction. 8-12)

MATH AT THE ART MUSEUM

Majoongmul, Group Illus. by Kim, Yun-ju TanTan (34 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-939248-03-9 Series: TanTan Math Story

An ambitious picture-book introduction to the underlying mathematical principles that can be discovered in a major art museum.

It almost works. Part of the new-to-the–U.S. TanTan Math Story series, its premise is simple. A family of four (mother, father, sister, brother) visits a large museum that advertises a major exhibition called (coincidentally) “Discover Math in Art.” Once inside, they tour the carefully structured exhibition galleries and begin to make mathematical and artistic discoveries and connections. A number of familiar paintings are introduced along with their underlying mathematical dimensions: Jasper Johns’ 0 Through 9 shows numerals; Seurat’s work demonstrates dots; while Kandinsky and Leger evidence geometric shapes.

Changing point of view can be seen via Degas’ dancers, while Picasso’s abstractions simultaneously incorporate various directions and angles. Distance, depth and even time (Dalí’s The |

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Single scenes mingle with short sequences of panels in pictures that are drawn on brown paper bags for an appropriately earthy look. we dig worms!

Persistence of Memory) are also explored. Unfortunately the backmatter, featuring a few rudimentary follow-up activities, skimps on the art information. The book lacks a list of resources and further suggestions for more learning about either math or art.

Some may find this simplistic and oversold, but a few highly industrious parents and creative teachers, eager to more fully integrate the arts into Common Core curriculum, may find even these skimpy explorations invigorating.

(Picture book. 3-5)

NIL UNLOCKED

Matson, Lynne Henry Holt (432 pp.) $17.99 | May 12, 2015 978-1-62779-293-6 Following Nil (2014), Rives falls for a new girl who holds the key to salvation from the alternate-dimension island.

Skye arrives on Nil fully informed of the rules: Traveling portals called gates, some inbound and others outbound, appear every day at noon; teens thus deposited on Nil have one year to catch an outbound gate, and if they don’t, they die. She knows this because her uncle escaped Nil and wrote a journal that has prompted her father’s obsessive search for the island—and his training of Skye. They search for it among the Pacific Islands, where Skye secretly follows a local boy toward islands Skye and her father have been explicitly warned away from, naturally finding a gate. Meanwhile, Nil City leader Rives struggles to keep his people alive. The romance—new girl brings hope and hunky boy leads—is outwardly similar to Nil, but it’s better integrated with the story, which is also more smoothly paced than its predecessor. They discover that the islanders use Nil in coming-of-age rituals. Even though the xenophobic islanders keep Nil’s stationary outbound portals a cultural secret from kids stolen from other parts of the globe (many of whom die), Skye’s sensitively apologetic for even asking. While Skye might be too close to perfect for some readers, she’s a good match for Rives, and they work together to a conclusion that leaves readers with the barest of loose ends.

A fast, tense gift for readers wanting to return to Nil. (Science fiction. 12 & up)

TILT YOUR HEAD, ROSIE THE RED

The author is definitely the star of her own show; she’s introduced as a high-energy child who wears a red cape, listens carefully and always tries to see things “from every angle.” One day at school, Rosie rescues Fadimata from a mean playground crowd and then asks her in front of the whole class to show her how to make her prized cape into similar headgear. The next day, all the girls are sporting head scarves, and Fadimata is an outsider no more. Easy-peasy. Copying her new ally’s characteristic head tilt, Fadimata drives the general lesson home: “You know what, Rosie? If we remember to look at things in new ways, everything is possible.” Cathcart echoes the self-aggrandizement by portraying Rosie as the largest figure in nearly every scene, outfitting her with flamboyant hair and placing big look-at-me solo portraits—head fetchingly a-tilt—on the cover and final page.

A sketchy bit of behavior modeling that may serve as a discussion starter but has all the thematic and psychological depth of some franchise athlete’s side project. (Picture book. 6-9)

WE DIG WORMS!

McCloskey, Kevin Illus. by the author TOON Books & Graphics (40 pp.) $12.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-935179-80-1 Beginning readers who tunnel through this upbeat first introduction will “dig” them too.

After an opening look at several kinds of worm (including the candy sort), McCloskey drills down to the nitty-gritty on earthworms. He describes how they help soil with their digging and “poop” (“EEW!”) and presents full-body inside and outside views with labeled parts. He also answers in the worms’ collective voice such questions as “Why do you come out after the rain?” and “How big is the biggest worm in the world?” that are posed by a multiethnic cast of intent young investigators in the cartoon illustrations. A persistent but frustrated bluebird’s “Yum, yum!!” and rejected invitations to lunch offer indirect references to worms as food sources, and reproductive details are likewise limited to oblique notes that worms have big families “born from cocoons.” Single scenes mingle with short sequences of panels in pictures that are drawn on brown paper bags for an appropriately earthy look.

Norma Dixon’s Lowdown on Earthworms (2005) digs deeper into the subject, but this lays fertile groundwork for budding naturalists. (Informational picture book. 5- 7)

THE OCTOPUPPY

McCarney, Rosemary Illus. by Cathcart, Yvonne Second Story Press (24 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-927583-59-3

McKenna, Martin Illus. by the author Scholastic (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-545-75140-7

In this semiautobiographical outing, a budding social activist turns jeers to cheers by spinning her new classmate’s hijab as a fashion statement.

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When is a dog not a dog? When he’s an octopuppy. kirkus.com

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“Edgar wanted a dog. / But Edgar didn’t get a dog. He got Jarvis.” Edgar’s strange new pet can’t do any of the cool things a dog does. Jarvis has eight wiggly arms and is no good on walks.

Acknowledging that Jarvis is clever, however, Edgar thinks, upon seeing a poster for a dog show, that with a little training, Jarvis might be able to do what show dogs do. When he commands “lie down,” Jarvis puts on a night cap and jammies and snuggles up with a teddy bear. When Edgar commands “play dead,” Jarvis dons a mummy’s bandages and moans atmospherically. He’s almost a total failure...but Jarvis does learn to sit. The spectacularly talented Jarvis is, unfortunately, a disaster at the dog show, angering and embarrassing Edgar. It is only after Jarvis leaves (leaving a note apologizing for being a bad dog) that Edgar realizes what a great pet he had. British illustrator McKenna’s first U.S. release is an excellent, absurd addition to the I-want-a-pet genre. His digitally created art, dotted with wacky detail and visual gags, effectively milks the situation for maximum looniness, absolutely going to town with the body-language possibilities offered by eight arms.

Jarvis’ tale will inspire listeners to laugh...and ask for an octopuppy. (Picture book. 3-8)

MY RULES FOR BEING A PRETTY PRINCESS

McKenzie, Heath Illus. by the author Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 5, 2015 978-1-4926-1520-0 A little girl learns from a “real” pretty princess about rigid, downright icky, expectations for those who would be pretty princesses.

A brown-haired, pink-skinned, cartoonlike moppet, dressed in striped socks, denim skirt and ski sweater, is standing on one foot daydreaming: “More than anything else in the whole wide world, I wanna be a pretty princess!” Enter a smiling lady, also brown-haired and pink-skinned, whose ice-blue ball gown is exactly matched by her long gloves and tiara. She remakes the little girl into a pretty princess by lacing her into an extremely tight dress, forbidding her to get dirty, fussing with her hair, applying makeup, forbidding her to eat at the grand tea party (“Uh-uh-uh, stuffing one’s face is hardly princessly behavior”), and making her dance in a staid, boring manner—called “graceful” by the princess. The climax arrives after the beleaguered child and the pretty princess have waited almost interminably for their respective handsome princes; being forced to interact with her prince is the final disillusionment. The humorous pictures are matched by text in pink cartoon bubbles for the girl, lavender bubbles for the princess. The final pages do an excellent job of illustrating the little one’s liberation from status quo princess-dom, both in art and in the girl’s words of black and scrawled red.

Funny and pointed; a fast, enjoyable read for both the youngest, would-be princesses and their male counterparts. (Picture book. 3-6) |

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GRANDMA IN BLUE WITH RED HAT

Menchin, Scott Illus. by Bliss, Harry Abrams (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-4197-1484-9

Using his love of art to honor his grandmother, a boy fumbles with his first plan but succeeds with his second.

Weekly art class at a museum (clearly the Metropolitan Museum of Art) is exciting. The teacher’s assertion that “anything can be in an art exhibition”—toys, hair clips, water bottles—is followed by a brainstorming session among the kids of art’s traits. Is it beautiful, funny or unique? Does it come from afar or make people “feel good”? This inspires an unusual idea.

The protagonist’s grandmother possesses all those traits, so “I should give Grandma to the museum!” This odd inspiration doesn’t quite make sense: The boy’s too fond of his grandma to want her gone and too old to genuinely think humans are donate-able, but it doesn’t read like a joke. Luckily, the museum nixes it, and the boy moves on. He creates an entire mixedmedia art exhibit under his own steam, each piece a portrayal of Grandma in a different artistic style. Bliss uses pen, ink and watercolor to mix affectionate figure drawings and re-creations of famous artwork with speech bubbles and faces straight from the comics (including some eyebrows that don’t quite fit).

Though lacking the visceral joie de vivre of Angela Johnson and E.B. Lewis’ Lily Brown’s Paintings (2007), this helps fill a critical need for art-loving black child characters.

A good bridge to take children from comic tropes to fine art. (Picture book. 4-8)

WHEREVER YOU GO

Miller, Pat Zietlow Illus. by Wheeler , Eliza Little, Brown (32 pp.) $17.00 | May 5, 2015 978-0-316-40002-2

A rabbit’s cross-country bike excursion introduces the open road, its free-wheeling, giddy freedom, and its role in connecting travelers to an ever changing landscape of new friends and communities.

The rise and fall of recurring rhyme mimics the anticipated twists and turns of a road while explaining what roads do. Miller’s verse, infused with musical momentum, communicates the emotional arch of a journey with beautiful brevity: “Clinging to cliffs. / Chasing a cloud. / Reaching the top, / tired but proud.” The rabbit’s road coils through an animal kingdom of forests, treehouses, country cottages, bustling seaside villages, glimmering cities and mountain overlooks. The sunshine-hued, delicate artwork embraces both the panoramic vastness of the countryside and the definitive details nestled in its valleys, meadows, towns and treetops. Each double-page spread invites readers to stop and look closely at the lichen hugging the tree, the bending roses, the bouncing musicians, |

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the twinkling carnival, the romantic dinner parties, the ships’ many sails, the cactus’ sharp needles, the wisps of clouds on a mountain ridge. The rabbit rolls on, picking up buddies and smiling at clusters of congregating critters the whole way. Children, thanks to captivating artwork and rhyme, will want nothing more than to ride his handlebars, bouncing and merry.

At the mountain’s summit, young readers will glow with the understanding that roads connect more than places—and the assurance they can retrace this reading journey nightly. (Picture book. 3-8)

GO, PEA, GO!

Moshier, Joe & Sonnenburg, Chris Illus. by the authors Running Press Kids (32 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-7624-5678-9 A single pea pushes himself to finish a race in this punny potty metaphor.

Pea Junior hasn’t time to say hello.

Instead it’s time to “Go! Go! Go! GO!” as he dashes forward along the winding, yellow stripe. All his training is paying off, and he’s ignoring distractions on every corner. Pushing through doubts, at last he arrives at the finish line, and readers learn that in truth this was actually a run for the bathroom. While parents may be able to connect Pea’s helter-skelter sprint with a small child’s potty dash, many toddlers will be wondering why he has to wash his hands after his marathon. The connection between running and peeing is tenuous at best, for while readers see Pea remembering his physical-fitness training, at no time do they see anyone sitting on a potty. Questionable scansion and rhymes also mar the read (“Pea wants to give up / and say, ‘Forget it, I quit.’ / But if he does that, / he will really regret it”). The art is the true draw here, remaining upbeat and jolly every step of the race. The inclusion of star stickers and a potty chart for marking progress gears this to individual rather than library use.

Vibrant visuals cannot make up for a potty book that just doesn’t rate. No, Pea, No! (Picture book. 2-4)

AMELIA’S MIDDLE-SCHOOL GRADUATION YEARBOOK

Moss, Marissa Illus. by the author Creston (80 pp.) $12.95 | Apr. 20, 2015 978-1-939547-09-5 Series: Amelia’s Notebook

important to her: friends and life lessons. Much of the notebook is retrospective; fans of the series will enjoy the romp down Memory Lane, but there are a few new challenges that Amelia faces as well. Her best friend, Carly, will be switching schools after graduation, so Amelia will have to enter high school without her. Plus, her dad suggests studying for her bat mitzvah over the summer; Amelia wasn’t raised Jewish, and this new leap into religion is overwhelming. A touch melodramatic (it wouldn’t be a journal without angst), Amelia’s tone remains chatty and breezy as always. In a nod to the very first notebook, published 20 years ago, Amelia is making the same face on the cover, just with a graduation cap perched atop her head. A lot has changed for Amelia, but perhaps not much at all, as well....

A hint at the end leaves room for this series to evolve into high school; Amelia may be a bit long in the tooth, but devoted fans will follow. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)

TRASH TALK Moving Toward a Zero-Waste World

Mulder, Michelle Orca (48 pp.) $19.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-4598-0692-4 Series: Orca Footprints

To dumpster dive, to glean, perchance to dream of a zero-waste world.

Mulder tells the garbage story in clean and engrossing prose, complemented by stock artwork and photographs. Humans have always made trash—eat that wooly mammoth leg, and you are left with a wooly mammoth bone—though trash production took off exponentially with the establishment of settled communities. What is trash, asks Mulder? Trash is something that no longer is useful. But use is in the eye of the beholder. An empty yogurt container could be chucked out the car window, or it could serve as a pencil holder. Old jeans can be used for housing insulation, as can tires or books or, weirdly, toothbrushes.

Mulder provides all sorts of alternatives to incineration, landfills and ocean dumping. She explorers the cons of recycling— it can produce as much methane as cows; it consumes a lot of energy; it results in an often weakened product—as well as many pros, and she throws in plenty of mind-twisting sidebars: Yes, those styrene containers keeping your fast-food burger warm may well be serving you a dose of brain damage. Ultimately Mulder suggests we not make it in the first place.

Enclosed in these pages is plenty of food for thought and examples for direct action. (Nonfiction. 8-12)

In this newest, 20th-anniversary offering of the Amelia’s Notebook series, Amelia graduates middle school and reminisces about all she has learned along the way.

Amelia isn’t allowed to get a real yearbook, so she decides to make her own—a combination notebook/yearbook, of course.

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Niemann’s decision to utilize potato prints and photographs of the tuber against a clean white background makes this account a beautifully unified narrative accessible to a range of ages. the potato king

WHO IS KING? Ten Magical Stories from Africa Naidoo, Beverley Illus. by Grobler, Piet Frances Lincoln (72 pp.) $22.99 | Apr. 2, 2015 978-1-84780-514-0

Naidoo and Grobler follow up their Afrocentric collection of Aesop’s Fables (2011) with a fresh set of tales drawn from Amharic, Luo, Zulu and other traditions.

“Once, Lion wanted to check that all the animals knew who was boss. So he went to each in turn.” In these breezy retellings the lessons are pointed but (generally) nonfatal: Lion gets a sudden comeuppance from Elephant (“Who is King?”); Hippo discovers that Fire is a chancy friend (“Why Hippo Has No Hair”); a clever “Miller’s Daughter” outwits a harsh sultan with help from a djinni; an elephant with a newly stretched-out trunk uses it not for spanking, as Kipling’s Elephant’s Child does, but to make eating and drinking easier. In his cartoon illustrations, Grobler outfits humans in traditional regional dress and animals either similarly or sometimes with vibrant stripes or other decorative patterns. The stories range from one to six pages each, and the language lends itself with equal ease to reading aloud or silently. Though aside from an occasional word or song they are light on specific cultural markers, the tales offer a rich assortment of chuckle-worthy tricks, suspenseful adventures and salutary examples of behavior laudable or otherwise.

A buoyant eye-opener for younger readers under the impression that African folk tales begin and end with Anansi. (introduction, source notes) (Folk tales. 7-9)

THE CASE OF THE MISSING CARROT CAKE

Newman, Robin Illus. by Zemke, Deborah Creston (40 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 20, 2015 978-1-939547-17-0 Series: Wilcox & Griswold Mystery Two police mice, one missing cake, a bunch of suspects—it’s a big case!

When Miss Rabbit leaves her carrot cake (with cream-cheese icing) out to cool and returns later to find only a mess of crumbs, she calls Detective Wilcox and Capt. Griswold. Over 100 animals on Ed’s farm means there’s a lot of suspects. Tongue firmly in cheek, Wilcox tells the story of this challenging case in clipped tones reminiscent of Dragnet. Fowler, the observant owl, loves rabbits, he informs readers.

“She liked them for breakfast. She liked them for lunch. And she loved them for dinner.” His narration is peppered with food references that elevate this entertaining mystery, already fizzing with humor and inside jokes. To open their investigation, they slide down the rabbit hole, but Miss Rabbit does not have a |

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crumb of an idea. The repeated food-based idioms (hard nut to crack, slower than molasses, take the cake) alternate with puns that a young reader will appreciate. When questioning Porcini the pig, Wilcox accuses, “Seems like you’ve spent some time in the pen.” The droll language is complemented with full-color cartoon illustrations that extend the text and add to the laughter. Readers ready for chapter books will solve the crime and then be surprised by the twist at the end.

Here’s hoping for more hard-boiled detecting from Wilcox and Griswold! (Mystery. 5-9)

THE POTATO KING

Niemann, Christoph Illus. by the author Owlkids Books (32 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-77147-139-8

This German import recounts the intriguing legend surrounding Frederick the Great’s potato legislation.

In the versatile vegetable recently transported from South America, Fritz (as he is familiarly called here) sees a weapon to prevent famine in Prussia. He decrees that everyone should plant this crop; his citizens are not convinced. Niemann’s decision to utilize potato prints and photographs of the tuber against a clean white background makes this account a beautifully unified narrative accessible to a range of ages. The thoughtful design extends to the palette of both image and type—the king’s words and silhouette are both rendered in red, for instance. Controlled pacing builds suspense. A wordless, crowded spread of textured, blue soldiers and cannons contrasts with the previously spare compositions during which listeners learn, “He ordered his solders to march to the village....” To do what? Force-feed villagers?

Imprison abstainers? No, rather, this clever king tries reverse psychology: “...and guard the potato field.” Since the forbidden is irresistible, naturally the people creep in at night to steal the royal plants for their own fields. This understated, visually delightful tale of how a humble vegetable found its way into the hearts and kitchens of a community will surely entertain young readers and move them to printmaking.

Witty and provocative, the tale provides food for thought in behavior management and governance as well as a great story. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)

THE FIRST CASE

Nilsson, Ulf Illus. by Spee, Gitte Translated by Marshall, Julia Gecko Press (96 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-927271-49-0 Series: Detective Gordon, 1 Who are the scurvy thieves loose in the woodland district? |

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Kreloff employs photographed textures, torn and cut papers, airbrushing and paint washes to bring to life the magic of the day. it’s a seashell day

The “famous Detective Gordon” is a portly, old toad. He’s the only police official in his district. Though he’s wise and experienced, he’s often a bit tired. He always skillfully applies the tools of his trade: his intellect, his official stamp, which goes “Kla-dunk” in a very satisfying way, and his pistol (safely locked away). When Vladimir the squirrel rushes in crying for his lost stash of nuts, Detective Gordon stakes out Vladimir’s nut hole.

He catches his friend Buffy, a poor, hungry mouse, stealing one nut, but Buffy could not possibly have stolen all 204 nuts missing from Vladimir’s hole. Kindly Detective Gordon deputizes Buffy and finds it’s most excellent to have someone young and enthusiastic (and nimble) around the office. But can the detective duo discover the identity of the thieves? If a heretoforeunknown collaboration between Agatha Christie and A.A. Milne were to be uncovered, it would likely bear a striking resemblance to Nilsson’s charming, wry and entertaining chapter-book mystery. Deftly translated by Marshall and decorated with Spee’s delightful full-color illustrations of clothed woodland creatures, this gentle tale of intergenerational friendship reads like a classic.

The only sadness is that Volume 2 isn’t immediately available. (Mystery. 4-10)

IT’S A SEASHELL DAY

Ochiltree, Dianne Illus. by Kreloff, Elliot Blue Apple (32 pp.) $12.99 | May 12, 2015 978-1-60905-530-1

A cute, curly-headed boy and his young mother, both Caucasian, head to the beach for a day of collecting seashells.

Over the dune they run, and the treasure hunt ensues, expressed in simple rhyming couplets: “With pail and shovel in my hand, / my toes squish in cool, wet sand.” Boy and mother together discover the beauty and variety of shells on a wide, rolling, sandy beach. The boy is entranced by the sound of the sea when he presses a giant whelk to his ear. Counting and natural science are both featured, and the collection the boy displays when he gets home serves to identify 10 shells by their popular names: whelk, limpet, conch, oyster, scallop, cone snail, mussel, moon snail, razor and clam. The straightforward text is considerably enhanced by the beautifully rendered illustrations, which use cut-paper and collage techniques to create bright, attractive beach scenes. Illustrator Kreloff employs photographed textures, torn and cut papers, airbrushing and paint washes to bring to life the magic of the day. The closing spreads are visually exquisite, with long shadows and touches of pink and deep yellow added to convey colors of a classic summer sunset.

A charming beach-day book to share with a young child beginning to show interest in the natural world. (Picture book. 3-6)

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THE WATER AND THE WILD

Ormsbee, K.E. Illus. by Mora, Elsa Chronicle (448 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-4521-1386-9

Two things make 12-year-old orphan Lottie Fiske’s sad life happier: her friendship with Eliot and the magical apple tree near her boardinghouse.

Every year, Lottie receives birthday presents in a hole at the base of the tree—the exact presents she has requested. This year, Eliot is incurably ill, with just a few weeks to live, so she wishes for his recovery; that birthday, a white finch appears. One day Lottie discovers a sprite in her closet. Adelaide Wilfer takes her “root shooting” in the apple tree to another world layered below Lottie’s. Adelaide’s father is a healer (and the birthday gift– giver) working on medicine for the Otherwise Incurable. Lottie discovers she is a Halfling—half human and half sprite—and also is the Heir of Fiske, which seems to have some significance.

When the cruel king of this world kidnaps Mr. Wilfer, Lottie, Adelaide, her brother, Oliver, and a halfling sprite-wisp named Fife journey to the castle to find Mr. Wilfer and the medicine for Eliot. The arduous journey involves magical creatures, a swamp of oblivion, strangling vines, travel through plague-ridden wisp territory and more. Lottie is spunky and likable; the interplay among the four travelers is engaging. Unfortunately, the protracted story introduces unexplained elements and has a weak, confusing ending.

While debut author Ormsbee’s use of language is laudable and the fantasy details are imaginative, they cannot compensate for the novel’s flaws. (Fantasy. 10-14)

UNDER A PIG TREE A History of the Noble Fruit

Palatini, Margie Illus. by Groenink, Chuck Abrams (40 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-4197-1488-7

A purported editing error—substituting the letter “p” for “f ” on a critical word throughout— transforms a tribute to figs into an appreciation of—pigs!

Initiating the high jinks, a mock “Message from the Publisher” conveys the error to readers (while griping about the author’s overreaching insistence on the disclaimer). Handwritten notes appear throughout, with the editor’s instructions and the author’s irritated, red-penciled responses. Palatini provides historical details about the fig in Greece, Egypt and Europe, information about certain named cultivars and a gushy author’s note, with recipes. Meanwhile, Groenink playfully sides with the editor, producing digital, gouache and pencil pictures teeming with pigs. “Some pigs are very popular and quite famous, such as Blanche, Celeste, Len and Tena. Of course, everyone knows Judy.” kirkus.com

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Groenink depicts these bona fide fig cultivars as porcine celebrities adorning the covers of Pigs Weekly and Porque. His “Judy” looks quite like Judy Garland, in black fedora and tuxedo jacket à la Summer Stock. The author’s escalating outrage at her narrative’s hijacking manifests in angry cross-outs and mock-vindictive, defacing cartoons. There’s no question the joke is well-executed, and it’s very funny for an audience that knows something about figs, but it will probably seem like more of the metaliterary same for most actual children.

Joining the growing colony of self-referential meta–kid lit, this one-joke treatment has its moments. And the recipes work—for figs. (Picture book. 4-8)

GRACE

Parkinson, Kate Illus. by the author Holiday House (24 pp.) $14.95 | $6.99 paper | $14.95 e-book May 1, 2015 978-0-8234-3207-3 978-0-8234-3317-9 paper 978-9-8234-3338-4 e-book Series: I Like to Read Grace is just not graceful.

Little Grace takes dance class and tries very hard to perform basic ballet steps along with her classmates. Alas, after one too many falls, the other girls show her the door. But all is not lost for the pink-tutu–clad former ballerina. She changes outfits, going for a more eclectic, bohemian look, takes out her crayons and paper, and—with the assistance of her cat—does what she does best: She draws. Ballet, like the other performing arts, is not just the dancers. Scenery and backdrops are required, and therein Grace finds her forte. She is happy, and so are the girls who perform in front of her pink castles. And she keeps dancing although not on stage; her cat now sports the pink tutu in their private pas de deux. Parkinson’s text is both enjoyable to read aloud and basic enough for emerging readers to tackle successfully, with its simple, declarative statements and repetition of words. The digitally manipulated pen-and-ink illustrations are lively and expressive. The girls and the cat all have exaggeratedly large eyes that convey just what they are feeling.

There is more than one way to shine on stage, as Grace happily attests. (Early reader. 2-6)

WATER IS WATER A Book About the Water Cycle

Paul, Miranda Illus. by Chin, Jason Neal Porter/Roaring Brook (40 pp.) $17.99 | May 26, 2015 978-1-59643-984-9

A biracial brother and sister explore the out-of-doors (and a bit of mischief) through the four seasons in this poetic look at the many forms water takes on its trip through its cycle.

The book begins in summer as the siblings catch a turtle in the pond near their home before rain drives them indoors.

From drinking a cup of water to watching the steam rise from their hot cocoa, the two notice the water around them, letting the turtle go again under a gorgeous cloud-filled sky before a page turn signals autumn, school, falling leaves and fog. “Rain is rain unless... // on the ground. / Slosh / in galoshes. / Splash to your knees! / Puddles are puddles unless... // puddles freeze. / Glide. / Slide. / Put on the brakes! / Ice is ice unless... // it forms flakes.”

Much like Deborah Lee Rose’s illustrations for her Twelve Days books, Chin’s realistic watercolor-and-gouache illustrations offer repeat readers seemingly endless new details, like the brother’s propensity for finding small animals with which to torment his sister. The water cycle’s importance is brought home in the closing pages, snow leading to spring to mud to roots to apples to cider. Backmatter tells more about each step in the cycle, using solid explanations and science vocabulary.

An engaging and lyrical look at the water cycle. (water facts, further reading, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-10)

PIP BARTLETT’S GUIDE TO MAGICAL CREATURES

Pearce, Jackson & Stiefvater, Maggie Illus. by Stiefvater, Maggie Scholastic (192 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-545-70926-2 978-0-545-70931-6 e-book Series: Pip Bartlett, 1 Magical animals abound in Pip’s world, and she loves them all—especially since

she can talk to them.

Not that anyone believes her, because everyone knows that magical animals can’t talk. But her unique ability comes in superhandy when the Georgia town where her aunt Emma runs a veterinary clinic for the local HobGrackles, Unicorns and like extranatural fauna is threatened by an outbreak of Fuzzles—recognizable to Star Trek fans as similar to the adorable and fertile “tribbles” but with the added tendency to burst into flames when startled. Pearce and Stiefvater pass up no chance to exploit the comedic possibilities, keeping the level of actual |

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danger to a minimum and stuffing the supporting cast with new and traditional mythical creatures of diverse temperament (most memorably a hysterically skittish Unicorn: “Why! Why is the sky so blue today? What does it mean?”). The authors pitch doughty Pip into a nonstop set of crises as she contrives to save the town and persuade the Fuzzles to vanish. Having publicly expressed an intention to depict mythological creatures cuter than baby seals for this outing, Stiefvater outdoes herself in the illustrations with portraits of hopelessly cuddly Griffins, Grims and other generally fearsome monsters sporting big, winsome eyes. Stay tuned for more hilarious ructions.

It’s a distinct change of pace for two authors better known for intensely romantic teen fantasies, but they carry it off with aplomb. (Fantasy. 8-11)

A LITTLE BIT OF SPECTACULAR

Phillips, Gin Dial (176 pp.) $16.99 | May 5, 2015 978-0-8037-3837-9

An enigmatic message on a bathroom wall intrigues a lonely 11-year-old girl who decides to investigate, making a friend in the process.

As her mother’s operation has sapped the family’s finances, the once-outgoing Olivia and her still ailing mom move in with Olivia’s grandmother, a woman Olivia barely knows. As her father died suddenly when she was little, Olivia is terrified her mother will die as well, and this fear has left her so emotionally frozen that she’s unable to loosen up and make friends in her new community.

A message Olivia sees on a bathroom wall captures her attention: “We are Plantagenet. We are chosen.” Determined to figure out what it means, she enlists the help of a quirky classmate her grandmother introduces her to, and together the girls investigate. Although this oddball and somewhat repetitive puzzle drives the plot—other messages appear, and the girls try to figure out who or what (ETs?) wrote them—both the focus and theme of this leisurely paced story centers on Olivia’s emotional life. The unexpected explanation to the mystery helps Olivia develop a perspective that allows her to relax and participate more fully in life.

Although the story could use more dramatic pull, readers should enjoy its sympathetic protagonist and offbeat mystery element. (Fiction. 9-13)

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LONG TAIL KITTY Come Out And Play

Pien, Lark Illus. by the author Blue Apple (80 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 23, 2015 978-1-60905-394-9

Four small adventures in the life of Long Tail Kitty.

In the first, LTK and his friend Tony, an orange cat, try to go with their elephant friend to a magic show on a robot-run riverboat, but the robobarker says that Big E exceeds the boat’s weight limits. In the second, LTK and Tony go to Big E’s birthday party, and LTK is put out when Big E does not open his present first. On the way home from the party, LTK gets lost when Tony goes on ahead, but he is helped out by new friend Frances. Finally, LTK calms down from the excitement by working in his garden, but Tony, Big E and Frances start a water fight. LTK looks rather like a plump, fanged, six-pointed starfish with a tail rather than a cat, but neither anatomical verisimilitude nor plot is the main event in Pien’s pastel-colored animal world. The solipsistic LTK is marvelously childlike, so concerned with his relationships with his friends that sometimes he doesn’t even notice that he’s having a good time. Big E, befitting his size, operates as the world’s nominal adult, wielding actual, unexplained magic when necessary to make things right, just like a human parent. Pien’s delicately colored panels have all the appeal of a bag of jelly beans, appearing first as an abstract agglomeration of colors and then resolving into the sweetest of narratives.

A cotton-candy graphic idyll. (Graphic fantasy. 4-8)

THE GRASSHOPPER & THE ANTS

Pinkney, Jerry Illus. by the author Little, Brown (40 pp.) $18.00 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-0-316-40081-7

Caldecott Medalist Pinkney returns to Aesop, recasting the familiar fable as a meditation on the importance of sustaining both body and soul.

As industrious ants ferry seeds and leaves to their colony throughout spring, summer and fall, Grasshopper—a veritable one-bug band with banjo, drum kit and concertina—fishes, frolics and plays. Though he exhorts them to join in, the singleminded ants stick to their tasks. Grasshopper welcomes “the sparkle of first snow,” making “snow angels and snow-hoppers.”

In the lonely cold, his bright mood, colorful markings and checkered vest grow dim. He peeks into the ants’ well-lit abode.

A gatefold reveals an underground colony humming with activity: Ants stoke a wood stove, spin fiber from leaves and flowers, and prepare a meal. Compassionate Queen Ant appears at the kirkus.com

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Although it’s Birdie and Bowser who keep the plot zipping along, the unlikely detectives are surrounded by memorable characters both good and bad. woof

door, offering Grasshopper hot tea. Cozy concluding spreads show everyone making joyful music within, while back endpapers signal a new role for Grasshopper come spring. Pinkney’s four-season watercolor palette is more vibrant than ever. Grasshopper’s iridescent wings contrast with his scarlet instruments; the ants’ earth-brown bodies anchor spreads brimming with lush flowers or whirling autumn leaves. Pinkney’s delightfully forthright artist’s note identifies Grasshopper as “an artist in his own right.” Acknowledging liberties taken with the ants’ size, he includes a thumbnail depicting the actual, relative size of both ant and grasshopper.

From an unparalleled artist, another brilliant work.

(Picture book/folk tale. 3-6)

THE FRAIL DAYS

Prendergast, Gabrielle Orca (128 pp.) $9.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-4598-0464-7 Stella, a Chinese-Canadian rock drummer, yearns for success for her band.

Sixteen-year-old Stella needs a lead singer and finds a major talent in Tamara when rival band Fantalicious dumps her because she’s not skinny enough. Tamara believes she can never project the right image for a popular singer, but when she sings, she loses herself completely in her music, making a solid impression on Stella. Tamara agrees to join Stella’s hard-edged rock band but fears that their style will keep them out of the upcoming festival. She’s sure that the cutesy, pop-oriented Fantalicious will wind up headlining, and Tamara wants to beat them. The two girls become fast friends, and the group starts to create some outstanding original songs, but divergent artistic goals threaten a schism. Meanwhile the band begins to attract attention around their small town, especially that of a key tastemaker. Prendergast displays excellent insight into what makes young artists tick in this short novella.

Characterization is deftly done: Stella has an attractively rebellious edge to her personality, and Tamara’s character grows naturally in confidence.

Punchy, insightful and great for music lovers. (Fiction.

11-18)

WOOF

Quinn, Spencer Scholastic (304 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-545-64331-3 978-0-545-64333-7 e-book Series: Bowser and Birdie, 1 In a Louisiana bayou town, a girl and her dog set out to solve a mystery, battling bad guys and big gators along the way. |

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This original whodunit is narrated by an exuberant dog named Bowser, who has just been adopted by 11-year-old Birdie Gaux. Birdie and her grandmother are shocked to discover that a prized stuffed fish, Black Jack, has just been stolen from the family’s fish-and-bait store. How could a stuffed fish be worth stealing? Maybe if there’s a treasure map hidden inside. Birdie and Bowser begin to investigate in earnest, their sleuthing involving everything from breaking into rival establishment Straker’s World Famous Fishing Emporium, gathering clues at the library and the local assisted living facility, and traipsing through the bayou at night in search of the treasure that Birdie’s grandfather supposedly hid there so many years ago. Although it’s Birdie and Bowser who keep the plot zipping along, the unlikely detectives are surrounded by memorable characters both good and bad. And despite the villains, silliness and humor are paramount here, thanks to Bowser’s playful narration.

Utterly charmed by a spunky girl and her charismatic canine, mystery fans will find themselves looking forward to a return to the little bayou town of St. Roch. (Mystery. 8-12)

INVINCIBLE

Reed, Amy Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-06-229957-4 978-0-06-229959-8 e-book Evie, 17, bravely faces terminal illness along with her fellow teen sufferers, until fate intervenes; unlike Stella and Caleb, Evie miraculously recovers: “There has been a mistake. Or a miracle.”

Thrown into limbo and unable to resume her pictureperfect cheerleader’s life, complete with football-playing boyfriend Will, Evie writes to now-dead Stella: “If I’m not Cancer Girl, who am I exactly? Crutches Girl?...No one knows what to do with me now that I’m alive.” Trapped in her life and her still-weak body, Evie experiments with painkillers, alcohol and a relationship with rebellious teen Marcus (foil to steady Will and sweet Caleb), whom she meets while high on pot. Her connection to Marcus is defined by a mutual commitment to bad decisions, though even stoner Marcus urges Evie to avoid Oxycontin. Like Evie’s puzzled and hurt friends and family (who feel she’s ungrateful and manipulative), readers may find themselves alienated by Evie’s bad behavior, a gutsy move for Reed. The book’s epiphanic ending may come too late to salvage readers’ relationships with her—or Evie’s life. Or not. Readers will be intrigued or vexed by the ambiguity of the ending, depending on their tolerance for plot twists.

Offering a provocative spin on the typical teen-withcancer plotline, Reed risks her protagonist’s likability to explore the aftermath of life-altering second chances.

(Fiction. 14-18)

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The pace of the story is quick, while the setting and mysticism give the tale a sense of timelessness. bayou magic

BAYOU MAGIC

Rhodes, Jewell Parker Illus. by Brigham, Neil Little, Brown (256 pp.) $17.00 | $9.99 e-book | May 12, 2015 978-0-316-22484-0 978-0-316-22486-4 e-book Infused with a whimsical sense of adventure, Rhodes’ latest draws life from the mystical aura of the Louisiana bayou, braiding it with threads of environmen-

tal consciousness.

Madison Isabelle Lavalier Johnson lives in New Orleans with her mother, father and four older sisters. Each summer a note arrives requesting that one of the sisters come and visit their grandmother at her remote cottage in the bayou. When Grandmère’s latest letter arrives with Maddy’s name scrawled across it, the 10-year-old gets the shivers. Her siblings have warned of her grandmother’s weirdness and the spookiness of the setting. Yet Maddy’s adventure-seeking nature is drawn to the intrigue. The pace of the story is quick, while the setting and mysticism give the tale a sense of timelessness—it feels neither modern nor historical. Although the overall movement of the story is satisfying, the confluence of ideas heaped into the story can at times seem forced. Rhodes combines coming of age, friendship, aging, environmentalism and family obligation, just to name a few issues, into her bayou bouillabaisse. The effect sometimes feels muddier than the swamp. Still, an array of colorful bayou folk adds likable strangeness, while the presence of a mermaid in the family lore refreshes the waters.

Adventure-seeking girls with a taste for mermaids need apply. (Magical realism. 8-12)

WHEN YOU JUST HAVE TO ROAR!

Robertson, Rachel Illus. by Prentice, Priscilla Redleaf Lane (32 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-60554-362-8

Not the exploration of emotions the title might indicate but instead a look at classroom expectations for those just starting school.

“It was just one of those days in Ms. Mya’s classroom.” Those who work with young children may smile at the mischief these kids get up to—from jumping on a chair and playing catch with a stuffie to running and drumming, these kids are loud and boisterous. But luckily, Ms. Mya has her “I need your attention right now” and her “I’m making an important announcement” voices to help her get the students’ attention and explain what her expectations are. Together, the class makes a list of positively stated expectations that they will all follow, and at the end of the day, Ms. Mya, in her “I have something special to tell you” voice, presents a list of expectations for herself. A note to adult readers 118

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in the backmatter explains that children cannot know they are misbehaving if they do not know what is expected of them. Prentice’s brightly colored illustrations capture the exuberance and innocence of these ethnically diverse children wonderfully—they are not being naughty; they are just exploring and being kids, and once the expectations are explained, they abide by them.

A reassuring explanation of both expectations in general and the behaviors expected of students in school. (Picture book. 3-6)

A BIRD IS A BIRD

Rockwell, Lizzy Illus. by the author Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | $16.95 e-book | May 1, 2015 978-0-8234-3042-0 978-0-8234-3332-2 e-book Birds have beaks and wings and begin as eggs, like some other animals, but only

a bird has feathers.

A step up from Susan Stockdale’s Bring on the Birds (2011), this is similarly simple and straightforward, just right for preschool listeners. But it has the added attraction of accurate, full-page or double-page–spread illustrations of more than 40 species of birds, labeled and shown in typical habitats. From common ostriches and a superb starling facing each other on an east African savannah to the rock pigeon standing on one foot on an urban windowsill, these examples range widely in size, appearance, habits and familiarity. A song sparrow graces the title page, and there are two varieties of domestic chickens, but there are also exotic birds such as the resplendent quetzal and toco toucan. Short, declarative sentences explain some uses of beaks and wings. A blue-headed parrot picks fruit; a pileated woodpecker pecks at a tree; an Andean condor soars, and king penguins swim. “But wait!” the author says, and she cites examples of animals with beaks, wings and eggs that aren’t birds: platypus, housefly, milk snake. Only birds have feathers (handsomely displayed on a male peacock). Feathers help a bird stand out or blend in, fly, and stay warm and dry—and make a bird a bird, in a nicely child-friendly summation.

Widely useful, this should be a welcome addition to the nature shelf. (Informational picture book. 3- 7)

AN AMBUSH OF TIGERS A Wild Gathering of Collective Nouns Rosenthal, Betsy R. Illus. by Jago Millbrook/Lerner (32 pp.) $19.99 PLB | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-4677-1464-8 PLB

Homonyms are used as mnemonic devices to help readers remember “A Wild Gathering of Collective Nouns.” kirkus.com

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Cleverness abounds in Rosenthal’s latest, from the title to the backmatter, which presents a glossary—“ambush (tigers): an attack from a hiding place”—asking children to guess why the words are appropriate for each animal group. The tonguein-cheek text never falters in its rhythm and rhyme. “Does a prickle of porcupines / feel any pain? / Can a flush of mallards / get sucked down the drain?” The illustrations are a perfect match for the text’s wit. Three heavily bandaged porcupines lie in hospital beds, a sink between two of them. The convoluted pipes under the sink twist and turn across the gutter to discharge both water and mallards in an underground tunnel.

A sleuth of bears, complete with magnifying glasses and fedoras, investigate a murder of crows. Three kangaroos belong to a troop, collecting dues and selling cookies while wearing sashes sewn with patches. Other highlights from the 33 featured animals include a shiver of sharks sporting scarves, a bouquet of pheasants arranged in a vase, a dancing rhumba of rattlesnakes and a lounge of lizards in the sun by the pool. Jago’s illustrations walk the line between cartoon and realistic, his animals only anthropomorphized if the text suggests it. All are painted on canvas, which supplies a pleasing texture.

Collective nouns have never been this much fun...or memorable. (Informational picture book. 5-9)

FAMILIES

Rotner, Shelley & Kelly, Sheila M. Photos by Rotner, Shelley Holiday House (32 pp.) $17.95 | $17.95 e-book | May 1, 2015 978-0-8234-3053-6 978-0-8234-3330-8 e-book “We hope this book...will lead children and their parents to engage in conversation about their families.”

So begins this good-sized book, which is packed with photographs of families of many different sizes, shapes, ages and colors (although most wear casual clothing familiar to most American children). Bold, colorful type announces: “There are all kinds of families.” Engaging photographs throughout complement a simple text that informs readers about differences—such as big vs. small; genders and generations of parents; adoption vs. birth children. Positive similarities follow, as families get together for celebrations and family members help one another out and enjoy activities together. Only childless families are excluded, but that can be forgiven by the book’s noble, stated goal. Kelly adds an endnote to further encourage parents: “Recently, research psychologists have found that children who developed a strong family narrative from speaking with their parents about family history and hearing family stories, both good and bad, exhibited greater self-esteem....” As the photographs’ emotional spectrum covers the tiny range from cheerful to exuberant, it’s an open question whether this will encourage or inhibit truthful family-history revelations. However, the emphatic ending will certainly start a dialogue: “There are many different kinds of families. What about yours?” |

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Vibrant photographs—especially action shots—will capture children’s attention, build language skills and, one hopes, start conversations. (Picture book. 2-4)

WOODPECKER WHAM!

Sayre, April Pulley Illus. by Jenkins, Steve Henry Holt (40 pp.) $17.99 | May 12, 2015 978-0-8050-8842-7

With bouncy verse and colorful illustrations, an experienced picture-book team introduces a familiar bird.

Focusing on six woodpecker species common in eastern deciduous forests—downy, red-bellied, red-headed and pileated woodpeckers, yellow-bellied sapsuckers and northern flickers—Sayre describes typical behaviors: shredding, carving, drilling, messaging, feeding, cleaning, courting, hiding, nesting, nurturing and storing food. She even mentions their useful seed-enriched droppings. Each page or spread includes a wellrhymed and rhythmic quatrain set on an illustration showing the action described. Repetitive onomatopoeic sounds such as “CHOP, CHIP, CHOP!” and “BONK-BONK-BONK” combine with plentiful alliteration to make the simple verses come alive.

Each species is recognizable in Jenkins’ cut-and-torn–paper collages by its head markings (but not so clearly from the striped and spotted bodies). The birds are shown in their usual habitat over four seasons, sometimes up close and sometimes from a middle distance. A particularly appealing image shows a flicker gorging on cherries, its head and upper body stained with the juice. The pictured birds are identified in thumbnail illustrations included in the extensive backmatter for older readers and adults: six pages of description of the woodpecker world which amplify the read-aloud text.

Attractive and surprisingly informative, this should join the duo’s Eat Like a Bear (2013) on every preschool and primary nature shelf. (Informational picture book. 3-8)

THE GREAT GOOD SUMMER

Scanlon, Liz Garton Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (224 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | May 5, 2015 978-1-4814-1147-9 978-1-4814-1149-3 e-book When her beloved mama goes missing, idea girl Ivy Green springs into action.

When wildfires devastate the area around Loomer, Texas, Ivy’s mother, Diana, is devastated as well, and she turns for solace to a man named Hallelujah Dave, following him to The Great Good Bible Church of Panhandle Florida without so much as a forwarding address or a phone call to her husband or daughter. In addition |

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to babysitting and missing her mother, Ivy spends her summer striking up an unlikely friendship with “egghead” Paul Dobbs, who is captivated by all things related to space. Soon, Ivy and Paul concoct a plan to head to Florida to find Ivy’s mother and, oh yeah, see the space shuttle while they’re at it. Ivy’s quirky voice narrates the story, which is full of adventure, to be sure, but also meditations on home, family, and the differences—and striking similarities—between science and religion: “Looking up at the sky and wondering is what science people like Paul do. And it’s what God people like Mama do too. If that’s not the craziest thing.”

Equal parts peculiar and poignant, Ivy’s story will have readers giggling as they root for her to find everything she’s looking for. (Fiction. 8-12)

RAD AMERICAN WOMEN A-Z Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future!

Schatz, Kate Illus. by Stahl, Miriam Klein City Lights (64 pp.) $14.95 | Mar. 1, 2015 978-0-87286-683-6

Rousing tributes to 26 women who didn’t keep their heads or voices down.

Reserving “X” for “the women whose names we don’t know,” Schatz presents an unusually diverse gallery of activists. Along with the predictable likes of the Grimke sisters, Billie Jean King and Zora Neale Hurston, it includes Patti Smith, blacklisted musical prodigy Hazel Scott, Mexican-American journalist Jovita Idar and transgender performance artist Kate Bornstein.

Furthermore, the author extends her definition of “radical” beyond the arenas of politics and social causes to include Florence Griffith-Joyner (“Who showed us how to run like a girl”), Rachel Carson, Temple Grandin and Dr. Virginia Apgar (developer of the Apgar Score for newborns). The author closes with an above-average reading list and activity suggestions that include a pithy second alphabet of “things that you can do to be rad!” Readers will come away energized if not particularly informed by her enthusiastic but vague profiles (“Patti tried working at a regular job, and she tried going to college, but her creative dreams were too powerful to put on hold”). The combination of hair-fine type, bright, monochrome background colors, and stylized, high-contrast portraits at each entry’s head add up to an underground-’zine look overall.

A “rad” alternative to less-inclusive albums, such as Cynthia Chin-Lee, Megan Halsey and Sean Addy’s Amelia to Zora (2005). (websites) (Collective biography. 11-14)

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HIGH TIDE FOR HORSESHOE CRABS

Schnell, Lisa Kahn Illus. by Marks, Alan Charlesbridge (40 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-58089-604-7

In a natural-world extravaganza, horseshoe crabs, birds and people meet up each spring on the shores of the Delaware Bay. This remarkable event is chronicled for younger readers and listeners with a simple two-level text and watercolor-andpencil illustrations that correctly portray the various visitors: the crabs who’ve come ashore to lay their eggs; the red knots, sanderlings and ruddy turnstones stopping on their long migration north for the feast; and the scientists and vacationers who’ve come to marvel and record the annual event. Marks’ soft paintings bring young readers into the story by including a recognizable, possibly Asian-American, young girl as a focal character, one of the onlookers. Short, simple paragraphs, each with a two-word headline, are set on top of the double-page spreads. The headlines summarize, spread by spread: “It’s starting. / They’re arriving. / They’re flapping. / They’re traveling. / They’re laying. / They’re landing. / IT’S HAPPENING!” And so forth. The narrative thus conveyed is simple and reliant on illustrations to understand antecedents, but it’s also accurate and informative. It’s followed by a more detailed explanation for older readers of the crab’s life cycle and behavior, its part in the food web, its importance to humans, especially in medicines and medical devices, and an extensive list of suggestions for further exploration. The endpapers show horseshoe-crab anatomy with labels that name and explain major parts.

A splendid introduction to an extraordinary spectacle.

(Informational picture book. 3- 7)

THE SHARK CURTAIN

Scofield, Chris Black Sheep/Akashic (356 pp.) $13.95 paper | $13.95 e-book | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-61775-313-8 978-1-61775-369-5 e-book In her debut novel, Scofield offers readers an insider’s view of the unusual mind of Lily Asher.

Lily’s 13 and growing up in 1960s suburban Portland, Oregon, with her well-meaning, sometimes-dysfunctional family. That titular curtain—the confusingly thin veil between Lily’s hyperactive imagination and reality—is the book’s central experience. Like Lily, readers work hard to sort out fact from fantasy. As if some underwater world, the book teems—with dialogue, characters and dangerous events: Younger sister Lauren falls into a quarry on one family outing; Lily nearly drowns on the next and is “saved” by her diseased dog (who dies and haunts the rest of the story, along with Jesus, Lily’s imaginary companion). Lily’s nearly assaulted kirkus.com

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While text never directs the art to depict diverse individuals and family constellations, Gomez does just this in her illustrations. one family

by a peeping Tom, witnesses her mother and a neighbor in bed, sees a beloved aunt have a breakdown. Through everything, Lily and Jesus carry on lively conversations even in unlikely places like swimming pools—“ ‘Neato, huh?’ Jesus wiggles His eyebrows like Groucho Marx. ‘Did you notice that I’m not wet?’ ”—and Lily imagines herself transforming into a dog or werewolf. Like Lily, readers may find themselves having trouble coping with the many events speeding at them; sharper editing and a clearer plotline might have saved them from drowning under the story’s weight.

An ambitious, self-conscious muddle. (Historical fiction.

12 & up)

ALICE IN WONDERLAND HIGH

Shane, Rachel Merit Press (304 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 18, 2015 978-1-4405-8466-4

The beloved children’s classic is reimagined as a teen treatise on environmental activism.

After Alice’s parents die in a car accident on the way to protest farmland rezoning in Wonderland, Illinois, she vows to keep their ideals alive by staging her own actions. After a failed solo attempt to steal school letterhead and donate it to the recycling center, Alice decides to join forces with a vigilante eco-group whose members resemble the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat. Together, they vandalize private property and homes in the name of environmentalism, rescue a pig from experimentation, and investigate why Wonderland township is forcing family farmers off their land and building housing complexes. At least, that’s what they seem to be investigating. The overwritten prose is so densely populated with self-conscious similes and metaphors it is often difficult to follow the convoluted plot. Far too many actions and statements are repeated in greater detail in the following paragraph, to the point where readers may feel they’re being told over and over what just happened. Finally, the author is so busy making the characters painfully and obviously conform to their literary counterparts that any spark of personality or characterization is squashed. What is left is a messagey, cliché-ridden mishmash that neither breaks new ground nor pays homage to its inspiration.

Leave this novel at the bottom of the rabbit hole. (Fiction.

10-13)

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ONE FAMILY

Shannon, George Illus. by Gomez, Blanca Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (32 pp.) $17.99 | May 26, 2015 978-0-374-30003-6 A playful counting book also acts as a celebration of family and human diversity.

Shannon’s text is delivered in spare, rhythmic, lilting verse that begins with one and counts up to 10 as it presents different groupings of things and people in individual families, always emphasizing the unitary nature of each combination. “One is six. One line of laundry. One butterfly’s legs. One family.”

Gomez’s richly colored pictures clarify and expand on all that the text lists: For “six,” a picture showing six members of a multigenerational family of color includes a line of laundry with six items hanging from it outside of their windows, as well as the painting of a six-legged butterfly that a child in the family is creating. While text never directs the art to depict diverse individuals and family constellations, Gomez does just this in her illustrations. Interracial families are included, as are depictions of men with their arms around each other, and a Sikh man wearing a turban. This inclusive spirit supports the text’s culminating assertion that “One is one and everyone. One earth. One world. One family.”

A visually striking, engaging picture book that sends the message that everyone counts. (Picture book. 3-6)

SONA AND THE WEDDING GAME

Sheth, Kashmira Illus. by Jaeggi, Yoshiko Peachtree (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-56145-735-9

Who would have thought that the bride’s younger sister must steal the groom’s shoes at an Indian wedding ceremony?

Not Sona.

Sona, a young Indian-American girl, learns about the traditional wedding customs of her family’s region during the preparations for her sister’s marriage. Her dadima (grandmother), visiting for the celebration along with her grandfather and younger cousin Vishal, asks her to steal the groom’s shoes.

Sona hasn’t heard about this custom, and Vishal, knowledgeable about weddings because he has gone to many at home, tells her “[i]t’s like a fun game.” Before the wedding day, Sona helps to rub a special cosmetic paste on her sister’s skin and decorates the house with garlands and rangoli designs. She attends the mehndi party, where an artist paints henna designs on all the women and girls. But all during these preparations, she is thinking about how best to pull off the shoe caper. Finally, the wedding itself starts, with the groom riding a white horse. (Often in the United States, a car or horse-drawn carriage is substituted, |

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Shulevitz proves his status as a contemporary master of the form and delivers a well-paced narrative with readable, engaging art and text. troto and the trucks

as explained in the excellent author’s note.) The whole ceremony is described in detail, but it is Sona and Vishal’s part in the shoe-stealing game that will engage young readers. The artist’s research shows in every double-page spread, and she does a wonderful job of creating a diversity of expressions in her lively watercolors.

Everyone will want to attend this wedding. (Picture book.

6-9)

TROTO AND THE TRUCKS

Shulevitz, Uri Illus. by the author Margaret Ferguson/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 12, 2015 978-0-374-30080-7 Slow and steady wins the race.

Troto, a little green car that bears some resemblance to a tortoise, likes to drive to new places. When he comes upon Cactusville, which looks like an Old West ghost town, he encounters some big trucks that clearly haven’t been told to pick on someone their own size. Troto speaks up for himself against their bullying and challenges them—not to a duel at high noon but to a race through Cactus Canyon. When the race begins, the three big trucks tear out ahead of Troto, but their haste leads to their downfalls, as Big Red pops a tire, Big Blue nearly tips over, and then Big Yellow gets stuck. Troto’s steady driving allows him to triumph, and his success ultimately wins the others’ respect. The closing page delivers the satisfying news that Troto “drove off into the sunset, casting a big shadow,” with accompanying art that places the little green car high on the page to signal his elevated status. Throughout the picture book, such powerful artistic decisions add to the overall achievement of this deceptively simple tale, as Shulevitz proves his status as a contemporary master of the form and delivers a well-paced narrative with readable, engaging art and text.

A winner. (Picture book. 2-6)

A SENSE OF THE INFINITE

Smith, Hilary T. Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | May 19, 2015 978-0-06-218471-9 978-0-06-218473-3 e-book Senior year changes everything.

Ever since discovering that her alwaysabsent father actually raped her mother, and her subsequent birth destroyed her mother’s hopes of a college degree, Annabeth has felt like a monster. Fortunately, throughout high school, she’s held the position of Noe’s best friend. They plan matching tattoos and matching 122

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futures. Noe also anchors her new boyfriend, Steven, an elegant and quirky actor with a suicidal past. Annabeth and Steven strike a limited but playful friendship, and all goes well until Noe begins to change. A remarkably casual sexual encounter leads to an abortion for Annabeth while visiting her cousin in college. Afterward, while her relationship with her mother continues to be strained (“[we] loved each other with eyes averted, like birds circling a pile of grain but never coming close enough to peck”), Annabeth reluctantly begins to drop agreed-upon pretenses in favor of the truth. Admitting to Noe’s costs Annabeth their friendship; admitting to her own is harder. Steven teeters dangerously on the edge of a different truth. Some of the issues, particularly regarding Annabeth’s father, feel forced, but the mess and loose ends of this story reflect human reality. Annabeth emerges as a complicated character doing her best. Smith’s prose is knock-down gorgeous.

A fearless writer ably tackles a difficult story. (Fiction. 14 & up)

THE CANDY CONSPIRACY A Tale of Sweet Victory Snyder, Carrie Illus. by Dávila, Claudia Owlkids Books (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-77147-050-6

Children stage a surprising revolution in an ultrasweet kingdom ruled by a sugared tyrant.

Candyville certainly looks delicious, with lollipop trees and cupcake flowers and rivers of root beer, all in sweet, bright colors.

But the place is ruled by the evil Juicy Jelly Worm, a pink-andgolden monster that gorges on sweets all day, which he forces the children of the land to harvest. Worst of all, they are not allowed to partake. They dig a secret garden, plant some special seeds and wait for their vegetables to grow. Juicy Jelly Worm learns of their activities and demands to see the garden. The children are one step ahead of him, highlighting the “sweet” in sweet potatoes, the “cherry” in cherry tomatoes, the “butter” in butternut squash. The Juicy Jelly Worm wants it all—“Candy?...

Mine!”—and the cleverest of the children makes a provocative proposal. The salivating Worm agrees to trade his kingdom for the garden of the children. And so they get all the sweets!

Snyder peppers the book with tiny boxed messages, apparently intended to ensure that readers see her story as a spoof: “Warning: Children have died from eating their veggies.” But will they get the irony? Dávila’s bright pictures look truly delectable, and nutritionists and dentists everywhere will groan as the children chomp down on all the sweets.

Read the book and then go brush your teeth. (Picture book. 3-6)

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DUCK’S VACATION

personal lavatory. Illustrator Chung treats the material with suitable razzle dazzle, imbuing his hero with the heart and soul of a performer while never showing a single penis. A note to parents and a list of basic potty-training rules at the end make this a touchstone for the anxious.

The lesson is clear: Pee with flair. (Picture book. 2-4)

Soffer, Gilad Illus. by the author Feiwel & Friends (40 pp.) $17.99 | May 26, 2015 978-1-250-05647-4 Duck’s vacation is interrupted by readers; would they please just stop turning the pages?

Duck is relaxing on the island of Bora Bora (according to the passport stamp on the cover). He has his sunglasses, beach chair, ice cream and refreshing drink. It is the perfect vacation.

That is, until readers decide to turn the page! Duck is bewildered. What just happened? His ice cream and sunglasses go flying. He explains to readers that he is on vacation and would like peace and quiet. He pleads: “Do. Not. Turn. Any. More. Pages.”

Of course, readers will persist. At times, the action of flipping the page causes items on the beach to scatter, further annoying Duck. Yet other times the chaos cannot be ascribed to readers, such as an instant blizzard or a large crowd, both of which disappear in a blink. When pirates arrive on the scene, Duck is fed up and decides to leave the book altogether. The pirates don’t mind; they have a story to tell. If only there were enough pages left. In the metafictive picture-book market, this effort doesn’t stand out as particularly inventive or amusing, struggling to sustain the conceit over 40 pages.

While propelling energy lags, large storytime crowds may be able to infuse it with their own. (Picture book. 3-6)

HOW TO PEE Potty Training for Boys

Spector, Todd Illus. by Chung, Arree Henry Holt (40 pp.) $12.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-8050-9773-3

Sure, potty training is important, but how many books emphasize how to urinate with style?

Family practitioner Spector explains that he and his wife potty trained their son using the “free style” method. Translation: Costumes optional. Moved to inspire others, he offers this minihandbook highlighting 10 different styles from which a boy can draw inspiration. There’s “Rocket Style,” which involves a countdown to “blast off ”; “Superhero Style,” in which the valiant urinater defeats a villainous square of toilet paper with proper aim; and “Firefighter Style,” in which the stream is put to good use extinguishing an imaginary potty fire. For all these and more, wardrobe changes and props are encouraged.

Naturally some styles are stronger than others. “Magic Style” makes perfect sense, while “Mommy Style” (in which the child presumably imitates his mother and complains that the toilet seat is up) is just a cheap joke. Parents who would rather their kids not pee outside may wish to avoid “Free Style” and “Waterfall Style,” both of which turn the great outdoors into a boy’s |

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LOST IN NYC A Subway Adventure

Spiegelman, Nadja Illus. by García Sánchez, Sergio TOON Books & Graphics (52 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 7, 2015 978-1-935179-81-8

A student new to both New York City and subways loses his class on the way to the Empire State Building.

Cast not as a nightmare (though it probably is, for teachers at least) but as an exhilarating odyssey, the outing begins when Pablo, surly and standoffish on his first day at his sixth school, boards a West Side No. 2 express train as his classmates crowd aboard the No. 1 local. Fortunately, he’s partnered with Alicia, a friendly, informative and particularly thick-skinned fellow student. Unfortunately, he manages to lose even her at the Times Square station and finds himself bound for Flushing, Queens. Though García Sánchez exaggerates (maybe...a bit) the density of the crowds on train platforms and streets, the above- and belowground architectural details, signage, general New York ambience and the trip’s overall itinerary are rendered with exacting accuracy. Even the occasional cutaway views and multiple-perspective spreads look natural. For added value, conversational infodumps and a closing section—both with inset period photos—fill Pablo and readers in on the subway’s construction, history and line designations, with side peeks at the Empire State Building. The book is also available in Spanish as Perdidos en NYC, with a translation by multitalented colorist Lola Moral.

Required reading for anyone, tourist or resident, mystified by or anxious about using arguably the greatest public-transportation system on the planet. (further reading) (Graphic picture book. 7-10) (Perdidos en NYC: 978-1-935179-85-6)

NEW FRIEND

Steers, Billy Illus. by the author Farrar, Straus and Giroux (32 pp.) $8.99 | May 5, 2015 978-0-374-30110-1 Series: Tractor Mac “Plows, harrows, and cultivators!”

Positive, practical life lessons abound as popular character Tractor Mac returns in this light, new selection for vehicleloving listeners and readers. This time, the animals are curious |

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when a number of tools arrive at the farm. They are too small for Mac, so whom could they be for? New tractor Daisy, of course, who is much stronger than her diminutive size would suggest. Colorful illustrations with plenty of action and detail depict the farm and its inhabitants as Daisy, who is optimistic but overwhelmed by all the work to be done, realizes she may not be able to do it all on her own. First the farm’s animals and vehicles offer aid, and then Daisy learns how to work independently and break a big job into manageable parts by setting targets. The story is a bit unfocused and the text a bit pedestrian, and it is irritating that Steers concocts a scenario in which the female character needs advice from the paternalistic Mac. Still, the fact that there is a girl tractor at all is mildly praiseworthy, and the cheerful pace, chirpy dialogue and satisfying ending are sure to please fans of the series.

A pleasant-enough trip to the farm. (Picture book. 2- 7)

As in The Odd One Out (2014), a variety of animals is depicted, from the mundane dogs, cats, birds and fish through chameleons, yaks, dragonflies, zebras, otters and toucans. The colored pages resemble decorative wallpapers, on which rows of mostly cheery, collaged animals are arranged in repeating rows on the right page of each spread. An introductory verse containing the pairing challenge is (usually) on the left page. Although they are necessarily repetitive, the animals are amusing and full of character, with bright but controlled color and a variety of textures adding to the visual appeal. The final spread contains pairs of all the animals to which readers have been introduced, but only five of them match exactly. The warm color palette and handmade appearance of this traditional pairing book are a refreshing break from the harsh colors and mechanical appearance of similar offerings in this genre.

Children will enjoy sharing the sometimes quite difficult challenges with their adults. (Picture book. 2-5)

IN THE WAVES

PRINCE OF A FROG

Stella, Lennon & Stella, Maisy Illus. by Björkman, Steve Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-06-235939-1

Urbanovic, Jackie Illus. by the author Orchard/Scholastic (32 pp.) $17.99 | May 26, 2015 978-0-545-63652-0

Frothy fun from the Stella sisters, musicians and child stars of the TV series Nashville.

Sans music, the text doesn’t read any better than pop-song lyrics usually do: “Mom says, hurry, hurry come on / What could possibly be taking so long? // We say, Mama, we’re almost done / Getting all ready for some sister fun // In the waves, in the water / In the waves, in the water.” Björkman cranks the energy up, though, by portraying the recognizably drawn sibs exuberantly racing across a golden beach and diving into shallow waters positively crammed with brightly colored sea life and glittering treasure. Then, with a climactic view of a tub overflowing with suds, toys and a pair of hyped-up girls, comes the revelation that the beach was an imaginary one, the product of “two sisters who pretend a lot.” The song is available for an online listen on the publisher’s site. A photo album of the sisters on stage and elsewhere caps this souvenir of their first original release.

As celebrity-authored books go, it could be worse. (Picture book. 5- 7)

WHERE’S THE PAIR? A Spotting Book

Who came first: the frog or the prince?

Hopper is not your ordinary frog; the pond denizens all consider him a bit of an oddball. Then a wise old turtle–cum-storyteller shares the story of a “prince who was turned into a frog.”

Maybe that’s why Hopper is so peculiar. Hopper believes that he has all the correct physical attributes for frogginess—but might he actually be a prince? Following the requirements of the tale, he sets off on a quest to find a kissing princess. Alas, the quest is a downer. Not a woodpecker nor a smelly skunk nor a hungry fox fills the bill. Then, happily, Hopper meets a perfectly named dog who saves him from the fox, and immediately they become BFFs, singing, kicking balls and kissing. Hopper is still green, goggle-eyed and webbed, but he now understands the true meaning of nobility—all thanks to his new friend. Urbanovic has crafted an entertaining tale that is a twist on an old favorite.

Her splashy blues and greens along with very expressive animal faces heighten the spirit of fun amid the animal antics. Speech bubbles for dialogue and a page design that varies between fullpage art and sequential panels add to the entertaining narrative.

Fairy-tale fun for frog fans. (Picture book. 3-6)

IN A VILLAGE BY THE SEA

Teckentrup, Britta Illus. by the author Big Picture/Candlewick (32 pp.) $14.99 | Apr. 28, 2015 978-0-7636-7772-5

In another in a series of picture books for the very young designed to exercise their powers of observation, Teckentrup challenges readers to spot which animals are exactly alike.

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Van, Muon Illus. by Chu, April Creston (32 pp.) $16.95 | May 18, 2015 978-1-939547-15-6

In circular fashion, this simple story’s narration unfolds, with great power behind the few words on each page. kirkus.com

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It is the supportive and loving Banks family that makes this story shine. six

The intense illustrations, done in pencil and digitally colored, set human and animal characters into seascapes and interior scenes in an almost timeless Vietnam and extend the story far beyond the words. A wife and a baby are in their traditional kitchen anxiously awaiting the fisherman-husband’s return. He is in his boat, fearfully viewing the dark waves and black clouds but also looking at family photos (a hint of modernity). Will he get home to his wife and baby “in his village by the sea” in the “small house” mentioned at beginning and end? Of course readers hope that he will, but there’s far more to this book than just the story.

The visual surprises here are a faithful, loving dog that appears in most illustrations and leads eyes to “a brown cricket, humming and painting” beyond a hole in the wall. This is not just any cricket but perhaps illustrator Chu’s avatar. After all, the cricket is seen painting the scene of the stormy seas and the little white fishing boat with the husband sitting nervously on the deck. Near the author and artist biographies, the cricket is even signing “AC.” The illustrations, with strong references to Chinese pen-and-ink landscapes and Japanese woodblock prints of the sea, will draw readers to this book again and again.

(Picture book. 4- 7)

UH-OH OCTOPUS!

van Lieshout, Elle & van Os, Erik Illus. by van Hout, Mies Lemniscaat USA (32 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-9359-5439-2 A small yellow octopus is nonplussed to return home from his daily swim to find someone else’s tale protruding from his home.

The soft and expressive illustrations done in acrylic and oil pastels by van Hout (Surprise, 2014, etc.) are the highlight of what could have been a noteworthy story about the pitfalls of jumping to conclusions. Flitting among his concerned friends, an endearingly expressive octopus searches for a solution to the very big intruder stuck in his doorway. The fishy suggestions run the gamut from “Chase him away!” to “Declare war on him.”

As the story unfolds, the problem of what to do with the giant tail sticking out of Octopus’ home involves every sea creature in the neighborhood. After much deliberation, the little octopus hears whispered advice in the depths around him. “What would you do?” The sea seems to be urging him to listen to his intuition—which he does to his ultimate delight. Van Lieshout and van Os explore the extreme reactions fear and uncertainty can elicit. As is so often the case, a simple question could have prevented the escalating misunderstanding and turmoil. What makes the resolution unsatisfactory is that an entire scene seems to be missing—the reveal. One minute the friends struggle to pull out the mysterious tale à la “The Enormous Turnip,” and the next, there’s a smiling mermaid holding the besotted octopus. “ ‘Oh,’ Octopus blushed. ‘If I’d only known you were a lady! That’s different!’ ” This Dutch import’s fatuous ending falls short, but the illustrations are worth the time spent appreciating them.

(Picture book. 4-6) |

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SIX

Vaughan, M.M. McElderry (368 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | May 12, 2015 978-1-4814-2069-3 978-1-4814-2071-6 e-book Three kids, a pet pig and a helpful chauffeur must unravel a mystery of cosmic proportions.

Twelve-year-old Parker is struggling with his family’s move from England to upstate New York. Parker has a new nemesis. His inventor father has mounting job stress. Only his 10-year-old sister, Emma, seems to be acclimating. With a specialized program for the deaf at their school, friends and a new pet pig, she is thrilled. Keeping secrets in the Banks family is difficult, thanks to his father’s invention, which allows each of them to hear one another’s thoughts—but Parker’s father is hiding something from his family that could change everything if it comes to light.

When Parker and Emma’s father disappears, the two siblings enlist Michael, a fellow victim of bullying and an uber-wealthy computer genius, to help them find him. Unfortunately the only people willing to lend a hand are a conspiracy theorist and a patient at a psychiatric hospital. Creative details, likable characters—Brendan, Michael’s chauffeur, stands out especially— and an X-Files–worthy mystery keep the pages turning, but it is the supportive and loving Banks family that makes this story shine. A surprise ending will encourage readers to think beyond the text and grapple with some real-world dilemmas.

Inventive, entertaining and thought-provoking. (Fantasy.

8-12)

THE SECOND GUARD

Vaughn, J.D. Disney-Hyperion (432 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-4231-6909-3 Series: Second Guard, 1

In the matrilineal monarchy of Tequende, when second-born children reach the tender age of 15, their families must surrender them to be trained as the mightiest soldiers in the land, known as

the Second Guard.

Talimendra Sanchez Kalloryn of the Sun Guild is one such recruit, sworn to uphold the Oath of Guilds to serve and protect the queen at all costs. Fellow recruits Zarif Baz Hasan of the Moon Guild and Chey Maconde of the Earth Guild join her to forge an earnest triumvirate supporting one another as fledgling warriors, up to and including their challenges at the Final Tournament. This realm’s setting has a colonial Mesoamerican sensibility, with one city called New Seville and a small immigrant population of Arabites from the Far World. Socially, the Sun, Moon and Earth Guilds correspond to merchant, |

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Webb tucks in a few choices from outside Europe such as Quechua and Zulu plus, in passing, samples at least of Esperanto, Klingon and even “Textese,” LOL. the book of languages

intellectual and working classes, each with its own culture and rituals. Tested via multiple, layered moral and ethical dilemmas that have modern resonance, Tali swings between moments of confusion (“What is true if everything I’ve been taught to believe is false?”) and mildly subversive clarity (“Sometimes disobeying orders is the only way to follow them”). Vaughn is the pen name for Julia Durango and Tracie Zimmer, and working together, the two writers prove to be competent worldbuilders, cleverly introducing each chapter with a page of background out of a fictitious Tequende history book.

A carefully crafted and empowering coming-of-age tale that adds welcome diversity to the fantasy shelves. (Fantasy.

11-14)

OUTSTANDING IN THE RAIN

Viva, Frank Illus. by the author Little, Brown (32 pp.) $18.00 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-0-316-36627-4

A boy’s amusement-park birthday becomes a die-cut celebration for all.

As the D train pulls into Coney Island, anticipation builds. On this gorgeous day, the park beckons with food, rides and games. Mother treats son to ice cream, adventures, a beach picnic and more, while Viva treats readers to stunning spreads recalling the joys and trials (spilled ice cream!) of childhood. Graphically compelling, the linocut style and limited palette recall Matisse, but this is also an exploration of die-cut storytelling. Cutouts highlight and reveal words, shapes and patterns. Great attention is given to ensure that these track. The word “cream” appears in a die-cut window under the word “ice”; that “cream” becomes “scream” when the page is turned and the treat dropped. However, whether they highlight the heart of the story is debatable, and the often forced rhyming text falls short of the work’s visual achievement.

As the night train approaches and rain sprinkles down, the boy receives a new cone, offering contentment and closure to a memorable day.

A visually splendid birthday jaunt is a bit dampened by its text. (Picture book. 3-7)

DUST TO DUST

Walker, Melissa Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | May 5, 2015 978-0-06-207737-0 978-0-06-207739-4 e-book Second in a two-book series—but nicely readable as a stand-alone—after Ashes to Ashes (2013), this continues the dual-world adventures of teen Callie.

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Torn between two lovers and caught between two worlds, Callie is recovering from the coma that thrust her into the Prism, where spirit-guide Thatcher wooed her and ghosts Reena and Leo played with the dark side, attempting to possess bodies of the living and displacing their souls, possibly permanently. Now Callie’s coming to terms with both strange truths (“one thing is for sure: My body may have been in that hospital bed, but my soul sure as hell wasn’t”) and normal teen dramas. Steadfast mortal boyfriend Nick isn’t quite as cozy as before, and poltergeist Reena is eyeing best friend Carson for a takeover. Callie’s return to the mortal world allows for new characters (Thatcher’s living sister; a potential boyfriend for Carson with a convenient knowledge of the occult) and introduces some mystery. Callie’s present-tense narration provides access to typical teen thoughts, high jinks and melodrama; “guilt ravages” her mind as she faces “the horrifying truth. A truth that I couldn’t prevent. A truth that I brought upon all of us.” The intriguing worldbuilding of the initial book is missing; though Callie retains the obliviousness that got her in trouble to begin with, her self-reflection is purely emotional. But with a watery homage to the movie Ghost, will anyone mind?

Paranormal romance done well, with a warning: When it comes to incantations, always read the fine print. (Paranormal romance. 12-18)

THE BOOK OF LANGUAGES Talk Your Way Around the World

Webb, Mick Owlkids Books (64 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 15, 2015 978-1-77147-155-8

With just a bit of practice children will come away from this quick but sweeping linguistic look-see able to exchange greetings and a “How are you doing?” with anyone (almost) anywhere in the world.

Following a dash past language’s origins and families, Webb introduces 21 tongues—literally, as signed languages are clumped with semaphore and other codes in a mop-up chapter at the end. At one double-page spread per language, each is given a thumbnail history, a linguistic map, translations of the numbers one through 10, pronunciation notes and a set of conversational words or phrases from “Hello” to “I’m fine, thank you” or, conversely, “Not so good.” He also tacks on an alphabet (Pinyin for Mandarin Chinese, Devanagari script for Hindi-Urdu) and, in catchall boxes on each spread, comments on scripts, loan words, and one or two distinctive orthographic or grammatical features. Including English, 10 of his selections are European languages, but he also tucks in a few choices from elsewhere such as Quechua and Zulu plus, in passing, samples at least of Esperanto, Klingon and even “Textese,” LOL. Lest he be accused of leaving anything out, the author closes with a glance at various forms of animal communication. kirkus.com

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Eurocentric, not to mention overly ambitious—but being able to say some variant of “Not so hot” in Belarus, Brazil or any point between has to count for something. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)

ALWAYS TWINS

Weidner, Teri Illus. by the author Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | $16.95 e-book | May 15, 2015 978-0-8234-3159-5 978-0-8234-3320-9 e-book Being twins isn’t all it’s quacked up to be for two duckling siblings.

Two ducklings hatching out of the same egg on the title page alert readers that the twins to come in this gentle story are identical. Wherever these ducklings, Lily and Olivia, go, they hear, “You two are just alike!” and happily acknowledge their similarities. Except they aren’t always alike. While Olivia enjoys jumping in the mud, quacking at bugs and racing about, Lily prefers making daisy chains, gazing at clouds and studying the world around her. Sometimes these pastimes don’t mix well, especially when a full-tilt Olivia destroys the flower Lily is holding. Suddenly they notice that they are not alike, “[n]ot one bit!”

After they storm off in separate directions, Lily becomes lonely and discovers that Olivia has gotten stuck in a tree. As they help each other out of a mild predicament, things become just ducky again as they re-establish their bond and realize that they have both similarities and differences. In this picture book, the first that Weidner has both written and illustrated, watercolor-and– colored-pencil artwork in a soft palette shows the ducklings’ anger, fear and love in ways that young children can identify.

Large-print text also helps emergent readers follow along.

Although obviously fitting for twins, the story’s themes can easily apply to other siblings and friends as well. (Picture book. 2-5)

RUBY WIZARDRY An Introduction to Programming for Kids

Weinstein, Eric No Starch Press (352 pp.) $29.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-59327-566-2

An introductory programming guide is structured around a whimsical original fairy tale in a land run on the Ruby pro-

gramming language.

Weinstein turns his professional programming expertise and his experience as a computing educator designing curriculum for Codeacademy to creating an accessible introduction to coding for kids. The first chapter gives instructions on downloading and installing Ruby, as well as when to program “in window” and |

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when to use a text editor. For an optimal experience, readers should read it while at a computer, inputting the suggested code and playing with it alongside the characters. The story stars young Ruby wizards Scarlet and Ruben, who find a king in great distress. After solving his problem, they notice more mishaps in the code that runs the kingdom. Deducing sabotage, they must travel the kingdom reprogramming code to correct errors and apprehend the guilty party. An episodic structure makes the book easy to put down and pick up again (as it’s a lot of information for one sitting), and chapters frequently end with “You Know This!” recaps. Comprehensive backmatter includes further resources, troubleshooting and more. After completing their introduction to Ruby, readers can move onto Nick Morgan’s JavaScript for Kids (2014), which, though it doesn’t present a narrative such as this, is an absolutely phenomenal guide with a crisp design and clear, concise explanations.

An enjoyable book that can turn any kid (or adult!) into a programming wizard. (index) (Nonfiction/fantasy. 10 & up) (JavaScript for Kids: 978-1-59327-408-5)

OUTDOOR OPPOSITES

Williams, Brenda Illus. by Oldfield, Rachel Barefoot (32 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 paper | May 1, 2015 978-1-78285-094-6 978-1-78285-095-3 paper Poet Williams interprets the concept of opposites in a clever, rhyming book celebrating the outdoors.

Children revel in opposites as they jump in a pond, enjoy a picnic or run with a kite, all with a rollicking band of animals in tow. Williams contrasts everything from actions (kids “stop” under a tree to wait out a storm, while two girls “go!” to run away from it) to emotions (“I can be happy, or I can be sad”) and more complex concepts like “high” (a girl swings in a tree) and “low” (a boy and a girl crawl through bushes). Author and illustrator also create a delightful visual rhythm between text and pictures as one page eases into the next. “I can whisper,” says one girl to another as they spy a buck in the distance; its opposite appears with the page turn: “or I can... / SHOUT!” scream a boy and girl as they sprint from a snorting bull. Oldfield’s use of bright and sunny colors complements the multiethnic cast, drawing in the most diverse of readers. Sprawled across double-page spreads, her cheery illustrations adeptly showcase both a child’s delight at being licked by a dog and the vibrant yellows of a sunflower’s petals. (An enclosed CD with the text performed by the Flannery Brothers was not available for review.)

An ebullient book with catchy, rhyming text that’s fun to read again and again at home, in the classroom or under a tree. (Picture book. 2-6)

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AVIS DOLPHIN

Wishinsky, Frieda Illus. by Dawson, Willow Groundwood (160 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-55498-489-3 Readers who think that the Titanic was the only great ocean liner that ever sank will find this fictionalized eyewitness account of the torpedoed Lusitania’s last voyage a revelation.

If, that is, they can get through the narrative without foundering on the nearly continual foreshadowing that clogs its pages.

Naming her title character and other cast members after actual passengers, Wishinsky trots 12-year-old Avis over several days through a purposeful ship’s tour that takes her from bustling galley to common areas of all three classes. She is squired by Prof. Holbourn, a genial fellow traveler who regales her with a magical tale of a young castaway facing a giant and a “bogeyman.” This nested story is related by Dawson in interspersed sections of wordless sequential panels. Along the way, Wishinsky shovels in ominous references to U-boats, an angry refusal by the ship’s captain to hold lifeboat drills, the disappearance of the ship’s cat and so many other hints of impending catastrophe that the torpedoes’ eventual arrival comes as more of a relief than a shock. Dawson’s high-contrast black-and-white scenes add a little suspense, but their plotline is at best marginally relevant to the main one, and they are so cramped and cropped that the action in them is hard to follow. The author closes with a note on the real Avis and Prof. Holbourn.

Arty illustrations and a turgid, purpose-driven narrative waste this opportunity to highlight a major tragedy in its centennial year. Interested readers will get more from Diana Preston’s Remember the Lusitania! (2003). (afterword) (Historical fiction. 9-11)

ANDREO’S RACE

Withers, Pam Tundra (224 pp.) $12.99 paper | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-77049-766-5 A challenging endurance event provides an adopted teen with the perfect opportunity to track down his birth mother.

Still afflicted with frequent nightmares about being stolen 16 years before, Andreo eagerly agrees to join his strangely reticent adoptive parents in a seven-day “adventure race” set, conveniently, in the very area of Bolivia in which he was born. The race itself—which involves segments of mountain biking, trekking, canoeing and even caving—makes absorbing reading but serves largely as a backdrop to Andreo’s stubborn pursuit of his Quechua birth mother’s identity. Beginning with confirmation that he was a black-market baby, his quest leads to involvement with a baby-trafficking ring, puts 128

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him in considerable danger but also ultimately brings him face to face with his birth mother, who does not react as he expects her to. In a strenuous effort to engineer happy endings all round (except for the traffickers), Withers contrasts this scene with a different reception given to a similarly adopted teen who is shoehorned into the cast. She closes her tale with a round of fulsome apologies that neatly cements Andreo’s troubled relationship with his adoptive family.

The issues-driven plotline is superimposed rather forcibly on the athletic one—but both feature suspenseful, character-changing incidents. (Fiction. 11-13)

VISIT THE BHIL CARNIVAL

Wolf, Gita Illus. by Amaliyar, Subhash Tara Publishing (24 pp.) $19.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-93-83145-11-9

A double-gatefold map opens flat to display a pop-up Ferris wheel and other attractions at an annual festival held in the central Indian province of Madhya Pradesh.

A booklet inset at the corner describes the route that excited young visitors Neela and his little sister Peela take, but it can also be traced thanks to labels on the map. First they go to the balloon man, then up on the high, hand-powered wheel.

Once down, they proceed past drummers and shops (“HANKIES, coloured HANKIES!” “COCONUT BURFI! TOFFEE! LADDOO!”) to the ice cream man (“CHOC-O-BAR!” he shouts. “PINEAPPLE! PISTA!”). There’s a stop at a photo studio and finally the road home. In the traditional style of his Bhil people, Amaliyar creates an aerial view of carnival grounds crowded with stylized figures depicted in bright primary colors and covered in decorative rows of colored dots. Along with the food, some of the activities on view—a fistfight, bows and arrows pointed in various directions—distinguish this carnival from the typical North American sort (and going unmentioned is the real fair’s marriage market, in which young couples are given an opportunity to elope), but the illustrations and the narrative are both vibrant with the celebratory energy that carnivals everywhere evoke.

Being just a single spread, it’s a quick visit—but big and busy enough to draw and please several viewers at once. (afterword) (Pop-up picture book. 6-9)

NOAH CHASES THE WIND

Worthington, Michelle Illus. by Cowman, Joseph Redleaf Lane (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 14, 2015 978-1-60554-356-7

A young boy sees things a little differently than others.

Noah can see patterns in the dust when it sparkles in the sunlight. And if he puts his nose to the ground, he can smell the kirkus.com

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The peach is a luscious pink-and-gold masterpiece that definitely looks good enough to eat. who eats first?

“green tang of the ants in the grass.” His most favorite thing of all, however, is to read. Noah has endless curiosity about how and why things work. Books open the door to those answers.

But there is one question the books do not explain. When the wind comes whistling by, where does it go? Noah decides to find out. In a chase that has a slight element of danger—wind, after all, is unpredictable—Noah runs down streets, across bridges, near a highway, until the wind lifts him off his feet. Cowman’s gusty wisps show each stream of air turning a different jewel tone, swirling all around. The ribbons gently bring Noah home, setting him down under the same thinking tree where he began.

Did it really happen? Worthington’s sensitive exploration leaves readers with their own set of questions and perhaps gratitude for all types of perspective. An author’s note mentions children on the autism spectrum but widens to include all who feel a little different.

An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way. (Picture book. 4-8)

ORION AND THE DARK

Yarlett, Emma Illus. by the author Templar/Candlewick (40 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2015 978-0-7636-7595-0

A friendly, benign-looking creature called the Dark takes the boy Orion on a fear-conquering adventure.

The mixed-media artwork is engaging and expressive.

Orion is a comical-looking tyke with a large, round head under a striped, knitted cap. The Dark has a soft, rounded form. Its mottled-blue skin is bedecked with stars, and its features are two round, white dots above a simple, white smile. At two points, its kindly, huggable arm literally emerges from the page.

Orion tells the tale, beginning by illustrating several of his fears.

Children will identify strongly with some and giggle over others; they range from wasps to popping balloons to Grandma— pictured as a red-outlined old woman whose speech bubble says “ROAR.” The Dark shows Orion that such places as Under the Bed and In the Basement can be not only fear-free, but fun.

Orion eventually allows a trip to “the awful place where the dark is darkest of all.” That turns out to be “the night sky,” pictured here and throughout as a starry, light-filled place, and hard to match with Orion’s declaration that it makes his “knees wobble” and his “tummy twist.” Detracting from the artwork and some great humor are production problems: Some text is almost indiscernible against dark backgrounds, and likewise, some of the art is too small to read some words.

A funny, savvy bedtime story that addresses common fears. (Picture book. 3- 7)

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WHO EATS FIRST?

Yoon, Ae-hae Illus. by Yang, Hae-won TanTan (38 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-939248-00-8

A giraffe, a rhino, a rabbit, a monkey, an alligator and a caterpillar all come upon a peach that has fallen to the ground and have a discussion—and a competition— as to which of them should get the first bite.

While this Korean import is promoted as a math story illustrating the concepts of comparing, sorting and measuring, it is also an attractive picture book, with quite nifty illustrations that look like watercolor with fabric collage. It also displays a sly sense of humor in its uncredited translation. Giraffe, of course, thinks the first bite should go to the tallest one, while Gator thinks it should go to the one with the biggest mouth, and Monkey thinks it should be the animal with the longest tail. The key to the winner, however, lies in the endpapers, which feature the animal that is always first no matter which way the measuring goes. The characters mostly sit or stand up like human children, and some even wear bits of clothing. Short exercises and lessons further explaining the concepts end the book. The peach, which appears on many of the pages, is a luscious pink-and-gold masterpiece that definitely looks good enough to eat.

Wry text and witty illustrations make for one enjoyable math lesson. (Picture book. 4- 7)

SPY GUY The Not-So-Secret Agent Young, Jessica Illus. by Santoso, Charles HMH Books (40 pp.) $16.99 | May 12, 2015 978-0-544-20859-9

A small, pixie-haired, gap-toothed, pink-skinned boy rocking a fedora aspires to competence as a spy.

Spy Guy is aware of his limitations: He’s not very subtle and actually not really clued into whatever the secret to spying might be. The otherwise unnamed little boy goes “to Headquarters to see the Chief ” for answers. The Chief looks a lot like a dad. The Chief ’s response? He helps Spy Guy out with some new sneakers (for sneaking) and a disguise, some advice about stealth and finally this enigmatic answer: “If you can sneak up on me...then you will know” the secret. Young readers will have noticed the large, long-legged spider in every frame, ready to inspire Spy Guy’s somewhat clever sneaking-up technique. Young’s brief, simple text blends prose and rhymed phrases: “When I try to sneak, my shoes squeak”; “if you want to be stealthy, first you must be healthy.” The problem is that there’s not much of a story here. Spy Guy learns some tricks of his eponymous trade, but that’s about it. Young readers who long for adventure might wish for more to the plot—perhaps a situation in which Spy |

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Beeke employs color, texture and detail to realize these warm, inviting scenes and brilliantly captures Zolotow’s natural wonders. changes

Guy could apply his sneaky skills. Still Santoso’s art conveys broadly comical action, and his slightly retro palette and exaggerated cartoon style are well-suited to the undercover prowess Spy Guy seeks.

Will Spy Guy be the next 007? Unless there’s another book, readers will never know. (Picture book. 4- 7)

MADE YOU UP

Zappia, Francesca Greenwillow/HarperCollins (448 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | May 19, 2015 978-0-06-229010-6 978-0-06-229012-0 e-book After her expulsion from private school for an act of mental-illness– induced vandalism, Alex, 17, begins her senior year at an Indiana public school with trepidation.

Bright and determined to get to college, Alex counts on meds to control her paranoid schizophrenia even if they can’t entirely eliminate the hallucinations that have plagued her for a decade; she relies on her part-time table-waiting job to help keep her occupied. Long before they know her history, bullies at her new school target Alex, but she’s got allies, too—notably Tucker, a classmate and co-worker, as well as the small community of students at school who, like her, must compensate for past misdeeds by doing community service. They sell tickets and snacks, set up seating and provide support for school sporting events. Alex and the group’s charismatic but troubled, possibly autistic leader, Miles, share a mutual attraction that might date back to their strange encounter in a supermarket years earlier, when Alex decided to set a tankful of lobsters free.

This debut’s talented author creates interesting characters and a suspenseful plot to draw readers in, but eventually the narrative loses traction and, ultimately, its raison d’être in a nihilistic denouement likely to leave readers feeling manipulated if not just plain cheated. Also troubling is the reliance on toxic stereotypes of mental illness to generate suspense.

An intriguing but ultimately misbegotten project. (Fiction.

14-18)

ANIMAL SUPERMARKET

Zoboli, Giovanna Illus. by Mulazzani, Simona Translated by Watkinson, Laura Eerdmans (26 pp.) $16.00 | Apr. 16, 2015 978-0-8028-5448-3

Would a supermarket catering to animals stock pizza? Ice cream? Sugary snacks?

Definitely not, at least according to this import. Instead, the snail is going to opt for lettuce, kale and herbs, the goat for turnips and gourds, the cat for milk (“the 130

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kind with the double cream”), and the seals for fresh mackerel and canned sardines. A three-for-two sale on crumbs draws ants and birds, the gibbons will go for grubs, and for bee customers, the whole frozen-food section (“never very popular”) has been replaced by a meadow. Though most of the stock is neatly stacked on shelves or in shopping carts in the painterly illustrations, bears snack on pawsful of blueberries, a mongoose steals eggs, and there are other signs of lively disorder. Mulazzani dresses her thickly brushed animals in human clothes and stands them up on hind legs, but they’re still recognizable enough to match, in a closing visual quiz, with arrays of preferred edibles—including, perhaps as a concession to human viewers, fruit ices and minipizzas—spread out on a table. Packaged and processed goods? Still in evidence. Nonetheless, the overall emphasis on fresh fruits and veggies sends a salutary message to young consumers.

A tongue-in-cheek reminder that good food doesn’t have to come in a box, jar or plastic bag. (Picture book. 5- 7)

CHANGES A Child’s First Poetry Collection

Zolotow, Charlotte Illus. by Beeke, Tiphanie Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2015 978-1-4926-0168-5

A newly gathered collection of timeless seasonal poems originally published in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, with all-new illustrations.

At the time of her death in 2013, the legendary Zolotow had written almost as many children’s books as her 98 years. The present collection “celebrating the seasons” pairs 28 of her poems with vibrant mixed-media illustrations by Beeke. With signature clarity and lyricism, Zolotow captures the immensity of change in the natural world. They range from a spring snapshot brief and spare as “Crocus”—“Little crocus / like a cup, / holding all that sunlight up!”—to a more extended reminiscence of the comfort of being held by her mother during a “sleepless” winter’s night: “I remember that night, / with the snow / white, white, white, / and my mother’s arms around me / warm and tight.” Beeke employs color, texture and detail to realize these warm, inviting scenes and brilliantly captures Zolotow’s natural wonders, as in “Beetle,” where she effectively depicts how a Japanese beetle’s wings “glisten / like a small rainbow / in the sun!” with a delightfully iridescent smudge. The book’s only failing is in the sad preponderance of Caucasian children depicted in its pages.

Though touted as a child’s “first” poetry collection, Zolotow’s heartwarming seasonal verse charms all ages.

(Picture book/poetry. 4 & up)

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continuing series PEPPA PIG AND THE TREASURE HUNT

Candlewick Candlewick | (32 pp.) $12.99 | Mar. 10, 2015 978-0-7636-7703-9 Peppa Pig (Picture book. 2-5)

THE BEST BAT

Howard, Ryan & Howard, Krystle Illus. by Madrid, Erwin Scholastic | (112 pp.) $16.99 | $4.99 paper | Mar. 31, 2015 978-0-545-67494-2 978-0-545-67493-5 paper Little Rhino, 2 (Fiction. 7-10)

STINK MOODY IN MASTER OF DISASTER

McDonald, Megan Illus. by Madrid, Erwin Candlewick | (64 pp.) $12.99 | $4.99 paper | Mar. 10, 2015 978-0-7636-7218-8 978-0-7636-7447-2 paper Judy Moody and Friends (Early reader. 4-6)

SPRING CLEANING

Chaconas, Dori Illus. by McCue, Lisa Penguin Young Readers | (32 pp.) $14.99 | Mar. 10, 2015 978-0-670-01686-0 Cork & Fuzz (Early reader. 6-8)

THE FLYING BEAVER BROTHERS AND THE CRAZY CRITTER RACE

Eaton III, Maxwell Illus. by the author Knopf | (96 pp.) $6.99 paper | $12.99 PLB | Mar. 10, 2015 978-0-385-75469-9 paper 978-0-385-75470-5 PLB Flying Beaver Brothers, 6 (Graphic fantasy. 6-9)

LULU AND THE HAMSTER IN THE NIGHT

McKay, Hilary Illus. by Lamont, Priscilla Whitman | (112 pp.) $13.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8075-4824-0 Lulu, 6 (Fiction. 7-10)

T IS FOR TIME

Smith, Roland & Smith, Marie Illus. by Graef, Renée Sleeping Bear | (40 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2015 978-1-58536-512-8 Sleeping Bear Alphabets (Informational picture book. 8-11)

THE BLACK CROW CONSPIRACY

Edge, Christopher Whitman | (266 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8075-0780-3 Penelope Tredwell, 3 (Historical mystery. 8-12)

I’M A SCAREDY-MOUSE!

Stilton, Geronimo Scholastic | (128 pp.) $6.99 paper | Feb. 24, 2015 978-0-545-74618-8 paper Geronimo Stilton Cavemice, 7 (Adventure. 7-10)

GAME TIME, MALLORY!

Friedman, Laurie Illus. by Kalis, Jennifer Darby Creek | (160 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-0923-1 Mallory, 23 (Fiction. 7-11)

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LOST AT KHE SANH

SECRET OF THE WATER DRAGON

Watkins, Steve Scholastic | (208 pp.) $5.99 paper | Mar. 31, 2015 978-0-545-66587-2 paper Ghosts of War, 2 (Historical mystery. 8-12)

West, Tracey Illus. by Howells, Graham Branches/Scholastic | (96 pp.) $15.99 | $4.99 paper | Feb. 24, 2015 978-0-545-64630-7 978-0-545-64628-4 paper Dragon Masters, 3 (Fantasy. 6-8)

MISSION TITANIC

Watson, Jude Scholastic | (224 pp.) $12.99 | Feb. 24, 2015 978-0-545-74781-3 39 Clues: Doublecross, 1 (Adventure/novelty. 8-12)

RETURN OF THE QUEEN

YoYo Illus. by the author Windmill Books | (208 pp.) $9.99 paper | Mar. 1, 2015 978-1-4777-9091-5 paper Vermonia, 8 (Graphic fantasy. 9-13)

BUTTONS THE RUNAWAY PUPPY

Webb, Holly Illus. by Williams, Sophy Tiger Tales | (128 pp.) $4.99 paper | Mar. 1, 2015 978-1-58925-466-4 paper Pet Rescue Adventures (Fiction. 7-10)

GINGER THE STRAY KITTEN

Webb, Holly Illus. by Williams, Sophy Tiger Tales | (128 pp.) $4.99 paper | Mar. 1, 2015 978-1-58925-464-3 paper Pet Rescue Adventures (Fiction. 7-10)

MAX THE MISSING PUPPY

Webb, Holly Illus. by Williams, Sophy Tiger Tales | (128 pp.) $4.99 paper | Mar. 1, 2015 978-1-58925-467-1 paper Pet Rescue Adventures (Fiction. 7-10)

THE FRIGHTENED KITTEN

Webb, Holly Illus. by Williams, Sophy Tiger Tales | (128 pp.) $4.99 paper | Mar. 1, 2015 978-1-58925-465-1 paper Pet Rescue Adventures (Fiction. 7-10)

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indie THE METAPHOR DECEPTION

This title earned the Kirkus Star:

Adams, Birch CreateSpace (322 pp.) $12.99 paper | $2.99 e-book Oct. 13, 2014 978-1-5027-5459-2

THE JOURNALIST by Jos Scharrer....................................................147

In Adams’ debut techno-thriller, a cunning mathematical genius in Baltimore has to prove he’s not a mole working for North Korea by exposing the real one.

When the North Koreans take out a CIA safe house based on information they intercepted from the Presidential Secure Cell Phone, the National Security Agency immediately suspects that its employee John Nichols is somehow responsible for the breach. Nichols is the creator of the METAPHOR algorithm, a reputedly unhackable encryption designed to protect the PRESCEPH program. Actually, Nichols is a mole for the Russians, who now believe he’s passing secrets to North Korea; the Russians give him two weeks to track down the one who’s truly behind it. Nichols starts his search at Fourier, the San Diego company that developed the hardware chip for the PRESCEPH. There, he reconnects (in more ways than one) with former NSA co-worker Erica May. As a new hire, he covertly investigates Fourier and can only hope that the mole hunt doesn’t lead him to Erica. The author knows how to heighten anticipation: After Nichols’ Russian handler gives him his ultimatum, the novel skips ahead past the two-week deadline, where readers learn that Nichols has been detained and his daughter, Laura, was abducted. The plot then alternates between Nichols telling his story to Travis Jackson of the U.S. Justice Department and the days leading up to his arrest. The protagonist is delectably perplexing because it’s initially unclear (even to readers, who know more than Jackson) that Nichols genuinely isn’t under North Korea’s thumb. At the same time, Nichols is humanized by the adoration he has for Laura and flashbacks to a young Ilia (soon to be John) in Russia unwittingly enlisted by government agents.

Adams enriches the story with numerous characters, including FBI agent Joe Connor, who’s monitoring Jackson’s interrogation, and the enigmatic Hank, who shadows Nichols for an unknown party and occasionally threatens the man he’s watching. There are also a few dead bodies before it’s all over as well as apt displays of Nichols’ hand-to-hand skills. Despite the technology-laden plot, Adams keeps the story relatively simple, never unnecessarily explaining how the METAPHOR algorithm operates or spending too much time establishing Nichols’ exceptional intelligence.

A story and protagonist shrouded in mystery run through with suspense and espionage.

THE JOURNALIST The Jameson Raid * The Klondike Gold Rush * The Anglo Boer War * The Founding of Nigeria * Flora Shaw Was There

Scharrer, Jos CreateSpace (382 pp.) $17.50 paper | $3.99 e-book | Nov. 22, 2014 978-1-5008-0757-3

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forewarned is forearmed A HUMANITARIAN PAST Antiquity’s Impact on Present Social Conditions

Since Kirkus Indie reviewers have critiqued thousands of memoirs, novels, mysteries, thrillers, etc., we thought we’d call on them occasionally to share insight and advice from the front lines of self-publishing. In this issue, several veteran reviewers note the recurring errors they spot on their sojourns through Indieland.

Ivan Kenneally, who also writes for the Los Angeles Review of Books and Open Letters Monthly, bemoans the rampant misuse of the semicolon, which is “apparently a great grammatical mystery,” he says. In a meta moment, he notes, “the em dash is used too promiscuously—it’s a punctuational epidemic. And pronouns...don’t get me started on the practice of starting a paragraph with a pronoun without an antecedent referent.”

Fuzzy details plague reviewers. Hannah Sheldon-Dean, who reviews nonfiction, says, “Authors of books on selfhelp and spirituality in particular tend to offer vague advice that often just repeats things we’ve all heard before— ‘Have faith,’ for example.”

Sheldon-Dean says that, while reviewing, she looks for concrete details that explain how to implement the suggested self-help strategies or systems of belief. “For authors, a good test of this is to read over the advice you’re giving, and then ask yourself: What exactly would it look like for a person to follow this advice? If you can’t get a clear picture, then you’re not being specific enough.”

Stephanie Cerra has reviewed hundreds of Indie titles, and anachronisms drive her batty.

“Nothing destroys the illusion of historicity like seeing tomatoes in medieval pre-Columbus Italy or a Regency hero with a first This tomato simply did not exist in name like Brayden,” she medieval pre-Columbus Italy. says. “This applies to behavior also: a well-brought-up Victorian girl would not defy her society without a second thought. Anachronisms make a book appear sloppy, lazy and underresearched.” —K.S.

Änggård , Adele AuthorHouseUK (310 pp.) $27.93 paper | $4.99 e-book Nov. 3, 2014 978-1-4969-9332-8

In her debut anthropological treatise, Änggård describes a more peaceful, egalitarian past for Europe.

Traditionally, the people of Europe and many of its former colonies have viewed themselves as heirs to the civilization of the ancient Greeks. Democratic Athens and her allies, they assert, laid down the philosophical and artistic template from which all Western societies subsequently sprung. Änggård also thinks that Europeans are heirs to the Greeks, but she says that the Greeks had an abusive, authoritarian society whose truly lasting gifts are patriarchy, exploitation, conquest and war. She argues that a better model would have been the Stone Age societies of Old Europe, which saw women as the equals of men and didn’t build walls around their villages. With her background in theatrical costume and set design, Änggård looks to visual clues, such as cave paintings, tombs and stone figurines, as evidence of a less violent time in history. She then analyzes how the civilizations of later antiquity attempted to dispel and write off those earlier societies. The book goes on to explain how the Greek inheritance plagues modern society even today: Sexism and racism still run rampant at the beginning of the third millennium, the author says, and aggressive, violent subjugation is still a viable political tactic. Änggård asks readers to imagine an alternate history that celebrates the ancients’ peaceful tendencies instead of warlike ones. She tracks her ambitious theory across many different cultures and eras, and her interpretation of ancient myths and texts to support her ideas is quite compelling. Her notion is that the foibles of human nature haven’t condemned societies to inequality and violence, and it’s an attractive proposition. That said, her theory is difficult to prove or disprove because so much of her case is based upon inherently subjective criticism of ancient cultural objects. For readers, it will simply come down to whether they’re swayed by her arguments or not. The book’s major achievement may not be that it shows readers how much they know about the past—but rather how much they can’t know.

An alternative, humanistic view of ancient Europe that’s worthy of readers’ consideration.

Karen Schechner is the senior Indie editor at Kirkus Reviews.

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Reconstruction First a Body, Then a Life

THE LITTLE SPARK 30 Ways to Ignite Your Creativity

Ashburne, Ara Lucia & Ashburne, Michael J. CreateSpace (298 pp.) $11.99 paper | Dec. 10, 2014 978-1-5033-8364-7

Bloomston, Carrie Stash Books (128 pp.) $19.95 paper | $9.99 e-book Nov. 14, 2014 978-1-60705-960-8

Ashburne’s debut memoir recounts her extraordinary journey toward recovery from the physical and emotional scars of a near-death experience with flesh-eating bacteria.

After three attempts to become pregnant via in vitro fertilization, Ashburne and her husband, Michael, were heartbroken to learn that she had an ectopic pregnancy. Ara was not completely surprised, though, as she had been experiencing intense pain in her lower abdomen. After the procedure to remove the pregnancy, Ara hoped to heal and move on with her life. However, her body continued to be wracked with pain even worse than before her surgery. Baffled, her doctors gave her a changing cocktail of pain relievers that had little or no effect. Not finding anything wrong, they eventually discharged Ara. At home, she was groggy and unresponsive, but when her pulse raced to 120 beats per minute, she was readmitted to the hospital. From there, things only got worse. Doctors discovered Ara had “[n] ecrotizing fasciitis and necrosis of the subcutaneous tissue and mild necrosis.” She was infected with a strain of bacteria that was destroying tissue in her abdomen. Over multiple procedures, doctors removed the diseased tissue, and although her internal organs were spared, the majority of her abdomen was removed. Ara was given drugs to paralyze and sedate her as well as to manage her pain. All the while, she experienced shockingly realistic, often violent delusions. Miraculously, Ara recovered from her ordeal and eventually returned home, but she was haunted by feelings of depression, even suicide. Her struggle to fully heal was nothing short of heroic. At times, Ara’s story is so horrific it may seem unbelievable. Yet the medical notations, specific drugs and dosages, and other information she includes more than uphold her veracity. Many readers may be uncomfortable with her exacting and lengthy detail, especially in regard to her delusions and feelings of utter helplessness in the hospital, but the reality those details impart will no doubt leave a lasting imprint. Ashburne survived the struggle by tackling one significant issue at a time. She sought therapy to work through issues of being sexually abused and tortured as a girl (memories which provided the fodder for her delusions at the hospital), she immersed herself in beauty on a trip to Paris, and she even got herself physically fit enough to ride a scooter across the country—solo.

Verbose at times but astonishing and inspirational nonetheless.

A professional artist presents a guide to unlocking one’s inspiration and inventiveness.

In her debut how-to manual, fabric designer and artist Bloomston offers hands-on techniques and hand-holding encouragement to help overcome an inert imagination. The author recognizes that inspiration can be blocked and that creativity is sometimes offset by procrastination. In this book, she presents practical advice, motivational words, fun suggestions and write-in exercises in a colorful, highly attractive format designed to produce tangible results. The book’s design beautifully weaves together text, blank write-in spaces, stellar photos and a host of other charming design elements. The titular “spark” refers to a person’s creativity, which the author says is “like a pilot light—it’s always on, even if you aren’t using the stove.” She explores how to get cooking creatively in 30 short chapters that advise readers to, among other things, not be stingy with materials, begin with tiny goals (“achievable, quick steps you can take every day until you are less intimidated by starting”), carve out workable work spaces, discover personal learning styles and disrupt normal patterns of activity to “see the world with new eyes.” Along with encouraging quotes, the author offers practical ideas, such as keeping mugs and jars filled with markers and colored pencils at the ready for when inspiration strikes. The book also offers ways to “share your creations with the world.” Extremely valuable “Do This” exercises in each chapter invite readers to make specific items, such as a “soul box” or a “vision board”; to answer soul-searching questions; and to do activities outside the home that may be beyond one’s comfort zone: “Step outside the normal. Step outside the expected to find your creative self. Be curious.” Bloomston also offers her own personal anecdotes as well as stories and tips from numerous others; the extensive list of contributors includes designers, artists and business owners.

A sparkling blueprint for stimulating creativity.

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The turns these stories take, structurally and emotionally, prove that Chehak is not only a daring literary artisan, but a connoisseur of human frailty. it’s not about the dog

Odyssey of an Etruscan Noblewoman

while his mistress, who witnessed it, collects all the sympathy.

A husband and wife, both on their second marriage, confront what makes them need to be with someone. In these 17 stories, Chehak delivers a passel of perspectives from the wiser sides of love and death. Her protagonists are largely in the second half of life; they have reached maturity and yet they are no less hungry for understanding. Generally, they do not react to specific problems in their lives but rather to the aggregate problem of life itself. A wonderful sensation of numbness pervades the stories: Readers don’t witness events so much as sift through memories of them. It is not that Chehak’s characters are unreliable; they simply aren’t interested in feeding the reader a straight account. It’s a haunted world of incidental music half heard or imagined, of tragedies witnessed from a distance or not at all. Characters tread through their realistic, complicated inner lives with a fatalistic sense of humor. The prose is a delight of turned-in logic and vernacular philosophy, allowing the occasional halting statement of bleak brilliance. Never predictable, the narratives twist to unforeseen ends: Characters prove to be not as petty (or far more petty) as previously believed. There is an emotional truth to their lives that readers might like to reject but can’t. Despite all the ways men and women dress themselves up, in houses and marriages and careers and middle age, they can’t help but remain self-preserving beasts at heart.

The turns these stories take, structurally and emotionally, prove that Chehak is not only a daring literary artisan, but a connoisseur of human frailty.

An acerbic, stirring collection from a master of the craft.

Burgundy, Rosalind Xlibris (348 pp.) $32.99 | $22.99 paper | $8.99 e-book Nov. 3, 2005 978-1-4134-1623-7 An Etruscan noblewoman undergoes numerous trials and tribulations in another work of historical fiction from author Burgundy (Tuscan Intrigue, 2005, etc.).

The action begins in a tomb in Etruria, a region of central Italy.

Dressed as a man (women cannot be scribes), Larthia enters the tomb of her ancestor princess-priestess Larthia on orders from prince-priest Zilath, a magistrate for whom she secretly scribes. Zilath desecrates the tomb, but the honorable Larthia is blamed. Kidnapped and separated from her homeland and her family, she is exiled for years, journeying through other regions, including Phoenicia and Egypt. Many are drawn to Larthia; some scarcely hide their jealousy as various VIPs recognize her talent as a scribe. Enduring misery and defeat, she nevertheless expresses gratitude and patience, remaining self-aware and wary, inherently alone, eventually distrusting even the gods who seemingly abandoned her. Repeatedly, she pays for her abilities: “I knew too much, more than my place.” Pacing is brisk in this insightful narrative weighty with historical detail. In her misadventures, Larthia is raped, forced to become a courtesan and nearly murdered before ascending to service as a priestess. It’s an impressive arc that works on multiple levels, as Larth/Larthia/Etrusca (her various names) traverses land and sea, seemingly at everyone’s mercy, increasingly doubting her faith. She is used and misused, and her lengthy separation from her homeland drains her of vitality. Yet she is a feminist in the making— a woman of integrity, intelligence and presence who wishes to keep the secrets of her native land even as she is coerced into divulging them. It’s a clever conceit that allows for comparison of Etruscan ways with those of other cultures, including Rome and Egypt. A map of her cosmos is included.

A historically based survival tale of lost heritage, homelessness and empowerment that ably incorporates regional traditions, customs and commerce.

THE JOB PIRATE An Entertaining Tale of My Job-Hopping Journey in America Christopher, Brandon BH Publications Pte Ltd. (294 pp.) $16.95 paper | Feb. 19, 2015 978-0-9905732-0-3

Christopher (Emily’s Little Pilot of Loquacious Weather, 2013, etc.) has figured out the secret to consistently landing a job on the quick: brazenly, confidently lie about your credentials. Here’s his comedic, meandering quest to find quick employment and avoid a long-lasting career.

In the midst of an ailing job market, this is an especially timely book. Covering two decades and 81 jobs, this series of first-person essays charts an eclectic and in some ways strangely impressive tour of jobs. Christopher visits both the highs and lows of employment, working as a writer, a mortuary driver, a plumber’s assistant and a copy editor of gay porn.

At that last gig, once outed as a heterosexual, he was the victim of sexual harassment perpetrated by a female superior.

The tone is always breezy and ironic, though the constant posture of cleverness can sometimes grate as it becomes a kind of “too cool for school” aversion to bourgeois careerism.

Thankfully, the book can be lively and genuinely hilarious as

It’s Not About The Dog Stories

Chehak, Susan Taylor Foreverland Press Feb. 16, 2015

Chehak (What Happened To Paula: The Anatomy of a True Crime, 2014, etc.) returns to fiction with a collection of short stories.

A woman hosts her free-spirit sister, who has returned home to deal with a family crisis. Another copes with her husband’s violent death 136

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well as bracingly self-critical. Somewhat frustratingly, though, despite a few mentions of personal autonomy and being “the protagonist in your own living novel,” it’s not exactly clear why the author insists on such an itinerant lifestyle. “I’ve never subscribed to that old-fashioned American Dream of having just one career for 35 years, followed by a cane-bound trance of heart medications, hip problems and Law & Order,” he says. “Nothing scares me more, to be honest, even as I near dangerously close to middle age myself. Instead, I prefer to taste life. I prefer to taste many lives, actually.” Responding to a command from his father to essentially get a job, not to mention a life, he reflects: “But then from out of nowhere springs a statement so profound and so uncommonly logical as: I need to live life in order to write about life. So simple yet so philosophical—existential, even.” What redeems much of the shallowness here is that Christopher is much more than what he claims to be, “a professional pretender for a decent paycheck and health insurance.” After all, while tasting many lives, he’s written four books.

A very funny but sometimes self-indulgent account of life chasing art and avoiding responsibility.

the meticulously crafted corners of his world; one of the most thrilling tells of the exorcism of a demon being. The difference in this installment is that the stakes have risen sharply, and fantasy readers should strap in for a dark, twisted ride— even if most of the narrative merely sets up a potentially more intense third volume. Cole’s prose is evocative, as always; he describes Beam’s injuries, for example, as a “torn map of flesh.”

There are also great philosophical moments, as when Wenzil says, “Hope’s a deep well....Sometimes there’s water at the bottom, sometimes there just ain’t.” The very best chapters deal with Beam’s inward journey and expose the startling history of Calevia. Overall, this book offers great rewards for Cole’s loyal readers.

A weird, wonderful installment of a fantasy saga that’s inching toward greatness.

COUNTRYSIDE The Book of the Wise

Cope IV, J.T. Tiner Publishers (340 pp.) $24.99 | $16.99 paper | $3.99 e-book Aug. 14, 2014 978-0-9960500-1-2

THE BURDEN OF MEMORY Volume II of the Blood Caeyl Memories

In this YA fantasy debut, dark forces target a young man after learning he has roots in a magical community.

Eleven-year-old Luke Rayburn from Houston, Texas, is the oldest of five children. When his father loses his job at the tire plant, life becomes a bit uncertain. Luke usually finds solace under his favorite oak tree in the lot across the street. But one night, a sinister man named Saul appears out of the darkness to inform Luke that his fate is tied to an ancient, powerful book and, by extension, the world. Afterward, his life only gets stranger when benevolent tree dryads and black-eyed pursuers (called darkmen) appear. Thankfully, Luke’s grandparents are able to whisk the family away—via a magical tunnel— to a secret town called Countryside. There, all beings legendary and wonderful live peacefully (including angels and centaurs), and Luke receives special schooling in the manipulation of light.

Yet he must still beware the forces of evil that desire the ancient book (wherever it may be hidden), because someone in Countryside is helping darkmen—and worse enemies—sneak past the community’s magical barriers. There’s also a red twinkle on the northern horizon foreshadowing the world’s destruction.

Debut author Cope brings the loveliness of small-town America to his narrative through upstanding characters (children use sir and ma’am when addressing adults) and idyllic settings; in a gardened alley, for example, “Pinpricks of blue light floated through the air...visible against a canopy of ivy, and birds the size of plums flitted back and forth.” It’s easy for Luke—and readers—to slip into this cozy realm that’s laced with magic and presided over by confident adults, like Uncle Landon and estate manager Quentin Acharon. These elements make for a rather sedate narrative, however. Football games and cute girls on horseback keep the story in first gear until the shadowy villains

Cole, Welcome Caelstone Press (520 pp.) $24.95 | $16.95 paper | $9.99 e-book Oct. 29, 2014 978-0-9894249-7-4 This sequel to Cole’s (Henry’s Re-entry, 2014, etc.) epic fantasy The Pleasure of Memory (2013) sees disparate members of an ancient order preparing for battle against a villainous fire mage.

The art of magic, which is based on the mysterious Caeyl stones, is dying out in the land of Calevia. Following the events of the previous book, the thieving rogue Beam is also dying, but luckily he has the Caeyllth Blade, which houses the rare Blood Caeyl stone. Inside a vast crypt, his friend Chance Gnoman, along with the Baeldonian giant Jhom, place the physically ravaged Beam inside a tent so that the magic stone can heal him. Elsewhere, another Baeldon named Wenzil interrogates his captive, the Vaemysh Mawby, and learns that they are both members of the Lamys te’Faht (the Eye of the Faithful), part of a lineage of cleric knights who await signs of impending dark times. According to the occult order’s legends, the rise of a Fire Caeyl Mage will herald the end of civilization and the return of the Divinic Demons. It turns out that Prae the Biled, Chance’s nemesis, is that mage, and it’s up to the Lamys te’Faht to halt his demonic army. Sibling smugglers Lucifeus and Malevolus, however, have already caught some Vaemysh trackers on their lands who appear to be demonically possessed, which escalates the war. This second volume of Cole’s saga, like the first, uses dialogue-heavy chapters to illuminate |

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CADENCE TO GLORY A Novel of the American Revolution

slither into view. While the diverse plot threads weave together colorfully, the result feels more like a mystery that’s setting up the fantasy to come.

Solid introduction to a potentially vast magical world.

Dearmon, Mary Beth CreateSpace (358 pp.) $14.00 paper | $2.99 e-book Nov. 7, 2014 978-1-5027-6861-2

THE WORD Jace Forman Series Crouch, Hubert Serpentine Books 978-0-692-36900-5

With the American Revolution as a backdrop, debut novelist Dearmon offers an enjoyable, old-fashioned love story set in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Readers meet feisty, outspoken 17-year-old Priscilla Parr in August 1773, not long after British Parliament authorized the Stamp Act, which didn’t sit well with Colonists. When the family of Priscilla’s childhood friend Thomas Eton moves back to Williamsburg from Richmond, the friendship between the two teenagers is rekindled. This relationship between Priscilla, daughter of a Loyalist, and Thomas, son of a Revolutionary, frames Dearmon’s depiction of the fracturing friendships and families of the Colonial privileged class as sides are drawn for or against the Revolution. Hidden beneath the congenial, ever so polite social events are rivalries, espionage, villainy and treacherous betrayals. With one exception near the end, Dearmon doesn’t take her readers to the war itself. Following Priscilla, she stays focused on the home front. While the revolutionaries make their plans and begin to take up arms, hearts are chastely aflutter as young women continue to search for proper husbands and eligible men search for appropriate wives. Priscilla, with her streak of independence and an innate understanding of human machinations, is the endearing guide through the social mores and upheavals. Her intellectual curiosity is drawn to the rather boisterous political debates she overhears among men. Although she thinks it naïve to believe that an uprising against the king could be successful, she is gradually drawn into the fray by Thomas, who is committed to American independence. Eventually, she will have to make a painful, costly decision. Dearmon writes in the style of late-18th/early-19th century authors, replicating the linguistic formality of the era both in dialogue and narration. The work reflects an assortment of literary styles: part comedy of manners, a bit of epistolary text and a good measure of family saga. A healthy supply of plot twists propels the story forward.

An ambitious first offering from a new talent.

Crouch (Cried For No One, 2013) returns to the high-stakes world of Texas civil litigation with the next Jace Forman thriller.

When a grieving couple attempting to bury their veteran daughter is confronted by a group of fanatical Christian protestors outside her funeral, they go to well-respected Fort Worth attorney Jace Forman for justice. In nearby Austin, dogged legal reporter Leah Rosen, hot on the trail of a star lawyer who may be using false evidence to win cases, finds a dead fish in her bed, the word “STOP” written in lipstick across her pillowcase. For help in their respective investigations, both Forman and Rosen turn to virtuoso PI Jackie McLaughlin to get them the answers they need. Looming over everything is Forman’s rival, Cal Connors, the subject of Rosen’s article and a man who doesn’t feel the need to play by the rules when the system is stacked against his clients. Last assembled in Crouch’s previous novel, the cast is back for an even greater task: challenging the limitations of speech, religion and the First Amendment. Crouch is a fine practitioner of the courtroom drama. He knows just how to bring a legal case to life without having to dress it up or dumb it down. His prose is precise and clear, pushing readers forward with an understated elegance. Characters—heroes, villains and those in between—are fully formed creatures with personal hungers, demons and large helpings of Texas personality. Since pacing is right on point, the pages all but turn themselves as each scene builds on the next, working outward in a spiderweb of connections, complications and coincidences. The story gets bigger as it goes along, with Crouch keeping it skillfully managed the whole way. Inspired by news headlines, this timely novel illustrates how even the simplest seeming disputes are complex in the eyes of the law. Serving justice, it turns out, sometimes requires a creative strategy.

A topical, lively legal thriller.

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The best of Deyo’s prose is a parade of gnarly textures. the undelightened

THE UNDELIGHTENED

THE LOST IDENTITY CASUALTIES The Callaghan Tetralogy I (Volume 1)

Deyo, Bentz Third Floor Publishing, LLC (466 pp.) $16.99 paper | $4.99 e-book Feb. 1, 2014 978-0-9911551-0-1

Ekemar, Kim CreateSpace (216 pp.) $13.50 paper | $7.99 e-book Aug. 16, 2014 978-1-4910-8118-1

In this teen debut, a young agent of Darkness begins to question his family’s war against the Light.

Last year, on his 17th birthday, Leam Holt of Harbing, New Jersey, failed to delighten. The ritual to darken his soul and endow him with powerful magic didn’t succeed, and he’s an embarrassment to his sorcerer parents. Leam must now watch his younger brother Zach’s delightenment, to be performed by Gideon, leader of the Darkness. Meanwhile, in nearby Cliff Edge, recent high school grad Eloa Frost finds evidence of her father’s violent kidnapping.

As an agent of Light, Jace Frost has an enchanted safe—and it’s been broken into. Eloa rushes to her grandparents’ home and soon meets with Porlo, a friend of her father’s, who gives her a magical pendant and encourages her to join the battle against Darkness. Back in Harbing, Gideon delightens Zach but is also impressed by Leam’s knowledge of the Prophecy, which says that someone special will aid them in the war. Gideon instructs Leam to meet with his associate for his “first real day of school.” The meeting, which proves that Leam still has great magical potential, ends with him crashing into Eloa, who’s jogging through the park. Has coincidence kick-started their relationship, or is it something more potent? Debut author Deyo crafts a grim, emotionally hefty narrative that features more vile characters than not. The opening sequence has the brothers kidnapping a grown woman for Zach’s private pleasure. But Deyo frequently implies rather than details how evil the Darkness is, as when readers learn that they’ve “created a serum for... children that increases their tendency to bully weaker peers.”

The best of Deyo’s prose is a parade of gnarly textures; Gideon’s eyes are “Dead dull, but sparking crazy.” Yet some metaphors are too unwieldy, as when someone has “a terrifying thought, a thought that flat-lined his smile fire quick and pounded away at his heart.” Nevertheless, great characterization throughout will have readers eager for the next volume.

Intense reading for those tired of Harry Potter’s goodytwo-shoes ways.

After Russian mobsters sever his fingers and slash his face, Matthias Callaghan is rushed to a clinic in Switzerland, where doctors equip him with prosthetic hands and a face transplant. He then uses the anonymity of his new face to exact revenge on all involved, losing his humanity in the process.

In this first volume of the Callaghan tetralogy, Ekemar (Destiny Comes With Strings Attached, 2008, etc.) presents a fresh, intriguing tale. Through an intricate weaving of character, circumstance, mistaken identity and coincidence, he constructs an engaging, original storyline. Rather than a potion, it is his new persona that changes Callaghan—a face transplanted from the corpse of a man out of his wife’s past. The author deftly uses Callaghan’s dry, emotionless voice to characterize the evolution of his personality: “The planning for revenge was strangely satisfying, as was the detachment from my friends and former life.” From the beginning, Callaghan is methodical; he even says so numerous times. Also, his participation in a credit card scam early in his career suggests an ember of criminality. Nevertheless, his disciplined, systematic approach allows him to track down all the players involved in his abduction and to construct elaborate cons in order to execute retribution. “My motivation was absolute,” he says. “I wanted to see those who had destroyed my life suffer like I had.” But payback doesn’t end there. He is compelled to bring down peripheral actors such as his former partner in crime Allan, and his ne’er-do-well father, also named Matthias. Even his wife, Julia—evidently a victim of circumstance—must pay.

Ekemar plays the plot beautifully, contrasting past and present chapters in well-thought-out juxtaposition. A few symbolic ideas—such as a genetic mutation placing Callaghan’s heart on the right side—spice things up as well. Good thing the next installment is already out there.

A unique, multilayered tale with some fresh twists.

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Interviews & Profiles

D.J. Molles

The author wrote to satisfy his own interests until readers started catching on

By Nick A. Zaino III People did like it, enough for Molles to self-publish through Kindle Direct. But Molles was still only cautiously optimistic it would find a wider audience.

“When I put it on Kindle, I knew some folks on the Internet enjoyed it, but folks on the Internet enjoy a lot of different things,” he says, laughing. He wasn’t sure if it was worth the effort to start writing query letters. “I was like, ‘Well, you know, let’s see if people like it on Kindle, when they pay actual money for it,’ ” he recalls.

If Molles wrote the first Remaining book for himself, it nonetheless is perfectly tailored to draw in fans of post-apocalyptic action novels. It is somewhat slow for the first couple of chapters, as the main character, Lee Harden, waits in an underground bunker.

He has been commissioned by the military as an asset to be used after the last lines of defense have failed.

Harden is one of the 50 people (one for each state in the U.S.) who have been given access to supplies and charged with rebuilding society if things go terribly wrong. After a fast-spreading virus turns people into mindless, aggressive killers, Harden is thrust back into the world outside the safety of his bunker and spends most of Book 1 just trying to survive.

Post-apocalyptic fiction turned out to be the perfect vehicle for Molles’ creativity. He had tried writing science fiction and fantasy as a kid and was drawn to the desperation of horror, but he wasn’t a big fan of some of its more paranormal trappings. In a post-apocalyptic setting, he could write realistically about a modern world and still make it scary. “You can still maintain the same credible level of horror because one of the biggest things in horror is taking that security blanket away from people,” he says. “I think that provides pretty much an ideal space for me to write in.”

Photo courtesy Tara Molles

Sometimes success finds you when you stop trying to find success. Take D.J. Molles: he stopped writing altogether after a number of rejections, staying busy with his day job as a police officer. Then he started writing again but wrote for himself, with no thought of getting published. The result was The Remaining, the first book of what is now a series published by Orbit, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group. Book 5 in the series, The Remaining: Allegiance, will be published on Feb. 24, with Book 6, The Remaining: Extinction, already in the chute.

The series had a modest birth. Molles (pronounced “moh-lay”) wrote something he might want to read himself and started posting chapters to an online forum. “I thought, ‘I’m going to write something I want to write. And when I got done with it, I figured, ‘Hey, why not see if people like it?’ ” 140

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Molles self-published the first four books in the series, starting in 2012, and found a rabid fan base. He would release them months apart and found an immediate demand for the next installment. “I would release a book on, let’s say, a Monday, and…by Tuesday I would have 3 million messages on Facebook going, ‘So when’s Book 4?’ ” he says. He thought, “I just gave you 3, you read it in 24 hours, and you’re impatient for the next one. You’ve got to give me a chance to write this stuff.”

That attracted the attention of Orbit, which has already published the first four Remaining books and two related e-book–only novellas. The decision to sign with a traditional publishing house did upset some of Molles’ early fans who had bought the selfpublished Kindle versions of the work, but the possibility of opening up The Remaining series to a wider audience was intriguing. “People were sending me Facebook messages telling me, ‘Hey, my friends are reading this but I don’t own a Kindle, do you have any plans to do paperback?’ ” he says. “If I went traditional publishing, there are all these other people who could get into the story.”

It was surprising to Molles to see his books on shelves in the rural area of North Carolina where he lives. He says most people there are “9-to-5 farmers” and working people. “There’s limited time to read around here,” he says. “But then I’ll come in the next week, and all the books will be gone.”

There have been advantages and disadvantages to working with a traditional publisher. Molles and his wife used to log in to the Kindle Direct website and get daily updates on sales. Now they have to wait for reports to be processed. Paperback versions of the book also meant new covers, an area where Molles, who had designed his own covers before, had to compromise. He felt that the models his publisher chose for the cover imagery “look nothing like Lee,” he says.

“I don’t like the gun he’s carrying. It looked a little spacey to me, sci-fi–ish, and I really resisted that.”

Despite his rapid climb, Molles has maintained a certain amount of pessimism about success. “It still definitely surprised me,” he says. “I didn’t believe it for a very long time. I just expected it to bottom out.”

He is optimistic enough, though, that on Jan. 9, he quit his job to write full-time.

Molles’ contract with Orbit is only for the Remaining series, which ends with Book 6 in July. He

says it was a relief to be done with this particular story, and he has a lot of other ideas he wants to pursue, but he doesn’t rule out returning to it at some point.

“Book 6 is very much the endpoint for this particular story,” he says. “The world is there, the concept is there, but as far as Lee Harden and this particular story, it’s reached an endpoint. I’m not saying I’ll never return to him as a character or that world, but I liked the way I concluded it. It made the point that I wanted to make.”

Nick A. Zaino III is a freelance writer based in Boston covering the arts for Kirkus Reviews, The Boston Globe, BDCWire.com, TheSpitTake.com and other publications.

The Remaining Allegiance Molles, D.J. Orbit (576 pp.) $10.00 paper | Feb. 24, 2015 978-0-316-40426-6 |

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REAL LAWYERS A Novel

Parents Have the Power to Make Special Education Work An Insider Guide

Farmer, Kenneth CreateSpace (296 pp.) $11.99 paper | $2.99 e-book Oct. 18, 2014 978-1-4975-2063-9

Graves, Judith Canty & Graves, Carson Jessica Kingsley Pub (160 pp.) $19.95 paper | Jan. 21, 2014 978-1-84905-970-1

As a public defender, a young lawyer fresh out of school learns how the legal system really works.

Television makes it look so easy. A smartly dressed lawyer comes up with a clever ploy or finds a key witness at the eleventh hour, snatching victory so that justice prevails. In reality, as Farmer’s novel illustrates in occasionally harrowing fashion, the American legal system is a hodgepodge of overworked public defenders, self-righteous judges and endless paperwork in which justice is often a happy accident. Law school lessons still dancing in his head, Paul Fields becomes a public defender in Louisville, Kentucky. He quickly gets disabused of his ivory-tower vision of the law as he descends into Kentucky’s Byzantine legal system and discovers how things actually work. Along the way, he picks up a girlfriend, Megan, who winds up helping him investigate a dandified judge nicknamed Lil’O and a crooked cop, who are running an illegal scheme from Acme Supply, a dirty company of which the judge is president. Meanwhile, in court, he has to contend with Heath, a smug prosecutor who cares only about advancing his political career. Farmer’s novel is an eye-opening, sometimes-uncomfortable trip through one state’s legal system that will make doubters out of anyone who naïvely thinks justice always triumphs.

Farmer, a former public defender and prosecutor, clearly knows his way around the law, and the book rings with authenticity. The story moves along briskly, occasionally becoming too technical as Farmer lays on the legalese. He keeps the Lil’O case percolating on the back burner even as Fields becomes involved with other matters. Until he learns that “things are what they are” and that he can’t change them, Fields flounders at his job.

What’s initially fascinating but ultimately disturbing is how rigged the American legal system is against the poor and downtrodden and how justice for them depends solely on their luck in getting a public defender who cares enough. Sadly, after reading this, one suspects that’s rarely the case.

Keen, sobering account of how the legal system really works.

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A husband and wife team up to present a cleareyed, informative guide for parents of children in special education.

The Graves’ how-to debut includes practical recommendations for other mothers and fathers traversing the sometimesbureaucratic maze of special ed. In the early 1990s, the authors discovered that their 3-year-old son needed help, and this text includes many examples from their 15 years of experience. This easy-to-understand resource covers many facets, from requesting eligibility testing to transitioning a child into adult life after high school graduation. It includes a summarized history of special education, but it mainly offers hands-on advice, such as how to understand school evaluations and participate in productive team meetings. Instead of overwhelming readers with jargon, the authors introduce only a few important acronyms, such as the IEP, or Individualized Education Program (or Plan).

The IEP is an important legal document, updated each year to identify a child’s abilities and needs, which determines the special education services he or she will receive; the Graves explain how to develop an effective IEP with specific, measurable goals.

The well-referenced text also contains simple but useful action steps (“What Parents Can Do”) at the end of each chapter. For example, one suggests ways to be prepared for meetings: “Talk through your issues for the meeting with your spouse, partner, advocate, or trusted friend. Write down your concerns, then create a proposed agenda and share it with your special education liaison.” The book also looks at when to bring in professionals, such as advocates, from “outside” the system. Teachers and administrators may bristle a bit at some topics, such as when to hire a lawyer, but the tone is mostly evenhanded; for example, the Graves repeatedly suggest that parents remain cordial to educators, even during disagreements.

A viable resource for helping children obtain the best special education possible.

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It’s almost the end of the world as we know it, and 17-year-old Ember Shay O’Meara feels fine. embers

ENGAGE Smart Ideas to Get More Media Coverage, Build Your Influence & Grow Your Business

EMBERS

Hopkins, Karen Ann Self (351 pp.) $0.99 e-book | Oct. 21, 2014 An impending apocalypse provides a compelling backdrop for romance in this page-turning first installment of a new YA series.

It’s almost the end of the world as we know it, and 17-year-old Ember Shay O’Meara feels fine. If anything, she feels a little too fine. A fiery car crash recently killed her parents but left her unscathed, without a single scar to show for it. Per her parents’ wishes, guardianship shifted to her family friend Ila, who lives in a small Tennessee town in the Smoky Mountains. There’s a reason Ila is in charge; it turns out that both she and Ember are Watchers: special, “half human” creatures descended from angels. Ember must learn everything she can about her kind from Ila, but her supernatural education doesn’t excuse her from having to attend high school. There, her good looks gain her the acceptance of the cool girls and the attention of the football team’s quarterback. However, Ember falls in love with a handsome, half-human “Demon” named Sawyer McCrae, who lives with other evil creatures in a high-walled compound in town. Sparks fly, sometimes quite literally, as Ember and Sawyer battle their impulses—and better judgment—to figure out whether they can be together. The question becomes more urgent as the apocalypse looms large in their future. Hopkins (Lamb to the Slaughter, 2014, etc.) expertly weaves her plotlines together in this compulsively readable teen romance. She peppers the novel with short passages from the Bible (including the book of Revelation) in order to craft a good-versus-evil morality tale writ large. For example, Sawyer, like others in his Demon group, must feed on human souls for sustenance, but he’s hesitant about it, especially after things turn more macabre and healthy humans, as opposed to infirm drifters, start getting killed. Such ethical issues are disquietingly uncomfortable and perhaps even beyond the scope of this story. Nevertheless, Hopkins delivers many successful elements of young-adult romance—appealing lead characters, high-voltage chemistry, repressed sexuality— which will win her ardent followers.

A paranormal YA tale that’s highly recommended for fans of the Twilight series; move over, Bella and Edward, there’s a new set of kids on the block.

Griesel, Dian Business School of Happiness Inc. (238 pp.) $79.95 paper | $79.95 e-book Dec. 10, 2014 978-1-936705-13-9

A public relations professional shares a wealth of useful ideas for gaining free media coverage.

In this highly accessible guide, Griesel (FUNDaMentals, 2012, etc.) details 226 “smart ideas” that any corporate communicator can use to “raise their profile or that of their company, project or concept.” The author covers several essential topics, such as how to attract favorable media attention, develop lasting media contacts, craft effective messages, make public speeches and master the art of the interview. She holds nothing back as she shares insider tips for getting noticed (“You will not get your story told if the editor or publisher feels your story will not help sell copies, subscriptions or advertising”) and secrets for identifying the right media sources (“A smart way to unearth reporters covering your sector is to look for keywords found in your competitors’ press releases”). A chapter that addresses public-company transparency in financial reporting is sure to help novice communicators navigate tricky regulatory waters.

Of particular value is the author’s take on “critical issues to weigh when dealing with a crisis.” Here, Griesel demonstrates her keen eye for crisis management, offering several pertinent ideas for minimizing public relations damage from bad news: “Have a crisis plan of action in place before the crisis,” she writes, and “[a]void a fortress mentality when dealing with the media.”

After a comprehensive run-through of basic and advanced PR techniques, Griesel appends a helpful second section, which includes an informed discussion of how to most effectively use websites, email and social media. In this comprehensive work, the author skillfully writes for an executive audience—the text is elegant in its simplicity, its ideas are clearly spelled out, and its chapters are short. Overall, this book draws aside the curtain of mystery surrounding public relations and delivers numerous ideas for gaining corporate visibility.

Excellent advice from an authority on using the media to best advantage.

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Each essay stands alone, but as a whole, they comprise a searching consideration of human spirituality. transforming faith

TRANSFORMING FAITH Stories of Change from a Lifelong Spiritual Seeker

Why “Good Kids” Turn Into Deadly Terrorists Deconstructing the Accused Boston Marathon Bombers and Others Like Them

Howard, Fred CreateSpace (242 pp.) $10.00 paper | $9.99 e-book Nov. 25, 2014 978-1-5025-2180-4

LoCicero, Alice Praeger (178 pp.) $37.00 | Jul. 29, 2014 978-1-4408-3188-1

A deeply meditative gathering of essays that reflects on one man’s lifelong wrangling with his spirituality.

Writing as a minister rather than an academic theologian, debut author Howard recounts his quest for a more inclusive and less doctrinally rigid religious tradition. He grew up in a Presbyterian church but eventually left to experiment with the Baptist tradition, which he initially believed emphasized the personal elements of faith over the unwavering adherence to a catechism. He eventually became disillusioned with the Baptist faith and its own set of restrictions on his freedom, and he reformulated his own “personal theology” that focused less on belief and more on faith and spiritual experience. This exploration eventually led to his ordination as a minister in the Unitarian Universalist Church. Both a memoir and a philosophical investigation, the book centers around his understanding of faith: “Belief is one thing. Faith, on the other hand, is something much deeper and more elemental to who we are. Faith is the [sic] our orientation to life and our way of engaging in the world. It encompasses hopes, and it manifests ultimate concerns. Under this understanding, faith is universal to the human experience.

It doesn’t have to be overtly religious.” Howard’s cogitations push him to consider a wide swath of topics and authors, including more intellectual sources, such as Martin Buber and George Santayana, and elements of popular culture, including John Lennon and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi (2001). The author thoughtfully considers the scholarly rigor of agnostic philosopher Betrand Russell as well as the limitations of the intellect as articulated by Gandhi. A highlight of the work is a discussion of St. Paul, one of the principal architects of Christian theology and, by extension, Western civilization. The author explains his view of the failings of Christianity as traditionally conceived and also the reasons he never quite fully departs from that tradition. Each essay stands alone, but as a whole, they comprise a searching consideration of human spirituality.

A profound, moving take on faith in an age that often vehemently challenges it.

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A scholarly but accessible analysis of young terrorists that draws on behavioral and social science.

In this book, LoCicero (Creating Young Martyrs, 2008) explores the complex interplay of personal and cultural factors that produces terrorists. She particularly focuses on the two men who were accused of carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing while also surveying the spectrum of youth violence in America. Along the way, she blends in her own perspective on the attack, which was in her hometown, with her experience as a clinical psychologist studying traumatized youth worldwide. The title reflects the dissonance between Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s alleged deeds and the seemingly “normal American kids” that their friends, teachers and neighbors thought they knew. LoCicero convincingly shows that the brothers fit a pattern of young immigrants caught between conflicting identities and loyalties who become susceptible to extremism after personal crises, parental loss or neglect, drug abuse or financial setbacks. She devotes an entire chapter to how terrorist organizations recruit such people, arguing that behind every child soldier or young terrorist, there’s an adult recruiter who profits. Her prescription for preventing terrorism is to short-circuit such recruitment—first, by improving dialogue and engagement with young people, and second, by reducing the social injustice and conflicts worldwide that breed grievances. Hardliners may equate trying to understand terrorists with excusing their actions, but the author reasons that simply labeling them evil or insane, and relying on incarceration or assassination, does little to prevent future acts. LoCicero often makes her case with great clarity and precision. Sometimes, however, there’s needless repetition; for example, she reminds readers eight times that the boat on which Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was caught was docked in Watertown, Massachusetts. On the other hand, she also constructs her arguments in ways that any layman can understand.

The superbly researched, clearly cited book provides a wealth of resources for further reading. LoCicero’s stated goal for her book is “to reduce terrorism and reduce prejudice against foreign-born, young Americans, simultaneously.” That’s a tall order, perhaps beyond the reach of a single work, but she has made a significant contribution to the cause.

An excellent resource on terrorism for professionals and lay readers alike.

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Full-Body Fitness for Runners

the 1930s in a large, dirt-poor Dust Bowl–era Oklahoma family.

Her father was a preacher, and the family had to move often— sometimes because her father believed, to his credit, that black people should be welcome among his white congregation.

Nonetheless, the members of her family were Old Testament fundamentalists; the focus was on hell, not heaven, and any wrong step, anything construed as loose, secular living, could send you there. She eventually grew into a statuesque stunner, which exacerbated her widowed mother’s worries. At 18, the naïve young woman married a fellow from the Air Force who turned out to be a real jerk, but guilt-ridden as always, she tried to be a good wife as they spent two years in the Azores. Finally, a very kind lover aided her in finding herself, and she also found that she’d had enough of her marriage. Stateside, she divorced Groves and wound up in San Francisco, where she blossomed, becoming a television personality, newspaper columnist, socialite and Nobel Prize–nominated peace activist. The memoir’s byword is “indomitable”; by the age of 30, despite her past trials, the author wasn’t afraid of anything and had roaring energy.

(The book’s initially silly-sounding title refers to a traumatic accident that colored her whole life.) Montandon often writes well, although her style is sometimes over-the-top and her diction, sometimes purple (“My tears fell in an unbridled waterfall, pooling at my feet, flowing across the highway, creating a flood of such profound intensity that I turned on the windshield wipers”). Still, readers learn a lot about what she had to face and how she survived. She writes of how, even in later years, some of her siblings were still captives of hateful beliefs; it’s all the more striking that the author, with her native intelligence and sensibility, managed to escape such an upbringing while still loving her family.

A memoir that’s a wild, wrenching ride but one worth taking.

McLaurin, Thad H. RunnerDude’s Fitness (170 pp.) $19.95 paper | $9.99 e-book May 27, 2014 978-0-692-02695-3 This nonfiction guide to exercise and nutrition for runners lays out foundational facts and supplies useful techniques and recipes to keep a runner’s fitness routine fresh.

Starting with the basics, debut author McLaurin dives into the mechanics of running, with visual and textual representations of the muscle groups used during each stride. While many beginning runners believe that running is all in the legs, the author explains the importance of the core, hips and back muscles, as well as the crucial balance a runner needs between the upper and lower body. Seasoned runners might consider this information basic, but a new runner will find the explanatory chapters incredibly useful in laying the foundation for a self-propelled fitness program. Once the fundamentals are explained, McLaurin delivers specific exercises to target the core, back, chest, arms and legs. Most exercises are catered toward the runner without a gym membership who can use body weight and easy-to-find tools like medicine balls and hand weights rather than heavy fitness machinery. There are enough exercise types to build a weekly plan with variety, targeting different muscle groups in each workout. Not only does the author stress balance in muscular strength, he also stresses the importance of runner nutrition, highlighting some myths and misnomers. One such myth, the need for excessive protein, is busted through a simple yet well-formulated explanation of the way the body uses macronutrients. Readers don’t need a degree in dietetics to understand McLaurin’s clear explanation of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and metabolism. In the back of the book, the contributing writers, who also happen to be major names in the running community, offer recipes and tips—an added bonus for runners who want to follow the legends of marathon and ultramarathon running.

A successful educational guide to fitness, nutrition and understanding the body for novice runners.

THE KILLER OF CANCER RISING Book 2 of The Astrology Mystery Series O’Rorke, Torena Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Agency Mar. 15, 2015

PEEING ON HOT COALS A Scorching Memoir

Prolific author O’Rorke (Gemini Girl Murders, 2013, etc.), a former probation officer and youth counselor, offers the second installment in her Astrology Mysteries series.

This rousing follow-up whodunit once again stars young, vibrant Christian Vargas, a Washington state police department probation officer who, on the second anniversary of her husband Tony’s death, finds herself embroiled in another murderous melodrama. After Mormon runaway Whitney Clist, a pregnant teenager, is brutally bludgeoned and tossed into an already occupied casket before it’s buried, Vargas is on the scene. The investigation centers on a thriving satanic cult of sanguinarians (people who believe they must consume

Montandon, Pat Self (344 pp.) $28.99 | Sep. 25, 2014 978-1-63315-645-6

An account of a wide-ranging life that embodies the phrase, “You can’t make this stuff up.”

Montandon (Oh the Hell of It All, 2009, etc.) has written a memoir that almost becomes a full autobiography, although it compresses her last few decades into a couple of chapters. She grew up in |

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blood to maintain their health) governed by an evil leader named Cancer. What Vargas learns about the devoutly religious, greatly troubled Clist family puts her hot on Cancer’s trail through leads offered by kids close to Whitney, namely Stephanie, an astute crime lab technician, as well as Whitney’s oppressed mother and Doug, a gay ex-Mormon friend.

Ignoring threats and warning signs to back off, Vargas moves in to apprehend the cult’s ringleader, who she discovers runs a malevolent satanic temple aimed at recruiting vulnerable teenagers—and he’s also a Clist family relative! A road trip to a nefarious, rigidly operated Mormon polygamist camp in Utah sets the scene for a showdown pitting Vargas and her rescuers against the felonious cult leader. Her investigative partner, Daniel, and current lover, Matt, are also along for the ride in this installment, bringing some much-needed romantic relief to a suspenseful, treacherous mystery. Some of O’Rorke’s narration becomes compromised by awkward prose and dated references—one young suspect is “hella scared”; another has a MySpace profile—but that won’t deter fans eager to catch up with Vargas, a brave, impulsive police heroine.

Some delightfully astute sleuthing runs through this tightly written second case, fully stocked with menacing villains, tireless investigators and romantic intrigue.

story through Suzy’s eyes makes it charming from start to finish. The budding romance between Suzy’s mother and Mr. Barrett is understated, and Suzy’s kindness to Carl is presented as a young girl doing her best to be good. Pettersen supplies hints of tragic pasts for many of the characters, but they’re softened when seen through Suzy’s young eyes. Overall, the story goes by quickly and is a comforting, pleasurable read.

A delightful book about kindness, family, Christmas miracles—and ponies.

The 4Ps Framework Advanced Negotiation and Influence Strategies for Global Effectiveness Rana, Yadvinder S. CreateSpace (476 pp.) $24.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Dec. 17, 2014 978-1-5029-0923-7

A look at business negotiations, with an emphasis on working in international and multicultural contexts.

In this debut business book, Rana takes a sociological perspective on cultural differences as he guides readers through developing a practical framework for effective cross-cultural negotiation. The book provides high-level overviews of the concepts behind generally accepted ideas of culture and negotiation, then moves into more specific information with its exploration of individual cultural traits and their applicability to negotiation tactics. The book is thoroughly researched and footnoted, and Rana draws widely on existing work in the field to develop the book’s approach to negotiation. As a result, the book is rather information-dense and requires more of the reader’s attention than many popular business books. Portions of the book, like a four-page list of definitions of culture drawn from more than a century of sociological and anthropological research, would benefit from more selective incorporation. Rana provides comprehensive information on the factors that influence negotiating styles in the world’s major cultural groups, with several established cultural heuristics described in detail. While useful, this approach is at times hampered by a tendency to generalize: “The main religions can be divided into three broad categories,” “Religion is interpreted in Africa as spirituality rather than doctrine,” etc.

The book is more successful with its specific examples of successful cross-cultural negotiations, from the 1978 Camp David Accords to Chrysler’s partnerships with Daimler and Fiat, as well as with its practical tips for improving cultural competency and incorporating cultural awareness into negotiation tactics. The writing, with its frequent use of specialized terminology (etic and emic approaches, for instance) and acronyms (BATNA, DMU), adds to the sense that the book’s ideal reader is comfortable with academic prose. Nevertheless, the conclusions are more practical than theoretical and will likely be useful to business practitioners outside the academy.

A PONY FOR CHRISTMAS A Montana Holiday Novella

Pettersen, Bev Westerhall (90 pp.) $5.99 paper | $1.99 e-book Nov. 24, 2014 978-1-987835-00-7

Pettersen’s (A Scandalous Husband, 2014, etc.) children’s novella asks: What happens when a girl wants a horse more than anything?

Suzy Jenkins is a 6-year-old girl who wants a pony for Christmas. She’s come to understand that Santa just isn’t sure whether she could handle taking care of such an animal. However, she’s done her research, and she’s believes she’s more than ready to take on the responsibility when Santa finally brings her small horse. “She’d been preparing for a pony for a long time, and everything was ready now,” Pettersen writes. “Their little yard already had a picket fence and a shed.” Despite Suzy’s mother’s reminder to be practical and not to ask for too much, and other people in her life recommending that she lower her expectations, Suzy is firm in her belief that Christmas morning will bring her heart’s desire. As the holiday season progresses, she continues to get ready. She also charms Mr. Barrett, who owns a ranch and many racing horses, and Carl, an elderly man who appears not to have a home. In the end, Suzy finds herself at the center of a series of events that mends one family and helps to create a new one. Over the course of this book, it becomes clear that the story is primarily about different kinds of love— between Suzy and her mother, Suzy and Carl, and between Suzy’s mother and Mr. Barrett. Pettersen’s choice to tell the 146

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This suspenseful, engrossing novel has all the sophistication of the very best YA bestsellers. jim morgan and the door at the edge of the world

FREE ELECTRICITY

A thorough, though sometimes overly detailed, exploration of how cultural values affect negotiations across national boundaries and how to use that understanding to advantage.

Rhodes, Ryan CreateSpace (516 pp.) $15.95 paper | $3.99 e-book | Oct. 2, 2014 978-1-4953-5601-8

Jim Morgan and the Door at the Edge of the World

A debut novel about leaving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

At the beginning of Rhodes’ thoughtful, engrossing novel, 60-something Bernie’s friends screen a movie for him. The unnamed film (apparently patterned on the real-life 2003 feature Latter Days) depicts two attractive young men—one Mormon, one not—who struggle against the Mormon church’s strictures against homosexuality. Bernie’s friends know of his long history with Mormonism, and they expect the movie to provoke strong reactions. But they’re caught off guard by just how strong those reactions are, as the film dredges up violent, long-repressed memories. The bulk of the novel consists of Bernie’s protracted reminiscences of his long, complicated and sometimes-dark dealings with his former church; the book’s title is a bitter allusion to the reported practice of using electroshock “therapy” on gay communicants.

Bernie agonizes all over again about how he discovered his own nature, thinking at one point that “any rapt God listening to my heart would have seen past my words into my deepest wish—to find another boy just like me.” In the course of his recollections, readers meet such a boy—Bernie’s great love, Fin—and their relationship forms the heart of the book: “My life had been beautiful with him,” Bernie recalls. Through Bernie’s personal story, Rhodes gives readers a panoramic, quite affecting look at the experience of growing up a gay Mormon (“Queer,” Bernie reflects at one point. “It just hung menacingly in the air now.

It didn’t mean weirdo anymore”). It also includes Bernie’s “exit stories,” detailing the often fraught psychological process of leaving the faith. The narrative veers frequently into a low-key bitterness against Mormonism that will certainly win it no converts, but as an X-ray look inside the modern church, this book could scarcely be bettered.

A powerful tale of one man’s contentious, lifelong relationship with his faith.

Raney, James Matlack Dreamfarer Press (396 pp.) $2.99 e-book | Dec. 1, 2014 978-0-9858359-7-2

A boy-pirate hero attempts to save the world in the high-spirited conclusion to Raney’s (Jim Morgan and the Pirates of the Black Skull, 2013, etc.) middle-grade fantasy series.

Over the course of earlier installments, the orphaned Jim Morgan, currently 14, went from the lap of luxury as an English lord’s son to an adventurous life as a pirate and thief, sailing the seas on a mighty ship, the Spectre, with his friends and co-conspirators, Lacey and brothers George and Peter Ratt. In the last book, Jim came into possession of an incredibly powerful magical object, the Hunter’s Shell; it was split in two, and one half wound up in the hands of the evil Count Cromier and his son, Bartholomew. In this installment, Jim and his friends vow to destroy the Shell before the Cromiers can use it to find the golden trident known as the Treasure of the Ocean, which could doom the world if wielded by the wrong person. Their quest sets them in the path of other pirates, as well as magical creatures, such as dragons, merfolk, ogres and a devious talking cat called Janus Blacktail. The story ends by revealing secrets of Jim’s lineage that will change his life forever. Raney crafts a swashbuckling adventure that’s genuinely thrilling, not only in its rapid pacing, but also in its extremely clever plotting and endlessly inventive set pieces, which mix and match historical and mythological references in a seamless mélange. It captures the flavor of old-fashioned serials and features fleshed-out, youthful protagonists whose lives are a joy to follow. Although this tale is clearly intended to be the culmination of a threebook journey, Raney presents the material in such a way that even someone who joined the ride late won’t have any trouble following the story and, more importantly, caring about the characters and their quest. Overall, this suspenseful, engrossing novel has all the sophistication of the very best YA best-sellers.

A riotously entertaining series closer that should appeal to fantasy-loving children of all ages.

THE JOURNALIST The Jameson Raid * The Klondike Gold Rush * The Anglo Boer War * The Founding of Nigeria * Flora Shaw Was There Scharrer, Jos CreateSpace (382 pp.) $17.50 paper | $3.99 e-book Nov. 22, 2014 978-1-5008-0757-3

Scharrer offers a riveting fictionalized biography of her greataunt Flora Shaw, one of the first successful female journalists. |

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This is new adult fiction done right. origins

In the late 19th century, men dominated the world of journalism, and it was almost unheard-of for a woman to report from the field. Pioneering reporter Shaw, however, turned this world on its head by using her intelligence, wit, charm and bravery.

Debut author Scharrer creatively reimagines Shaw’s trailblazing life by piecing together her biography and embellishing it with scintillating conversation and rich, vivid description. Shaw first made her mark as an author of children’s books, and this work carefully spells out her influences prior to her break into journalism. Early on, for example, she meets writer and social theorist John Ruskin, one of many thinkers who shaped her ideas on life. Yet, as she establishes herself, her own distinct philosophies become quite clear. This book isn’t just about a writer coming of age, but also about her many breathtaking achievements. At first, the budding journalist was forced to write under the name of “F. Shaw,” as revealing her gender would have damaged her credibility with many London Times readers. She eventually used her full name in her byline, however, and she rose to become the newspaper’s “Colonial Editor” and one of the greatest (and highest-paid) female journalists of her time. Scharrer also observes that Shaw was involved directly in the Jameson Raid, a botched assault on the South African Republic of Transvaal led by the British statesman Leander Starr Jameson. The author expertly sets this scene: “Jameson sighed as he nervously slapped at the flies buzzing around him in his tent.” Readers will feel as though they’re getting a privileged, candid view of Jameson, and they’ll sense the tension and the heat of the landscape, as if they’ve been transported directly there. Scharrer’s prose is always sharp, elegant and controlled, much like the era it portrays. From the outset, it’s clear that this work is a carefully researched labor of love, and it dutifully fulfills the vital task of remembering a pioneer in women’s letters.

An essential adventure in British journalism.

powers that include translocating, “reading into the past” and the ability to “guide” others in their decision-making. Adepts feel both protective of and superior to regular folk, aka “commons.” In spite of Greg’s insistence that “nothing good ever happened” in Rothston, the pair returns to the institute to witness the execution of Bradley Jamison, the man at the heart of Kinzie’s nightmares. Jamison, who had experimented on Kinzie in his lab, has been sentenced to die for his role in the killing of a common newborn during an experiment to create enhanced adepts. After the execution, Jamison’s ghost haunts Kinzie as she searches to understand the origin and location of the mysterious Pierre Rouge, a red stone said to increase the power of adepts. Kinzie, who was raised by her solo dad, also seeks to discover her own origins as she tries to find out the identity of her mother. Meanwhile, Greg, who loves Kinzie more than anything, worries that she expects the answers to have “some fairytale ending.” But, he wonders, what if she finds out otherwise? His concern is justified. Author Smiles easily creates tension, and many chapters have cliffhanger endings that pull readers forward into the story. Having Kinzie take turns with Greg as the narrator in alternating chapters gives the narrative a nice female/male balance while letting the reader understand the story from different points of view. Dialogue is strong, and minor characters prove to be as intriguing as the leads. This is new adult fiction done right.

An adept offering of diverse characters engaged in a suspenseful sci-fi storyline that’s far from common; might even appeal to an audience outside the sci-fi realm.

AUTOGRAPH PENIS

Tanager, H.O. CreateSpace (282 pp.) $12.00 paper | $3.99 e-book Oct. 23, 2014 978-1-5027-5898-9

ORIGINS The Rothston Series, Volume 3

A hilarious account of the 2011 National Poetry Slam competition that illuminates a raucous subculture of competitive versifying from the inside.

Part beatnik culturefest and part bowling league, poetry slams involve teams of bards declaiming three-minute individual or group poems in front of randomly chosen judges and an audience of cheering, booing and drinking poetry aficionados. Tanager, a poet, led her four-woman team from Boise, Idaho, to compete against 71 other teams at the 2011 National Poetry Slam in Boston. Her fizzy reportage brings to vivid life this unlikeliest of American sporting events, detailing the pre-slam jitters and practice sessions; the behind-the-scenes clash of egos and gossipy backstabbing; and the quagmire of soggy identity politics. It also covers the poets’ last-minute strategizing over which poems to recite in order to sway fickle judges and audiences; the exhilaration of victory and the demoralization of loss to lesser, trendier poets; and the oblivion of booze and dancing at the afterparty. (“I’ll never leave you again, Beer!” the author vows after a painful defeat.)

Smiles, Terri-Lynne PlotForge, Limited (386 pp.) $15.00 paper | $4.99 e-book Nov. 19, 2014 978-1-937979-12-6

In the third book in Smiles’ (Choices, 2013, etc.) sci-fi Rothston series, a young and in love college couple deals with family issues, special powers and a secret international organization that may have a sinister agenda.

At the beginning of Smiles’ new Rothston entry, trust-fund kid Greg Langston and his girlfriend, an “adept named Kinzie Nicolosi,” are back at school, though they’re hardly carefree college students. As Kinzie reminds her beau (and catches up new readers), they just “spent months escaping from a mad scientist who was using [them] for genetic experiments.” Their dangerous, adventurous past was centered on The Rothston Institute, a sort of Hogwarts for “adepts”—individuals with 148

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Tanager’s loose-limbed narrative, unfolding in a series of brief feuilletons, has a breezy, chatty tone and sprinkles the episodes from the slam with lively excursions into the food, fashions and harmless flirtations swirling around it. She’s alive to the absurdities of the scene, rolling her eyes at poetic self-importance (her own included) and lampooning preachy issue poems (“An Open Letter to that Bad Person I Read About in a Magazine”).

Yet she takes the art form seriously, limns the empty spot in the soul that drives poets to perfect their craft and expose it to the world, and celebrates hard-won moments of compelling expression. There’s not much poetry in the book, but Tanager compensates with prose that is, by turns, funny, vehement, self-deprecating and gorgeous. At daybreak in an airplane, for example, she writes, “a glorious and silent choreographed battle of gold and fuchsia, pulse and vibration, grows brighter and brighter, huge and symphonic below me.” Alas, the book’s awful title will put off some readers, but those who persevere will find a whip-smart, wise and entertaining read.

A beguiling play-by-play about a vibrant literary happening.

offsets this by focusing on relentless pacing, vivid descriptions of exotic locales, and generous helpings of action and adventure.

Tonally, this series is very much comparable to Fleming’s Bond saga: relatively straightforward, adrenaline-fueled storylines in which—although the characters are involved in dangerous, high-stakes conflicts—there is still room for sequences of lighthearted humor and fun. The first sentence gives readers a clear indication of what’s in store: “Staccato gunfire crackled; a vivid flash lit up the night sky.”

Like 007 with a CPA card—who knew accounting could be so wild?

TANGO A Life In The Forest

Thomas, Wendell CreateSpace (366 pp.) $13.49 paper | $0.99 e-book | Jul. 2, 2014 978-1-5002-2038-9

This debut YA fantasy sees a group of friendly forest-dwelling animals fend off a clan of savage predators.

Tango the black cat lives in an ancient, majestic forest filled with companionable critters, including possums, raccoons, squirrels, a bear and others.

With him are three more felines, Sonar, Ally and Koda. They live together harmoniously, enjoying the forest’s splendor and seasonal rhythms. They also must rely on each other to protect against a gang of vicious bullies—like Valgar the vulture and Howler the coyote—who would terrorize and decimate their population. Luckily, a kind wizard named Fozzly lends the forest-dwellers his healing magic whenever necessary. Fozzly, who’s good friends with Tango, has revealed to him the existence of the destiny-altering lifestone, which has been missing since the wizard’s homeland was destroyed by frigid weather. Fozzly also mentions his nemesis, Darlok, who may have stolen the lifestone in the past and whose whereabouts are unknown. One day, turmoil strikes when the adventurous Sonar gets lost in the northern lands; he ends up in foul Mandor, the home of the belligerent carnivores. Initially, Sonar takes up with a tomcat named Spike—but he thinks it’s only a matter of time before forest raiders recognize him and try to hurt him. Do Tango and the others dare mount a rescue in enemy territory?

Combining dreamy fantasy settings with high adventure, Thomas’ debut novel is a lavish treat for young adults and animal lovers.

In one pleasantly odoriferous scene, Ally notices “the sweet, soft smell of late summer flowers mixed with the pungent odor of pine needles.” There are fascinating animal facts, too, as when Diablo (a hawk) “enjoyed riding the thermal air masses without the...noise and strain of using his wings.” Occasionally, the prose may offer a vocabulary workout for younger readers—“frenzy of adrenaline soaked havoc”—and some of the violence gets quite grisly, like “a streak of exposed muscle all the way from his mouth to his ear.”

That said, Thomas parlays this narrative edginess into an emotional win, leaving the cat-flap open for a sequel.

A lovingly rendered world that welcomes readers of every stripe.

CASINO QADDAFI An Oliver Steele Financial Thriller

Tempest, Graham Brightway Publishing Inc (310 pp.) $11.99 paper | May 1, 2015 978-0-9845153-4-9

Taking place largely in Libya in 2011—just weeks after the assassination of Moammar Gadhafi—Tempest’s (Casino Excelsior, 2012, etc.) third financial mystery/thriller featuring forensic accountant Oliver Steele revolves around his mission to locate an illegitimate son of the slain leader.

Macau, the former Portuguese colony that’s now an autonomous territory of China, is one of the biggest gambling destinations in the world. Hassan, Gadhafi’s illegitimate son, is financing the construction of a massive casino there, one with the potential to be a huge moneymaker. But now, amid the turmoil of the Arab Spring, he has inexplicably disappeared, and without his continued backing, the development is doomed.

With only weeks before the multimillion dollar project implodes, Steele must somehow track down a man who doesn’t want to be found. To complicate matters, Steele’s nemesis, Kathy Smith— the best friend of the wife of his biggest client—becomes interested in Steele’s search for Hassan, who is rumored to have amassed a fortune in ill-gotten funds. But Smith, believing she has found an ingenious way to locate Hassan, travels to Libya only to be kidnapped. Although Steele’s investigation into the layers of secrecy surrounding Hassan’s fortune is interesting, it’s not exactly thrilling. Nevertheless, Tempest ratchets up the intensity by interweaving storylines that include ruthless financiers, unethical bankers, revolutionaries and murderers. And while many of the supporting characters are flat, the author |

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Written in plain prose that brims with disillusionment, this book makes an impassioned call for a politics truly free of racial discrimination. the dream betrayed

GODS DON’T SLEEP

of Barack Obama. However, he argues that the civil rights movement, and liberalism in general, has betrayed the original spirit of its cause and corroded race relations in America with craven political opportunism, incendiary race-baiting and a climate of censorship. “The race card is why our racial atmosphere is so poisonous, when we should be enjoying color-blind relations everywhere,” he writes. “That evil card is played so frequently these days that many of us sometimes don’t realize just how often it is used.” Trebach looks at the Trayvon Martin shooting case; he says that some people willfully appropriated the tragedy for the sake of declaiming racial prejudice, and he skillfully presents littlecovered but pertinent details of that incident. He also considers what he feels are the abandoned promises of President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to usher the United States into a proudly post-racial era. The most unsettling target of Trebach’s analysis, though, is African-American crime, which continues to balloon at an alarming pace. He argues that intolerance of open discussion and the reflex to denounce as racist any attempt to fully investigate such crime’s causes have impeded good-faith attempts to alleviate the problem. In general, the author contends, programs that are designed by self-appointed representatives of African-Americans tend to deliver more harm than good.

Written in plain prose that brims with disillusionment, this book makes an impassioned call for a politics truly free of racial discrimination, in keeping with the tenets of one of the author’s heroes, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Overall, Trebach brings a wealth of academic expertise and personal experience to these thoughtful reflections.

A timely, courageous contribution to the debate regarding racial justice in America.

Thompson, T. Manuscript

A teenager turns into a vampire—but that’s not the weird part of this paranormal YA novel.

Bryson Miller, almost 17, has a lot of tough stuff to deal with, including lingering grief over his mother’s early death and his father’s alcoholism. Talk about going from bad to worse: At a party, he’s turned into a teenage vampire.

Then, while pushing his girlfriend out of the way of an oncoming bus, he’s struck and killed. Now he’s a dead teenage vampire. As an 8-foot-tall, blue-skinned, toga-clad being explains to the confused, hurting Bryson: “Here’s the deal. This is the Underworld....I’m a god, your god, the Creator of Vampires, to be precise,” aka the God of Temptation and Eternal Fury. Few further explanations are forthcoming for Bryson, just unconvincing reassurances from his terrifying bat-winged mentor, Lupe. Things improve somewhat when Bryson makes friends with Jeremy, a gargoyle, and when Bryson finally learns of his new, satisfying job: using empathic abilities to heal souls. As the book ends, Bryson—though he mistrusts Eternal Fury— accepts the god’s assignment to cross temporarily back into the Physical World and prevent a girl’s kidnapping. In her debut novel, Thompson offers a thoughtful, sensitive and modest young hero with a wry sense of humor, a strong moral compass and courage. For instance, he’s endearingly glad to make a best friend in the Underworld. The drawback is that Bryson spends a huge chunk of the book reeling in pain and shock, learning the rules or engaged in empathic understanding, and the book, the first in a planned series, ends just as he learns important information about his past incarnation and is about to do something actively adventurous; this doesn’t seem like the whole story. Also, while Bryson’s progression of challenges is intriguing, all the emotional loose ends from his Physical World life are frustrating.

A genre-busting, surprisingly thoughtful novel, though inconclusive.

ROUNDTOWER The Devil in Ireland I

Von Osten, Hans CreateSpace (356 pp.) $14.95 paper | $3.99 e-book Aug. 26, 2014 978-1-5006-6864-8

Mormon missionaries encounter hard times and a Mephistophelian menace in von Osten’s (This Happy Life, 2013, etc.) raucous coming-of-age satire.

In 1967, with the Vietnam War raging, plenty of young Mormon men try to escape the draft by undertaking two-year missionary stints for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But John Gaumless, a Salt Lake City native whose high draft number makes him exempt from call-up, has genuinely spiritual motives, stoked by his high-minded girlfriend, Marylou.

Alas, his time proselytizing in Northern Ireland gradually erodes his illusions about the church. The Irish people, Protestant and Catholic alike, respond to Mormon overtures with curses, hurled rocks and tossed chamber pots. The mission’s president is a feckless man who spends his time feeding his swans as his seething wife and scheming underlings plot petty power plays.

Bored, lonely, cold and depressed, the other young missionaries

THE DREAM BETRAYED Racial Absurdities in Obama’s America

Trebach, Arnold S. Manuscript

A memoir of a life devoted to defending civil rights and a scathing critique of that movement’s unfortunate decline.

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transgress the Mormon strictures against alcohol and engage in back-stabbing rivalries and furtive gay trysts. John, a floundering innocent, finds his only friend in Orson Roundtower—a handsome, sardonic Brigham Young University basketball star who prefers Dostoevsky to the Book of Mormon and regards LDS doctrine with bemused contempt. (At one point, Roundtower ups his conversion numbers by bribing an Irish family to undergo Mormon baptism in exchange for bottles of orange Fanta.) John finds Roundtower to be an island of relaxed urbanity in a sea of hypocritical dogmatism, but as their relationship intensifies, he starts to wonder why villagers flee from his friend—and why so many missionaries keep dying in his vicinity. Von Osten’s sendup of Mormon doctrine, rituals and culture is detailed and cutting.

Marylou’s antic letters to John, stuffed with Mormon piety and ditzy uplift—“When the tough get going, the going gets tough!”— are particularly hilarious. The book’s portrait of bedraggled teenage missionaries, feigning religious ardor as a coverup for self-interest and bureaucratic inertia, is well-observed throughout. The narrative does feel somewhat aimless, though, except when Roundtower takes center stage with his debonair charisma, rakish humor and unapologetic mischievousness. Before Roundtower’s villainy subsides, a bit disappointingly, into mere melodrama, he presents a compelling case for why deviltry remains such an appealing alternative to holiness.

A meandering but often funny and entertaining picaresque about the Mormon faith.

her writing. Readers may be tripped up by the occasional omission of a word, but the meaning is always clear from context. Not every grieving parent is up to the task of writing about such a loss in a way that will speak to others. Vredeveld does so quite well, however, and the few chapters focused on her daughter are not so personal that they will fail to speak to and comfort others. In fact, interested readers may find themselves wanting more.

Honest and soulful insight from a gifted writer.

THE MUSIC MAKERS

Wachtel, Shirley Russak CreateSpace (350 pp.) $16.00 paper | Oct. 10, 2014 978-1-5007-8552-9 In Wachtel’s (My Mother’s Shoes, 2011, etc.) novel, suffering crosses generations, from a teenager in anguished love to an enfeebled survivor of Auschwitz.

“During all events in our lives, both great and small, the moment always passes too swiftly. Something like a dream,” muses Joshua, one of the novel’s conflicted principal characters, as he reflects on past loss. Dreams and memories linger over events both great and small in the lives of two families in upstate New York. Joshua, the middle-aged single father to diffident Adam, is haunted by a moment that ended one life and began another. “I knew the dream had vanished the minute my son uttered his first cry,” he remembers. His father, David, “cries more than he speaks,” forever unable to escape the events of the Holocaust—both those that changed everything in an instant and those that made several years feel like “several lifetimes in the nether world.” In another household, tax attorney Virginia contends with one daughter, Meghan, about to leave for college and another, Christine, who is just past college age. The relationship between Christine, a tattooed sculptor with purple-streaked hair, and her mother is laden with grievances and misunderstanding.

Christine manifests her torment through bodily harm, while her mother begins to see a young boy who may be an illusion, a dream himself. Wachtel’s novel is a poignant exploration of the struggles—whether unique, universal, historical or ephemeral, whether happenstance or deliberate—that ebb and flow throughout life. There is a practically visceral ache behind each character’s meditations. (That sensation is particularly harrowing in David’s recollections of his experiences during and just after the war, which shift events to Poland and Prague.) Yet in spite of it all, there is also a sense that, no matter how many dreams and illusions haunt us, life is a transient gift deserving of gratitude. “I’ve been suffering from a tear in the spirit, but still I am in perfect health,” Joshua says. His words reflect what the events around him make clear: Tears in the spirit mend, and being alive means persistent struggle and survival.

A touching study rich with introspection and finely crafted relationships.

SOOTHE YOUR SOUL

Vredeveld, Margaret AbbottPress (160 pp.) $30.95 | $12.99 paper | $3.99 e-book Oct. 28, 2013 978-1-4582-1214-6 In this wise and tender inspirational book, a Michigan pastor shares meditations that speak to the gamut of life’s emotions.

Vredeveld’s debut offers meditations on a wide range of topics. Early on, the United Church of Christ pastor reveals that she’s walked through serious suffering herself, since her youngest daughter died of ovarian cancer at 28. With kindness, some humor and an exceptionally warm voice, the author takes readers from the shores of Lake Michigan and sightings of her beloved blue herons to the hospital rooms and bedsides of the sick and dying. Yet this is a book brimming with hope. Grief is only one of the topics, which sometimes include discussions of the broader culture. The author calls gossip “a form of character assassination” and verbal abuse “a form of identity theft.” In a chapter titled “Hurry Up and Wait,” she offers original thoughts on something as quotidian as waiting for a technician to show up at her house. It’s refreshing to read someone who so values positive thinking—“Be less interested in what bugs you about people than in what you appreciate about them”—and her trust in God, appreciation for life and love of nature are frequent themes. The author is also a singer and fan of hymns, and she beautifully weaves some of these lyrics into |

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PRISM

mired in a deadly conflict that could jeopardize the kingdom.

Walker’s tale expertly blends action with exposition and futuristic technology with a Victorian vibe, and Prince Lucas, a playboy with a kind heart, and scrappy, determined Pandora make for a compelling team. Narration alternates between the two; since both are dynamic characters with distinct voices, this technique never becomes confusing. Walker also avoids the common pitfall of rehashing events from more than one perspective. The (quite literally) colorful landscape—animated by an intriguing cast—is complex but well-explained. Masterfully plotted, Walker builds to not one but several unexpected twists in the novel’s final pages.

Readers will no doubt clamor for the next book in this series; a thrilling start from an exciting new talent.

Walker, Nina Manuscript In Walker’s YA fantasy debut, a postapocalyptic kingdom’s plans for magic center on the abilities of one untrained girl.

Seventeen-year-old Pandora Loxley has always dreamed of becoming a professional ballerina. All seems set for her dreams to become reality, but on the night of her solo debut in the Protectorate’s Royal Ballet Company, everything changes. While performing on stage, Pandora inadvertently manipulates color—a process wherein color is drained from an object and used as powerful magic. In Pandora’s country, known only as the Protectorate, children suspected of holding this power are taken from their families and trained as Guardians of Color in service of the crown. At 17, Pandora is far past the age when such talent is typically revealed, so she is accused of hiding it and is imprisoned. Yet Pandora is surprised by her newfound skills, and when the Protectorate’s Prince Lucas convinces the king to let her be trained, Pandora is shocked to learn that the Protectorate kingdom may be using color for nefarious purposes. Resistance is brewing, however, with Prince Lucas at the forefront. Pandora soon finds herself

PRAY THE GAY AWAY A Southern Tale of Good Triumphing Over Evil York, Sara CreateSpace (314 pp.) $11.99 paper | $2.99 e-book Mar. 2, 2014 978-1-4961-3357-1

A fiery tale of emerging diversity in backwoods Georgia and the challenges of countering religious intolerance.

Jack Miller is a handsome, popular high school football star in Sweet, Georgia. At 18, he’s been harboring a secret he can no longer hide, even if it threatens to deeply infuriate his large, ultraconservative family. As the son of a staunchly homophobic, conservative pastor, he’s just waiting for high school graduation and the call of freedom found in his attending a state university. Enter Andrew Collins, a thin, scruffy high school senior whose parents hurriedly relocated the family from Atlanta to Sweet, figuring a change of scenery (coupled with some extreme aversion tactics) would cleanse their son of his homosexual yearnings. Upon meeting, the boys’ instant attraction fuels a forbidden passion that blossoms into a clandestine relationship. After another schoolmate frustratingly comes out to Jack, a major misstep exposes Jack’s sexuality and incites the wrath of his father. Through it all, Jack remains protective of his flamboyant little brother, Billy, who he fears is also gay and may be left in the hands of his maniacal father upon Jack’s graduation. York paints the town of Sweet as a bastion of God-fearing homophobes ruled by a church and its dictatorial leader; only Jack’s mother seems to have a more lenient take on the subject, and the true nature of her relationship with her husband is only revealed at the story’s greatly unresolved conclusion. Certain sections are difficult to read and somewhat implausible: Minister Nate’s sheer, overblown hatred for Jack is matched only by Andrew’s bizarre acceptance of his family’s starvation torture. While the author effectively touches on child abuse issues alongside the struggles of young gay men coming to terms with their sexuality in the face of religious adversity, this first novel in York’s (In Or Out?, 2013, etc.)

This Issue’s Contributors # Adult Maude Adjarian • Mark Athitakis • Jonathan Baker • Joseph Barbato • Rebekah Bergman • Amy Boaz • Scott Borchert • Jeffrey Burke • Tobias Carroll • Lee E. Cart • Derek Charles Catsam Andrew E. Colarusso • Dave DeChristopher • Kathleen Devereaux • Ruth Douillette • Bobbi Dumas • Daniel Dyer • Kristy Eldredge • Lisa Elliott • Jordan Foster • Julie Foster • Peter Franck • Mia Franz • Devon Glenn • Miriam Grossman • Peter Heck • Matt Jakubowski Robert M. Knight • Christina M. Kratzner • Paul Lamey • Louise Leetch • Peter Lewis Elsbeth Lindner • Georgia Lowe • Carmen Machado • Joe Maniscalco • Janet Matthews Virginia C. McGuire • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Carole Moore • Jennifer Morell Sarah Morgan • Laurie Muchnick • Liza Nelson • Mike Newirth • John Noffsinger • Mike Oppenheim • Derek Parsons • Jim Piechota • Signe Pike • William E. Pike • Gary Presley Lloyd Sachs • Bob Sanchez • Michael Sandlin • Gene Seymour • William P. Shumaker Rosanne Simeone • Linda Simon • Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Andria Spencer Matthew Tiffany • Sheila Trask • Claire Trazenfeld • Hope Wabuke • Pete Warzel • Steve Weinberg • Carol White • Chris White Children’s & Teen Alison Anholt-White • Kim Becnel • Elizabeth Bird • Kimberly Brubaker Bradley • Louise Brueggemann • Connie Burns • Timothy Capehart • Ann Childs • Julie Cummins • GraceAnne A. DeCandido • Dave DeChristopher • Elise DeGuiseppi • Lisa Dennis • Laurel Gardner Barbara A. Genco • Faye Grearson • Jessie C. Grearson • Melinda Greenblatt • F. Lee Hall Heather L. Hepler • Megan Honig • Jennifer Hubert • Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs Betsy Judkins • Deborah Kaplan • Joy Kim • K. Lesley Knieriem • Megan Dowd Lambert Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis • Lori Low • Wendy Lukehart • Meredith Madyda • Joan Malewitz Michelle H. Martin PhD • Jeanne McDermott • Kathie Meizner • Mary Margaret Mercado Daniel Meyer • Lisa Moore • Deb Paulson • John Edward Peters • Susan Pine • Melissa Rabey Rebecca Rabinowitz • Kristy Raffensberger • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Erika Rohrbach Ronnie Rom • Leslie L. Rounds • Mindy Schanback • Katie Scherrer • Mary Ann Scheuer Dean Schneider • Stephanie Seales • John W. Shannon • Robin Smith • Rita Soltan • Edward T. Sullivan • Pat Tanumihardja • Jessica Thomas • Gordon West • Kimberly Whitmer • S.D. Winston • Monica Wyatt Indie Paul Allen • Poornima Apte • Kent Armstrong • Robert Berg • Julie Buffaloe-Yoder • Darren Carlaw • Stephanie Cerra • Simon Creek • Michael Deagler • Steve Donoghue • Joe Ferguson Eric F. Frazier • Shannon Gallagher • Justin Hickey • Ivan Kenneally • Grace Labatt • Maureen Liebenson • Barbara London • Judith B. Long • Angela McRae • Jim Piechota • Sarah Rettger Russ Roberts • Megan Roth • Jerome Shea • Barry Silverstein • Jordan Elizabeth Smith Emily Thompson

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A Southern Thing series is blunted by an overly abrupt, violent conclusion and explicit sex scenes, which may limit the novel’s overall appeal and reading audience. Still, for those interested in the often forcibly suppressed vitality of young gay teens, York, a prolific Southern writer, delivers a hardscrabble yarn of forbidden love against all odds.

Jack and Andrew make a compelling duo powering this engrossing if despairing small-town series about oppression, freedom and equality.

The Tale of Nottingswood

Young, J. R. Illus. by Grace, Amelia Pond Publishing (78 pp.) $5.99 paper | Nov. 26, 2014 978-0-9719423-7-0

A “humdumly Sister and hohumly Brother” are unlikely heroes in Young’s debut work of middle-grade fantasy.

The siblings live in the walled town of Nottingswood, a dreary place with no color or happiness. It’s an ordered society that protects its townsfolk from emotions such as love, fear or sadness. The long-ago Guardian of the town has been banished, and the Judge has ordered the construction of a Great Wall to block out the sun. The unexpected appearance of a small, unknown creature threatens Nottingswood’s regimented existence. Only Brother and Sister refuse to leave the creature to die. They sneak it home—away from the prying eyes of the town and the Order of Voices and the Judge—and manage to care for it. Perhaps anticipating confusion, the creature comes equipped with a magic plaque that spells out its needs—“I’m hungry. Feed me.” To secure food, they must steal beyond the walls of Nottingswood, into the terrifying wide world where a mythical beast is rumored to live. They discover there is no beast but a world of beauty and color. Something happened in Nottingswood that resulted in the town’s grim existence, when “folk[s] heeded the shadows instead of the light.” Now Brother and Sister find themselves on a path of inadvertent rebellion. Young’s whimsical narrative is superb. He spins a fairy tale written almost exclusively in verse that flows beautifully throughout his short tale. It’s a joy to watch the transformation of Brother and Sister from proper citizens to enlightened dissenters. The fairy-tale elements, such as magical creatures and an enchanted cloak, will appeal to a young audience, while the underlying moral questions of good and evil, the privilege of free will and the value of taking risks will intrigue readers of all ages. Grace’s cleverly drawn illustrations vivify the adventure, and those of the evil Ms. Grouse are particularly fun. While Young’s work feels inspired by Dr. Seuss and C.S. Lewis, he creates a story that is uniquely his own.

A touching fable that speaks to readers of all ages.

K i r k us M e di a LL C # President M A RC W I N K E L M A N Chief Operating Officer M E G L A B O R D E KU E H N Chief Financial Officer J ames H ull SVP, Marketing M ike H ejny SVP, Online Paul H offman # Copyright 2015 by Kirkus Media LLC. KIRKUS REVIEWS (ISSN 1948- 7428) is published semimonthly by Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Road, Austin, TX 78744.

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Books of the Month LETTERS TO HIS CHILDREN FROM AN UNCOMMON ATTORNEY

BLUE SUN, YELLOW SKY Jamie Jo Hoang

A touching exploration of identity and reinvention painted with gentle yet precise brush strokes.

David Roberts

An engaging life story, as told through a whimsical collection of fatherly musings.

THE DOG THIEF

Citizen sim

A superb collection of stories about the most elemental of bonds.

An utterly sublime debut and a must for pop-culture fans.

Michael Solana

Jill Kearney

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Appreciations:

National Velvet Turns 80 B Y G RE G OR Y M C NAMEE

Photo courtesy National Portrait Gallery

Velvet Brown is a hot mess of teendom. She’s 14, that fulcrum age of angst and maladjustment. Her three sisters are perfect, “all exactly alike, like golden greyhounds,” blonde, muscular, supple. Her toddler brother is a god in the making. But as for Velvet, well, she has “short pale hair, large, protruding teeth, a sweet smile and a mouthful of metal,” and she knows it.

Enid Bagnold (1889-1981) knew a little something about being an outsider. The child of a peripatetic army officer, she inhabited the sub rosa fringes of Edwardian society, working and sleeping with the legendary naughty-book writer Frank Harris before settling into respectability. Her brother, Ralph, meanwhile stayed on the edges

of the empire, a noted desert rat who confounded the Afrika Korps during World War II and pondered the movement of Aeolian sand in his off hours. The Bagnolds were eccentric—and they spoke openly, and they didn’t know their place in the elaborate pecking order that was the English class system of yore.

And so it was with Velvet, the young heroine of Enid Bagnold’s best-known book, National Velvet, which was published 80 years ago, in 1935. Like Enid, Velvet Brown is awkwardly liminal, true, but also a young woman of great inner resources, an inheritance of her mother, who, though now mired in morbid obesity and the misery it causes, was once a champion swimmer. Mrs. Brown, huge and weary, lives a bittersweet interior life, “innocent and savage,” the stuff a Freudian analyst could feed on for decades. Her accomplishments are real, but, weighted down and frayed, she lives through Velvet and her other children.

Think King Lear in petticoats and with an added daughter who sorts things out for herself through a happy confluence of self-reliance and dumb luck. Velvet inherits a herd of horses and wins another, and though she is gawky and uncertain of herself, she teaches the piebald to become a champion: “The animal followed her, flashing and jaunty. He had a white mane, a long white tail, pink hoofs, a sloping pastern, and he struck his feet out clean and hard as he walked.”

The mount is a happier sight than the rider, in other words, but Velvet merges with him heart and soul, a process anyone who loves horses will understand. And when she wins a national racing cup, her accomplishment is immediately placed in doubt—for how, after all, could an ungainly teenager with braces, the daughter of a country butcher, be an agent of history?

Before Seabiscuit, before Misty of Chincoteague, there was National Velvet. On one level, it is a book about a girl and her horse. On another, it is a book about triumph over unhappy circumstance. More than that, Bagnold shows us, Velvet, “a person to whom things happened,” is a winner off the field as well, shunning the blandishments of fame to settle down into exactly who she is, contented to go on “with her real desires sharp and intact, the ascending spirit with which she was threaded unquenched by surfeit.” The real work of the self is never done, in other words—a lesson that National Velvet imparts to its young readers at just the right time.

Gregory McNamee is a contributing editor at Kirkus Reviews. |

kirkus.com

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appreciations

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15 february 2015

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155

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