KIRKUS

v o l. l x x i x, n o. 8 | 1 5 a p r i l 2 0 1 1

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

fiction nonfiction children & teens

★ The grown children of an ★ Martin Meredith offers ★ Karen Blumenthal takes
infamous couple are at the a compelling study of readers back to the Roaring
center of Kevin Wilson’s human evolution that’s Twenties to examine
fun debut p. 634 rich with insight p. 658 Prohibition p. 676

★ Carol Birch pens a magical, ★ The lives of beekeepers ★ The Turn of the Screw receives
literary novel that puts a come to light in Hannah a creepy, mesmerizing
spin on a classic seafaring Nordhaus’ smooth-as- update courtesy of Adele
saga p. 626 honey history p. 660 Griffin p. 683

★ A murder among the ★ Peter Bart shares a ★ A girl discovers family and
English gentility occupies charming insider’s account self in an artists’ colony
a sleuth in Anna Dean’s of one of Hollywood’s in Sheila O’Connor’s kids’
clever mystery p. 636 most storied eras p. 642 debut p. 692

in this issue: continuing series round-up

Richard Paul Evans hits the road; Graham Masterton conjures up

a nightmare; Sally Goldenbaum attends a wedding;
Susan McDuffie takes to the hills; Cassandra Clark finds herself among the
angels; Cathy Holton spends a summer in the South; and much more

vi si t k i rku sre vi e ws.com f or f ull versions of f eatures, q & as an d

thousand s of archived reviews
The Kirkus Star interactive nonfiction
e-books p. 641
A star is awarded to books of
remarkable merit, as determined
p. 621
by the impartial editors of Kirkus. children Chairman
Kirkus Online: Trust the toughest fiction & teens H E R B E RT S I M O N

critics in the book industry to p. 625 p. 673 #

President
recommend the next great read. M A RC W I N K E L M A N
Visit KirkusReviews.com to discover mystery kirkus indie Vice President & Publisher
exciting new books, authors, blogs
p. 634 p. 705
B O B C A R LT O N
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and other dynamic content.
Editor
E L A I N E S Z E WC Z Y K
eszewczyk@kirkusreviews.com
Managing/Nonfiction Editor

from the publisher E R I C L I E B E T R AU

eliebetrau@kirkusreviews.com
Features Editor
M O L LY B RO W N
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Children’s & YA Books
Dear Readers, VICKY SMITH
vicky.smith@kirkusreviews.com
Kirkus Indie Editor
P E R RY C RO W E
At Kirkus, all of our efforts over the last several months have been directed perry.crowe@kirkusreviews.com
Mysteries Editor
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Editorial Coordinator
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This Issue’s Contributors
newsletter/add/. Maude Adjarian • Bruce Allen •
Mark Athitakis • Joseph Barbato
Included in this issue you’ll find our 2011 BEA Guide, which features • Gerald Bartell • Amy Boaz
• Julie Buffaloe-Yoder • Lori
Calabria • Christina Cintron •
reviews of more than 125 BEA books, author booth and signing informa- Rebecca Cramer • Kelli Daley •
Michelle Daugherty • Gregory
tion, and a floor map to show you exactly where to find the books we’ve F. DeLaurier • David Delman
• Kathleen Devereaux • Daniel
Dyer • Lisa Elliott • Peter Franck
recommended or starred. Plus, we will offer a more robust, content-added • Bob Garber • Sean Gibson •
Faith Giordano • Peter Heck

digital version in mid-May. So keep an eye on kirkusreviews.com for more • BJ Hollars • Sean Hughes •
Robert M. Knight • Erica Lamar
• Rebecca Schumejda • Louise
information and to find more innovative new discovery tools that will debut Leetch • Peter Lewis • Elsbeth
Lindner • Carey London • Joe
Maniscalco • Don McLeese •
in the near future. Gregory McNamee • Carole
Moore • Clayton Moore •
We’re forging ahead in our commitment to lead the industry in book Gabriella M. Cebada Mora •
Chris Morris • Liza Nelson •
Mike Newirth • WM O’Neill •
discovery, which starts with serving you, our readers. Mike Oppenheim • Jim Piechota
• Christofer D. Pierson • Gary
Presley • John T. Rather • Jim
Ruland • Lloyd Sachs • Michael
Sandlin • Susan Sebanc • William
P. Shumaker • Arthur Smith
• Wendy Smith • Margot E.
Spangenberg • Andria Spencer
• Claire Trazenfeld • Steve
Weinberg • Carol White • Chris
—Bob Carlton White • Laura H. Wimberley
interactive
e-books
interactive e-books
for children
THE LITTLE MERMAID
Andersen, Hans Christian
Illustrator: Zwerger, Lisbeth
Translator: Bell, Anthea
Developer: Auryn Inc.
$2.99 | Version: 1.0 | February 25, 2011
Andersen’s classic text is paired to Zwerg-
er’s elegant, subdued illustrations and ani-
mated with graceful restraint.
At first glance, there doesn’t seem to
be much going on. A page of text appears, with a fish bobbing
as if in a slight current at the bottom of the page. It looks as
though it has been submerged, light shining through moving
water between the iPad surface and the text. When readers
advance to the next page, the fish swims across into an illus-
tration as the narration continues. The background sounds
are the ceaseless rushing of the ocean depths. Children who
touch the screen to find an animation will discover that they
can make ripples and splashing sounds while guiding a school
of minnows about. This is exactly the right choice for this
story. Many pages have several paragraphs (read aloud in a
gentle, woman’s voice), and the interaction engages readers
tactilely, helping them to focus. As the action moves to the
ocean’s surface, the undersea gurgling is replaced by the wash
of ripples, the soughing of the wind and creaking of ships. This
being the original story, there is no happy ending: The little
mermaid becomes a “daughter of the air,” hoping to eventually
win an immortal soul.
Children accustomed to Disney blandness will find this
quiet, subtle app a welcome introduction to a more sophisti-
cated aesthetic. (iPad storybook app. 6-12)
| kirkusreviews.com
THE GOING TO
BED BOOK
Boynton, Sandra
Illustrator: Boynton, Sandra
Narrator: Kramer, Billy J.
Developer: Loud Crow
Interactive
$2.99 | Version: 1.0
March 7, 2011
Preserving the look of the classic board book—even to the trim
size and rounded corners—this makeover folds new into old in
such inventive ways that it may take more than a few passes to
discover all the interactive features.
Aboard a ship that rocks in response to a tilt of the tablet a set
of animal passengers bounce belowdecks. First they take a bath
featuring user-created bubbles, and then they brush their teeth
using water so hot that the whole screen hazes up with wipe-able
“steam.” Pajama-clad, all then wobble—or, tweaked by a finger,
rocket—back outside for a bit of exercise before bed. (Readers
control this part by twirling the moon.) In the finest animation
of all, every touch of the night sky in the final scene brings a twin-
kling star into temporary being. Along with making small move-
ments that resemble paper-engineered popup effects, Boynton’s
wide-eyed passengers also twitch or squeak (or both) when
tapped. And though they don’t seem particularly sleepy or con-
ducive to heavy lids, an optional reading by British singer Billy
J. Kramer (whose well-traveled voice also pronounces each word
individually at a touch), backed by soothing piano music, supplies
an effectively soporific audio. “The day is done. / They say good
night, / and somebody / turns off the light.”
This is as beautiful as the developer’s earlier PopOut! Peter
Rabbit while styling itself perfectly to Boynton’s whimsy. (iPad
board-book app. 1-3)
VIOLET AND THE
MYSTERY NEXT DOOR
Keeme, Allison
Illustrator: Keeme, Allison
Developer: Black Dog Books
$3.99 | Version: 1.0
February 21, 2011
Series: Violet, Vol. 3
A relatively small number of
animations and interactive effects embellish an engaging, some-
times laugh-out-loud detective story.
This third case for young sleuth Violet, aka “Phantom
| interactive e-books | 15 april 2011 | 621
 “But best of all, its ‘English learner’ and
‘Spanish learner’ options slow down the tempo of the narration,
making it easier to follow along with the text.”
from runaway radish
Girl,” and her trusty canine sidekick Phantom Dog sends
the pair into the snow to check out new neighbor Maxwell—
“MaxMan”—and then help him find a lost bottle-cap badge.
As in previous episodes, each scene offers readers the option
to read the text silently or, with a tap of a corner button, to
hear it read by the author (who sounds about Violet’s age).
For children fond of skipping around or going back to favor-
ite pages, there is an index of thumbnail images that can be
called up at any time by tapping another corner button. With
further taps, items in the lively cartoon scenes that are out-
lined in yellow expand into clues or closer views. The back-
ground music is unobtrusive, but it can also be turned off at
the beginning. As in previous outings, the tale gives readers
three chances to make choices that create short loops in the
plot. Here, though, readers can pause for a fast-paced video-
game–style snowball fight and also for a comical game of
touch-the-bird. These diversions, along with the occasional
blink, wave or movable toy, are so well placed that there seem
to be more than there actually are.
All enhance the overall air of high good humor. (iPad story-
book app. 6-8)
BAD WOLF
Developer: Label1
$4.99 | Version: 1.0
February 28, 2011
A “cool” cartoon version of
“Little Red Riding Hood” chal-
lenges both the traditional
perspective and readers’ tol-
erance for imperfect English.
“Bad Wolf and the Little Riding Red Hood” is the Eng-
lish title on the opening screen of this multilingual (English/
Spanish/Portuguese) iPad app by Label1, digital publishers
from Brazil, though elsewhere “Little Red Riding Hood”
(with and without “the”) appears. Readers will marvel at
the misspellings (“snickers” for sneakers, “misterious,” etc.)
and almost poetically awkward translation (LRRH: “Can
you explain about your big nose?” WOLF: “Your distrust
doesn’t ring me a bell. My big nose, of course it’s to feel, it’s
to smell.”). This modern Red Riding Hood, drawn with large
manga-like eyes, wears a backpack and red hoodie, complete
with white earbuds trailing out of a pocket. Grandma herself
is pretty groovy, sporting a long gray ponytail (translated as
“hair tail”), headband and peace symbol. Dramatic tension is
attempted via sound effects (e.g., wind, wolf howls and men-
acing music) and heavy use of light and shadow. Visually the
text combines enlarged cursive handwriting and small print,
with no read-aloud option (amusing as it would be to hear)
and minimal animation and tapping action.
The audience for this app is probably college students look-
ing for additions to their “bad English” collections, but will they
pay $4.99 for it? (iPad storybook app. 10 & up)
622 | 15 april 2011 | interactive e-books | kirkusreviews.com
RUNAWAY RADISH
Levy, Janice
Illustrator: Wright, Sydney
Developer: Siena Entertainment
$0.99 | Version: 2.0
March 19, 2011
Series: StoryChimes
Although markedly different in
tone and style from most iPad
storybook apps (though no less worthy), this English-and-Spanish
tale of a food sculptor and a mischievous, fast-moving root vegetable
is fun and has some features that make it worth multiple readings.
When Don Pedro tries to sculpt an elaborate scene,
including a castle and knights, out of radishes, one of the
veggies springs to life and runs for the hills. The ensuing
chase, which eventually involves a donkey, a group of maria-
chi musicians, a chef and a street vendor is silly enough. But
the reality-bending illustrations are appropriately over-the-
top, and the giant radish’s cry—”Places to go, people to see. /
Out of my way, you can’t carve ME!”—is catchy. In addition
to the usual interactive features, including optional narra-
tion, a pop-up page index and mute-able background audio,
it has two good options for younger readers. It can be read in
English and Spanish and even includes bilingual flash cards
for some of the words used in the story. But best of all, its
“English learner” and “Spanish learner” options slow down
the tempo of the narration, making it easier to follow along
with the text. If there’s a quibble with the app it’s that the
text’s font itself is too small and doesn’t serve the style of the
art well. A matching game is included.
The Runaway Radish (who, spoiler alert, doesn’t exactly
make it out of the story intact) is entertainingly chaotic, and
this “Gingerbread Man” variant is a good effort in both Span-
ish and English. (iPad storybook app. 3-8)
THE PEDLAR LADY OF
GUSHING CROSS
Rogers, Jacqueline O.
Developer: Moving Tales Inc.
$4.99 | Version: 1.2 | February 28, 2011
A stately animated version of a tradi-
tional wisdom tale better known as “The
Pedlar of Swaffham,” or “The Treasure.”
Written in high-toned language—
“The old woman was anything but
lonely, for she had befriended her solitude almost as another,
separate self ”—and narrated at a deliberate pace over unob-
trusive music and sound effects the story takes a pedlar from
her dusty home to a distant city, driven by a tantalizing dream.
The dismissive comment of a city guard about a treasure
dream of his that describes the old lady’s home sends her back,
where beneath her own tree she discovers a bubbling spring
that transforms her sere yard into a lush oasis. The art is pri-
marily done in neutral blue-gray tones (except at the end) with
|
“Past and present, reality and dreams, harsh truths and dangerous
delusions mingle intriguingly in this unusual fourth novel from
the versatile author of vivid historical and contemporary fiction.”
from witches on the road tonight
spare, precisely drawn details and naturally posed figures. As
each page is a short animated loop, turning the Text Display
off and the Auto Page Turn on converts the app into a close
approximation of conventional video. Other options include
voiceovers in Spanish or French, and also a self-record button.
In place of distracting touch activated details random small
changes are designed in that make each pass-through differ-
ent, and on each new page individual letters of the text fetch-
ingly cascade down, arrange themselves in order and then can
be “dumped” to the edge by tilting the tablet.
A magisterial rendition, with the digital bells and whistles kept
firmly in service to the story. (source note) (iPad storybook app. 7-11)
THE UNWANTED
GUEST
Rogers, Jacqueline O.
Developer: Moving Tales, Inc.
$4.99 | Version: 1.1 | March 1, 2011
Uneven synchronization of
animations and voiceovers
mar this retelling of a Yiddish
tale about an old man driven
out of his house when Poverty takes up residence.
Depicted as an emaciated, hairless, passive-looking goblin,
Poverty keeps growing until the man is crowded right out into the
yard—but then shrinks and is in turn driven away when the man
shakes off his despair and with determined labor repairs house
and fortunes. Using sharp contrasts and neutral tones to create a
sense of formality, the art on each page is a short animated loop
featuring figures making restrained, deliberately paced move-
ments. The text, as read in an even tone in the voiceover is like-
wise formal (“He wandered the purlieus of town by day…” “Life
bends and folds where and when you least expect it”) and in the
cleverest interactive feature cascades down randomly on each
page to arrange itself in order. But it’s also too long, as on several
pages the loop begins to repeat distractingly before the narration
is finished. Menu options include readings in Spanish or French,
a self-record capability and an auto-run setting that turns the app
into something like a conventional video.
Strongly atmospheric art and story-centered design give
this a leg up over more gamelike apps, but wait for an update
with better editing. (source note) (iPad storybook app. 7-11)
JEREMY FISHER:
Buddy Edition
Potter, Beatrix
Illustrator: Potter, Beatrix
Developer: Sideways Software
$1.99 | Version: 1.0 | Feb. 18, 2011
Potter’s tale of a hapless frog who sets
out to catch a minnow for dinner and
almost ends up being dinner himself gets
several useful extras in this unabridged
| kirkusreviews.com
app. It also receives a design upgrade that increases the origi-
nal’s cramped trim size and eliminates its blank pages while
pairing text and pictures more closely together.
There are three reading options: silent; read aloud in a
pleasantly measured and low-key way by a female narrator with
a British accent; and, through an online connection, a mode
that allows an absent parent or other reader to be the voice
and to turn the pages remotely. This last option even includes
a button that enables two-way conversations. The illustrations
are sharply detailed, clear of hue and expandable with a touch
to full-screen size. There is little animation (a dragonfly here, a
water bug there), but touching some figures produces an audio
tag. A coloring book and connect-the-dots activity complement
the story. A retractable navigation bar at the bottom provides
thumbnail images of each page of the tale for easy skipping
around, plus a button to open the table of contents. The remote
Buddy mode requires a relatively involved prior setup, but it
should prove a boon to families with absent parents.
High production values and a story-centered design give
this a leg up over flashier, more gamelike e-books. (iPad story-
book app. 4-8)
THE THREE LITTLE
PIGS HD
Developer: So Ouat!
$3.99 | Version: 10
March 17, 2011
There must be something
about the (rights-free) story
of the three homeowner pigs
and that hungry wolf that
appeals to iPad-app developers. There are so many versions of
it—at least 20 by our count—for Apple’s tablet that it’s fair to
say it’s become a blank slate upon which to try different fea-
tures on an easy, familiar story.
Developer So Ouat!’s contribution to the subgenre is that
its version is cleanly packaged with Saturday-morning-cartoon–
style pigs that live inside a virtual book. Users can choose an
ages-5-and-under version or opt for a more complex one for
children 6 and up. The “Show Me” tab triggers a feature that
underlines words in the text; tapping those words brings up a
drawing that defines the word. “Tell Me” reads the story, and an
“Explain Me” tab offers the written definitions of tricky words.
That’s in the older version, which also includes a cursive ver-
sion of the text, highlighted vowels and French and Spanish edi-
tions of the story. Despite the extensive frills, though, the text
is sloppy and in need of some polish. “It was hard work and took
a long time to build, but the house was even more beautiful and
much stronger than the other two little pigs,” reads one unfor-
tunate, apostrophe-deprived sentence.
It just goes to show that even with a unique take on a classic,
you can still go wrong with the basics. (iPad storybook app. 3-8)
| interactive e-books | 15 april 2011 | 623
 MONKEY AND CROC
Terry, Will
Illustrator: Terry, Will
Developer: Jujubee
Illustrations
$1.99 | Version: 1.0
February 1, 2011

In this simple jungle tale done

as an app, Monkey and Croc
are both going about their individual daily routines—but, unbe-
knownst to Monkey, he is quite close to becoming Croc’s next
meal as their parallel routines dangerously converge.
Colorful cartoony illustrations fill each screen telling
the bulk of Croc and Monkey’s story, with short textual rein-
forcement to make clear readers understand that as Monkey
does something, Croc follows suit, including feeling hungry.
Throughout, sentences are kept to just few words per page and
often repeat, making this text amenable to beginning readers.
Clicking the gear in the upper-left corner of all pages provides
both a “read to me” setting and the option of including sound
effects. The text is narrated at a reasonable, if not slow pace,
and each word is highlighted as it is clearly enunciated. How-
ever, the narrator’s voice lacks variation and works against the
story’s building tension. The sound effects feature a “munch,
munch” effect when Croc is tapped, and, similarly, Monkey
makes a stereotypical monkey sound. Despite opportunities
for additional sound effects, these two sounds, which grow old
quickly, are the only sounds featured.
Although designed for the iPad, this playful text fails to take
advantage of the platform, ultimately providing an only mildly
amusing user experience. (iPad storybook app. 4-6)

624 | 15 april 2011 | interactive e-books | kirkusreviews.com |

 fiction
ONE SUMMER
Baldacci, David
Grand Central Publishing (288 pp.)
$25.99 | June 14, 2011
978-0-446-58314-5
Baldacci (Hell’s Corner, 2010, etc.) departs
from thriller mode to pen this often-maud-
lin tale of familial reinvention.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, Jack earned
two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star,
but it appears that the appointment in
Samarra he dodged has been waiting for
him in Cleveland, Ohio. As Christmas nears, he is dying of an
unnamed but always terminal disease, surrounded by his two
boys, Jackie and Cory, prickly teenage daughter Mikki, wife
Lizzie and mother-in-law Bonnie. On Christmas Eve, Lizzie
rushes out into a snowstorm to fill Jack’s pain-med prescrip-
tions and is killed in a crash. Bonnie supervises the dispersal
of the children to various relatives, and Jack is consigned to a
hospice. One day, he finds he’s breathing on his own. Painstak-
ingly, he recovers and even gains back his former fitness level
as an Army Ranger. He gathers the children and moves them
to Lizzie’s beloved South Carolina seaside home, nicknamed
the Palace, in hopes of fulfilling what turned out to be Lizzie’s
last wish. Once in S.C., Jack finds the Palace and adjacent
lighthouse in considerable disrepair. A trained contractor, he
sets to work with his crusty, Harley-driving partner Sammy.
Mikki, a singer/songwriter, finds a kindred spirit in fellow
rocker Liam, whose mother Jenna, a corporate lawyer turned
wisecracking restaurant owner, hires Jack to soundproof
Liam’s studio. The stage is set for new love, but first Jack must
overcome his obsession with fixing the lighthouse beam and
turn the searchlight on his children. Especially since Bonnie
is scheming to get custody of the youngsters. It doesn’t help
that Jack is only too willing to tangle with small town toughs,
or that Mikki has run afoul of the local mean teen queen and
her high-school football henchmen.
Baldacci’s muscle-bound style doesn’t do subtle: He is best
at choreographing fight scenes, rescues and dire brushes with
severe weather, all of which, thankfully, are here in abundance.
Overall, though, the stilted language and trite sentimentalism
are yawn-inducing.
| kirkusreviews.com
THE SIXTH MAN
Baldacci, David
Grand Central Publishing (432 pp.)
$27.99 | April 19, 2011
978-0-446-57310-8
To keep al-Qaeda zealots, megalomaniac
North Koreans with nukes and other bad
guys at bay, gigabytes of real-time intel-
ligence stream to the Wall, there to be
collated and conceptualized by one man,
the Analyst.
The Analyst, once an anonymous IRS
bureaucrat with an eidetic memory and a strangely powerful
intellect, now sits mute in a federal supermax prison, an accused
serial killer. Baldacci (First Family, 2009, etc.) drops Sean King and
Michelle Maxwell, Secret Service agents turned private investiga-
tors, into the mess. King has agreed to investigate the murders
at the behest of defense attorney Ted Bergin, his beloved men-
tor. On their way to meet Bergin at the prison in Maine, King
and Maxwell happen upon Bergin sitting in his vehicle on an
isolated road, emergency lights flashing, murdered. Baldacci’s
realistic plot blends patriotism and naked ambition, greed and
paranoia and bureaucratic infighting. With the Wall providing a
singular source of accurate information, the government’s alpha-
bet departments are losing funding, especially Homeland Secu-
rity, the fiefdom of manipulatively ambitious Ellen Foster. Peter
Bunting, chief of a private-security company, is the genius behind
the Wall and the Analyst. Mason Quantrell, owner of a rival com-
pany, is more interested in fat contracts than useful intelligence.
Then there are the Analyst’s sister, Kelly Paul, a woman with her
own secrets; James Harkes, an agent without a badge but with
a propensity for unleashing violence; and finally, Edgar Roy, the
Analyst, brilliant, shy, lonely and deeply troubled about his part
in the death and destruction generated by the Wall. This novel
is action-adventure, the plot ricocheting between isolated Maine
woods and Washington power corridors, with stops in Virginia
and New York. It’s Baldacci’s fifth book in a series featuring King
and Maxwell, and one that further explores their complex and
sometimes thorny relationship.
Authentic scenario, mystery piled on misdirection and
more double-crosses than a tic-tac-toe tournament.
| fiction | 15 april 2011 | 625
 “A magical, literary novel puts a
surreal spin on a coming-of-age seafaring saga.”
-from jamrach’s menagerie
JAMRACH’S MENAGERIE
Birch, Carol
Doubleday (304 pp.)
$26.95 | June 14, 2011
978-0-385-53440-6
A magical, literary novel puts a surreal
spin on a coming-of-age seafaring saga.
Among the amazements of the 10th
novel by the British, award-winning
Birch is that it is the first to be pub-
lished in America. Its narrator is a young
boy named Jaffy Brown, who begs to be described as a Dick-
ensian “street urchin,” but whose life changes irrevocably after
he encounters a tiger on a street near the Thames and proves
uncommonly brave when the animal takes the boy into its
mouth. The tiger belongs to Charles Jamrach, an importer of
exotic animals who recruits Jaffy to go to sea on a whaling expe-
dition that has a much more ambitious goal: to capture a dragon.
Among his shipmates will be Tim, another boy with whom Jaffy
bonds but who is very competitive, creating a tension compli-
cated by Jaffy’s attraction to Tim’s sister. All of this is narrated in
retrospect, decades later, after Jaffy has discovered how it feels
to be “stuck between a mad God and merciless nature.” Yet it
retains a sense of childlike wonder in its lyrical prose, as the
line between what Jaffy is experiencing and what he is dreaming
blurs the longer he is at sea: “Nowhere clearer than the ocean
for a bright state of being, of falling with constant clarity into
the vortex inside...Sometimes it felt as if the stars out there,
far from all land, were screaming. Hundreds of miles blaring
at your head. So beautiful, that night, waking in the sky with
the screaming stars all around.” The ill-fated voyage finds the
dragon haunting the young mariner much the same as the alba-
tross did Coleridge’s ancient mariner. Before it is over Jaffy will
have his first taste of death. And worse. If prayer was the only
passable path to salvation, Jaffy felt “it had become long since
plain that God didn’t answer. Not so’s the average idiot could
understand anyway.”
Jaffy’s experience could well move the reader as profoundly
as it changed the narrator. (Reading group guide online)
I KNEW YOU’D BE LOVELY
Stories
Black, Alethea
Broadway (224 pp.)
$14.00 paperback original | June 7, 2011
978-0-307-88603-3
e-book 978-0-307-88604-0
Characters struggle to overcome their
fears and fulfill their desires in a cau-
tiously upbeat set of stories.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained”
could be the unofficial motto of the
sensitive young adults who inhabit Black’s recognizable world.
But often, they must be prodded to act. The opener, “That of
626 | 15 april 2011 | fiction | kirkusreviews.com
Which We Cannot Speak,” sets the stage with its depiction of a
divorced man trying to connect with an attractive physician at
a New Year’s Eve party. Her laryngitis makes it impossible for
her to speak, so they communicate via a clipboard she keeps
around her neck. In the title story, a young woman conquers her
jealousy over her boyfriend’s friendship with a beautiful writer
with a sexy, win-win solution in which everyone gets what they
want. “We’ve Got a Great Future Behind Us” introduces us to
an estranged pair of well-known musicians who manage to come
together one more time to write a good song about their train
wreck of a marriage, and the suburban dad of “The Only Way
Out Is Through” turns a family crisis, during a disastrous camp-
ing trip, into a last-ditch opportunity to bond with his troubled
son. The toll of not taking action is tallied as well, when Eliza-
beth, the elder sister in “The Summer Before,” comes back to
her family’s summer home after a years-long absence only to
realize the ways in which she has not recovered from her par-
ents’ divorce. And in the mournful final episode, an aunt must
face her own ambivalence toward commitment when her newly
widowed sister asks her to sign on as emergency guardian for
her young children. Although it could benefit from a bit more
warmth toward its protagonists, this debut reads like a dream,
with nary a false note.
Well-balanced collection filled with low-key charm and
notable talent.
A DEATH IN SUMMER
Black, Benjamin
Henry Holt (336 pp.)
$25.00 | July 5, 2011
978-0-8050-9092-5
The son of a Dublin newspaper magnate
is murdered in a thriller that has every-
thing but a catalyst to set things spinning.
Black (Elegy for April, 2010, etc.),
pseudonym for Booker Award winner
John Banville, knows what noir thriller
fans go for. He spikes events with deli-
ciously nasty wit and sharp, often elegant prose. The exploded
remains of a victim’s head, for example, smear a window like “a
giant peony blossom, that blotted out most of the view of roll-
ing grasslands stretching off to the horizon.” Black’s investiga-
tor, pathologist Garret Quirke, whose problems with women
and alcohol qualify him as a valid hard-boiled investigator,
has a laser eye for character foibles. So you know if Françoise
d’Aubigny, the widow of the murder victim, the widely despised
Richard Jewell, hides anything about his murder, it’s certain
Quirk (in his fourth case) will spot it. It’s also certain he and the
widow, who in profile has “the look of a figure on a pharaoh’s
tomb,” will have an affair. In due order, a web of suspects is
drawn. There’s a gardener, an obnoxious bully; a business asso-
ciate, Carlton Sumner, a rival to Jewell for “ruthlessness and
skuldudgery”; and Jewell’s half-sister Dannie, who murmurs
something about “poor orphans,” a clue that hangs inert over
the proceedings. These and other characters, including Quirk’s
|
mistress, his assistant and his daughter, are drawn with laser
sharpness, but their scenes seldom push the action forward.
Matters get moving whenever Quirke starts investigating, but
Black keeps him off-scene for long stretches, further stalling
cohesion and momentum. The reveal, alas, will probably pop
into the reader’s mind before it does onto the page. Dublin,
during an uncharacteristic hot spell, offers atmosphere Black
never effectively drapes over the proceedings.
The parts are greater than the sum.
THE GOOD AND THE GHASTLY
Boice, James
Scribner (288 pp.)
$24.00 | June 14, 2011
978-1-4165-7544-3
A thousand years after the apocalypse or
Armageddon or something, Visa Second
America finds history repeating itself
through an attempt to recast civilization
from its ashes.
The third and most audacious novel
by Boice (NoVa, 2008, etc.) is futuris-
tic without being science fiction or even speculative fiction.
Because except for the fact that Visa has now branded itself on
pretty much everything (from the name of every country to psy-
chological conditions including “Visa Schizophrenia and Visa
Bipolar Disorder”), the 34th century isn’t appreciably different
from the present. Maybe young people are a little meaner and
more desperate, and maybe ruling officials are more corrupt
in their relations with organized crime, but the author’s social
commentary plainly sees these as matters of degree rather than
transformation: “They were sociopaths. But they were human
beings. And human beings are all alike. Always have been,
always will be.” Such are the reflections of the protagonist and
frequent first-person narrator, Junior Alvarez, an Irishman (yes,
it’s that kind of novel), engaged in interminable conflict with
the Italians. The reader meets Junior as an incarcerated juvenile
delinquent, who thinks he’s the reincarnation of Alejandro el
Grande (until he realizes that Bob Dylan is the reincarnation
of Alexander the Great, and that he, Junior, is the reincarnation
of Bob Dylan, writer of such classics as “Imagine,” “Auld Lang
Syne” and “Beat It”). He later becomes a flunky, a hoodlum, a
combination community leader and drug pusher and, through
the novel’s extended finale, a crook on the lam. In a plot that
seems more like a graphic novel or a screenplay than the liter-
ary fiction to which it seems to aspire, he finds himself pitted
against a mother whose son he battered in a street brawl. Much
of the novel that isn’t narrated by Junior finds his female adver-
sary wreaking vengeance against society in general and stalking
Junior in particular. Justice is served…maybe.
Stop this world, you’ll want to get off.
| kirkusreviews.com
CALEB’S CROSSING
Brooks, Geraldine
Viking (320 pp.)
$26.95 | May 3, 2011
978-0-670-02104-8
The NBA-winning Australian-born, now
New England author (People of the Book,
2008, etc.) moves ever deeper into the
American past.
Her fourth novel’s announced subject
is the eponymous Caleb Cheeshahteau-
mauk, a member of the Wampanoag Indian tribe that inhabits
Massachusetts’s Great Harbor (a part of Martha’s Vineyard),
and the first Native American who will graduate from Harvard
College (in 1665). Even as a boy, Caleb is a paragon of sharp
intelligence, proud bearing and manly charm, as we learn from
the somewhat breathless testimony of Bethia Mayfield, who
grows up in Great Harbor where her father, a compassionate
and unprejudiced preacher, oversees friendly relations between
white settlers and the placid Wampanoag. The story Bethia
unfolds is a compelling one, focused primarily on her own experi-
ences as an indentured servant to a schoolmaster who prepares
promising students for Harvard; a tense relationship with her
priggish, inflexible elder brother Makepeace; and her emotional
bond of friendship with the occasionally distant and suspicious
Caleb, who, in this novel’s most serious misstep, isn’t really the
subject of his own story. Fascinating period details and a steadily
expanding plot, which eventually encompasses King Philip’s War,
inevitable tensions between Puritan whites and upwardly mobile
“salvages,” as well as the compromises unavoidably ahead for
Bethia, help to modulate a narrative voice that sometimes teeters
too uncomfortably close to romantic cliché. Both Bethia, whose
womanhood precludes her right to seek formal education, and
the stoical Caleb are very nearly too good to be true. However,
Brooks’ knowledgeable command of the energies and conflicts
of the period, and particularly her descriptions of the reverence
for learning that animates the little world of Harvard and attracts
her characters’ keenest longings, carries a persuasive and quite
moving emotional charge.
While no masterpiece, this work nevertheless contributes
in good measure to the current and very welcome revitalization
of the historical novel.
THE TERRIBLE PRIVACY
OF MAXWELL SIM
Coe, Jonathan
Knopf (304 pp.)
$26.95 | March 11, 2011
978-0-307-59481-5
e-book 978-0-307-59555-3
The lonely life of an everyman who might
as well be called a nobody is the subject
of the popular British author’s ninth novel
(The Rain Before It Falls, 2008, etc.).
| fiction | 15 april 2011 | 627
 “Seven years after a trial sent a
police suspect up for murder, a disturbingly
similar new killing reopens the case.”
from trespasser
Late-40-ish Max Sim, on leave while “recovering” from
depression from his job as a department store’s customer liaison
officer, is estranged from his disapproving wife, Caroline, and his
daughter. Despite an array of computerized and other devices
that offer connection to everywhere and everyone, Max seems
eternally on the periphery of his own story. In fact, we learn about
the experiences and influences that have formed him from the
testimony of other people. A girl whom Max admires tells him
the (real life) story of Donald Crowhurst, the yachtsman who
entered a round-the-globe race and promptly disappeared (Max
senses an immediate kinship). Caroline, a writer who despairs
over Max’s indifference to culture, contributes a mordant fiction-
alization of a disastrous family vacation. A school essay written by
a childhood friend’s sister, and a confessional memoir penned by
Max’s absentee father, a would-be poet living in Australia (whence
Max returns from a visit at the novel’s outset), complete the array
of judgmental perspectives on our antihero’s many, many failings.
The story’s central action is Max’s car trip to the Shetland Islands,
as a rep delivering a shipment of eco-friendly toothbrushes to
a client. It’s a ruefully comic plunge into the unknown, during
which Max appears to form a relationship with the voice of his
car’s “satnav” (GPS navigational system); so it goes, in the brave
new world of instant communication. It’s a risky road for a novel
to travel, especially when a postmodernist-metafictional dénoue-
ment and ending underscore this book’s peculiar challenges to
the reader. Still, like the hero of many a BBC-TV comedy, Max
carries on, and may, like the cockroach, outlast all the “normal”
people who keep their distances from him.
Not for every taste, but a significant building block in Coe’s
adventurous and distinctive oeuvre.
TRESPASSER
Doiron, Paul
Minotaur Books (320 pp.)
$24.99 | June 21, 2011
978-0-312-55847-5
Seven years after a trial sent a police sus-
pect up for murder, a disturbingly similar
new killing reopens the case, dragging
Maine game warden Mike Bowditch along
for one hellacious ride.
Mike’s nightmare begins with a call
so routine he can’t even respond to it. A
passerby has phoned to say that a young woman’s car has struck
a deer out on Parker Point. Already busy responding to Hank
Varnum’s complaint that some lowlife on an all-terrain vehicle
has vandalized his property, Mike passes on the call, but when
Trooper Curt Hutchins has engine trouble, he ends up driv-
ing to the scene an hour later, only to find that both the deer
and the driver have vanished. Sadly, it’s not long before Mike
finds the driver, Harvard Business School student Ashley Kim,
raped and murdered in the Parker Point vacation home of her
teacher, Prof. Hans Westergaard. Both before and after Mike
contaminates it, everything about the crime scene reminds
him of the seven-year-old murder of college student/waitress
628 | 15 april 2011 | fiction | kirkusreviews.com
Nikki Donnatelli. And he’s not the only one. Lou Bates, whose
charismatic nephew Erland Jefferts was convicted of the earlier
crime, is convinced that Mike can help clear him. Jill Wester-
gaard is equally insistent that Mike can help find her missing
husband. Since game wardens, especially if they’ve found dead
bodies, aren’t supposed to get involved in murder cases, Mike
has quite a series of challenges ahead of him—not counting his
stormy relationship with schoolteacher Sarah Harris and the
self-destructive streak he showed in The Poacher’s Son (2010).
If Mike’s second appearance isn’t quite up to his striking
debut, it’s still a complex, heartfelt, altogether impressive
piece of work.
THE LITTLE WOMEN LETTERS
Donnelly, Gabrielle
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (368 pp.)
$25.00 | June 7, 2011
978-1-4516-1718-4
British-born Donnelly’s first novel, pay-
back for all the Americans rewriting Jane
Austen, concerns a present-day London
family with three sisters descended from
and living adventures parallel to the
eponymous Alcott heroines.
As Lulu Atwater reads a stash of Jo March’s (disappointingly
dull) letters she’s discovered in her mother’s attic, the parallels
Donnelly makes between the Atwater and March families are not
subtle. Instead of Marmee as mother, there’s warm and loving
Fee, a family therapist originally from Boston and the great-great
granddaughter of Jo Bhaer (nee March). Fee’s husband David,
who publishes travel books, is a genial but frequently absent
father. Like Meg March, responsible oldest daughter Emma is
engaged to a nice young man, and like Amy March, effervescent
youngest daughter Sophie, an aspiring actress, is slightly spoiled
but ultimately lovable. Lulu, the brainy middle daughter, is
unsettled, unpredictable and outspoken. With no dying fourth
sister—although Sophie has a bout of food poisoning—and no
serious financial strain (or even awareness of a civil war being
fought, say in Afghanistan), the Atwater family adventures lack
the gravitas of the Marches’. Offered a great professional oppor-
tunity in North Dakota, Emma’s fiancé sensitively lets her decide
whether the benefit to his career is worth leaving London and her
career; despite the Atwaters’ half-baked avowals of feminism, she
decides it is. When Sophie stands up to snobby Bostonian Aunt
Amy and her prejudice against Irish Catholics (as exotic as this
novel gets), Aunt Amy likes her spunk and introduces her to an
important theatrical producer. Fee and David hit a rocky spot in
their marriage but quickly act to rekindle their romance. No Jo
March, Lulu finally discovers her passions: for cooking as a career
and for a hunky true love. Plenty of sitcom-ready moments occur,
like Sophie accidentally brushing her teeth with hair conditioner
and Emma buying shoes she can’t afford.
The Atwaters are amiable in small doses, but Alcott fans will
find this chick lit’s superficial relationship to the sneakily sub-
versive Little Women insulting.
|
 MILES TO GO
Evans, Richard Paul
Simon & Schuster (336 pp.)
$22.00 | April 5, 2011
978-1-4391-9137-8
Second in Evan’s new series (The Walk,
2010, etc.) about an adman seeking
redemption while going through several
pairs of Nikes.
Alan Christoffersen, the author’s
peripatetic ad exec, who is mourning his
late wife McKale as well as the loss of his burgeoning career in
Seattle, has vowed to walk all the way to Key West. At the end
of the first book, our hero suffered a near-fatal assault. The
present installment finds him hospitalized in Spokane after
surgery for severe abdominal stab wounds. His sole visitor is
a woman named Angel, whose flat tire he fixed shortly before
the attack. When he is discharged, Angel offers him a room
in her apartment, which he accepts, realizing that physical
and seasonal obstacles will stymie his wanderlust until spring.
Soon he learns that Angel, a 911 dispatcher, is hiding some-
thing. Her elderly landlord Bill keeps turning up when she’s
not home, asking for “Nicole.” Nicole has cancelled her cable
and given Bill notice she’s leaving the apartment. When Angel
(admitting she’s Nicole) confesses that due to tragedies in her
life she’s vowed to commit suicide after watching all 100 mov-
ies on the AFI’s “world’s greatest” list, Alan is able to share his
secrets for self-healing. Soon the platonic pair have created an
impromptu family, including Bill, a recent widower, that gath-
ers for lovingly described holiday meals. But this idyll ends, as
Alan must move on. Nicole will be fine thanks to Bill’s bequest
of $3.6 million. (Overwhelmed by her kindness, he altered his
will shortly before his death on New Year’s Eve.) Alan hits the
road again, rescuing a runaway and calling attention to the
problem of abused and neglected children aging out of fos-
ter care. In South Dakota, near mountain monuments to U.S.
presidents and Chief Crazy Horse, the plot is once again left
dangling from a precipice.
This leg of the Walk series is brisker and, thankfully, less
didactic than the last. (Agent: Laurie Liss/Sterling Lord Literistic)
THE ABSENT SEA
Franz, Carlos
Translator: Chambers, Leland H.
McPherson & Company (375 pp.)
$25.00 | June 17, 2011
978-0-929701-94-3
What happened in a provincial town dur-
ing the early days of the Pinochet regime.
Twenty years after the coup that
toppled Salvador Allende’s government,
Laura Larco returns to Pampa Hundida. A young judge there
in 1973 when the soldiers rolled in, Laura fled abroad a few
months later. Now she has come home to resume her judicial
| kirkusreviews.com
post, carrying in her briefcase a manuscript written in response
to her daughter Claudia’s angry question, “Where were you,
Mamá, when all those horrible things were taking place in your
city?” Born in Berlin, Claudia has come to Chile “to serve jus-
tice” and make sure wrongdoers are punished in the restored
democracy. But guilt and innocence are not easily defined,
we see as Franz interweaves the events that unfold following
Laura’s return with her memories of the town’s ordeal in 1973.
The brutal Major Cáceres relied on the terrified complicity of
Pampa Hundida’s authorities as he executed political prison-
ers in a camp on the outskirts of town, and he established an
unnerving bond with Laura, fearfully attracted to him from the
moment she stormed into the church where he was praying to
denounce his violations of the law. Past and present narratives
build to a joint climax, as Laura learns of the terrible intimacy
between a torturer and his victim, as well as the willingness of
ordinary people to benefit from evil deeds. Revelations of Cáce-
res’ crimes threaten to discredit the annual religious fiesta that
by 1993 is the primary source of Pampa Hundida’s economic
well-being. Wouldn’t it be better, the nervous mayor asks Laura,
just to let old wounds heal? By contrast Cáceres, disfigured and
half-insane, looks to her to judge him. The course of action she
chooses is as unpredictable as everything else in Franz’s superbly
plotted novel, which invokes the ancient gods of Chile’s indig-
enous people, as well as the eternal opposition between human-
ity’s Apollonian and Dionysian instincts, to remind us that all
judgments are partial and compromised.
Dark, brilliant and disturbing. Let’s hope this first U.S. publica-
tion for Chilean novelist Franz will be followed by many more.
THE GHOST OF
GREENWICH VILLAGE
Graham, Lorna
Ballantine (352 pp.)
$15.00 paperback original | June 28, 2011
978-0-345-52621-2
A young woman who flees the Midwest
to begin a new life in New York discov-
ers that her cool little apartment already
has a long-term tenant.
Manhattan can be a lonely place for
fresh-faced arrivals, and Ohio-born Eve
Weldon does struggle to make new friends after moving to the
big city, but at least her new roommate (of sorts) is a lively conver-
sationalist. He just happens to be dead. Donald is a sardonic Beat-
era writer who passed suddenly, well before his time. Donald may
not have known the success of his contemporaries, but he proves,
to Eve, to be an invaluable source of literary lore. With her col-
lection of vintage outfits and love of mid-century writers, Eve is
fascinated by the era. It turns out that Eve’s mother Penelope,
who also died young, lived for a time in the Village in the 1960s,
before settling for a safe, dull life with Eve’s father Gin. In a way,
Eve seems bent on living the free-spirited life her mother never
had. She lucks into a full-time job writing scripts for Smell the
Coffee, a Good Morning America–style morning show hosted by
| fiction | 15 april 2011 | 629
 affable ex-jock Hap McCutcheon and ice queen Bliss Jones. The
gig is far from glamorous, though, and her position in the staff
pecking order is precarious. But during one of her pre-interviews,
she manages to charm Matthias Klieg, a legendary and reclu-
sive German fashion designer. The much older man takes what
appears to be a paternal interest in Eve, and she discovers that
he and Donald were close friends who fell in love with the same
woman. Donald remains unaware of Eve’s connection with Klieg
and cajoles her into helping him finish his work by dictating his
experimental stories to her in the hopes that she can finally get
him published. Donald further complicates Eve’s life by making
it impossible for her to bring any friends or lovers back to her
place, setting both of them up for an inevitable confrontation.
With its light, matter-of-fact depiction of a supernatural rela-
tionship, Graham’s debut is lots of fun to read, even during those
moments when Eve’s wide-eyed innocence borders on cloying.
Delightful coming-of-age story with a sweet reverence for
the art and romance of old Gotham.
SUMMER IN THE SOUTH
Holton, Cathy
Ballantine (352 pp.)
$25.00 | May 24, 2011
978-0-345-50601-6
Holton (Beach Trip, 2009) takes a trip to
a small Tennessee town and finds a color-
ful cast with a long-hidden secret among
the azalea bushes and magnolia trees.
Ava’s mother, the fanciful Clotilde,
has died, her love affair has gone bad and
her dreams of writing a novel are unreal-
ized. When Will, an old friend from college days, invites her to
come South for the summer, live with his elderly but well-to-do
aunts and write her novel, Ava accepts. Soon she’s chucked the
boyfriend and her job back in Chicago and headed for Wood-
burn, Tenn. Named after her friend Will’s family, Woodburn is a
typical Southern town, peopled by colorful Southerners: There
are Will’s aunts, the sweet, cat-loving Fanny, married to her
childhood sweetheart, Maitland, and Josephine, the spinster
with an iron will; Clara, the African-American who lives in the
cottage behind the Woodburn’s grand home; Alice, whose gay
son, Fraser, channels Edgar Allan Poe; and Darlene, the failed
blond beauty queen who has her sights set on Will. And then,
of course, there is Jake, who is also a Woodburn, but from the
other branch of the family. Jake’s father was the son of Charlie
Woodburn, a ne’er-do-well who married Fanny back during Pro-
hibition. Charlie’s death from drowning decades ago fascinates
Ava, who is convinced his demise was not the accident everyone
seems to think it was. Holton skillfully weaves the stories of Ava
and her vagabond early life with that of irrepressible but equally
irresponsible Clotilde, together with those of Charlie and the
Woodburn girls. The fun, witty dialogue strikes the right note,
as does the attention to detail, from the iced sweet tea to the
casual conversations of Woodburn’s residents.
From the spry octogenarians who compose the town’s old
630 | 15 april 2011 | fiction | kirkusreviews.com
guard to the scheming Darlene who has her hat set for Will,
Holton’s novel is brimming with unforgettable characters, smart
conversations and an engaging mystery that makes spending a
summer in the South a tantalizing proposition. (Agent: Kristin
Lindstrom/Lindstrom Literary Management)
PIGEON ENGLISH
Kelman, Stephen
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (288 pp.)
$24.00 | July 19, 2011
978-0-547-50060-7
A charming narrative voice energizes
this lively first novel, which has brought
enthusiastic reviews, healthy sales and a
movie contract to its young British author.
Eleven-year-old Harrison (“Harri”)
Opuku has migrated with his mother and
older sister Lydia from Ghana (where
his father, baby brother and grandmother remain) to a “coun-
cil estate” (i.e., public housing in a tower block) in the south
of London. Gangs of teenagers from neighborhood estates
prowl the violent streets, but Harri responds to their threats
by joining forces with a friend (Jordan) as “detectives” resolved
to find those responsible for the fatal stabbing of another boy.
Kelman quickly gives the reader emotional identification with
Harri, who is mischievous (he loves tormenting the huffy, whiny
Lydia), a romantic goof (who hopes against hope that his blond
schoolmate Poppy will acknowledge his existence), energetic
(he’s locally renowned for his speed) and a verbal athlete who
speaks in a lively multilingual argot festooned with vivid, funny
locutions. When he solemnly grouses, “In England there’s a
hell of different words for everything,” or pronounces every-
thing along the spectrum that runs from delightful to alarm-
ing “hutious,” there’s just no resisting the kid. Unhappily, even
though the aforementioned slaying (based on the true story of
the 2000 murder of a Nigerian boy) is given central stage early
on, the story is depressingly underplotted and really isn’t much
of a novel. Its title also refers (too coyly) to the pigeon that lands
on Harri’s window ledge, which becomes a kind of protector
and exemplar, clumsily signifying both freedom and flight. And
when, late in the book, the bird itself swoops in to share the nar-
rative, we sense how desperate Kelman is to fill up pages.
Even a kid as feisty and ingratiating as Harri can overstay
his welcome. A pity, because brief snatches of his embryonic
wit, street smarts and survival instincts are about as hutious as
it gets. (Reading group guide online)
|
 “An intoxicating small-town
thriller that quickly gets under your skin.”
from break the skin
BREAK THE SKIN
Martin, Lee
Crown (288 pp.)
$24.00 | June 14, 2011
978-0-307-71675-0
A crime of passion, thought to be com-
mitted by a traumatized Vietnam vet-
eran, links a lovesick Illinois girl with an
equally needy young Mexican-American
woman in Texas.
Laney, a shy and scrawny 19-year-old,
works at a Wal-Mart in a small town in southeastern Illinois. She
shares a trailer with two workmates: sultry Delilah, a perenni-
ally mistreated loser at love now approaching 40, and Rose, “a
big woman with a big heart” suspected of practicing witchcraft.
Things are looking up when Delilah, who packs a .38 Special,
romantically targets a bar-band rocker named Tweet. But when
Tweet takes up with Rose, all hell breaks loose. The Vietnam vet,
for whom Laney falls, is Lester, Tweet’s bow-legged, sweet-tem-
pered roadie, who is so haunted by his killing of innocent civilians
during the war that he enters fugue states of memory loss. One of
them takes him to Denton, Tex., where Betty Ruiz, “Miss Baby,”
the owner of a tattoo shop, claims him off the street. She con-
vinces him his name is Donnie True and they’re a couple. They
fall in love for real and plan their future together. But they, too,
are engulfed by violence when her brother Pablo is punished for
stealing money from Slam Dent, his partner in a cattle-stealing
scheme. Told in flashback through the alternating voices of Laney
and Miss Baby, the book overdoes its tattoo metaphor in evoking
“lives festering just beneath the skin.” But Martin, whose kidnap
novel The Bright Forever (2005) was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer
Prize in fiction, expertly applies shades of James Cain–like noir
to a modern story that might have been inspired by one of the
Lucinda Williams songs on this book’s soundtrack. Black magic,
daughters cursed by the loss or absence of their fathers, post
traumatic stress syndrome, small-town secrecy and lies, pre-teen
voyeurism: Welcome to life “on the other side of right thinking.”
An intoxicating small-town thriller that quickly gets under
your skin.
THE NINTH NIGHTMARE
Masterton, Graham
Severn House (272 pp.)
$28.95 | June 1, 2011
978-0-7278-6997-5
Masterton (Fire Spirit, 2010, etc.) contin-
ues his Night Warriors series by tossing
half-a-dozen untried Warriors at a nefari-
ous 12th-century amputee monk.
Something is definitely wrong at
Cleveland’s Griffin House Hotel. In Room
717, a disembodied voice predicts doom for
charity worker Katie Kercheval. Police detective Walter Wisocky
warns Rhodajane Berry, who’s come to town for her grandmother’s
| kirkusreviews.com
funeral, to report any odd doings in Room 309. Record promoter
Lincoln Walker is attacked by a wraithlike figure who sets Room
104 afire. Rooms 237 and 239, where twin teen singers Kiera and
Kieran Kaiser are staying, keep turning into an open field. The
problem, cabdriver John Dauphin patiently explains, isn’t just
with the hotel, it’s with these guests, all of whom are unwittingly
sensitive to the dreams with which the walls have been infused
ever since Cleveland Flats rapist/killer Gordon Veitch polluted
them back in the 1930s. And the evil of these dreams goes back
even further to the Cistercian monk Brother Albrecht, who’s
been plotting dream-borne revenge and reunion with his beloved
ever since his arms and legs were amputated in punishment for
adultery 900 years ago. The first third of this installment (Night
Wars, 2006, etc.) hints at these developments in some truly creepy
ways. The rest—revealing their superhero destinies to the Griffin
House guests (refashioned as An-Gryferai, Xyrena, Zebenjo’Yyx,
Jekkalon and Jemexxa) and arming them to enter the dream world
and do battle with Veitch, now calling himself Mago Verde, and
Brother Albrecht—is more routine action stuff.
The closest parallels to this novel are movies like Inception
and comic books featuring the Justice League of America.
FARISHTA
McArdle, Patricia
Riverhead (368 pp.)
$25.95 | June 1, 2011
978-1-59448-796-5
The unvarnished but heartfelt tale of
the lone woman stationed with a remote
reconstruction team in northern Afghan-
istan during a year marked by romance,
tragedy and solar ovens—winner of the
2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.
Retired American diplomat McAr-
dle’s own experience gives authentic flavor to her story of Amer-
ican diplomat Angela (translated as angel or Farishta in the Dari
language) Morgan, forced to choose between early retirement
and an unappealing 12-month posting to Mazar-i-Sharif in the
war zone. Widowed after a bombing in Beirut and still suffer-
ing from post-traumatic stress disorder, 47-year-old Angela
is driven by determination and impulsiveness, both of which
emerge when defying convention by riding a stallion in public,
facing down warlords and moving around without armed guards
in dangerous territory. In an episodic narrative, she befriends
her translator Rahim and gets embroiled in his forbidden love
affair; saves the life of an Afghani child; falls foul of a devious
but attractive Russian spy; engages with imprisoned and segre-
gated women; finds a purpose in introducing solar ovens to a
population busily denuding its country of trees; and encounters
romance again with a younger, starchier man, a British Major
who initially disapproves of her presence and activities. Despite
the danger and drama, the story’s pedestrian tone is accented
by a documentary feel and wooden dialogue, although a final
sequence of disasters intensifies emotion.
Sincere but earthbound.
| fiction | 15 april 2011 | 631
 MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS
Meadows, Rae
Henry Holt (272 pp.)
$25.00 | April 1, 2011
978-0-8050-9383-4
A box of her dead mother’s mementos
arrives at Sam’s door, and the mystery
surrounding the contents speaks to the
chasm between mothers and daughters.
The novel opens as Sam drops baby
Ella off at the sitter’s for the first time
after eight months of dedicated motherhood. It is the general
consensus that she needs to get back to her pottery studio. She
is fiercely attached to Ella, making up for the cool reserve of her
mother Iris, whose own story focuses on the last few weeks of
her life. Living contentedly alone in a condo in Florida, Iris, los-
ing her life to cancer (it wasn’t much of a battle), reflects on the
quiet moments she had with her own stoic mother, a farmer’s
wife in Minnesota. In this multigenerational saga, that farmer’s
wife turns out to be Sam’s grandmother Violet, a castaway on
an orphan train, whose narrative centers the novel. A century
ago, beautiful Lilibeth (the mother of Violet, who is the mother
of Iris, who is the mother of Sam) dreamed of greater things
and left her husband and Kentucky for New York, taking young
Violet and little else. There, Lilibeth, who relies on the kindness
of strange men, becomes a regular at Madame Tang’s opium den,
and Violet adapts to the hardscrabble life of a tenement child
on the Lower East Side. Violet’s New York is filthy and frighten-
ing, yet she loves the independence and the other tough kids
she meets. Bound for the orphanage, Violet asks her mother to
send her off on the orphan train instead. Operating for almost
80 years, the train brought destitute children to families in the
Midwest, with varying results. Violet travels from town to town
with the other children, parading on makeshift stages in the
hope of being adopted. The wonder and strangeness of Violet’s
journey is the highlight of the novel, and it lays the groundwork
for a yearning, restrained relationship between Sam and Iris.
A little girl boards New York’s orphan train at the turn of
the 20th century and shapes generations to follow in this satis-
fying portrait of the many faces of motherhood.
QUARANTINE
Mehta, Rahul
Perennial/HarperCollins (224 pp.)
$14.99 paperback original | May 31, 2011
978-0-06-202045-1
Debut short-story collection explores
the lives of gay Indian-American men
caught between multiple cultures.
The quarantine in Mehta’s eponymous
story is not a medical situation but a kind
of forced cultural dislocation imposed,
as quarantines often are, for the benefit of those secreted away.
Typically it’s the elderly parents of Indian immigrants who must
632 | 15 april 2011 | fiction | kirkusreviews.com
endure a painful relocation to move in with their adult children
who are bound by competing feelings of duty and guilt. Trapped
in a country they don’t understand, they lash out at their reluc-
tant caretakers. The stories are told by fully assimilated Ameri-
can-born grandchildren who sometimes know less about India
then their grandparents know about America. That many of the
stories are set in West Virginia and all of the narrators are gay
makes for a unique worldview. “Citizen,” a sweet story about a
young man’s attempts to help his senile grandmother prepare for
American citizenship, displays a comic touch, whereas “Quaran-
tine” and “A Better Life,” which open and close the collection, are
considerably darker. Mehta is also interested in same-sex rela-
tionships, especially when they are on the verge of failing. These
stories of couples on life support offer an abundance of bitter-
sweet moments. Not only must these young men navigate the
minefields that all people in love must meander through, but they
must also deal with the strain of explaining their homosexuality
to parents who grew up in cultures far less permissive than those
in which they have raised their children. A mother’s pragmatic
question—“So who does the cooking and cleaning?”—contains
as many layers as an onion.
A rich study of family ties, romantic failings and cultural dis-
connection told in crisp, clean prose.
THE BUTTERFLY’S DAUGHTER
Monroe, Mary Alice
Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (400 pp.)
$25.00 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4391-7061-8
A young woman follows the path of the
monarch butterflies in their autumnal
migration to Mexico.
Luz Avila, a factory worker in Mil-
waukee, lives with her Abuela (grand-
mother) Esperanza. Abuela raised her
when her mother Mariposa, named
after the monarch butterflies Abuela loves, disappeared. Both
Abuela and Luz believe Mariposa died long ago. But when
Abuela receives an unsettling phone call from her other daugh-
ter in Texas, she plans a trip to Mexico with Luz, to visit the
mountain sanctuary where monarch butterflies are already
beginning to trickle in from their northern feeding and mating
grounds. It is an Avila family tradition for mothers and daugh-
ters to visit a precipice overlooking the canyon groves where
the monarchs gather en masse, and to recall the Aztec god-
dess who sacrificed herself so that creation could begin. After
Abuela’s sudden death from a heart attack, Luz vows to make
the trip on her own. Ignoring warnings from her mechanic boy-
friend Sully, Luz drives away in her grandmother’s rusted Volk-
swagen with a cardboard box containing Abuela’s ashes in the
backseat. After her car dies in Chicago, Luz works at a taqueria
to pay for repairs, then continues her journey, this time with a
very pregnant new friend, Ofelia, who’s fleeing her abusive lover,
and Ofelia’s chihuahua Serena. There’s a stop in Kansas where
Ofelia is taken in by her former employers at a nursery, and Luz
|
 “An ambitious picaresque tale about
civil war, love, propaganda and the Panama Canal.”
from the secret history of costaguana
meets a field entomologist, Billy, who teaches her how to tag
monarchs. Luz continues on her journey, now accompanied by
Margaret, a buttoned-down botanist who wants to escape her
stultifying life. The POV shifts abruptly to Mariposa, alive after
all and slowly recovering from multiple addictions and a vaguely
unsavory past with the help of a Native American equestrian
healer. She is agonizing over why a message left for her mother
in Milwaukee has gone unanswered. Slowed by a plethora of
preachy maxims, the story creeps to a predictable close.
The butterflies are the most colorful characters here. (Read-
ing group guide online)
THE TWO DEATHS OF
DANIEL HAYES
Sakey, Marcus
Dutton (352 pp.)
$25.95 | June 9, 2011
978-0-525-95211-4
Has Daniel Hayes killed his wife? The
question torments the amnesia victim
who’s the protagonist of this fifth sus-
pense novel from Sakey (The Blade Itself,
2007, etc.).
A naked man is crawling out of the
icy ocean and up the deserted beach. He has no idea where he
is or what happened. Then he spots a parked car, a silver BMW.
There’s a recently fired Glock inside and an owner’s manual
belonging to Daniel Hayes of Malibu; the name triggers no
memories. He finds a motel and learns he’s in Maine. More ques-
tions. Why is he compelled to watch a cable show with pretty
actresses? And why is a cop banging on his door? There’s nothing
wrong with Daniel’s reflexes: In seconds he’s behind the wheel
and out of there. It’s a gripping enough start. Daniel steals new
plates and returns to Malibu. He learns he’s a screenwriter, mar-
ried to one of those actresses, Laney Thayer, who died when her
car was forced off the road. Daniel is a murder suspect. We meet
other characters. Sophie, Daniel’s agent, is being threatened by
an intruder called Bennett, who has questions about Daniel and
a necklace. Bennett is the sketchily characterized heavy, a Mr.
Cool, blackmailer par excellence. A taut scene between Daniel
and Laney’s co-star ends with an enraged Daniel attacking him;
could that same rage have led him to kill Lacey? Sakey lets the
question hang, effectively. Elsewhere he is less convincing. Dan-
iel is still driving his BMW with the stolen plates; the cops, after
an unbelievably amateurish stakeout of Daniel’s house, pretty
much disappear. A shocking plot twist at the heart of the novel
further undermines credibility. It’s part of a one-two punch, the
second punch only landing at the end. Dead bodies pile up; so
do the improbabilities. It doesn’t help that this hard-boiled
crime fiction has a disconcertingly soft center, typified by the
Forrest Gump-like mantra, “Life is a raindrop.”
Far-fetched.
| kirkusreviews.com
BURIED PREY
Sandford, John
Putnam (400 pp.)
$27.95 | May 10, 2011
978-0-399-15738-7
A macabre discovery at a demolition site
sends Lucas Davenport back to 1985, and
his very first homicide.
There’s no proof at the time that
the Jones girls are dead, only a plea from
George and Gloria Jones to find them
after they went missing, along with a raft of evidence that all
points in one direction. When the need to follow every lead
drags Lucas Davenport, the beat cop who first caught the call,
into a very temporary assignment as a plainclothes homicide
detective, he immediately shows the sleuthing instincts that
will make him a star (Storm Prey, 2010, etc.). For his trouble, he’s
shunted off the case onto the infinitely more routine murder of
gangbanger Billy Smith. Along the way, he manages to solve the
fatal stabbing of Ronald Rice more or less on the fly. Meanwhile,
a series of anonymous tips and circumstantial clues convince
Lt. Quentin Daniel, who’s running the Jones case, that his killer
is schizophrenic panhandler Terry Scrape. When a manhunt
leaves Scrape dead, Daniel closes the case over Lucas’s protests.
It’s not until 25 years later, when a construction crew finds the
two girls’ bodies, that Lucas has a chance to reopen it. Much
of his two investigations, past and present, amount to a slog, a
procedural daisy chain of information that leads to more infor-
mation, much of it unreliable. But when the killer commits a
particularly brazen and atrocious crime in the present day, the
pace picks up as Lucas vows to execute his quarry personally.
Most interesting for its long look at the young Lucas, who’s
considerably more humorous, profane and loosely wrapped
than the peerless agent of Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal
Apprehension he becomes.
THE SECRET HISTORY
OF COSTAGUANA
Vásquez, Juan Gabriel
Riverhead (304 pp.)
$26.95 | June 9, 2011
978-1-59448-803-0
An ambitious picaresque tale about civil
war, love, propaganda and the Panama
Canal, delivered with verve and wit.
The inspiration for the second novel
by Vásquez (The Informers, 2009) is
Joseph Conrad’s 1904 classic Nostromo,
which depicted warfare and greed in the mythical country of
Costaguana. José Altamirano, the narrator of Vásquez’s novel,
knows Costaguana was a stand-in for his native Colombia, and
he’s eager to correct Conrad by telling the truth about his coun-
try through much of the 19th and early 20th century. He does
this both in broad strokes and through the lives of his loved
| fiction | 15 april 2011 | 633
 ones, who suffered their share of tragedies: From the yellow
fever that kills close friends to the long civil war that tragically
affected family members, loss and death routinely stalk José.
Yet his tone remains kindly and often comic. He smirkingly
observes the bizarre coincidences in his life, the foibles of the
so-called leaders who drove the country into civil war with what
is now Panama, and the contempt of the American imperialists
who ended the war with a land-grab. José inherited his sensi-
bility from his father, who came of age provoking conservative
religious authorities and later wrote propaganda on behalf of a
French company making an early attempt to dig the Panama
Canal. Such inventions support the novel’s theme that words
matter, particularly when they’re false: José’s father’s upbeat
prose kept the canal-building effort alive in its funders’ imagi-
nations despite its doomed reality; yellow journalism fueled
the civil war; and Conrad’s novel, in José’s estimation, rudely
defined the country as backwards. As Colombia collapses into
civil war in the final chapters of the book, Vásquez elegantly
chronicles the violence and absurdity of war while conveying a
sense of bemused fatedness. That the author can make his hero
so entertaining without diminishing the gravity of the blood-
shed is a testament to his talents.
To read this novel is to enter a Borgesian rabbit hole—it’s a
fiction that purports to tell the truth obscured by another fic-
tion—yet its strangeness helps make it both brave and engaging.
THE FAMILY FANG
Wilson, Kevin
Ecco/HarperCollins (320 pp.)
$23.99 | August 9, 2011
978-0-06-157903-5
The grown children of a couple infamous
for their ostentatious performance art
are forced to examine their own cre-
ativity and flaws in the shadow of their
unusual upbringing.
In this first novel, Wilson (stories: Tunneling to the Center of
the Earth, 2009) turns his attention to a subversive family of art-
ists. In fact, his titular subjects are so dedicated to their art that,
whether they know it or not, they’re perpetually in the midst
of an emerging improvisation. The so-called mentors in this
little play are Caleb and Camille Fang, two performance artists
whose dedication to their craft is largely lost on their children
Annie and Buster. “Mr. and Mrs. Fang called it art. Their chil-
dren called it mischief,” the opening lines proclaim. But what
sounds like all sorts of fun to the parents—a particularly acid
stunt on a childhood vacation involves Mr. Fang proposing
to Mrs. Fang on the inbound airplane, soliciting many happy
returns from fellow passengers and then ruining the return
flight with a cheerless reversal—has long-term consequences
on the kids. The novel flashes back and forth between Annie
and Buster’s roller-coaster ride of a childhood (one example: the
Fangs manipulating the adolescent Buster and Annie into play-
ing the leads in a school production of Romeo and Juliet), and
their odd half-life as adults. Annie has become an emerging
634 | 15 april 2011 | fiction | kirkusreviews.com
movie star. When a role demands full-frontal nudity, she acts
out with such outrageousness that she becomes tabloid fod-
der. When Buster, a once-successful writer, is injured during an
ill-chosen freelance assignment, he finds himself with no other
choice but to return to the family fold. The subtlety of the com-
edy is flawless, channeling the filmmaking of Wes Anderson or
Rian Johnson.
A fantastic first novel that asks if the kids are alright, finding
answers in the most unexpected places. (Author tour to Atlanta,
Chattanooga, Memphis, Miami, Mississippi (Jackson and Oxford),
Nashville, North Carolina (Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham))
m ys t e r y
IN SEARCH OF
THE ROSE NOTES
Arsenault, Emily
Morrow/HarperCollins (384 pp.)
$14.99 paperback original | July 26, 2011
978-0-06-201232-6
Former best friends reunite to solve the
mystery of their babysitter.
It’s been nine years since Charlotte
and Nora’s babysitter Rose disappeared.
During that time, Nora has married and
become a potter kept busy at craft fairs,
while Charlotte, after floundering a bit, has become a school-
teacher. Their friendship has withered, and the days when they
scanned arcane texts in hope of divining what happened to Rose
are only distant childhood memories when Charlotte calls and
announces that Rose’s body, folded into a wicker trunk, has sur-
faced. So Nora returns to Waverly, Conn., to pick up the friend-
ship and the mystery of Rose, a task that wends past anonymous
poems in The Looking Glass, the Waverly Literary magazine;
a crippling accident that Rose witnessed; and a vow of silence
taken by four joyriders out for a little fun. The backward jour-
ney must also investigate a suicide attempt, inexplicable mood
swings and childhood rivalries, jealousies and thoughtless cruel-
ties before reaching its sad conclusion.
Arsenault (The Broken Teaglass, 2009) spins a tale that’s sensi-
tive, chilling and compellingly told in chapters alternating the
troubled present with the even more turbulent past.
|
 “A brood of serial killers makes a family
business out of stalking reporter Irene Kelly.”
from disturbance
DISTURBANCE
Burke, Jan
Simon & Schuster (384 pp.)
$25.00 | June 21, 2011
978-1-4391-5284-3
A brood of serial killers makes a family busi-
ness out of stalking reporter Irene Kelly.
A perennial star with the Las Pier-
nas (California) News Express, Irene
Kelly now finds herself facing eclipse,
the trouble coming from two directions.
First, the embattled News Express, long
engaged in a bitter war of attrition, the same one being waged
by newspapers nationwide, puts out a final edition, convert-
ing Irene and her colleagues into unhappy members of the
nonworking press. A tough deal for someone like Irene who
loves her job so much that the loss of it is in a sense a small
death. But death by metaphor is only that, after all, while real
death—that which has been promised her by notorious serial
killer Nick Parrish—is an over-and-done-with proposition,
the stuff of obits and requiems. Irene has a history with Par-
rish, the kind that doesn’t bear thinking about, except that she
does think about it, recalling a robotic monster who kills as if
assembled for no other purpose. Her experience with Parrish
has been hands-on: his hands on her throat, resulting in trauma
she relives in shivery nightmares whenever things go bump in
the night. She’d been lucky to wriggle free of him, an escape so
narrow she can’t quite believe in its permanence. Yes, she knows
that Parrish, his body wracked by serious injuries to head and
spine, is locked away behind prison bars presumably forever—a
life sentence, no possibility of parole—but still she worries. The
worry will intensify exponentially when she learns about those
three chips off the old block.
Even Burke, accomplished thrillermeister that she is (The
Messenger, 2008, etc.), can’t get blood from a stone, or wring a
nuance from your basic, warmed-over serial killer, a prototype
well past its sell date. Her next will be better.
DEAD DOGS AND
ENGLISHMEN
Buzzelli, Elizabeth Kane
Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (360 pp.)
$14.95 paperback original | July 1, 2011
978-0-7387-1878-1
Whatever it is that women want, it’s
probably not a Noel Coward ditty.
Mired in abandonment issues and
determined not to need anybody ever,
gruff Deputy Dolly Wakowski finds her-
self pregnant. Freelancer Emily Kincaid,
divorced from a serial philanderer, man-shy and five years new
to Leetsville, Mich., is waiting to hear if a New York agent will
handle her book. Their lives keep intersecting over murders
(Dead Floating Lovers, 2009, etc.) that Emily helps Dolly solve
| kirkusreviews.com
while writing them up for the Northern Statesman. This time
they must identify the dead (Mexican?) woman shot in the back
of the head in a deserted house. Turkey buzzards lead them to
a mutilated dog, also shot. Off the pair go to question migrants,
who are skipping town at an alarming rate after dead dogs are
left on their doorsteps. Meanwhile, Emily’s ex, a relocated Ann
Arbor English professor, has befriended eccentric Cecil Hawke,
and convinced the wealthy Englishman that Emily can edit his
manuscript, the definitive work on Noel Coward. But when
Emily starts reading, the manuscript is not about Coward but
about two friends on a killing spree, one of whom has a gnawed-
off finger just like Cecil’s. Then at a Blithe Spirit costume party
at Hawke’s house, his dramatically hostile wife Lila, the current
inamorata of Emily’s ex, is shot dead. Is there a connection
to the murder on Old Farm Road? While Dolly wrestles with
morning sickness and Emily reasons with herself about break-
ing her confidentiality contract with Cecil, dogs, sheep and a
migrant family suffer gruesome atrocities, ushering in more dis-
torted versions of Coward.
Buzzelli will have you packing your bags for a move to north-
ern Michigan in the hope that you’ll find a friend as appealing as
Emily and a dog as lovable as Sorrow.
THE LAW OF ANGELS
Clark, Cassandra
Minotaur Books (368 pp.)
$25.99 | April 12, 2011
978-0-312-67455-7
Sister Hildegard again defends the innocent
amid political intrigue in medieval Yorkshire
(The Red Velvet Turnshoe, 2009, etc.).
Hildegard has had a year of peaceful
labor, living her long-cherished dream of
founding a cell of nuns. The sisters tend
their beehives and flocks and happily
offer the same care to two wayward girls: Petronilla, a pretty,
chatty teenager, and the silent peasant child Maud. Their calm is
shattered when armed men destroy the grange—the same men
who ravaged Maud’s family and farm. Under John of Gaunt’s
cruel rule, a knight may pillage a manor to claim it, but why ride
for miles to track down a serfling? To protect Maud, Hildegard
takes the girls to the great town of York to bring charges against
the predators. The city is abuzz with the summer heat, the grim
anniversary of the hanging of rebel Wat Tyler and the upcom-
ing festival of Corpus Christi. Hildegard’s abbess sends her the
Cross of Constantine, the relic Hildegard recovered the year
before, and bids her take it to the archbishop. When Hildegard
obeys, the cross is stolen. Then Hildegard witnesses an inexpli-
cable explosion in a crowded market stall. Was it set by rebels or
by rulers seeking to frame them? Hildegard must find justice for
Maud, recover the powerful holy relic and untangle the machi-
nations of the rebels and their enemies, all before the great feast
day crowds the city to its breaking point.
Intricately plotted and rich in vivid historical detail, the three
interlocking mysteries create an engrossing, fascinating tale.
| mystery | 15 april 2011 | 635
 FLOWERS FOR HER GRAVE
Clemens, Judy
Poisoned Pen (298 pp.)
$24.95 | $14.95 paperback original
Lg. Prt.: $22.95 | August 1, 2011
978-1-59058-918-2
paper 978-1-59058-920-5
Lg. Prt. 978-1-59058-919-9
Would you want Death as your sidekick,
even if you were on the run?
Since losing her husband and child in
a fiery car crash, Casey Maldonado has
been hunted by the Pegasus car company and forced to kill a
thug in self-defense (Embrace the Grim Reaper, 2008, etc). Now
she’s settled down, at least temporarily, as Daisy Gray, the new
fitness instructor at The Flamingo, an upscale living complex in
Raceda, Fla. The only person, or thing, or aura, who knows her
real story is Death, who hovers at her side sarcastically kibitz-
ing. Before her first day of employment is over, Andrea, a resi-
dent, lies dying in the gym shower room; Andrea’s best friend
Krystal has started a petition asking for the ouster of Daisy,
whom she accuses of murder; and gossip smears the two previ-
ous fitness instructors, Richie and Brandon, pronouncing one
cute but incompetent and the other sexy but inclined to prey
on lonely singles. Egged on by Death, Daisy goes into full sleuth
mode, chatting up the complex’s manager and her assistant, the
water-aerobics instructor, the barman, anyone who signs up for
her fitness classes and a powerfully built Amazon who turns the
tables on her by introducing her to her sensei, Asuhara, who
gently elicits Daisy’s real identity as Casey. All the while, Death
flits in and out, leaving icy drafts to mark his presence, and a
cop who reminds Daisy of her dead husband activates her hor-
mones. The climactic scene finds Death returning from some-
where else in time to join Casey for another departure.
Death is annoying, and Clemens steamrolls her plot to an
abrupt conclusion in the last few pages, but Casey is bearable
in small doses.
FELICITY’S GATE
Cole, Julian
Minotaur Books (384 pp.)
$25.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-312-58592-1
Two brothers work distinctly at cross-
purposes to solve the murder of a York
artist in journalist Cole’s fictional debut.
When painter Jane F. Wragge is
bashed to death and her live-in compan-
ion Moses Mundy does a runner, DCI
Sam Rounder naturally assumes that
Moses is the killer, even though Jane’s diary, which he acciden-
tally finds and inexplicably keeps to himself, is one long love
letter to Moses. Meanwhile, the absent lover is hardly idle;
he’s hired Sam’s brother, private eye Rick Rounder, to gather
636 | 15 april 2011 | fiction | kirkusreviews.com
evidence that he’s innocent—an engagement Rick demurely
keeps from his brother. Neither rounder is much of a sleuth.
Rick’s first assignment, poking around the lowlifes of South
London for a lead about which former mate of Moses might
have stitched him up for this job, nearly gets him killed. And
the main effect of Sam’s immersion in Jane’s diary, which he con-
tinues to plow through as the murderous attacks continue, is to
alienate him even further from his long-suffering wife Michelle.
Not to be outdone, Rick ends up neglecting his partner Naomi
as well. The distancing act isn’t restricted to the rounders and
their women, either. Except for Rick and the late Jane, Cole
seems determined to keep most of his characters, especially
Jane’s gallery of former lovers, at arm’s length from his readers.
That’s a shame, because although the mystery is thin and anti-
climactic, he has a fine sense of the magical power of landscapes,
the fragility of loving relationships and the terrifying ease with
which naughty fantasies slip over the edge into nightmares.
An offbeat first novel from a promising author who hasn’t
quite found his niche.
A GENTLEMAN
OF FORTUNE
Or, The Suspicions
of Miss Dido Kent
Dean, Anna
Minotaur Books (336 pp.)
$24.99 | April 5, 2011
978-0-312-59696-5
A murder among the English gentility
once again challenges the inquisitive
prowess of Miss Dido Kent (Bellfield Hall,
2010, etc.).
Dido is residing in the fashionable town of Richmond with
her cousin, Mrs. Flora Beaumont, when the ladies learn that the
charming, eligible bachelor Mr. Lansdale has finally come into
his fortune on the death of his invalid aunt. This happy occa-
sion is disrupted by the vicious gossip of Mrs. Midgely, a neigh-
bor who insinuates that Mrs. Lansdale was murdered. Certainly
Dido considers the circumstances strange. She notes the death
of the victim’s little lap dog and a puzzling burglary through a
window broken from the inside. When Mrs. Midgely prevails
upon the local apothecary to bring the case to the magistrates,
Dido gives in to her natural curiosity. By paying visits, eavesdrop-
ping in shops and attending to the subtleties of parlor games,
Dido aspires to defend Mr. Lansdale’s innocence. She is assisted
in her endeavors by Mr. William Lomax, with whom she hopes
to share mutual affection. As the plot thickens, Dido begins to
doubt Mr. Lansdale’s innocence, and Mr. Lomax presumes to
entreat Dido to cease her investigations for her own safety. In
the end, however, she manages to untangle the mystery and pre-
serve justice, all while remaining the soul of discretion.
Delightful. The clever puzzle and pitch-perfect Regency
prose will charm readers.
|
 THE WORST THING
Elkins, Aaron
Berkley Prime Crime (304 pp.)
$25.95 | May 3, 2011
978-0-425-24099-1
The creator of forensic anthropologist
Gideon Oliver (Skull Duggery, 2009, etc.)
plunges the egghead designer of a hos-
tage-negotiation protocol into a harrow-
ing abduction in far-off Iceland.
When he was five years old, Bryan
Bennett was kidnapped and held for 58
days while his parents, working in Turkey, sweated to come up
with the ransom. Small wonder that as an adult, he’s become
such an expert on negotiating with kidnappers that he’s writ-
ten the book for the Odysseus Institute for Crisis Management
and Executive Security. Now his new boss, Wally North, wants
him to fly to Reykjavik to lead a self-protection seminar for the
executives of GlobalSeas Fisheries. Bryan’s own phobias—he
doesn’t lead seminars, hates airline travel and still suffers from
frequent panic attacks—threaten to make the trip a night-
mare even before GlobalSeas CEO Baldur Baldursson, who’s
already survived one botched abduction attempt, is snatched
again, this time in the company of Bryan’s wife Lori. The kid-
nappers, who include the three clueless left-wing ideologues of
Project Save the Earth and George Henry Camano, the ice-cold
freelancer they’ve hired to coordinate the snatch, are no more
happy to have grabbed Lori than Bryan is to have lost her. Their
face-off pits the expert negotiator against the expert kidnapper
and inevitably leads to Bryan’s exchanging himself for his wife.
It’s only then that his ordeal truly begins.
A well-calculated change of pace for normally laid-back
Elkins, with mounting thrills, a heavy emphasis on self-therapy
and a nice surprise at the end.
SPIDER WEB
Fowler, Earlene
Berkley Prime Crime (320 pp.)
$25.95 | May 3, 2011
978-0-425-24098-4
Quilt maven Benni Harper (State Fair,
2010, etc.) grapples with public respon-
sibilities and private challenges when a
sniper targets San Celina’s finest.
Hosting San Celina’s inaugural Mem-
ory Festival would be tough enough for any cowgirl. Benni has
to corral the feisty ladies of the Coffin Star Quilt Guild, write
narratives for her step-grandfather Isaac Lyons’s oral-history
project and coordinate booths for everyone from the local
Alzheimer’s Association to Blind Harry’s Bookstore, run by
her best friend Elvia. But when a sniper injures two San Celina
police officers, including Elvia’s brother Miguel, Benni develops
her own memory issues. The shootings set Benni’s husband, San
Celina Police Chief Gabe Ortiz, into a tailspin of Vietnam-era
| kirkusreviews.com
flashbacks so destructive that he moves into the guestroom for
fear of injuring his wife. Benni doesn’t know which is worse: the
fear of bullets that could rain down destruction at any minute,
or the ghosts of the bullets that rained down death 30 years ago
in Khe Sanh. As Benni grapples with the violent side of Gabe’s
history, Lin Snider, a mysterious former nurse who says she
wants to retire to California’s Central Coast, makes Benni won-
der whether she’ll ever be free of reminders of the romantic side
of her husband’s checkered past. Even the steady confidence of
Grandma Dove and Aunt Garnet may not be able to keep Benni
on an even keel this time.
Fowler pieces together questions of memory and identity so
deftly that only purists will bemoan the dearth of clues or detection.
HIDEOUT
George, Kathleen
Minotaur Books (320 pp.)
$24.99 | August 16, 2011
978-0-312-56913-6
A slow night in Pittsburgh turns deadly.
Amped up on crack, booze and weed,
Ryan Rutter aims his truck at a woman
walking through the park but badly mis-
calculates. Instead of just scaring her, he
hits her head on, then at the urging of his
passenger, his younger brother Jack, flees
the scene, heading for a vacation cabin at Sugar Lake that their
family rented for two weeks until Jensen, the owner, kicked
them out for trashing it. The next day, Jack, the more temperate
of the boys, finds work to get them food and gas money while
Ryan, antsy, decides burglary is just the ticket and winds up with
another death on his hands. Detective Colleen Greer catches
the first case. With some unsought help from her supervisor
Richard Christie, she begins making inquiries. When Jensen
shows up at the cabin, Ryan waylays him and threatens him with
the man’s own hunting rifle. Worse yet, when Addie, the neigh-
bor who offered Jack an odd job or two, comes by, Ryan jeopar-
dizes her too. Greer, Christie and a plethora of competing law
officers from neighboring districts eventually get leads on the
boys, put out APBs and close in on them, but not before Ryan,
unbeknownst to Jack, opens the gas stove jets to eliminate the
pair of witnesses.
Cops getting territorial and sexually frisky (The Odds, 2009,
etc.) play second string to Jack, who’s caught up in trying to redeem
his brother, and Addie, who makes a mean spaghetti sauce.
| mystery | 15 april 2011 | 637
 “The Seaside Knitters are joyously preparing for the
wedding of one of their own, but first they have to solve a murder.”
from the wedding shawl
THE WEDDING SHAWL
Goldenbaum, Sally
Obsidian Books (320 pp.)
$24.95 | May 3, 2011
978-0-451-23319-6
The Seaside Knitters are joyously prepar-
ing for the wedding of one of their own,
but first they have to solve a murder.
The family and friends of knitting shop
owner Izzy Chambers are busy making
ready for her marriage to Sam Perry. Izzy’s
beloved aunt Nell has even hired gardener
Claire Russell to make her backyard perfect for the ceremony. Long
divorced from her ultra-strict husband, Claire has returned to Sea
Harbor, Mass., to face the past. Soon after a book-shop discussion
of cold cases focusing on the death of Claire’s daughter, beautiful
local teen Harmony Farrow, Harmony’s BFF Tiffany Ciccolo is
found dead in the basement of the beauty salon where she worked.
Tiffany had a crush on Andy Risso, member of a popular local band.
Since Andy was formerly Harmony’s high-school flame, the police
have him high on the suspect list. Nell and her friends realize they
have to solve both murders before they can present Izzy with her
beautiful wedding shawl and provide a perfect wedding day.
The latest outing for these dexterous amateur sleuths (A Holi-
day Yarn, 2010, etc.) is a very pleasant read that evokes summers
by the sea and features a mystery that will keep you guessing and
instructions for making a wedding shawl and a lobster dinner.
MERELY PLAYERS
Gregson, J.M.
Severn House (208 pp.)
$27.95 | May 1, 2011
978-0-7278-6984-5
The murder of a TV actor leaves too many
suspects and too few clues to suit DCI
Percy Peach (Wild Justice, 2009, etc.).
A drop in the crime rate should
be just the thing for Brunton CIS’s
Percy Peach. It would give him time to
revel in his blissful new marriage to his
comely ex-sergeant, the former Lucy Blake. But the lack of any
real wrongdoing to investigate gives Peach’s superintendent,
Tommy “Bloody” Tucker, the notion that Percy is just the man
to help him negotiate the tension between the National Front
and Brunton’s Asian population. Percy hates PR. What he
wants is a nice juicy murder. And he gets his wish: Adam Cassidy,
who stars in the wildly popular teledrama Call Alec Dawson, is
found shot to death in his BMW off the A666. No question who
hated Adam. He cheated on his wife Jane, blackballed his men-
tor Dean Morley from a recurring role on the show and did the
same for Michelle Davies, even after bedding her. He canned
his agent, Tony Valento, who’s connected enough to hire a hit
man. And his brother Luke, who takes care of their aged father
Harry, was frustrated with Adam’s neglect of the old man, the
638 | 15 april 2011 | fiction | kirkusreviews.com
one person who idolized him. So there’s motive aplenty—but
who had the means? That’s just what Peach and his new bagman,
DS Clyde Northcott, mean to find out.
Another meat-and-potatoes procedural from the reliable Gregson.
THE REDEEMED
Hall, M.R.
Simon & Schuster (416 pp.)
$25.00 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4391-5712-1
The case of a murdered porn star–turned–
anti-porn activist raises more dragons
for Severn Vale District Coroner Jenny
Cooper to slay.
It looks to all eyes as if psychiatric
nurse Alan Jacobs took a fatal overdose
of Phenobarbital on his own. But who
incised a cross onto the skin of his chest, and why? Jenny Coo-
per would love to know, but she’s already staggering under quite
another weight. Prison chaplain Father Lucas Starr, convinced
that Paul Craven, who confessed to stabbing Eva Donaldson
to death, is innocent, makes an impassioned plea for Jenny to
reopen the question of his guilt in her Coroner’s Court. The
venue would seem an ideal place for a disinterested pursuit of
the truth, but that’s exactly what doesn’t happen. Jenny runs
afoul of a campaign to have Parliament pass sweeping anti-
pornography laws. The campaigners, funded by software pio-
neer Lord Michael Turnbull’s Decency movement, Eva’s last
employer, and pastor Bobby DeMont’s Mission Church of
God, aren’t about to see their lobbying undermined. When she
goes into court, Jenny faces perhaps the most formidable array
of legal talent, acting on behalf of four different parties, ever
assembled in a work of fiction. Her dedication to bringing out
the truth of Eva and Alan’s deaths is sorely challenged by her
opponents’ willingness to use every possible weapon against
her—even a long-forgotten accident from her childhood.
Complex, sorely tried Jenny (The Disappeared, 2009, etc.)
seems destined to butt heads with every authority figure she
can find. She has all the makings of a franchise heroine, if only
she can survive her bruising conflicts.
ESCAPE ARTIST
Ifkovic, Edward
Poisoned Pen (250 pp.)
$24.95 | June 1, 2011
978-1-59058-847-5
A much younger version of Edna Ferber,
who already showed her sleuthing chops
as a 70-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner
(Lone Star, 2009, etc.), solves what’s
presumably her first case—with a little
help from the other biggest celebrity to
hail from Appleton, Wis.
|
 In 1904, nobody in her hometown knows that 19-year-
old Edna Ferber will grow up to be a playwright and novelist
to reckon with. So although Sam Ryan, aging publisher of the
Appleton Crescent, pays Edna $3 a week to retail the more
genteel items of society gossip, he’s inclined to take the side
of her nemesis, bigoted new city editor Matthias Boon, who
wants to grab Edna’s story when she lands smack in the middle
of a murder. The victim is schoolgirl Frana Lempke, 17, whose
rumored liaison with an unnamed older man proved that she
was no better than she should be and probably deserved to get
strangled, even if nobody can figure out how she sneaked out of
her closely watched school. As it happens, her death coincides
with the visit of the celebrated Harry Houdini, who was born
in Hungary but claims Appleton as his hometown. “All Jews are
escape artists,” Edna’s blind father tells her, and indeed Frana
and Edna’s attempts to escape Appleton’s stifling conventional-
ity are worthy of Houdini. But because Ifkovic is determined
to introduce readers to every citizen of the town, you don’t get
much chance to get close to any of the suspects, and the work-
manlike whodunit serves mainly as a charming excuse to intro-
duce Houdini to Ferber.
The biggest mystery, in fact, is what chapter in Ferber’s
eventful life is likely to furnish the basis for the next installment
in this offbeat series.
JERSEY LAW
Liebman, Ron
Simon & Schuster (288 pp.)
$25.00 | June 14, 2011
978-1-4165-6977-0
The two bottom-feeding South Jersey
lawyers from Death by Rodrigo (2007)
are at it again, their goal not so much to
excel in court as to survive outside it.
You don’t want to mess with Slippery
(nee Avon) Williams, whether you’re deal-
ing drugs on the fair streets of Camden under his watchful eye or
running a parallel organization in Atlantic City, which Chink (nee
Reginald Shawn) Dupree was doing from prison until Slippery got
him transferred into the Camden County Jail and iced. But now,
it seems, Sami Khan, South Jersey’s premier electronics dealer, is
doing just that. As if fencing stolen property and evading taxes
weren’t enough for his family business, Sami has been launder-
ing money for Slippery’s outfit—which would be fine if Camden
County DA Robert Cahill weren’t leaning on Sami to flip. The
situation is even trickier for Sami’s lawyers, Mickie Mezzonatti
and Junne Salerno, whose youse-guys narration guides innocent
readers through this jungle. Having accepted $50,000 from
Slippery to join upscale Philadelphia attorney Gerald Rubino at
Sami’s defense table, they realize too late that the service they’re
being paid for is to tip Slippery off to any hint that Sami’s about
to roll over on him. Of course, if they betray a client’s confidence,
they’ll be disbarred. But disbarring sounds pretty good compared
to getting whacked by Slippery, especially once Arty Bernstein,
the landlord of their bucket shop, indicates that he’s perfectly
| kirkusreviews.com
willing to sell them out to Slippery the minute they make a wrong
move, or even before.
The dilemma is so authentic that it’s sad to see how cheaply
and easily Liebman lets his two heroes off the hook. Fuhged-
daboudit, but be sure to check back next time.
STAGESTRUCK
Lovesey, Peter
Soho (336 pp.)
$25.00 | June 1, 2011
978-1-56947-947-6
Backstage hugger-mugger at Bath’s The-
atre Royal.
The curtain has barely gone up when
the pop star hoping to resurrect her glory
days by switching from singing to drama
begins to scream and tear at her face.
Clarion Calhoun is rushed to hospital,
her understudy goes on and the production is put in serious
jeopardy. Disfigured from the caustic drain cleaner someone
added to her face powder, Clarion decides to sue the theatre, a
catastrophe only slightly diminished when Denise, who applied
Clarion’s makeup, commits suicide in remorse. Battling a life-
long fear of theatres, Detective Peter Diamond (Skeleton Hill,
2009, etc.) steps in to sort out matters. His task is complicated
by the actors’ ability to act innocent; the theatre management’s
romantic proclivities and financial woes; the appearance of the
grey lady (the resident theatre ghost); and the dreaded sighting
of two dead tortoiseshell butterflies, which according to theatre
lore presage tragedy. Furthermore, Diamond is saddled with
Sergeant Dawkins, a vulgarly dressed, loudmouthed pendant
who keeps volunteering for more work. Clarion, for unspecified
reasons, drops her lawsuit, but on an unannounced visit to a per-
formance is suffocated anyway with a plastic bag. Determined
to get to the bottom of the bathos at Bath and pinpoint the
origin of his theatre terror, Diamond slogs on, finally standing
center stage to confront at least one of his nemeses.
Far from Lovesey at his best, without the wit, trickery and
demonic plotting that has earned him silver, gold and diamond
daggers from the British Crime Writers’ Association.
THE FAERIE HILLS
McDuffie, Susan
Five Star (236 pp.)
$25.95 | April 15, 2011
978-1-59414-961-0
In the isles of the Hebrides, Muirteach of
Clan MacPhee solves his second mystery
for the Lord MacDonald (A Mass for the
Dead, 2006).
In 1373, Muirteach’s uncle is foster-
ing Lord MacDonald’s grandson, a head-
strong young boy named Niall. Upon
| mystery | 15 april 2011 | 639
 “The Nameless Detective Agency must cope
with a clutch of monsters, all members of the gentler sex.”
from camouflage

hearing tales of faerie gold, Niall takes to the hills to find trea- CAMOUFLAGE
sure and never returns. His disappearance reignites old clan Pronzini, Bill
tensions. Niall’s parents accuse the men of Clan MacRuari of Forge (288 pp.)
murdering the boy in vengeance for the accidental killing of a $24.99 | June 1, 2011
MacRuari son decades ago. The islanders believe the fey folk 978-0-7653-2564-8
took the boy as punishment. Muirteach, however, sees a human
hand at work. He and his uncle’s men comb the island for clues The Nameless Detective Agency must
but find only the bones of an infant in a cave and word of a cope with a clutch of monsters, all mem-
changeling in the next village. As Muirteach’s love for the healer bers of the gentler sex.
Mariota blossoms, the shadows of the faerie world grow darker. From the moment David Virden
On the night of Samhain, when the dead walk amongst the liv- sets an outrageously expensive shoe in
ing, another victim is struck down. Does a witch or the local the agency’s barebones office, Name-
faerie doctor hold the key to Niall’s disappearance? less takes against him. The man is too sleek, too carefully put
Well-paced and engrossing, this blend of faerie lore and all- together. Still, the gig seems straightforward enough once a cer-
too-human intrigue will satisfy fans of fantasy and mystery alike. tain amount of veneer is stripped away. Virden wants an ex-wife
found. That’s the straightforward part. No problem. Harness
Tamara, Nameless’ black, beautiful and extremely brainy col-
LOSING NICOLA league, to her agile computer, and they’re halfway to a final tally
Moody, Susan of billable hours. The offbeat part has to do with the reason
Severn House (288 pp.) Virden wants his ex tracked down dead or alive. It’s central to
$28.95 | June 1, 2011 his current and shamelessly shady matrimonial venture, involv-
978-0-7278-8014-7 ing the very well-heeled, very Catholic Judith Lopresti. But
that’s his business, Nameless decides, while preparing to pur-
Twenty years after her 12th birthday ended sue the agency’s. Nameless finds Roxanne McManus as easily as
in tragedy, Alice Beecham returns to her he thought he would and almost immediately wishes he hadn’t.
hometown in an attempt to make herself She and Jane Carson, her partner in vicious crime, are Messalina
whole by figuring out what happened. and Lucrezia Borgia for our time. Meanwhile, Jake Runyon, the
The summer of 1953 may have been agency’s crack field investigator, has also taken a case involving
uneventful for the world at large, but it one of San Francisco’s loathsome ladies. What makes his case
was crucial for history teacher Fiona different is that it’s personal. What makes it a match is the
Beecham and her brood, who in the absence of their soldier hus- woman’s unregenerate wickedness.
band and father have found a home with Fiona’s aunt in Shale, a Can doing first-rate work as consistently as Pronzini (Betray-
town in coastal Kent. Even though nobody exactly liked 13-year- ers, 2010, etc.) really be as effortless as he makes it seem?
old Nicola Stone, nobody could resist her either. An arresting
backstory—her father was doing time for strangling her friend
Valerie Johnson two years earlier—combined with her sovereign
impertinence and her budding sexuality to make her irresist-
ible to the local lads, from Julian Tavistock to Alice’s all-but-
twin Orlando, and those a bit older but no wiser, especially art
teacher Bertram Yelland. As Alice struggles with unfamiliar and
uncomfortable feelings for Sasha Elias, the piano teacher whose
family was killed in the Holocaust, Nicola adroitly manages to
affront every adult in Shale while remaining the alpha child
in Alice’s circle. Her reign of terror ends when Orlando and
Alice, picking blackberries the morning after Nicola’s rudeness
spoiled Alice’s party the day before, find her beaten to death.
When the passing years fail to bring resolution to the mystery
of her death Alice resolves to mark the breakup of her mar-
riage by resettling in Shale long enough to interview everyone
concerned. She soon learns that despite their ritual reluctance,
they’re more than willing to talk about the secrets they’ve hid-
den all these years.
Veteran Moody (Doubled in Spades, 1997, etc.) spins a puzzle
that takes a back seat to her graceful evocation of her heroine’s
childhood and its disintegration one fateful summer.

640 | 15 april 2011 | fiction | kirkusreviews.com |

nonfiction STEALING REMBRANDTS
The Untold Stories of
Notorious Art Heists
Amore, Anthony M.; Mashberg, Tom
Palgrave Macmillan (256 pp.)
$25.00 | July 5, 2011
978-0-230-10853-0
A museum security director and a jour-
nalist combine to educate the masses
about the realities of art theft, with an
emphasis on the paintings of Rembrandt.
Amore is employed at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
in Boston, which has been victimized by thieves pulling off
high-profile heists. Mashberg is a Boston Herald reporter who
immersed himself in the Gardner thefts, hoping to solve the
most notorious of those, which occurred in 1990. The authors
smash myth after myth, many of them the result of unrealistic
movies of the James Bond variety. For instance, they demon-
strate that a high percentage of art thieves—whether stealing
from museums or private homes—are not sophisticated about
technology or about the paintings themselves. In fact, many
are common house burglars who seek new criminal challenges
and who believe, often mistakenly, that stealing works of art
assessed at high prices will lead to riches. They frequently fail
to reckon with the reality that art masterpieces are difficult
to fence because they stick out in underground markets. The
bulk of the text consists of case studies from private residential
collections and from public galleries in Stockholm, Cincinnati,
Boston and Worcester, Mass. The studies sometimes feel like
filler in an already slim book, partly because the heists occurred
so many decades ago. The narrative is generally stronger when
the authors convey insights from thieves who discuss their
mindsets, and when the text focuses on why educated museum
staff members can be duped so easily. The background about
Rembrandt, why his art has become so sought-after and how
thieves have disposed of his masterpieces constitutes a book
within the book, backed by original research.
An interesting mish-mash of everything related to the thiev-
ery of valuable art. (8-page black-and-white glossy insert)
| kirkusreviews.com
IN THE LONG RUN
A Father, a Son, and
Unintentional
Lessons in Happiness
Axelrod, Jim
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (288 pp.)
$26.00 | May 17, 2011
978-0-374-19211-2
A CBS News national correspondent reas-
sesses his priorities after 12 successful years in
the ruthlessly competitive TV news business.
As this polished memoir opens, the 46-year-old author is
covering the 2008 Democratic primaries and fighting to win the
air time that will guarantee his continued rise in network news.
At the time, however, he was beginning to feel ignored and mar-
ginalized by new bosses, and he was also reminded of his father’s
race times at age 46 in the New York City marathon. So Axelrod
decided to get in shape, run in the 2009 marathon and beat his
father’s best time. In alternating chapters, the author describes
his arduous training for the big race and his relationship with
his successful trial-lawyer father, a troubled charmer with few
friends who escaped the pressures of life, marriage, and father-
hood through running. Axelrod’s desire to outrun his father fits
nicely with his driven ambition to provide handsomely for his
family—a wife and three young children whom he rarely sees dur-
ing months of constant travel. Following one of his workaholic
father’s rules for success—“Never say no”—Axelrod accepted
assignments to cover the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, hoping
that his bosses were finally coming around. But he failed to con-
sult his pregnant wife, and his marriage became badly strained.
The author eventually realized that his quest for fame and money
was clouding the fact that he was obsessively focused on work
that he did not really enjoy. He resolved to curb his ambition and
settle down, in all respects, with his family.
A candid story that will resonate for many midlife readers.
POOR ECONOMICS
A Radical Rethinking of the
Way to Fight Global Poverty
Banerjee, Abhijit; Duflo, Esther
PublicAffairs (320 pp.)
$26.99 | April 26, 2011
978-1-58648-798-0
Highly decorated economists Banerjee
and Duflo (Economics/Massachusetts
Institute of Technology) relay 15 years
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 641
 “Infamous Players stands as a sort of cheeky, breezy
companion to Peter Biskind’s epic Easy Riders,
Raging Bulls, which documents the same period…but Bart’s
account is faster, more personal, and more fun.”
from infamous players
of research into a smart, engaging investigation of global pov-
erty—and why we’re failing to eliminate it.
Aiming to change the stigma that revolves around pov-
erty, the authors explore not just how many find themselves in
economic quicksand, but why. They suggest that policymak-
ers, economists and philanthropists alike fail to understand
the unique problems that lead to poverty; as such, attempts to
eradicate it are often misguided. The poor need more than food,
the authors write; they need programs that empower them
with a real, fighting chance. Through a blend of on-the-ground
observations, social experiments and psychological analysis,
Banerjee and Duflo showcase an expansive understanding of
poverty’s traps and its potential solutions. They extol the vir-
tues of such practices as microsaving and microfinance, which
cut out debilitating interest rates and predatory moneylenders.
But even these solutions aren’t without their issues, including
lack of trust in the lender and an unwillingness to take risk. The
authors advocate for increased access to family planning, as
family size is often a leading cause for why many are saddled
with financial burden. They also investigate why many forego
free or low-cost medical care or education.
A refreshingly clear, well-structured argument against the
standard approach to poverty, this book, while intended for
academics and those working on the ground, should provide an
essential wake-up call for any reader.
INFAMOUS PLAYERS
A Tale of Movies,
the Mob, (and Sex)
Bart, Peter
Weinstein Books (304 pp.)
$24.95 | May 3, 2011
978-1-60286-139-8
Hollywood, the psychedelic years.
Bart recalls his tumultuous tenure
as Vice President of Paramount, a once-
proud studio struggling to adjust to
changing audience tastes in the late sixties and seventies. Bart
came to the picture business via an untraditional route—he had
previously worked as a reporter for the New York Times—and his
rise would be inextricably linked with that of Robert Evans, the
famously brash and sybbaritic former apparel executive who
had charmed his way into the Hollywood elite after an undis-
tinguished acting career. Together, Bart and Evans, under the
supervision of their voluable and impetuous corporate master,
Charles Bluhdorn, would make Paramount an exemplar of the
“new” Hollywood, championing innovative, era-defining proj-
ects including The Godfather, Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby, and
Love Story. It was a bumpy ride, and Bart drolly dishes on bad
behavior both behind and in front of the camera, marveling at
the ability of great cinema to survive the egos, private agendas,
bad behavior, and appalling stupidity that run rampant in the
highest echelons of the industry. Bart’s behind-the-scenes remi-
niscences of the productions of such legendary productions is
insightful and endlessly diverting for any fan of the period’s
642 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
films, and he limns the personalities and career arcs of such
luminaries as Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford,
and Francis Ford Coppola with a wealth juicy details and good
humor. Infamous Players stands as a sort of cheeky, breezy com-
panion to Peter Biskinds epic Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, which
documents the same period…but Bart’s account is faster, more
personal, and more fun.
An irresistible insider’s account of one of Hollywood’s most vital
and storied eras. (Author appearances in New York and Los Angeles)
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL
WALK IN THE WORLD
A Pedestrian in Paris
Baxter, John
Perennial/HarperCollins (336 pp.)
$14.99 paperback original | June 1, 2011
978-0-06-199854-6
Memoirist, biographer and translator
Baxter (Von Sternberg, 2010, etc.) turns
his sensuous walking tours of Paris into
the written word, with gratifying results.
The author does what he does best—short chapters that
explore some engaging nugget of Parisian culture or history,
in a pace and voice that are both gentle. Goaded by a friend
to put his voluminous knowledge of Paris to use as a walking-
tour guide to literary and other artistic haunts, he accepted the
challenge and found a calling. Baxter enjoys amusing and being
amused, and he has pocketfuls of colorful background stories
that create atmosphere. He is of the Henry Miller school—give
him the boulevards known for sex and crime, food and drink,
the opium dens and the absinthe bars, the art galleries selling
salacious photographs—and he pulls it all off with an air of
charm and calm. On his tours, the plans are open-ended; he
digresses as needs be, perhaps into a story about how the lock
to his house broke when he was about to leave for Christmas
Eve at his relatives’, or the curious interlude with a performance
artist claiming to have known Marlene Dietrich. Readers can
feel his elation at being out and about, experiencing the antique
weather in the small passageways, cruising down Haussmann’s
sidewalks, dropping into cafés famous and obscure and explor-
ing anything Hemingway. He is the flâneur’s flâneur: “Visitors
didn’t want their Paris. They wanted mine. Plenty of time when
they got home to read Flaubert or a history of the French Revo-
lution. What they wanted now was to reach out and touch the
living flesh—to devour and be devoured.”
Walking through Paris with Baxter is really what bien-être is
all about. (Author appearances in Paris)
|
 BINGSOP’S FABLES
Little Morals for Big Business
Bing, Stanley
Illustrator: Brodner, Steve
Harper Business (208 pp.)
$19.99 | April 26, 2011
978-0-06-199852-2
Biting wisdom of the corporate world
conveyed through a series of clever moral
tales and anthropomorphic illustrations.
Borrowing from the style and structure of Aesop’s Fables, For-
tune magazine columnist and author Bing (Executricks: Or How
to Retire While You’re Still Working, 2008, etc.) focuses his keen
observer’s eye on the egos, misjudgments and general mayhem
that sink or float the players in American Big Business. Offer-
ing a wealth of advice on navigating the tricky waters of corpo-
rate politics and interpersonal relationships, these parables are
equally relevant for life outside the office. Bing’s pithy, humor-
ous guidance is dispensed through his alter ego, Bingsop. The
short volume is loaded with scathingly funny, and recognizable,
corporate archetypes: the CEO, the Media Mogul, the Benefits
Manager, the Consultants, among others. The fun begins with
the “Translator’s Note,” in which the author explains that he is
writing from a time far in the future recounting the collected
wisdom of a scribe from early-21st-century America. Brodner’s
illustrations of animals as human caricatures are clever and off-
beat. Each tale ends with a moral that cuts to the chase—e.g.,
“Everybody wants to think outside the box unless it’s their box,”
or “It’s your ring people are kissing, not you.”
Deceptively simple bedtime stories for adults.
TICKET MASTERS
The Rise of the Concert
Industry and How the
Public Got Scalped
Budnick, Dean; Baron, Josh
ECW Press (392 pp.)
$24.95 paperback original | June 1, 2011
978-1-55022-949-3
The lively, sprawling chronology of the
concert-ticket sales business.
Relix editors Budnick (Jambands: The Complete Guide to the
Players, Music, and Scene, 2003, etc.) and Baron begin by recap-
turing the “eureka moment” of computer moguls Harvey Dub-
ner and partner Jack Quinn in the 1960s. Both men managed
to surmount a spectrum of technological kinks to roll out a
revolutionary operating system that expanded automated
ticketing to encompass not only theater venues, but the lucra-
tive rock music and sporting-event business as well. Dubbed
Ticket Reservation Systems, it endured fierce competition and
necessary rebranding (Ticketron), while an ingenious startup
venture (that would become Ticketmaster) began competing
for venue contracts and consumer sales with technology capa-
ble of processing increasingly complex ticketing platforms.
| kirkusreviews.com
The authors engagingly trace the industry’s evolution through
its rapid and profitable growth trends in the ’70s and ’80s,
aided partly by shrewd businessmen like Ticketmaster hon-
cho Fred Rosen, an entrepreneur who savored his company’s
absorption of rival agent Ticketron in 1991. However, trouble
began to mount. Customers revolted over Ticketmaster’s
excessive, involuntary tiers of “service fees,” and allegations
of unsavory and overzealous business practices sparked an
investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for antitrust
practices. A host of volatile lawsuits followed, though nothing
could prevent the highly scrutinized merger with LiveNation
in 2010. Budnick and Baron offer information in accessible
language fortified with verbatim dialogue from a pantheon of
music-industry brass. Classic-rock bands, musicians, manag-
ers, concert promoters, radio broadcasters and entertainment
attorneys contribute to a spirited forum on how the grinding
gears of the evolving (often double-crossing) ticket market has
affected their concert tours and business.
An exhaustive, somewhat circuitous literary treatment that
favors history over histrionics.
THE RED MARKET
On the Trail of the World’s
Organ Brokers, Bone
Thieves, Blood Farmers,
and Child Traffickers
Carney, Scott
Morrow/HarperCollins (272 pp.)
$25.99 | June 1, 2011
978-0-06-193646-3
Having written magazine articles on
subjects like the buccaneer business model of Somali pirates
and the dark side of overseas adoptions, Wired contribut-
ing editor Carney expands on time spent in India, Europe and
America examining the illegal “red” marketplace for trafficked
human body parts.
The author writes that “our appetite for human flesh is
higher now than at any other time in history.” Though the trade
may appear barbaric, it is commonplace in places like Egypt
and the Philippines, and most transactions are handled—to an
outsider, at least—altruistically. As a post-graduate anthropol-
ogy student, the author taught for many years in southern India,
and his unsympathetic initiation into the “body business” came
at the expense of a young American student and suicide victim
upon whose increasingly perishable corpse descended a variety
of locals who insinuated “demands on what was left of her mate-
rial self.” Elsewhere in India, Carney reports dramatic stories of
a riverbank “bone factory” where 100 confiscated, grave-robbed
human skulls might net $70,000 overseas, the atrocious for-
profit kidnapping of children from city streets and orphanages
and the contract-bound surrogate baby factories in Akanksha.
A chapter on the latest advancements in the lucrative interna-
tional brokers’ market for living-donor kidneys is as startling as
one on genetic egg harvesting—in exchange for sperm, Swiss
fertility specialists can “basically FedEx you a baby.” Less dour is
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 643
 the author’s affably detailed stint “guinea-pigging” for a clinical
trial of a “rebranded Viagra” and selling his hair for auction. As
Carney highlights the most egregious of criminal red markets
hoping to expose and recriminalize them, he impartially bal-
ances that perspective with arguments for industry legalization
and demystifies its seductive “free market solution.” Much akin
to the work of Mary Roach, the result is a volume that lays bare
the atrocities of the human flesh trade, reiterating the verity
that “every corpse has a stakeholder.”
Gruesomely fascinating. (Black-and-white photos through-
out. Author appearances in Los Angeles and New York. Agent:
Mary Ann Naples)
MAÑANA FOREVER?
Mexico and the Mexicans
Castañeda, Jorge G.
Knopf (286 pp.)
$26.95 | May 17, 2011
978-0-375-40424-5
e-book 978-0-307-59660-4
A distinguished scholar charts the
many contradictions that shape and
afflict Mexico.
After 500 years of authoritarian rule,
Mexico has a burgeoning middle class and a functioning, if
creaky, representative democracy, but its civil society remains
perilously weak. Indeed, Castañeda (Politics and Latin Ameri-
can Studies/New York Univ.; Ex Mex: From Migrants to Immi-
grants, 2008, etc.) argues, the very cultural traits which may
have permitted the people to survive their tortured history now
serve to obstruct progress and stand in the way of Mexico’s full
entry into modernity. He identifies a number of these charac-
teristic features, explains their origins and the consequences
they have wrought and discusses the hurdles they pose for the
country’s future. Mexico, he argues, is plagued by a valorization
of the individual and a persistent mistrust of collective action, a
penchant for embracing victimhood, a tendency to avoid con-
flict and confrontation, a mistrust of competition, an obsession
with past oppression and betrayals, a tolerance of corruption,
an exaltation of ritual over reality and a xenophobia embedded
even in law. As he takes the measure of his native land, Casta-
ñeda relies on three sources of information: “the classics”—the
best that has been written by knowledgeable observers of Mex-
ico—an abundance of statistical information, and his consid-
erable personal experience. The delivery of so much political,
economic and sociological data, while a necessary component
of his analysis, can sometimes make for slow going, and he fre-
quently assumes a greater understanding of Mexico’s recent
politics than most Americans, at least, surely possess. Still, his
anecdotes are lively, and he makes judicious use of the experts
he frequently invokes. Perhaps Mexicans will heed Castañeda’s
prescription for reform, including, for example, instituting a
national police force and criminal code and his call for a new
respect for the rule of law. There’s an underlying pessimism to
his argument, but he can’t help offering reasons for hope.
644 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
An informed, persuasive analysis of the attitudinal adjust-
ments and concrete changes required for Mexico to thrive in
the 21st century. (Author tour to Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles,
Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.)
PLEASE FIRE ME
Posts from the
Revolting Workplace
Chromy, Adam; Morris, Jill
Citadel/Kensington (240 pp.)
$14.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-0-8065-3443-5
Chromy and Morris adapt their online
venue for venting, PleaseFireMe.com,
into a fictitious primer for a working-
class revolution.
Perhaps people hate their jobs more in an economic down-
turn when the option to quit is no longer on the table and
the words “You’re fired!” can often provide the comfort of a
steady unemployment check. That conundrum is what inspired
Chromy and Morris to create their popular website where irate,
disgruntled employees post their frustrations without fear of
reprisal. This literary rendition framed as a faux revolutionary
manifesto provides rants from the humorous (“Please fire me. I
am dressed like a smoothie”) to the zany (“Please fire me. I work
in a restaurant. One day, I meet this nice old lady who gives me
a hug. Then she says, ‘Oops, I probably shouldn’t be doing that;
I have TB’ ”) to the downright ridiculous (“Please fire me. My
wife went into unexpected early birth of my first child. When I
asked my manager if I could leave work to be with my wife at the
hospital he replied, ‘Well, that’s just poor planning on your part.
What’s more important, your career or your family?’ ”) Smirks
and sidesplitting laughs are abundant, but the scattered format
of the hit-and-miss revolutionary dialogue the authors use to
plug the gaps between the real-life testimonies is apt to leave
readers unsatisfied. When the book does work, however, even
the most despondent of workers won’t be able to help cracking
a smile at this collection of hilarious tales from the labor front.
Scan for the funny and skip the rest.
NOM DE PLUME
A (Secret) History
of Pseudonyms
Ciuraru, Carmela
Harper/HarperCollins (288 pp.)
$24.99 | June 14, 2011
978-0-06-173526-4
In her nonfiction debut, anthologist Ciu-
raru (editor: Poems About Horses, 2009,
etc.) presents brief biographies of a hand-
ful of pseudonymous authors from George
Sand to the late 20th century.
What motivates a writer to publish under another name?
|
 “Both a gripping true-crime narrative and
an astonishing portrait of fin de siècle yellow journalism.”
from murder of the century
Ciuraru offers quite a few reasons in these biographical sketches
of writers whose works of fiction appeared under a pseudonym
and one, Portugal’s Fernando Pessoa, who wrote under more
than 70 heteronyms, separate personalities each with its own
style and extensive imaginary biography. Most of the Ciura-
ru’s choices are familiar figures—Mark Twain, George Orwell,
Lewis Carroll, Sylvia Plath—and each section begins with a
single introductory sentence that may be intended as intrigu-
ing but often serves instead to suggest an unsettling contempt
for her subjects. If there is a consistent lesson to be taken from
these lives, it is that a successful author will find it nearly impos-
sible to hide behind a pseudonym for long. Otherwise, these
authors have little in common; their reasons for publishing
pseudonymously and their attitudes toward their alter egos are
as varied as their life stories. Ciuraru does not attempt to find
a pattern among them or impose one upon them, nor does she
explain how her subjects’ struggles with identity issues might
differ from those of other authors. Written in a breezy style
that occasionally lapses into the vernacular, the biographies
are lively and entertaining, but they provide no real secrets or
startling revelations. The omission of endnotes will disappoint
readers attempting to determine whether an assertion is the
author’s own or reflects a scholarly consensus, or those seeking
the sources of delicious factual tidbits like the width of Emily
Brontë’s coffin (17 inches).
A collection of original literary biographies connected by a sin-
gle circumstance that does not by itself suffice to pull them together.
MURDER OF THE CENTURY
The Gilded Age Crime that
Scandalized a City and
Sparked the Tabloid Wars
Collins, Paul
Crown (320 pp.)
$26.00 | June 14, 2011
978-0-307-59220-0
Collins (English/Portland State Univ.;
The Book of William: How Shakespeare’s
First Folio Changed the World, 2010,
etc.) unpacks a sensational 1897 murder case that fascinated
the public as it played out across the front pages of the New
York City’s leading newspapers: Joseph Pulitzer’s New York
World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal.
The tabloids would go beyond mere coverage of the story;
the white-hot rivalry between the papers led to an astoundingly
proactive agenda that saw reporters actually outflanking the
police investigation and effectively solving much of the case.
After a group of children discovered the ghastly severed trunk
of William Guldensuppe, a Turkish bath-house attendant, the
rival news organs spared no expense to ferret out the culprits,
eventually tracking the purchase of an oilcloth used to wrap the
torso to Mrs. Augusta Nack, a German immigrant midwife and
rumored back-room abortionist. Guldensuppe had been Nack’s
lover before being replaced by Martin Thorn, a hotheaded
barber. Things failed to progress smoothly. The manipulative,
| kirkusreviews.com
spider-like Nack and the handsome, violent Thorn are compel-
ling villains, and other players, such as Thorn’s grandstanding
lawyer William Howe (a vain, corpulent charlatan of oratory
brilliance), the pathetic John Gotha, Thorn’s former friend
and the prosecution’s chief witness and the maniacally ambi-
tious Hearst round out a thoroughly engrossing cast of charac-
ters. The narrative is wonderfully rich in period detail (readers
may gag at the description of the rat-induced stench that filled
the courtroom during the trial), salacious facts about the case
(Guldensuppe’s killing and dismemberment was a truly heinous
crime) and infectious wonder at the chutzpah and inventive-
ness displayed by Pulitzer’s and Hearst’s minions.
Both a gripping true-crime narrative and an astonishing
portrait of fin de siècle yellow journalism. (Agent: Michelle Tessler/
Tessler Literary Agency)
EFFIE
The Passionate Lives
of Effie Gray, John Ruskin
and John Everett Millais
Cooper, Suzanne Fagence
St. Martin’s (336 pp.)
$25.99 | June 21, 2011
978-0-312-58173-2
A fresh look at Victorian society as seen
through the eyes of an early defender of
women’s rights, Effie Gray.
Victoria & Albert Museum curator Cooper (Pre-Raphael-
ite Art in the Victoria & Albert Museum, 2003, etc.) works from
Effie’s previously unknown personal correspondence, which
the author gained access to when Sir Geoffrey Millais lent
thousands of her brown-paper wrapped letters to London’s
Tate Gallery in 2009. Combining biography with a social his-
tory of the period, Cooper tells Effie’s story of her marriage to
John Ruskin and its annulment and her subsequent marriage to
the artist John Everett Millais, one of Ruskin’s student admir-
ers in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which shared Ruskin’s
admiration for medievalism. These ideas influenced the Vic-
torian approach to art and architecture and the Gothic revival
in church and government buildings. The narrative of Effie’s
liberation from the bondage of her first marriage and her hus-
band’s cruel and abusive conduct is a suspenseful tale involving
intrigue and close planning; nothing was left to chance. With
the help of Lady Easterly, wife of the head of the Royal Academy,
she was at last free to marry Millais, who became head of the
Academy before his death in 1896.
A refreshing re-examination of interesting questions about
art, nature and life beyond the bounds of Victoria’s England.
(8-page color photo insert, 8-page black-and-white photo insert. Agent:
Jonathan Conway)
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 645
 THE BEST ADVICE
I EVER GOT
Lessons from
Extraordinary Lives
Couric, Katie
Random (288 pp.)
$26.00 | April 12, 2011
978-0-8129-9277-9
Award-winning anchor of the CBS
Evening News compiles insights and
advice from influential public figures
for any stage of life.
What do Beyoncé and General David Petraeus have in com-
mon? They’re among the more than 100 entertainers, entre-
preneurs, political figures and journalists doling out words of
wisdom in Couric’s collection. In an easy-to-read format, the
author assembles an array of advice from successful people, and
her tone is casual and upbeat. Divided into different themes,
such as courage, hard work and contribution, the book veers
between the humorous and the poignant. Finance expert Suze
Orman describes her struggles as a waitress, and late war hero
Edmund N. Carpenter II shares his approach to life in a candid
essay he wrote in 1938 at the tender age of 17. Couric seamlessly
weaves in the lessons she has learned along the way, sharing
anecdotes from her own life, which has not been without hard-
ship. She opens up about her husband’s early death from cancer
and the sexist attitudes she faced as the first woman to solo-
anchor a major newscast. Most of the advice found here isn’t
earth-shattering—Bill Cosby says he was his own worst enemy,
Larry King suggests readers “learn how to listen”—but it comes
from people who have excelled with talent, luck and lots of hard
work. The author’s profits will be donated to Scholarship Amer-
ica, an organization that helps students go to college.
Readers looking to browse for a little inspiration can also
help a worthy cause.
SLOW SEX
The Art and Craft of
the Female Orgasm
Daedone, Nicole
Grand Central Publishing (256 pp.)
$24.99 | May 25, 2011
978-0-446-56719-0
In the spirit of the Slow Food movement,
Daedone introduces the Slow Sex move-
ment, which urges couples to take time
to investigate a woman’s genitalia and
her responses to contact.
A 10-day life-changing starter program of Orgasmic Medi-
tation, or OM, is designed to educate both partners about the
female body and what it wants. In specific, vivid detail, the
author provides instructions for exploring the different means
of clitoral stimulation, while describing sensations and how to
build, then ground, sexual energy. The benefits extend beyond
646 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
the obvious: Women cultivate the ability to communicate dur-
ing intimate moments, furthering their ability to state their
needs outside the bedroom. While it all sounds wonderful, it
may present a challenge to practice; OM requires a partner
dedicated to a potentially awkward process and open to discus-
sion of his technique. However, bonus chapters on Slow Oral
(His and Hers) and intercourse provide sensuous counsel more
universally applicable. At times far-fetched, other times keenly
perceptive, Daedone offers astute insights but also makes a few
questionable claims—e.g., an orgasm that lasts four months, or
that every woman can be orgasmic—that are validated when
she redefines “orgasm” so it is no longer synonymous with “cli-
max.” Encouraging testimonials from practitioners scattered
throughout offer hope, yet lack the warmth and veracity of the
few personal stories the author shares from her youth.
Real-life lovemaking advice from a sex specialist entangled
in an idealistic program.
A JANE AUSTEN EDUCATION
How Six Novels
Taught Me About Love,
Friendship, and the Things
That Really Matter
Deresiewicz, William
Penguin Press (272 pp.)
$25.95 | May 2, 2011
978-1-59420-288-9
A literary critic confronts his callow
youth and finds salvation in the pages of
the English romantic novelist.
In the early pages, former Yale English professor Deresiewicz
(Jane Austen and the Romantic Poets, 2005) recalls being an unlikely
candidate for Jane Austen fandom, let alone the Austen scholar he
later became. An aficionado of severe modernist bricks like Ulysses,
he first read Emma only because he was compelled to for a course
requirement. But Austen’s skewering of contempt and preten-
tiousness among the English gentry hit home. “[S]he was showing
me my own ugly face,” he writes. Each of this book’s main six chap-
ters is framed around a particular Austen novel, along with a life
lesson Deresiewicz took from it. In Pride and Prejudice, he learned
not to be so quick to judge; through Northanger Abbey, he discov-
ered the importance of understanding others’ perspectives; Man-
sfield Park imparted a message about the perils of social climbing.
The structure is somewhat facile, but his command of Austen’s life
and works is assured, and he’s an engaging penitent, exposing his
emotional scars without being manipulative. The Mansfield Park
chapter is particularly incisive, drilling deep into his motivations
for befriending a set of upper-crust New Yorkers, and bouncing
that experience against the emotional parrying in Austen’s novel.
Deresiewicz’s path of discovery has an Austenish arc. After years of
dismissiveness toward others, he learned to become openhearted
and—how else could a book like this end?—eventually marry his
true love. Though he occasionally ventures deep into the weeds
elaborating on a novel’s particular plot point—some of the dust of
his dissertation work sticks to these pages—he’s generally careful
|
 “Too much of the book is simply a retread
of familiar stories from the 2008
news cycle, embellished with gossipy details.”
from the lies of sarah palin
to keep the book appealing to both Austenites and those looking
for a good memoir.
Deresiewicz smartly finds the practical value of Austen’s
prose without degrading her novels into how-to manuals.
(Agent: Elyse Cheney/Elyse Cheney Literary Associates)
THE LAZY GOURMET
Magnificent Meals Made Easy
Donovan, Robin; Gallin, Juliana
Viva Editions (216 pp.)
$15.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-1-57344-653-2
Recipes for the adventurous home cook
looking to take their meal from ordinary
to exquisite.
Donovan (Campfire Cuisine: Gourmet Recipes for the Great Out-
doors, 2006) and Gallin have a mantra: “Cooking a great meal can
be just as easy as cooking a crappy meal!” While their cookbook
won’t transform that quick weeknight mac and cheese into a multi-
course masterpiece, it will allow wannabe chefs to whip up mouth-
watering dishes guaranteed to impress guests. The book is divided
into two parts: “The Basics” lists must-have ingredients to keep
on-hand and provides simple cooking tips, from softening butter
to storing appliances, but “The Recipes” is where the fun begins.
Snacks, small plates, soups and desserts are all on offer, ranging
from Savory Blue Cheese Shortbread to Pistachio Ice Cream with
Strawberries and Balsamic Syrup. The recipes may sound exotic,
but each has been tested by volunteers with no culinary training.
The language is straightforward and free of confusing cooking
terms, and the most complicated piece of equipment required is a
food processor. Recipes are often followed by detailed instructions
on how to “Make it ahead,” suggestions for side dishes to “Serve
it with,” or alternate ingredients for cooks looking to “Change it
up.” Some recipes, however, may be too lackadaisical for even the
laziest of gourmets—e.g., a recipe for Basil Leaf and Goat Cheese
Wraps that instructs readers to set out the ingredients then direct
“diners to take a basil leaf and wrap it around some cheese.”
A collection of easy-to-follow recipes that demystifies gour-
met cooking.
A SOLDIER’S DREAM
Captain Travis Patriquin
and the Awakening of Iraq
Doyle, William
NAL Caliber/Berkley (336 pp.)
$25.95 | June 7, 2011
978-0-451-23000-3
The inspiring story of one soldier in Iraq
in 2006 determined to make peace with
warring tribal factions.
Doyle energetically spotlights the
daring, risky work of Cpt. Travis Patriquin, a U.S. Army com-
mander from Missouri trained in Special Forces whose gift with
| kirkusreviews.com
foreign languages and genuine interest in Arab culture allowed
him to win over Iraqi tribes in their mutual struggles against al-
Qaeda. Posted in 2006 to Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar
province (and “de facto capital of the al-Qaeda caliphate in Iraq”),
Patriquin was at the deadly epicenter of violence against the
resented U.S. coalition forces, in the form of IEDs, grenades,
snipers, etc., which killed Americans daily. Al-Qaeda had ter-
rorized the local sheiks by kidnappings, intimidation of family
members and torture, and used bribes of young fighters to set
bombs for the U.S. troops. Patriquin and his commander, Col.
Sean MacFarland, believed that the key in turning the tide was
to befriend the local tribal bosses and try to build a loyal police
force. One important leader proved to be Sheik Sattar abu Risha,
“the Tony Soprano of western Iraq,” suspected smuggler and ban-
dit, whom Patriquin advocated backing, despite the Army’s suspi-
cions about him. Courting him with hours of “man-kissing” and
tea drinking, Patriquin convinced him of the value of building a
police recruiting effort, and the word spread from sheik to sheik:
“It was time to switch sides and join the Iraqi police.” American
forces sweetened the deal by offering security and cash rewards.
This groundswell among the Iraqis is termed the Awakening, and
Patriquin and his Arab-friendly skills were instrumental in bring-
ing it about. With his death by IED in December 2006, the U.S.
Army lost its own Lawrence of Arabia.
Impressive feats from an important soldier, but the book
has the ring of an official military account. (Agent: Mel Berger/
William Morris Endeavor)
THE LIES OF SARAH PALIN
The Untold Story Behind Her
Relentless Quest for Power
Dunn, Geoffrey
St. Martin’s (320 pp.)
$25.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-312-60186-7
Metro Newspapers senior correspondent and
Huffington Post contributor Dunn adds to the
growing shelf of Sarah Palin books.
Unfortunately, the author doesn’t convincingly substanti-
ate his statement that Palin’s “ambition is as unbridled as it is
morally corrupt.” Too much of the book is simply a retread of
familiar stories from the 2008 news cycle, embellished with
gossipy details about how, as a kid, the former Alaskan gover-
nor enlisted her 8th-grade friends in intrigues against a rival, as
well as innuendos about her parents’ and her own marriage. By
loading the narrative with such trivia, Dunn downplays Palin’s
more significant lies—e.g., about her husband’s membership in
the separatist Alaska Independence Party. However, the author
effectively dismisses her ordinary-soccer-mom cover story,
demonstrating that she has been an ambitious career politician
since 1992, when she was first elected to the Wasilla city coun-
cil; and that she has depended upon a growing base of support
from conservative, evangelical Christians. Dunn documents
her reprisals against political opponents of her campaign to
censor library books when she was mayor, her abuse of power
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 647
 as governor in a personal vendetta against her brother-in-law
and her overall lackluster performance as governor. More tan-
talizing is the author’s account of a meeting in the summer of
2007, between Palin and a group of neoconservative pundits
and politicians, including New York Times columnist William
Kristol, who became the point-man for the Palin-for-VP cam-
paign. Whether she will be a serious contender in 2012 is ques-
tionable, but as a political celebrity she has made a soft landing
as a political consultant on Fox News and on the international
speakers circuit, where she joins notables such as Bill Clinton at
$100,000 per engagement.
A fundamentally dull book, likely of more interest to Palin
publicists than to serious readers. (8-page black-and-white photo
insert. Agent: Deborah Grosvenor/Kneerim-Williams)
INCOGNITO
The Secret Lives
of the Brain
Eagleman, David
Pantheon (304 pp.)
$25.95 | May 31, 2011
978-0-307-37733-3
An up-to-date examination of what used
to be called the mind-body problem.
Eagleman (Neuroscience/Baylor Coll. of
Medicine; Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives,
2009) makes the point that our sense of ourselves as coherent, free-
standing personalities is at odds with the most basic findings about the
workings of the human brain, an organ so complex that an objective
description of it sounds hyperbolic. Instinct, unconscious impulses,
automatic systems, emotion and a dozen other forces, most of which
we aren’t even aware of, affect every thought and action. The book
is full of startling examples; split-brain research, for example, shows
how the two halves of a mind can be completely at odds, with nei-
ther being aware of what the other experiences. Nor are those of
us with “whole” brains and a complete set of senses necessarily
experiencing the world “as it really is.” For example, other animals
experience a different part of the visual spectrum, or can detect
sounds and odors we have no awareness of. A significant segment
of the population—about 15 percent of women—sees colors the
rest of us can’t. Our brains work differently when learning a skill
and after it’s become second nature – it’s one thing to drive to a new
place, another to drive a familiar route, and our brains work much
harder doing the former than the latter, when we can go on “auto-
matic pilot.” There are lessons to be learned from various mental
disorders, as well. Victims of strokes affecting certain parts of the
brain may claim that they are operating at full capacity when they
are clearly not; one former Supreme Court justice was forced to
retire after displaying these symptoms. Eagleman has a wealth of
such observations, backed up with case studies, bits of pop culture,
literary references and historic examples.
A book that will leave you looking at yourself—and the world—
differently. (Black-and-white illustrations throughout. Agent: Andrew
Wylie/The Wylie Agency)
648 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
WANDERLUST
A Love Affair with
Five Continents
Eaves, Elisabeth
Seal Press (296 pp.)
$16.95 paperback original | June 1, 2011
978-1-58005-311-2
A youthful, meandering journey of self-
discovery through travel and love.
From an early age, Eaves (Bare: On
Women, Dancing, Sex, and Power, 2002) considered travel to be
liberation from home in Vancouver and romance with adventur-
ous boys. As a young girl, she had lived with her family for a year
in Valencia, Spain, where her father took an academic sabbati-
cal and she attended school; the experience proved a charming
entrée into a larger world. Inspired by a crush she developed
as a teenager and who wrote her as he traveled the world, she
pursued a job as a nanny in Valencia during a summer between
attending the University of Washington, Seattle, and enjoyed
late nights at bars and moonlit motorcycle rides as a break from
her constricted days caring for two Spanish children. Study
abroad took her to study Arabic at the American University in
Cairo, where she was often followed and harassed by hostile
men. A college internship in Karachi sponsored by the U.S. State
Department led to more travel in the Middle East, rather than
a career as a diplomat. Fleeing a boyfriend and house she had
settled in after college in Seattle, she roamed Malaysia and then
Australia. Back in the States, a segue into Columbia’s School of
International and Public Affairs got her a job as a journalist in
London, and a trip to South America on the way. Finally, there
was Dominic, whose diplomatic career took him, and her, to
Paris, where she was stifled by the city’s “insufferable correct-
ness.” In short, the author was plagued by her wanderlust, find-
ing in most relationships a chronic unhappiness. Settling down
with one man, she notes, would mean “banning myself from
ever seeing another country”—something she recognizes with
clear-eyed conviction she could never do.
Detailed chronicle of exploits that grow tiresome and blasé,
reflecting the author’s own weariness.
DEMON FISH
Travels Through the
Hidden World of Sharks
Eilperin, Juliet
Pantheon (320 pp.)
$25.95 | June 14, 2011
978-0-375-42512-7
Washington Post environmental reporter
Eilperin (Fight Club Politics: How Parti-
sanship is Poisoning the House of Rep-
resentatives, 2006) travels the globe to
explore the complex relationship between sharks and humans,
issuing a passionate call for the protection of these diverse and
majestic creatures.
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 Sharks inspire fear, writes the author, but as many people
know, it’s largely groundless: “you are more likely to die from
lightning, a bee sting, or an elephant’s attack than from a shark’s
bite.” Yet this fear, along with commercial pressures, is driv-
ing some species to extinction. Before we feared them, sharks
played important religious roles in societies from the Mayan
empire to communities in the Niger Delta region. Eilperin
witnessed the modern-day practice of “shark calling,” in which
Papua New Guineans perform religious rituals and then catch
sharks using lures and snares. (The practice is not wholly sym-
bolic, as the meat is eaten and the fins sold.) Shark’s fin soup
is an important symbol of wealth in China; however, after eat-
ing it, Eilperin calls it “one of the greatest scams of all time, an
emblem of status whose most essential ingredient adds noth-
ing of material value to the end product.” Nonetheless, shark
populations are collapsing in part due to the commercial value
of fins. Unfortunately, the author provides little clarity about
which human activities (such as sport fishing and finning) have
the most significant impacts on shark populations. Moreover,
the book treats sharks as too monolithic, doing little to explain
which particular species face the gravest threats. But Eilperin
is convincing in her argument that many species will go extinct
if current practices continue. She is optimistic about certain
alternatives, like the shark-watching expeditions she saw in a
Mexican village, where former fisherman now make their living
guiding eco-tourists. With alternatives like this and the possi-
bility of international agreements, Eilperin concludes that all
hope is not lost for the shark.
A general but solid primer on the state of sharks today and
a plea for their protection. (8 pages of color illustrations. Agent:
Brettne Bloom/Kneerim & Williams Literary)
INDEPENDENCE
The Struggle to Set
America Free
Ferling, John E.
Bloomsbury (448 pp.)
$30.00 | June 21, 2011
978-1-60819-008-9
A venerable historian of the Ameri-
can Revolution focuses on the events
between the shot heard round the world
and the signing of the Declaration of
Independence.
Ferling (History/State Univ. of West Georgia; The Ascent of
George Washington, 2009, etc.) uses a transatlantic approach to
show how the stone of revolution began its roll, accelerating
until it reached the velocity necessary to crush both American
reconcilers and a major portion of England’s colonial empire.
Numerous characters (none really surprising) emerge in promi-
nence as the narrative progresses: in England—Lord North (the
Prime Minister), King George III, Edmund Burke, William
Pitt, Charles James Fox; in America—Richard Henry Lee, Ben-
jamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson,
Robert R. Livingston. Although the author spends some time
| kirkusreviews.com
detailing the initial civilian and military clashes (the Tea Party,
Boston Massacre, Concord bridge, siege of Quebec), he attends
most carefully to the human stories: the loneliness of families
separated by war and politics (he highlights the correspondence
between John and Abigail Adams), the fear of those near the war
zones, the frustrations of dealing with international relations
in a time when communications were snail-slow and the egos
and ignorance on both sides of the Atlantic. Sometimes Ferling
points toward contemporary analogies. Writing of England,
he notes: “Not for the last time would a government underes-
timate its enemy as it took its people into the costly, bloody
wasteland of war.” Only occasionally is the author hobbled by a
lack of documentary evidence, forcing him into multiple uses of
probably and seems and their kin. He also reminds us the vote
for independence was on July 2nd, not 4th.
A lucid, erudite account a period both terrifying and
supremely inspiring. (Author tour to New York, Washington, D.C.,
Richmond, Charleston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston)
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Geist, Willie; McDonnell, Boyd
St. Martin’s Griffin (256 pp.)
$14.99 paperback original | May 10, 2011
978-0-312-64153-5
Humorist and Morning Joe co-host Geist
teams with writing partner McDonnell to
produce funny new book all about the Benjamins.
Neither the authors nor Bill Richter and Bill Lachey—the
fictional financial gurus they tap to help boost their bottom
line—know a thing about high finance. So what? The cocka-
mamie “Dollar Bills” are flush with attitude—or ’tude as the
deluded duo might say. According to these bankrupt buffoons,
all you need to get rich is to look rich. Their strategy starts out
simply: Get a Bluetooth and brand-new cigarette boat with a
mermaid painted on the side and Boom!, you’re off. Plenty of
harebrained get-rich tips follow, such as showing up at a job
interview in a horse-drawn carriage or building a golf course
in Afghanistan. The Dollar Bills’ “Plain English to Confusing
Financial Terms” glossary and faux transcripts of their Inter-
net-only call-in show keep the uninitiated up to speed while
reminding everyone who wants to get rich to lease a Picasso as
quick as you can. Don’t sweat those scary predatory loans, the
Dollar Bills advise. In their whacked-out world, predatory loans
are just money given to cheetahs, crocodiles and jacked dudes
with brass knuckles. It’s all very amusing in small doses, but ulti-
mately, it feels like a so-so Saturday Night Live skit that goes on
a little too long.
You might already be in the poorhouse pining for the long-
lost American Dream, but at least the Dollar Bills provide some
absurd laughs while you’re there.
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 649
 A FATHER’S LOVE
One Man’s Unrelenting
Battle to Bring His
Abducted Son Home
Goldman, David; Abraham, Ken
Viking (272 pp.)
$26.95 | May 10, 2011
978-0-670-02262-5
With the assistance of veteran co-author
Abraham (Billy: The Untold Story of a
Young Billy Graham and the Test of Faith
that Almost Changed Everything, 2008, etc.), Goldman tells the
story of his six-year battle to regain custody of his son Sean.
While working in Milan in 1997, the author met his future
wife Bruna. Although she was Brazilian, they decided to marry
and make their home in the New Jersey beach community
where he was raised. Sean was born in 2000. In 2004, Bruna and
Sean traveled to Brazil to visit her parents. Goldman planned
to join them in a week, but four days after her departure, she
phoned to inform him that she was leaving him and demanded
sole custody of their son. The author writes that Bruna threat-
ened him and pressured him to sign legal documents granting
her custody. Seeking legal advice, he learned that this was not
just a custody case. According to the Hague Convention, which
had been ratified by both the United States and Brazilian, his
wife had kidnapped their son. Despite the fact that U.S. courts
ordered the immediate return of the Sean to the United States—
where a custody hearing would be held in accordance with the
Convention—Goldman was thwarted continually by the Bra-
zilian judicial system. In 2008, having no other recourse, Gold-
man decided to seek publicity for his case. Featured on CBS,
he attracted the attention of New Jersey Representative Chris
Smith, who became a determined advocate on his behalf and
enlisted support from fellow congressmen, Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and President Obama. Sean became a poster
child for thousands of other abducted children, and finally, in
December 2009, he was released to the custody of his father.
A riveting tale of an unusual abduction and a father’s deter-
mination to regain rightful custody of his son.
THE WAY OF BASEBALL
Finding Stillness at 95 MPH
Green, Shawn; McAlpine, Gordon
Simon & Schuster (226 pp.)
$24.00 | June 7, 2011
978-1-4391-9119-4
The greatest Jewish baseball player
since Sandy Koufax fuses sports autobi-
ography with Zen and the Art of Motor-
cycle Maintenance.
The moniker “average ballplayer” certainly did not apply
to Green during his playing days. From his on-field exploits
as a prolific slugger with a slender frame to his religion to his
contemplative approach to the game, he defied categorization.
650 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
In crafting his memoir, the author—with help from McAlpine
(Mystery Box, 2003)—continues to flout convention. Rather than
the standard post-retirement, paint-by-numbers tale of group-
ies and life on the road or addiction recovery and redemption,
he offers an account of his philosophical approach to hitting, a
method developed in response to a frustrating first few years in
the big leagues. By developing a solitary routine that involved
taking hundreds of swings off a tee, Green discovered a way to
find inner stillness, to free his mind of distraction and focus on
nothing but the act of hitting. The results were impressive: two
All-Star appearances, a Silver Slugger award, and three top-10
finishes in MVP voting. The narrative describing the process
and the insight that led to it, however, may not hit a home run
with readers. Green’s a likable narrator, and his Eastern-tinged
philosophical musings have merit, but it’s difficult to determine
the intended audience. Baseball junkies will relish his discussion
of how pitchers tip pitches, but are likely to tune out the Zen
advice; Jewish fans looking for religious insight will be disap-
pointed by their hero’s relatively secular worldview; and those
seeking enlightenment aren’t likely to achieve a higher state of
being by following the author’s recycled platitudes.
Perfect for a semi-religious Jewish casual baseball fan in
search of a Zen-lite guidebook…or maybe just Blue Jay, Dodger,
Met and Diamondback fans who remember Green’s playing
days fondly. (10 color line drawings. Agent: Linda Loewenthal/
David Black Agency)
20 YEARS YOUNGER
Look Younger, Feel
Younger, Be Younger!
Greene, Bob
Little, Brown (320 pp.)
$27.99 | May 2, 2011
978-0-316-13378-4
Bestselling author and life motivator
Greene (The Life You Want, 2010, etc.)
plumbs the secrets to looking and feel-
ing younger.
Together with a team of medical
experts, the author explores the building blocks of youthfulness
and how to turn back the clock on aging to recapture the vigor of
a healthy mind and body. In the introduction, the 50-something
author references the grueling training and reserve that was nec-
essary when he bicycled cross-country on a multi-city book tour.
What he took away from that experience was improved “mental
and emotional clarity,” along with a physical soundness he’d never
believed he could achieve. Reinvigorated, Greene shares his well-
spring of knowledge on how to combine the latest advances in
anti-aging science with a practical daily regimen. He introduces
a four-part system galvanizing the benefits of regular exercise,
healthful nutrition, skin care and restorative sleep. The author
presents several theories on why we age and what can be done to
reverse its effects on our minds and bodies. Exercise is as much a
key component, Greene stresses, as mindful eating, and he pres-
ents a detailed fitness program along with pages of recommended
|
“superfoods” touted to boost energy and longevity. Cautionary
advice on the dangers of “killer compounds” like saturated and
trans-fats, sodium and refined sugar is blatantly conventional,
but can serve as a helpful reminder when combined with rec-
ommendations on skin care, sunscreen and an 11-point plan to
maximize the benefits of sleep. The closing chapter provides a
sensible food plan featuring recipes for Sweet Potato and Turkey
Shepherd’s Pie, Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes and Slow-Cooked
Lamb. Together with stress control and the power of a positive
attitude, Greene firmly demonstrates that it’s never too late for
anyone to look and feel their best.
Timely, accessible and compelling guidance from a veteran
health-and-wellness guru.
RIPTIDE
Struggling with and
Resurfacing From a
Daughter’s Eating Disorder
Hale-Seubert, Barbara
ECW Press (216 pp.)
$17.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-1-55022-995-0
Hale-Seubert tells the story of a mother’s
worst nightmare—a daughter’s struggle
against and ultimate defeat by anorexia
and bulimia.
The author, a practicing psychotherapist, candidly recounts
daughter Erin’s slow death at age 23 from the ravages of self-
induced starvation. When Erin was 13, a simple school assign-
ment in her Life Skills class became a jarring moment. Erin was
asked to list what she had eaten that day, and the author was
startled by Erin’s answer: very little. Her condition worsened
to include bulimia, resulting in many hospitalizations and treat-
ments during the next decade. Erin lied, stole and even spent
the night in jail, all so she could buy food to eat and purge.
Hale-Seubert lays bare her guilt and frustrations as a mother,
admitting to feeling detached, even relieved at times, and her
humanity is on display here as she agonizes over the possible
causes of her daughter’s disease. Was it her parenting style or
negative body image? Her ex-husband’s anger? Perhaps it was
because Erin suffered from Sydenham’s chorea as a child, an ill-
ness that has been linked to obsessive disorders. There are no
clear-cut answers here, nor should there be.
Readers may find Hale-Seubert’s book painful to read, but
they will have a hard time turning away from the author’s stark,
candid, courageous voice.
| kirkusreviews.com
HAWKE’S SPECIAL FORCES
SURVIVAL HANDBOOK
The Portable Guide to
Getting Out Alive
Hawke, Mykel
Running Press (224 pp.)
$14.95 paperback original | April 26, 2011
978-0-7624-4064-1
Just surfaced in angry seas clinging to
the hull of your capsized boat, or crawled
from the rubble of a collapsed building following an earthquake?
U.S. Army vet and TV survival guru Hawke’s expert know-how
may be your best chance to make it home alive.
Eminently readable, this lean, no-nonsense survival guide
from the star of the Discovery Channel’s Man, Woman, Wild
is stocked with real-world advice on how to survive virtually
any disaster. Outfitted with generous graphs, illustrations and
bullet points, Hawke’s guide engages without becoming heavy-
handed. Topics range from the importance of survival psychol-
ogy to in-field immunization. Whatever environment you might
find yourself in when catastrophe strikes—jungle, desert, arctic,
urban—you’ll likely be prepared as never before. Learn how to
snuggle up in a swamp and craft your own water purifier out an
old sock and some leftover charcoal. Throughout the tutorial,
the author never lets you forget that, in most cases, survival sim-
ply comes down to having the right attitude—and often a really
sharp stick. Readers sitting in their comfortable living-room
chairs may never feel compelled to try and construct their own
spring-loaded snare or bamboo fire saw, but there is an unde-
niable sense of empowerment that comes from at least having
some clue as to how to go about it in an emergency. The book is
also compact and durable for easy transport.
Whether you decide to tote along the handbook on your
next intercontinental flight or save it for that long-awaited
summer cookout, a priceless resource that’ll pay off even if the
cataclysm never hits.
THE ANCIENT GUIDE
TO MODERN LIFE
Haynes, Natalie
Overlook (288 pp.)
$25.95 | May 1, 2011
978-1-59020-637-9
British comedienne and classics lover
Haynes (The Great Escape, 2007) pres-
ents a wonderfully whimsical yet instruc-
tional view of Greco-Roman history.
The author fuses educational nar-
rative and jocular commentary to guide
the reader through aspects of ancient life still of interest today:
politics, law, philosophy, religion, the role of women, the urban-
rural dichotomy, entertainment and money, among others. The
idea that the past bears upon the present often becomes a
meaningless abstraction, but Haynes offers practical examples
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 651
 “A hard-hitting, eye-opening study that not only
paints a dire future of a world without girls but traces the
West’s role in propagating sex selection.”
from unnatural selection
of this aphorism with welcome wit and a wink. Classics scholars
are unlikely to learn anything new—the author clearly writes
for a general audience—but they will surely chuckle at her can-
did accounts of celebrated ancients, especially “Rome’s most
articulate grouch, Juvenal.” Haynes sets the record straight on
topics as diverse as the nature of gladiatorial salutes and the
unexpected origin of “Who watches the watchmen?”, while
providing illuminating context for controversial issues, like
slavery and Roman views on Christians and Jews. She adds per-
sonality to simplistically clichéd historical figures such as Plato,
Cicero and Nero. Her writing is speculative at times, necessar-
ily so given the nature of her sources—ancient writers can be
frustratingly biased and limited in scope. On rare occasions, the
author takes it too far—e.g., her confidence in the solution to
Socrates’ enigmatic last words. But such examples are limited,
and most often Haynes’ more unsubstantiated ideas are inquisi-
tively phrased and constructively provocative.
Will have readers grabbing for the classics. (Author tour to
New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia)
THOUGHTS WITHOUT
CIGARETTES
A Memoir
Hijuelos, Oscar
Gotham Books | (384 pp.)
$27.50 | June 2, 2011
978-1-592-40629-6
Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Hijue-
los (Beautiful Maria of My Soul, 2010,
etc.) revisits the people and experi-
ences whose confluence created his most celebrated work, The
Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989).
The author’s life did not begin propitiously. The son of
Cuban immigrants, he developed a debilitating case of nephri-
tis after a boyhood visit to Cuba. After a year in a convalescent
hospital, he was finally able to return home, where his mother,
a complex figure whom Hijuelos spent decades trying to under-
stand, protected him ferociously. But the author celebrates his
father, notably in the book’s dazzling final paragraph. Hijuelos
recalls an odd ambivalence about the Spanish language. Able
to comprehend it completely, he refrained from speaking it
throughout his boyhood, feeling costive whenever he tried. An
indifferent student in childhood, he drifted aimlessly through
Harlem’s schools, finding himself in and out of a variety of
scrapes—fighting, smoking, drinking, some dealing. He took
up the guitar, found he had talent, and credits this discovery
as the first of several that preserved him. After high school, he
bounced around, then began some off-and-on undergraduate
programs, beginning at Bronx Community College, eventually
ending up at CCNY, where he got into a writing seminar with
Donald Barthelme, who became a longtime friend. From then
on, good fortune hovered nearby, and he met numerous literary
luminaries. He eventually crossed paths with just about every-
one from the era—Vonnegut, Mailer, Gardner, Irving. His ado-
lescent memories percolate with sex—with his encounters, his
652 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
fantasies and even with some graphic recollections involving, in
one case, whipped cream, in another, a bride who entertains a
wedding guest most generously. The tale ends with the publica-
tion of Mambo Kings, its wild reception and its amazing after-
math—and with a stirring condemnation of a literary world that
ignores Latino writers.
Uneven—but with peerless evocations of people and of a
struggle to find a voice.
UNNATURAL SELECTION
Choosing Boys Over Girls,
and the Consequences
of a World Full of Men
Hvistendahl, Mara
PublicAffairs (336 pp.)
$26.99 | June 7, 2011
978-1-58648-850-5
A hard-hitting, eye-opening study that not
only paints a dire future of a world with-
out girls but traces the West’s role in propagating sex selection.
In her debut, Beijing-based Science correspondent Hvis-
tendahl delves deeply into the causes of the vanishing of girls
in Asia and Eastern Europe and looks beyond the traditional
explanation of infanticide and abandonment. In fact, girls are
simply not being born—demographers calculate that 163 mil-
lion potential girls have been eliminated in Asia alone through
ultrasound and abortion, the technological advancements of
the West. A natural sex ratio at birth is 100 girls to 105 boys-
-nature compensates for the fact that more boys tend to die
young due to dangerous behavior, wars, exhaustion, etc. Even a
slight deviation from this natural balance toward boys can have
enormous repercussions in a society, leaving a surplus of males
unable to find mates, introducing instability, violence and the
possibility of extinction. Astoundingly, the sex ratio in China is
121 boys to girls, in India 112. The skewed gender imbalance has
also swept Vietnam, the Caucasus and the Balkans—all devel-
oping countries where the status of women is supposed to have
improved as the countries got richer. Yet traditional beliefs—
boys take care of their parents and the ancestral graves, girls
need a large dowry for marriage and are a burden—are deeply
ingrained in these societies, even still among Asian immigrants
in America, whose sex ratio is also skewed toward boys. By
the mid-1980s, the high-quality second trimester ultrasound
arrived; despite laws passed proscribing its use in sex selection
in China, India and elsewhere, doctors capitulated to patients’
needs—and money. Western doomsayers and scientists set up
the alarm by the late 1960s about world overpopulation, and
naively (or sinisterly, as the author hints) endorsed sex selec-
tion even then as an effective form of birth control, setting the
groundwork for future crisis.
Hvistendahl’s important, even-handed exposé considers all
sides of the argument and deserves careful attention and study.
|
 WHAT’S GOTTEN INTO US?
Staying Healthy in
a Toxic World
Jenkins, McKay
Random (336 pp.)
$26.00 | April 19, 2011
978-1-4000-6803-6
An alarming view of the storm of syn-
thetic chemicals sweeping into our
homes, workplaces, retail shelves and,
inevitably, our bodies.
Nonfiction adventure writer Jenkins (English/Univ. of
Delaware; Bloody Falls of the Coppermine: Madness, Murder and
the Collision of Cultures in the Arctic, 1913, 2005, etc.) developed
a benign tumor the size of an orange and pondered how it
could happen to him, someone who strives for healthful liv-
ing. Among other places, his search led to an unnamed big-box
store permeated with the smell of synthetic lavender, where
he opened a jar of fabricated fragrance and gagged. The book
goes on to detail in nontechnical terms the often oil-derived
and frequently unlabeled concoctions that have soaked into
much of what consumers buy, wear, eat and drink since the
end of World War II. Even bathtub rubber ducks for children,
rendered temptingly chewable by synthetics, are not immune.
A rule of thumb is to avoid ingredients with unpronounceable
names, like the ubiquitous phthalates. Jenkins provides sug-
gestions for staying clear of the worst of it, but, like others
before him, he recognizes that the cumulative impacts of syn-
thetics are not yet scientifically understood and, in fact, pain-
fully understudied. In the tradition of Rachel Carson, Jenkins
has little doubt that those impacts are dire. There is still hope
that humanity and nature are resistant to this toxic flood, but
as the author makes clear, it’s a thin hope at best.
Wholesome take on a toxic subject.
NICA’S DREAM
The Life and Legend of
the Jazz Baroness
Kastin, David
Norton (336 pp.)
$26.95 | June 20, 2011
978-0-393-06940-2
Music historian and educator Kastin (I
Hear America Singing: An Introduction
to Popular Music, 2001) narrates the life
of Kathleen Annie Pannonica (Nica) Roth-
schild (1913–1988), an heiress who fell in love with American jazz
and soon became a sort of fairy godmother to some of the form’s
greatest names, principally Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk.
The author begins with the most controversial moment
in Nica’s life: the shocking death in 1955 of Parker, 34, in her
New York hotel room. The event propelled her onto the
front pages and raised many eyebrows (including, respect-
fully, Kastin’s, who doubts Nica had sexual relations with her
| kirkusreviews.com
musician friends). The author is stymied throughout by the
reluctance of Nica’s children to grant interviews—or even
to permit access to their mother’s rich archive of recordings
and papers. But he goes with what he has, which is consid-
erable. Kastin chronicles the rise of the Rothschilds, Nica’s
family, her marriage, notable service in World War II, moth-
erhood, divorce and her absolute devotion to jazz—and to
the many musicians she befriended and subsidized. Night
after night, she parked her Rolls (later, a Bentley) outside the
clubs; she opened her hotel rooms and (later) her house to
all-night jam sessions; she helped rescue Monk from oblivion,
saw him enjoy a long period of soaring popularity, endured
and supported him during his various psychological crises
and allowed him to board for protracted times with her.
Along the way, Kastin introduces us to just about every major
figure in American jazz (Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Art
Blakey et al.)—and a few notable fans as well (Norman Mailer
and Leonard Bernstein, among others).
Though this is putatively Nica’s story, neither the author
nor readers can long avert attention from mesmerizing Monk
and the other Olympians of bebop. (8 pages of illustrations. Agent:
Paul Bresnick/Paul Bresnick Literary Agency)
FLIPPING BURGERS TO
FLIPPING MILLIONS
A Guide to Financial Freedom
Whether You Have Your
Dream Job, Own Your Own
Business, or Just Started
Your First Job
Kelly, Bernard
Hyperion (176 pp.)
$21.99 | May 1, 2011
978-1-4013-2420-9
A McDonald’s employee saves his money and writes a financial-
advice book.
Career McDonald’s employee Kelly has turned an average
job into a financial success, and he lays out the simple steps
that have allowed him to do so. The author begins by writ-
ing of the desire for financial freedom that he first felt at the
young age of 17, which led him to forgo his plans to backpack
across Europe and fill out a McDonald’s application instead.
There are three paths to financial security, Kelly writes, and
they are all based on the assumption that one can earn a 7
percent return on investment during the first 8 years of a sav-
ings program, and 10 percent every year thereafter. There’s
the good option, which would require readers to stow away
10 percent of every paycheck for 8 years; the better option,
which would see them banking 20 percent; and the best
option, which would require readers to live on $1,430 a month,
averaging 44 percent savings over 8 years. The author recog-
nizes that the high interest rates he cites sound unrealistic, but
he writes that investment in McDonald’s stock can provide
that type of return. This is not the only instance in which the
author glorifies his employer—the entire book is rife with
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 653
 “From the eminent elder statesman, an astute
appraisal on Chinese diplomacy from ancient times to the fraught
present ‘strategic trust’ with the United States.”
from on china
pro-McDonald’s sentiment. Kelly’s prose is straightforward
and simple, much like the book’s content, and his tough-love
approach to savings is particularly resonant, if a little disheart-
ening, in the current economic climate.
One question remains: Is this a financial self-help resource
or a slick McDonald’s PR campaign?
ON CHINA
Kissinger, Henry
Penguin Press (608 pp.)
$36.00 | CD: $49.95 | May 17, 2011
978-1-59420-271-1
CD 978-0-14-242836-8
From the eminent elder statesman, an
astute appraisal on Chinese diplomacy
from ancient times to the fraught present
“strategic trust” with the United States.
Former Secretary of State Kissinger
(Crisis: The Anatomy of Two Major Foreign Policy Crises: Based on
the Record of Henry Kissinger’s Hitherto Secret Telephone Conversa-
tions, 2003, etc.) brings his considerable scholarly knowledge
and professional expertise to this chronicle of the complicated
evolution and precarious future of Chinese diplomacy with the
West. Traditionally, Chinese foreign policy as practiced by cen-
turies of emperors was marked by appeasement and generally
overwhelming their barbarian enemies with Chinese largesse:
the “five baits” included clothing, music, slaves and food to
“corrupt” the opponent into seeing things the Chinese way. In
their supreme self-containment, the Chinese disdained the
importunate advances of the barbarians until the aggressive
incursions by the West to force open the barriers to trade in
the late 18th century. Foreign threats by the West, Russia and
Japan and the series of “unequal treaties” imposed on China
impelled it into a period of “self-strengthening” that was finally
achieved by the Communist consolidation of power under Mao.
From Mao’s declaration in 1949 that the Chinese people “have
stood up,” the Chinese practiced a modern form of pursuing
the “psychological advantage,” rather than the military (shades
of Sun Tzu), in confronting the superpowers. However, a new
era commenced under Deng Xiaoping, who was bent on reform
and open to travel and new ideas, and normalization of relations
with America was finally established under President Carter.
Kissinger wisely considers Tiananmen, Taiwan, the elevation of
Jiang Zemin and the new era of “cooperative coexistence” main-
tained by President Hu Jintao. The author warns, however, that
despite China’s commitment to a “peaceful rise,” the U.S.-China
relationship will continue to contain an underlying tension.
Sage words and critical perspective lent by a significant par-
ticipant in historical events.
654 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
AN EMPIRE OF ICE
Scott, Shackleton,
and the Heroic Age of
Antarctic Science
Larson, Edward J.
Yale Univ. (360 pp.)
$28.00 | May 31, 2011
978-0-300-15408-5
Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Larson
(History/Pepperdine Univ.; A Magnificent
Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of
1800, America’s First Presidential Campaign, 2007, etc.) sheds
new light on the famous three-way race to the South Pole.
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first to reach
the pole, in 1912—returning in triumph to tell the tale—while
British standard-bearer Robert Scott lagged behind by two
weeks and perished on the ice. However, writes the author, this
was not a defeat for Britain. While the Norwegian’s primary
aim was to “bag poles,” the primary mission of the two British
adventurers, Scott and Ernest Shackleton, was to carry out sci-
entific research. This they did admirably, laying the groundwork
for modern research in such diverse fields as marine biology,
meteorology and glaciology. The story is not only about science,
writes Larson, but “also about power and politics, culture and
commerce; hubris and heroism at the end of the Earth.” At the
close of a London lecture sponsored by the Royal Geographi-
cal Society where Amundsen was the featured speaker, a cheer
was raised for his dogs, “without whom,” in the words of Lord
Curzon, “Captain Amundsen would never have got to the Pole.”
In fact, Larson writes, the British ethos at the time centered on
its imperial grandeur. The shock of defeat in the Boer war was
counterbalanced by tales of the heroic age of Antarctic explora-
tion and the three major expeditions by Scott and Shakleton,
during which the explorers suffered terrible privation wintering
on the ice with seal meat as their only food.
A satisfying tale of adventure and exploration.
SAVORING THE HAMPTONS
Discovering the Food
and Wine of Long
Island’s East End
Lehrer, Silvia
Running Press (341 pp.)
$30.00 | May 1, 2011
978-0-7624-4233-1
The charm and flavors of Long Island’s
East End come to life in this cookbook
from Hampton year-rounder and Cooktique owner Lehrer.
Arranged by season, the cookbook is filled with recipes
geared toward using the finest, freshest and most flavorful
ingredients available in the Hamptons. Spring and summer
dishes are filled with peas, strawberries and seafood; fall and
winter focus on heartier meals that showcase root vegetables
and lamb. The author also includes recipes from various East
|
End eateries, such as Luce and Hawkins’ Crisp Duckling with
Rhubarb Chutney and Fishbar on the Lake’s Grilled Porgy with
Smoky Tomato Chutney. Suggestions for wine pairings, all from
Long Island wineries, accompany certain dishes. In addition to
recipes, the book profiles a few of the area’s most famed restau-
rants, wineries and farms. An abundance of information about
the Hamptons’ culinary scene may pique the interest of resi-
dents and devoted summer vacationers, but readers unfamiliar
with the area may feel like they are reading a travel brochure.
Lehrer’s profiles of local establishments are so numerous that
they often seem to outnumber the recipes. Glossy full-page
photos of prepared dishes, ingredients and local businesses and
their owners round out the book.
Perfect for readers looking to re-create their favorite Hamp-
tons dining experiences.
THE BIG FIGHT
My Life In and Out of the Ring
Leonard, Sugar Ray; Arkush, Michael
Viking (304 pp.)
$26.95 | June 7, 2011
978-0-670-02272-4
Not a knockout, but a revealing confes-
sion from a champ who was often accused
of being a packaged TV commodity.
Leonard was the right fighter at the
right time—an Olympic gold medal-
ist, articulate, handsome and personable, at a time when the
retirement of Muhammad Ali left boxing hungry for another
standard-bearer (and Howard Cosell eager for a new buddy to
tout). Yet, little known to the American public, he was also
an abuser of cocaine, alcohol and ultimately of his wife. Now
clean and sober for four years and happily remarried, he takes
full responsibility for his transgressions—“Looking back, I
can offer no defense for my conduct. I was wrong”—without
absolving the women who threw themselves at him (more
beautiful and greedy the more famous he became), the fam-
ily and friends who put their financial considerations above
his health and even trainer Angelo Dundee, whom he inher-
ited from Ali, and who the author plainly believes has claimed
more credit than he deserves. Though the thematic arc is that
of a redemption story, most of that redemption—remarriage,
sobriety, a second family that he treats much better than the
first—is crammed into a final chapter or two. The bulk of the
autobiography alternates between his exploits in the ring (of
which he is justifiably proud) and his weakness away from it,
with all the sex, drugs and vacillation between retirement and
recommitment. Particularly revelatory is the book’s illumina-
tion of the psychology of this most physical sport. It also cel-
ebrates the bond between opponents that outsiders can never
experience: “For months, the opponent was the enemy, the
major obstacle standing in the path of greater earnings and
greater fame. Yet, as most of us who fight for a living come
to recognize, some sooner than others, the opponent is also a
partner on the same journey.”
| kirkusreviews.com
Perhaps a little too conveniently, the book makes a split
between slick, privileged, cocky “Sugar Ray” and the more
insecure and vulnerable “Ray Leonard.” Guess who’s still
standing at the end?
WHAT I LEARNED
WHEN I ALMOST DIED
How a Maniac TV Producer
Put Down His Blackberry
and Started to Live His Life
Licht, Chris
Simon & Schuster (160 pp.)
$23.00 | May 24, 2011
978-1-4516-2767-1
TV news honcho Licht was used to calling
the shots as executive producer of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, but
that changed one day when something popped inside his skull.
Instead of prepping for another episode of the successful
morning show with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski,
the author, not yet 40, landed in the emergency room. There, he
learned that his brain was bleeding—and no one knew exactly
why. Licht, who up until then was the picture of health, found
that he was no longer in control. What followed was a harrow-
ing ordeal that, even if it didn’t ultimately kill him, was des-
tined to change him in ways that he could never have dreamed
of before. As a “stop and smell the roses” parable, Licht’s tale
of sudden life-threatening illness covers familiar ground. Still,
hearing how this classic type-A personality was forced to con-
front some hard truths about himself in order to survive makes
for a compelling exercise. Readers might not care much about
how attentively Scarborough and Brzezinski buzzed around his
bedside, or that Vice President Joe Biden personally got on the
phone with the hospital in an effort to ensure his recovery. But
other candid observations, like the impact the author’s steady-
as-a-rock father had on his son’s healing, are right on the money.
Not exactly revelatory, but often moving.
THE WHITES OF THEIR EYES
Bunker Hill, the First
American Army,
and the Emergence of
George Washington
Lockhart, Paul
Harper/HarperCollins (400 pp.)
$27.99 | June 7, 2011
978-0-06-195886-1
Lockhart (History/Wright State Univ.; The
Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Mak-
ing of the American Army, 2008, etc.) suggests that conventional
Fourth of July hyperbole about the Battle of Bunker Hill “confuses
history with heritage, conflates fantasy and patriotic sentiment.”
The author compares the British and American forces and
find them both made up of poorly trained raw recruits, led by
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 655
 “An intoxicating selection of snippets
from a columnist that journalist Pete Hamill
called ‘an ornament to the profession.’ ”
from stories my father told me
generals—Thomas Gage and Artemas Ward—who had prof-
ited from the lessons of the French and Indian War, in which
they had fought side-by-side. The American militiamen were
settled farmers, not hardy frontiersman, and the British army
was not the finest in the world. Gage had gained respect for
American militiamen and recognized the need for marksman-
ship, while Ward recognized the importance of drill and light
infantry tactics. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress and
the Committee of Safety were prepared to respond quickly
and decisively when Gage moved his army into Concord and
Lexington to quell the incipient rebellion. However, the mili-
tiamen who responded enthusiastically to the call to protect
their colony were not prepared for a war, and Ward faced the
problem of establishing even rudimentary discipline in camp.
Lockhart explores how the militant Massachusetts leader-
ship—Ward, Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, General Ward
and Israel Putnam—were spoiling for a decisive battle. For six
weeks—until British forces were reinforced—the militia com-
manded the heights surrounding Boston. Ironically, the actual
battle on June 17 was not fought on Bunker Hill as planned, but
on the less defensible, neighboring Breed’s Hill; the author calls
the battle a “triumphant defeat.” Yet this was a mixed blessing
because it obscured the need for a disciplined and trained army
in order to defeat the British.
Nonetheless, as the author ably demonstrates, the actual
story is “about ordinary people who, when put to the test, did
extraordinary things.” (17 black-and-white photos; 2 maps. Agent:
Will Lippincott)
STORIES MY FATHER TOLD ME
Notes from “The Lyons Den”
Lyons, Jeffrey
Abbeville Press (336 pp.)
$35.00 | June 1, 2011
978-0-7892-1102-6
A veritable storm of outtakes from Leon-
ard Lyons’ “Lyons Den” society column
from the New York Post, which dazzle
rather than titillate.
Lyons wrote his column for exactly 40 years, from 1934 to
1974—six columns a week, tallying 12,479 at 1,000 words each—
about people in the public eye. He would leave for work as the
sun went down, heading for a variety of hot spots—Toots Shor’s,
Downey’s, Sardi’s, El Morocco, the Stork Club, the Little
Club, or all of them—gathering choice items for his readership.
“Leonard Lyons genuinely admired the people he wrote about,”
writes Charles Osgood in the foreword. “And knowing this they
would open up to him and tell him the colorful stories that
were his bread and butter.” Here, his son, TV and movie critic
Jeffrey Lyons, sews together pieces from his father’s columns
into vest-pocket profiles of the famous, from Irving Berlin to
Shelly Winters. For those who have never dined on Lyons’ work,
this collection is a treat: Lyons was a champion at getting tell-
ing quotes, material as pithy and vivid as the Algonquin Round
Table—e.g., Lauren Bacall’s response to whether she would
656 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
curtsy to Prince Philip: “If he curtsies to me, I’ll curtsy to him.
In this world, you get what you give.” Or Joe DiMaggio: “Never
wake a ballplayer on a rainy morning.” There are terrific com-
ments from a stunning range of characters—Einstein, Rocky
Marciano, Groucho Marx, Chagall—and if Lyons can seem a
bit eager and star-struck (“There was never anyone like Oscar
Levant”; “Orson Welles…the most amazing person you’d ever
meet”), he takes such obvious pleasure in the telling that read-
ers will be swept along with him.
An intoxicating selection of snippets from a columnist that
journalist Pete Hamill called “an ornament to the profession.”
(70 photographs, 12 in full color)
POISONED LEGACY
The Human Cost
of BP’s Rise to Power
Magner, Mike
St. Martin’s (432 pp.)
$27.99 | June 7, 2011
978-0-312-55494-1
This angry investigative report begins
well before the 2010 Deepwater Horizon
catastrophe.
In the first chapter, National Journal
editor Magner describes a possible cancer epidemic in a Kan-
sas town where refinery wastes have poisoned a wide area and
where a courageous retired schoolteacher is fighting an uphill
battle to force BP to clean up. Apparently, he had been research-
ing this problem when the Gulf blowout forced him to change
the book’s focus, but both stories alternate throughout the
narrative. Readers with a taste for heated fist-shaking will have
plenty of opportunities as Magner delivers detailed accounts
of BP’s mishaps, emphasizing the massive 2005 Texas refinery
explosion, leaks and malfunctions along the Alaska pipeline and
the Deepwater disaster. Each follows an identical pattern: BP
officials cut costs, safety budgets drop, employees grumble and
warn of disaster, disaster occurs, individuals who suffered ter-
ribly tell their stories and government regulators and the media
suddenly show interest, resulting in an outpouring of outrage,
investigations, damning reports, fines and apologies from BP
executives and the inevitable avalanche of lawsuits. Magner
makes a strong case for BP’s negligence and the American gov-
ernment’s feeble oversight, but his case that BP operates less
competently than other oil companies is not as convincing. Per-
haps wisely, the author makes no argument that Americans are
willing to make the painful sacrifices necessary to ensure that
these catastrophes never recur. We want oil, and we don’t want
it to cost too much.
A relentlessly critical denunciation of the latest environ-
mental disaster that leaves the impression that more will follow.
(Agent: Ron Goldfarb/Goldfarb & Associates)
|
 THE SECRET KNOWLEDGE
On the Dismantling
of American Culture
Mamet, David
Sentinel (256 pp.)
$27.95 | June 2, 2011
978-1-59523-076-8
A Pulitzer Prize–winning showman and
“reformed Liberal” rants about the pre-
carious state of the nation.
In 39 short essays, playwright, screenwriter and direc-
tor Mamet (Theatre, 2010) discusses many of his least-favorite
things, including taxes, sloth, foreign aid, the notion of global
warming, big government, taxes, the present Democratic
administration, liberals, taxes and “social justice” (quotes his).
Did we mention taxes? With the mood of serious discussion,
the author weights this jeremiad with stilted argot and copi-
ous footnotes that are simply more of the same arguments in
reduced typeface. But Mamet is sharper than the conventional
scold, and, like his most memorable stage characters, he offers
a mashup of notions, some commendable, supported by refer-
ence to very selective history. Unabashed in making blanket,
unfounded assertions, the gifted dramatist erects nincompoop
straw men easily demolished with clever, impassioned rhetoric.
Detection of undeniable flaws in liberal logic, rightly derided,
gives way to ad hominem argument, post hoc reasoning and
faulty classification—it’s disputation, not evidence. In a mono-
lithic, elitist Left—one surely not as cohesive and close-minded
as Mamet depicts, one more liable to agree with him on, say,
the benefits of capitalism (albeit, perhaps, with more legal safe-
guards—he sees hypocrisy. Surely, community values and the
unfettered marketplace of ideas are important to liberal and
conservative alike. Sweetened with personal history, a couple
good jokes and some pointed insights, Mamet’s polemic yields
no secret and scant knowledge. He does, nevertheless, raise the
volume with incontestable dramatic talent.
A Manichean analysis from a strident new voice from the
Right—for liberals, something intended to ignite antagonism;
for the like-minded, a buttress against the opposition.
GENIUS OF PLACE
The Life of Frederick
Law Olmsted
Martin, Justin
Merloyd Lawrence/Da Capo (352 pp.)
$27.50 | June 1, 2011
978-0-306-81881-3
The remarkable story of America’s first,
and still foremost, landscape architect.
By 1857, when he applied to superin-
tend the creation of a large green space in the middle of Man-
hattan, Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) had already worked
briefly as a clerk, surveyor, sailor, farmer, journalist, book
author and publisher. He’d applied his restless intelligence to
| kirkusreviews.com
a variety of social issues, most notably abolition, and during
the Civil War helmed the United States Sanitary Commission
and then supervised a gold-mining operation in California. But
it was the New York City opportunity, enhanced when he and
architect Calvert Vaux won a design competition for the project,
which became his true vocation. Almost universal applause had
greeted the creation of Central Park. After 1867, having teamed
with Vaux again to design Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Olmsted
accepted a variety of landscape commissions for public parks,
university campuses, planned communities and institutional
and private grounds that, taken together, transformed notions
of how the built environment could brush up against nature.
Martin (Nader: Crusader, Spoiler, Icon, 2002, etc.) examines many
of the most conspicuous projects, but he focuses on Olmsted
the man, demonstrating how each interlude in this unusually
crowded life shaped his genius. Smoothly detailing Olmsted’s
many interests and varied experiences (including his work as a
proto-environmentalist and conservationist), chronicling the
unusual number of personal tragedies, infirmities and ailments
that plagued him, charting the evolution of his thinking and
introducing us to the wide range of colleagues, friends and fam-
ily who supported him, Martin helps explain the driven, artistic
temperament that informed the famed landscapes. He persua-
sively casts Olmsted as essentially a social reformer whose pas-
sion for meaningful work found its most complete expression in
the creation of public spaces intended for the enjoyment of all.
A revealing look at a still-underappreciated giant whose
work touches posterity more intimately and more delightfully
than many of his distinguished Civil War–era contemporaries.
(16 pages of photos and black-and-white drawings)
YOUR DAUGHTER’S BEDROOM
Insights for Raising
Confident Women
McFadden, Joyce T.
Palgrave Macmillan (240 pp.)
$25.00 | May 1, 2011
978-0-230-10362-7
Psychoanalyst and Huffington Post col-
umnist McFadden offers insight and hon-
esty in a discussion of the healthy ways
mothers can help their daughters grow comfortable and knowl-
edgeable about their sexuality.
In August 2005, the author launched the Women’s Realities
Study, a research project that aimed to take the pulse of modern
women by asking open-ended questions about relationships,
motherhood and mental health, among others. Her intended
goal was to create a companion piece to the classic Our Bodies,
Ourselves. Mission accomplished. The author clears away the
heavy clouds that overshadow topics many daughters do not
learn about from their mothers (and which mothers often dread
sharing with their daughters): menstruation, masturbation and
sex. For generations, embarrassment, shame and even fear
have kept this crucial information from being handed down to
daughters. McFadden stresses that mothers must learn to value
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 657
 their own sexuality and to lead by example. This position is one
many women may strain to achieve, however, as historically
society has pigeonholed women into neatly gift-wrapped boxes
with nothing “dirty” showing through the seams. “No matter
how sexually alive [a woman] was before, as soon as she becomes
a mother, we act as though her erotic life is over,” writes the
author. McFadden provides examples of mothers willing to take
on and embrace these changes, and how they do so with trust,
warmth and often space. There are hurdles to cross and backs to
be straightened when it comes to this topic, but daughters need
their mothers, and it’s time they heard their voices.
An empowering resource for mothers and daughters everywhere.
BORN IN AFRICA
The Quest for the
Origins of Human Life
Meredith, Martin
PublicAffairs (304 pp.)
$26.99 | May 10, 2011
978-1-58648-663-1
An appealing account of human evolution
and the fiercely competitive anthropolo-
gists who are unearthing our ancestors’
remains and arguing over what they mean.
Observing that apes and chimpanzees live in Africa,
Charles Darwin theorized that it was the home of our com-
mon ancestor, “the most likely birthplace of humankind.”
Almost no one agreed at the time, writes British journalist
and historian Meredith (Mandela, 2010, etc.). Experts dis-
missed South African Raymond Dart’s landmark 1924 discov-
ery, a complete skull of a primitive hominid. Matters did not
change until after World War II, largely because of the ener-
getic, colorful and contentious Louis Leakey, soon joined by
his wife, Mary, their children and grandchildren. In human
anthropology more than most sciences, both academic suc-
cess and fame depend on finding extraordinarily rare human
remains, a task that requires grueling persistence, a talent
for raising money and luck. Meredith reveals his journalistic
roots by focusing on these ambitious, often media-hungry
men and women whose foibles and nasty feuds may not be
relevant but make for entertaining reading.
The author does a superb job of describing the nuts-and-
bolts of field research, the meaning of the often headline-pro-
ducing findings and the ever-changing variety of species who
split off from the common ancestors of chimpanzees and homi-
nids. (Agent: Felicity Bryan)
658 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
THE CITY HOMESTEADER
Self-Sufficiency on
Any Square Footage
Meyer, Scott
Running Press (352 pp.)
$20.00 paperback original | April 26, 2011
978-0-7624-4085-6
Practical, step-by-step tips for creating
a sustainable lifestyle on a smaller scale.
Think you can’t live a self-sufficient life in an apartment or
suburb? Think again, writes Meyer. Sustainability is all the rage
right now, and this helpful guide gives urban dwellers instruc-
tions on growing their own food and living a more eco-conscious
life. The author tackles such subjects as planting an edible gar-
den by focusing on which vegetables do well in smaller spaces
and which can handle less ideal locations. Strawberries, for
instance, do well in hanging pots, and pole beans only require
vertical room. Meyer even offers a window-gardening option
for those without any outdoor space, and he carefully explains
the many ways to preserve food—from dehydrating to canning
to freezing. Take it a step further and create your own compost
pile, he suggests. When you’re done outside, look to improv-
ing your indoor quality of life with the author’s green cleaning
and laundry tips (remember clotheslines?) and eco-friendly
methods of handling of pests like cockroaches. There’s even an
all-natural way to dispose of “pet poop.” If you’ve got a bigger
yard and flexible city codes, Meyer gives a crash course in rais-
ing backyard livestock, like bees, chickens and even goats. Not
too many city residents may be interested in caring for goats,
but the general idea is that you’d be surprised at how much you
can do with limited space.
A basic guide to greener living filled with easy-to-follow
instructions that can be implemented in any size home.
THE PRESIDENT AND
THE ASSASSIN
McKinley, Terror, and
Empire at the Dawn
of the American Century
Miller, Scott
Random (432 pp.)
$28.00 | June 14, 2011
978-1-4000-6752-7
e-book 978-0-679-60498-3
A rich, rapacious America clashes with its downtrodden and
idealistic in this ambitious, wide-ranging study.
The era leading up to the assassination of President Wil-
liam McKinley in 1901 was defined by enormous expansion
in American industry and muscle-flexing abroad as well as the
potent rise of labor unrest and revolutionary ideas such as
anarchy. The growth of railroads, steel output, consumer goods,
patents and sheer American ingenuity enriched the captains of
industry, while the laborers, assembly-line workers, coal min-
ers and armies of poor immigrants performed mind-numbing
|
tasks for quarters and dimes per day. Wall Street Journal corre-
spondent Miller harnesses several narratives successively. He
moves between the coffer-rich Republican election of the self-
made man and Civil War hero McKinley against the populist
William Jennings Bryan, to the meeting between the painfully
shy working-class loner in Cleveland, Leon Czolgosz, and the
charismatic anarchist speaker Emma Goldman. Fired up by
Goldman’s words on social revolution and liberty—which in
turn had emerged from a movement that Miller neatly traces
from the work of Edmund Burke, William Godwin and the
Transcendentalists—Czolgosz steeled himself for the “propa-
ganda of the deed”—e.g., the kind of deadly terrorism that was
rocking European capitals in the 1890s. Meanwhile, McKinley
was faced with international crises that he would manipulate
effectively for American imperialist gain, such as the annexa-
tion of Hawaii, defeat of Spain for the protectorate of Cuba
and the Philippines, takeover of Guam and Puerto Rico and an
attempted Open Door policy toward China (thwarted by the
Boxer Rebellion).
This is a wildly complex and significant period in American
history, and Miller does a solid job of attending to the many
boiling pots on the stove. (16-page photo insert. Agent: Michael
Carlisle/InkWell Management)
EL SICARIO
The Autobiography
of a Mexican Assassin
Translator: Molloy, Molly
Editor: Bowden, Charles
Editor: Molloy, Molly
Nation Books/Perseus (224 pp.)
$15.95 paperback original | June 14, 2011
978-1-56858-668-7
A reformed assassin’s tell-all of the hor-
rors endured and executed throughout his years in the Mexican
drug trade.
Editors Molloy (Research Librarian/New Mexico State
Univ.) and Bowden (Murder City, 2010, etc.) introduce the reader
to the mysterious El Sicario, a high-level killer speaking out for
the first time. While the editors offer the necessary frontmat-
ter and editorial work, the vast majority of the book is dedi-
cated to the assassin’s first-person account. El Sicario charts his
path from poverty-stricken child to notorious killer, citing an
incident in his early years in which an unsuccessful attempt
to defend his older brother’s honor ended in his own beating.
“This caused a lot of bitterness inside of me,” he says. “And I was
traumatized that I was not able to defend myself.” The experi-
ence emboldened the young boy, prompting him to dedicate his
adolescence to becoming a drug mule, fully aware of the power
and wealth that accompanied the risk. “To be sixteen years old
and to be able to live like this!” he says. “To have money and to
be able to invite any girl I wanted to go out to eat in nice res-
taurants with me.” His adulthood was spent as a corrupt Mexi-
can police officer, offering him clear access into the corruption
within the force. He exposes the systematic organization of the
| kirkusreviews.com
drug traffickers themselves, how groups are trained for a sin-
gular murderous purpose—all part of an elaborate system to
“obscure the knowledge of where all of these bodies are buried.”
While somewhat unique, El Sicario’s tale is also quite famil-
iar—one in which the power of money, drugs and women all play
a role in achieving the necessary numbness required to carry out
unspeakable crimes.
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL
The Conversation Continues
Moyers, Bill
New Press (592 pp.)
$29.95 | June 1, 2011
978-1-59558-624-7
A collection of bracing interviews with
American writers and thinkers.
Veteran journalist and nine-time Pea-
body Award winner Moyers (Moyers on
Democracy, 2008, etc.) gathers a glitter-
ing array of discussions with authors, activists, historians, social
scientists and others that were broadcast on his public-affairs
program Bill Moyers Journal in 2007–10. Focusing on topics
both timely and timeless—torture, health-care reform, the U.S.
economy, aging, compassion, God, among many others—the
insatiably curious Moyers prods disparate intellectuals into
candid talk about their sphere of interest. Often progressive,
always articulate, the interviewees include historians Thomas
Cahill, Nell Painter and Howard Zinn; poets Robert Bly, Nikki
Giovanni and W.S. Merwin; journalists Douglas Blackmon, Bar-
bara Ehrenreich, William Greider, Robert Kaiser and Robert
Wright; and activists Grace Lee Boggs (grassroots democracy),
Jim Hightower (corporate power), Michael Pollan (food), Jane
Goodall (animals) and Holly Sklar (workers). Each interview
illuminates some main current in American life. Jon Stewart
argues for the importance of joking about absurd world events;
novelist Louise Erdrich reflects on the fractured inner life of a
mother and writer of mixed ancestry; journalist Sam Tanenhaus
distinguishes between the conservatism of Glenn Beck and
William F. Buckley Jr.; and Republican insider Victor Gold tells
why he awaits “a rebirth of Goldwater.” Judge Richard Gold-
stone discusses his controversial report on human-rights vio-
lations in the Gaza War, and streetwise reporter David Simon,
best known for his HBO series The Wire, makes a strong case
for crime as the best keyhole into how our society really works.
When biologist E.O. Wilson reminds us that human activity is
wiping out much of the rest of life on the planet, Moyers sus-
pects that such life would probably survive without us. “Oh, it
would do wonderfully well without us,” says the scientist.
A bright treat for browsers.
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 659
 THE BEEKEEPER’S
LAMENT
How One Man and
Half a Billion Honey Bees
Help Feed America
Nordhaus, Hannah
Perennial/HarperCollins (336 pp.)
$14.99 paperback original | June 1, 2011
978-0-06-187325-6
A crackerjack story of one American bee-
keeper’s days, with both his songs of joy
and sorrow, presented within the context of beekeeping’s natu-
ral and social history.
While researching a story about beekeeping, journalist
Nordhaus happened upon John Miller, a migratory beekeeper
who shuttles his thousands of hives from California to North
Dakota. The author struck gold with the colorful Miller, a man
who “likes to pontificate, joke, write, say incendiary things, tell
stories, drip with sarcasm.” As beekeeping has a fascinating,
ages-old story to tell, Miller is an excellent ambassador, born
to a long line of apiarists and a willing slave to his hives. Nor-
dhaus is a lively writer who knows how to get to the nub of a
topic, be it the architecture of a hive, the sting of a honey bee or
the various nefarious infestations that beleaguer bee colonies.
Since Colony Collapse Disorder has captured much national
interest, she covers that plague, plus a host of other malefac-
tors, such as mites and pesticides. Beekeeping has never been
easy, but without the honeybees and their keepers, hundreds of
crops would perish. The money in beekeeping, such as it is, is
in the pollination fees, not the honey, and Nordhaus ably con-
veys the economics of the trade. She is just as able to describe
the romance and miracle of honey, however. To make a pound,
some 50,000 bees travel a collective 55,000 miles and visit more
than two million flowers: “[B]ees carry the future from tree to
tree, and honey is the reward for their labors, nectar distilled by
desire and duty into something more.”
A smooth-as-honey tour d’horizon of the raggedy world of
beekeeping. (10 black-and-white photos. Author appearances in Colo-
rado and upon request. Agent: Stephanie Cabot/The Gernert Company)
THE SECRET LIVES
OF HOARDERS
True Stories of Tackling
Extreme Clutter
Paxton, Matt; Hise, Phaedra
Perigee/Penguin (240 pp.)
$14.95 paperback original | May 3, 2011
978-0-399-53665-6
With reverent curiosity, Paxton shares
the stories of hoarders from a distinc-
tive perspective.
While digging himself out of the mess he made of his own life,
the author, in a state of desperation, picked up a few cleaning jobs
that lead him to an unexpected calling as a celebrated hoarding
660 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
expert often featured on A&E’s hit show Hoarders. After years of
working with hoarders, the author writes, he finally “figured out
how to make sense out of their world.” He ushers readers into
that world by sharing their stories. Take Margaret, who “had
been hoarding so many years that her possessions had started
to decompose at the bottom of her five foot piles,” whose home
and possessions were “chewed or peed on by her fifty or so dogs
that had free run of the place.” Paxton is quick to point out that
he is not a therapist but works closely with social workers in an
effort to assist individuals that are in some cases almost literally
suffocating under their belongings and underlying tribulations.
The author presents an easy-to-use scale that deviates from the
National Study Group’s standard measures of chronic disorgani-
zation, helping his crew, as well as the reader, understand the vari-
ous stages of hoarding. He then gives examples via case studies
ranging from low-level to advanced or life-threatening hoarders.
No matter how disturbing the situation is, he treats each of his
clients with total respect, emphasizing that compassion is key in
helping someone dig their way out.
Delicately excavates the skeletons in the clutter.
COLOR ME ENGLISH
Migration and Belonging
Before and After 9/11
Phillips, Caryl
New Press (352 pp.)
$24.95 | June 1, 2011
978-1-59558-650-6
A collection of essays on the themes of
race, the African diaspora, otherness
and identity, from a Caribbean-born,
British-raised, and United States–based
writer with a sharp eye for the tensions of modern society.
In what could be seen as a sequel to A New World Order:
Essays (2001), Phillips, who is better known as a novelist (In the
Falling Snow, 2009, etc.), again explores issues of migration and
shares his insights into writers and their role in shaping their
world. Written over nearly two decades and seemingly for a
variety of publications, these highly personal musings open
with Phillips’s childhood in Leeds, where for a time he was the
only black child in his school. For a Muslim newcomer, Ali, the
difference was culture and religion. Though Phillips found he
was “being coloured English,” he saw that Ali remained an out-
sider. “Distant Shores” contains six pieces on his perceptions
and experiences in both Europe and Africa. Europe, he writes,
is no longer white and no longer Judeo-Christian, and it never
will be again. However, with the help of literature as a bulwark
against intolerance, societies can make the necessary transition
and transform themselves. The longest section, titled “Outside
In,” looks at writers in exile—e.g., James Baldwin in France, Ha
Jin in the United States and Chinua Achebe in Canada. The four
essays in “Homeland Security,” written between 2001 and 2006,
show Phillips’ disappointment over the failure of America to
live up to its image as a land of freedom and equality, but also
his hope that storytelling will restore the spirit of the country.
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 “Rosenbaum works marketing magic as he presents insight
from Arianna Huffington, along with more than 60 other media
minds, to create a lively exploration of digital curation.”
from curation nation
Profiles, movie and book reviews and autobiographical and
journalistic sketches complete the collection.
Although linked by the author’s sense of history and his
awareness of being an outsider, these pieces seem uncomfort-
able together, as though forced to migrate from earlier settings
to this new home.
I’M NOT DEAD, I’M DIFFERENT
Kids in Spirit Teach Us About
Living a Better Life on Earth
Rand, Hollister
HarperCollins (288 pp.)
$14.99 paperback original | April 19, 2011
978-0-06-195906-6
Rand sees dead people—and many of
them are children.
In a conversational style, the author
shares the stories and lessons learned
from the spirits of the dead children she’s spoken with from
the afterlife. Readers who believe Rand can commune with
the dead will find comfort here, but skeptics are unlikely to be
persuaded otherwise. The author lays out the chapters in four
easy-to-read parts: SpiritTweets (which the author defines as a
brief quote from a child spirit), SpiritThoughts, SpiritAnswers
and SpiritSummaries. She tackles a variety of questions, such
as the difference between a psychic and a medium, and offers
suggestions for readers looking to become more aware of and
receptive to the spirits around them. Certain elements of the
book may be of particular difficulty for some readers, such as
Chapter 8, “Over Before It Started: Aborted, Miscarried and
Stillborn Children Speak.” However charged the topic, Rand
remains nonjudgmental and apolitical in tone. There’s more
lighthearted fare here as well—e.g., spirits would rather hear
“thank you,” instead of “please.” The author isn’t one to dismiss
those who may be dubious of her talents, going so far as to
incorporate their doubts into this book.
Popular clairvoyant offers a clear-eyed look at young spirits
and the afterlife.
THE LONG JOURNEY HOME
A Memoir
Robison, Margaret
Spiegel & Grau (400 pp.)
$26.00 | May 17, 2011
978-1-4000-6869-2
Poet and essayist Robison’s (What Mat-
ters, 2001, etc.) autobiography of mad-
ness and redemption—completing a
trilogy of dysfunction of sorts, joining the
memoirs of her sons, Augusten Burroughs (Running with Scis-
sors, 2002) and John Elder Robison (Look Me in the Eye, 2007).
The author was raised in rural Georgia in the 1930s amid a
family of secrets—a depressed father and a mother defeated by
| kirkusreviews.com
life, and aunts not spoken of who were spirited away to mental
institutions. In her search for her artistic voice and confused
sexuality, she bent to the will of family and times. Doing what
was expected of her, she married John, a young divinity student
and later a philosophy professor. John could be loving and kind,
but more often—over decades of married life—drunk, violent
and psychotic, with frequent and recurrent stays in psychiatric
hospitals. In the process, he left deep wounds on his wife and
children. Finally, depression and psychosis overtook Robison
herself and she too was committed. Yet, as she writes, “madness
broke through the thick walls of repression,” and she began
to write. Still, she had to extricate herself from John and from
an ersatz and cult-like psychiatrist, under whose spell she had
fallen until he tried to rape her. But Robison persevered, con-
tinuing to write and teach and finding love and companionship
with a woman. Though a stroke rendered her left side paralyzed,
she eventually regained the speech she had lost. She also found
her voice, and in old age made the story of her life her own.
Robison’s story, fairly or not, is really one about women and
men—how women can become lost and wounded in the world
of men and saved and renewed in the world of women.
A harshly honest memoir that paints a portrait of a woman
and a life, both brave and flawed.
CURATION NATION
How to Win in a World Where
Consumers are Creators
Rosenbaum, Steven
McGraw-Hill (304 pp.)
$28.00 | February 15, 2011
978-0-07-176039-3
Documentary filmmaker and creator of
MTV News UNfiltered navigates the infor-
mation age in this debut volume.
Rosenbaum works marketing magic
as he presents insight from Arianna Huffington, along with
more than 60 other media minds, to create a lively explora-
tion of digital curation—defined here as the gathering and dis-
semination of information and utilized by many, from small
bloggers to aggregate news giants like the Huffington Post. The
heart of the narrative focuses on an intriguing debate between
those who claim that hosting a content-aggregated site is
vampirism, and others, like Huffington or younger “Content
Generation” users, who applaud the freedom of gathering and
sharing media links. As technology rapidly changes, the Digi-
tal Millennium Copyright Act is harder to apply, and legal bat-
tles like Viacom vs. YouTube may have far-reaching economic
effects. Rosenbaum also provides interesting background on
cable television and the first written curation, Reader’s Digest,
as well as many examples of successful Internet curators, such
as BlogHer.com. The author cites social-media strategist
Rohit Bhargava, who predicts that content on the web will
double every 72 hours in the near future. Rounding it up into
one easy-to-read platform is a user’s delight—and possibly a
curator’s goldmine. Though light on advice for struggling
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 661
 entrepreneurs, Rosenbaum provides reader-friendly tips for
beginning curation, such as how to pick a platform, use key-
word search terms and navigate RSS feeds.
A compelling discussion of the evolution of curation in the
digital world.
CELLULOID ACTIVIST
The Life and Times
of Vito Russo
Schiavi, Michael
Univ. of Wisconsin (366 pp.)
$29.95 | May 10, 2011
978-0-299-28230-1
e-book 978-0-299-28233-2
Biography of a gay-rights champion and
author of the queer-cinema ur-text The
Celluloid Closet (1981).
In this first book, Schiavi (English/New York Institute of
Technology) looks at the life of Vito Russo (1946–1990), best
known for co-founding the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation Foundation (GLAAD) and for the aforementioned
groundbreaking book. Russo’s name isn’t as well known as his
major contributions to gay rights in the 1970s and ’80s, but
Schiavi illuminates his short but productive life through access
to Russo’s copious journals and numerous accomplishments—
all without much reliance on the perspectives of anyone other
than seemingly Russo himself. Although structured and written
like a boilerplate academic study, the book is a total immer-
sion into Russo’s daily life: his struggles growing up in danger-
ous 1960s East Harlem and then in culturally barren suburban
New Jersey, and his developing interest in classic Hollywood
film, which also helped shape his identity as a gay male in a
largely homophobic American mainstream society. The narra-
tive focuses particularly on Russo’s unglamorous persistence
as a writer and lecturer, toiling for low pay for publications
such as London’s Gay News and New York City publications
like the Advocate and Christopher Street, but not finding much
mainstream acceptance until tragically late in his career. Even
the publication of The Celluloid Closet got him more publicity
and recognition than publishing royalties. Schiavi’s chapters the
years leading up to Russo’s death at age 44 from AIDS-related
complications are also affecting but not always easy to digest.
The author provides a sad reminder of the full fury of the begin-
ning of the AIDS epidemic, which struck so suddenly and took
so many promising lives with it.
Conventionally academic but complex portrait of an unde-
servedly obscure gay author and activist.
662 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
MRS. MATTINGLY’S MIRACLE
The Prince, the Widow,
and the Cure that Shocked
Washington City
Schultz, Nancy Lusignan
Yale Univ. (288 pp.)
$30.00 | April 26, 2011
978-0-300-11846-9
Through the account of a miraculous heal-
ing, Schultz (English/Salem State Univ.;
Fire and Roses, 2002, etc.) dissects the
religious history and culture of early-19th-century America.
In the spring of 1824, Ann Mattingly, a devout Catholic and
the sister of the Washington, D.C., mayor, was dying of breast
cancer when her family learned of a popular German cleric who
was said to possess divine powers of healing. Enter Prince Alex-
ander Hohenloe, who intervened with prayers and offerings, and
Mattingly was instantly cured. Schultz takes this controversial
incident as a launching point for a discussion of many of the
issues plaguing citizens of the newly established United States,
including religion, women’s changing role in society and slavery.
The focus of this brisk and engaging history, however, remains
the founding of the Catholic Church in America, the subsequent
tensions between Protestants and Catholics and the wave of
anti-Catholicism that swept the nation. Mattingly and her family
history—a melange of divisive infighting, tragedy and faith that
would make good box-office fodder—makes for fascinating read-
ing, but it’s the author’s ability to draw her characters in a specific
point in history that truly shines. Photographs and paintings of
early America sporadically illustrate the book.
Regardless of their religious beliefs or skepticism of mira-
cles, readers will find this book well worth their time.
LA SEDUCTION
How the French Play
the Game of Life
Sciolino, Elaine
Times/Henry Holt (384 pp.)
$26.00 | June 21, 2011
978-0-8050-9115-1
An American journalist in Paris offers
a serious, skeptical study of France’s
quintessential “soft power.”
The art of getting results by attrac-
tion rather than coercion is a long specialty of the French, espe-
cially in terms of politics, foreign policy, language, manners,
food, culture and style. New York Times Paris correspondent
Sciolino (Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran, 2000, etc.)
presents some of the prevailing, socially accepted uses of opéra-
tion séduction (“charm offensive”) that both bemuse her sense
of American pragmatism and arouse her incredulity. Men of a
certain age still tender the baisemain to married women (Hill-
ary Clinton got one from President Sarkozy), women learn from
the cradle to dress provocatively (and then welcome admiring
|
remarks from strangers) and married people routinely take lov-
ers as part of keeping “in good health,” while France’s national
symbol is a sexy, barefoot commoner named Marianne whose
bodice falls half undone. French politicians cannot get elected
if they can’t demonstrate a vigorous capability: Case in point,
when Sarkozy’s wife of many years left him for another man,
he married supermodel Carla Bruni in a hurry and found his
approval ratings soar. French shamelessness extends to politi-
cians such as former presidents Mitterand, Giscard d’Estaing
and Chirac, for whom the political office was another form of
seduction. French professional women do not seem to be con-
cerned that insistent male attention would be called harass-
ment in the United States. Ultimately, Sciolino grates at the real
problem unsettling the French—i.e., their fear of declinism, or
decline. Their traditional arts of seduction—slow food, lace,
finely crafted luxury items, etc.—are being threatened by glo-
balization, eliciting a heavy sense of nostalgia for the era when
beauty and pleasure reigned. Moreover, French leaders like
Sarkozy still embrace a “profound unity of our culture,” even
though about 10 percent of France’s population is “of Arab
and African origin or descent,” underscoring deep fissures in
France’s sense of its own national identity.
Sciolino incorporates numerous interviews in order to
preserve a shrewd, journalistic distance in this illuminating
book. (16-page black-and-white photo insert. Agent: Andrew Wylie/
The Wylie Agency)
THE ANIMAL CONNECTION
A New Perspective on
What Makes Us Human
Shipman, Pat
Norton (304 pp.)
$26.95 | June 14, 2011
978-0-393-07054-5
In an easy, conversational style, American
Scientist contributor Shipman (Anthro-
pology/Penn State Univ.; Femme Fatale:
Love, Lies, and the Unknown Life of Mata
Hari, 2007, etc.) sets forth her theory that our connection with
animals is in large measure what makes us human.
The author argues that the urge to care for and connect
with other species is a universal human trait and that the ani-
mal connection dates from more than 2.6 million years ago
when our ancestors began using stone tools to process animal
carcasses as food. The use of stone tools not only changed what
our ancestors ate but what they needed to know about the
behavior of animals around them. Sharing this knowledge about
animals was essential to their success as predators, and, writes
Shipman, most of the prehistoric art that we can understand
depicts medium- or large-sized animals, not landscapes, people,
vegetation or insects. The author posits that interacting with
animals led not only to the making of tools and to the devel-
opment of symbolic behavior, including language, but another
major advance in human evolution: the domestication of other
species. She writes that domestication transformed animals
| kirkusreviews.com
into living tools that enabled humans to expand their abilities
and exploit new resources, and that communicating with ani-
mals and training them called for a new set of skills that had
to be learned, stored and transmitted. Throughout the book
are black-and-white photographs of stone and bone tools, art
objects and other visual evidence that Shipman presents to back
up her theory that the animal connection was instrumental in
shaping our species. In the final chapter, she looks at the animal
connection in the modern world. Noting that it was what gave
humans the vital skills of empathy, understanding and compro-
mise, she concludes that we still have a deep need to be involved
with animals and expresses her concern that this need may go
unrecognized in an increasingly industrialized world.
Attention animal lovers and science buffs: Although Shipman
is an academic, there is no classroom atmosphere here; the writ-
ing is refreshingly jargon-free, and the narrative may persuade pet
owners to take a fresh look at their charges. (25 illustrations)
THE DIGITAL DIET
The 4-Step Plan to Break
Your Tech Addiction and
Regain Balance in Your Life
Sieberg, Daniel
Three Rivers/Crown (272 pp.)
$13.00 paperback original | May 3, 2011
978-0-307-88738-2
Former CBS and CNN technology cor-
respondent recognizes what is lost in a
multitasking, digitally obsessed world
and outlines suggestions to help peo-
ple reclaim their lives.
Spending hours on the computer with minimal productiv-
ity? Is social-networking a daily necessity, or has the purchase
of the latest games, gadgets and apps become routine? Life
does not have to be beholden to technology, writes Sieberg,
who encourages technology users to take control. The author,
an Emmy-nominated journalist and self-rehabbed gaming and
social-network addict, urges the plugged-in public to recognize
the impact technology is having on their self-esteem, relation-
ships and health. Technology, writes the author, should allow
people to work smarter, not harder. It should provide them
with more down time, but not consume it. Rather than berating
people for their tech obsession, though, Sieberg shares his own
fall into compulsive computering and his subsequent struggle
to make time off-screen. He outlines his four-step, 28-day plan
that instructs readers to take back control through “positive
computing” and constructive time-management. The author is
aware that one size does not fit all, and he provides a flexible
tech cleanse that readers can employ as they see fit. Packed with
helpful tips, examples of exercises one can do while incorporat-
ing their gadgets and recommendations for apps and software
that help achieve positive technology management, Sieberg
sets the reader on a path for success.
Take control over technology with this energetic, engaging
and uplifting read.
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 663
 N O N F I C TIO N
A Sea on Fire: Two Books
Explore the Gulf Oil Disaster
BY G R EGORY M C NA MEE
On April 20, 2010, people
the world over learned that
oil platforms, like oil tank-
ers, oil fields, and oil barons,
have names.
That day, an offshore
rig in the Gulf of Mexico,
Deepwater Horizon,
exploded. Eleven workers
died. In subsequent days—
and months afterward—
Deepwater Horizon would
fill the news with tales of
dead and threatened fish,
marine mammals and birds;
of beachfront communities
deserted by vacationers; of
malfeasance and collusion.
We learned of astonishing
levels of corruption among
the agencies charged with
monitoring the oil indus-
try, of corporate arrogance
in the face of the “small
people” and of round-robin
finger-pointing.
664 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction
Four months later, the well that
had been gushing millions of gallons
of oil from the floor of the Gulf of
Mexico was finally sealed and the spill
stopped. So, in the mainstream, did the
news, with only the occasional piece
still bubbling up in the papers, most
recently, a federal judge ordering BP’s
claims administrator to quit contend-
ing that he was impartial.
Deepwater Horizon’s effects will
be long felt—environmentally, as the
Gulf struggles to recover; economically,
as the world oil market lurches from
one crisis to the next; legally, as lawsuits
make their way through the courts, a
process sure to take on the contours
of a modern Bleak House. Meanwhile,
two new books are keeping the story of
Deepwater Horizon fresh—and bring-
ing underreported news into the story.
A few months ago, John Konrad,
a former oil rig captain and one-time
employee of Deepwater Horizon’s
owner, was in New Orleans cover-
ing the early hearings on the disaster
for his maritime blog, gcaptain.com.
| kirkusreviews.com |
Konrad found himself explaining the
technology of offshore oil drilling to
the assembled reporters there, help-
ing, as he says, “decrypt the meaning
of terms like ‘BOP’ and ‘Negative Pres-
sure Test,’ ” when NPR reporter Joe
Shapiro suggested that he write a book.
Konrad teamed with Washington Post
writer and editor Tom Shroder and did
just that with Fire on the Horizon, which
we called a “lucid investigation into the
fatally risky business that caused the
blowout, which, by putting human faces
on many players, amplifies the ache.” As
disaster books go, it brings an unusually
thorough view of the many weak links
in the system. But, Konrad urges, it’s
not just a failed blowout preventer at
the bottom of the ocean that we can
pinpoint. Instead, he says, “The under-
lying cause of this incident is no differ-
ent from the financial crisis or housing
bubble—it’s human behavior in a time
of unprecedented energy prices and
technological sophistication.”
Carl Safina, well known for his
writings about the ocean, including
 “Deepwater Horizon is far from the first accident
to devastate the Gulf of Mexico, and it will
take decades to undo the damage—if it can be undone.
Yet the incident probably won’t change anything...”

the recently published View from Lazy

Point, had at the same time been con-
templating a book about the disaster—
though, he tells us that he “wasn’t sure
what the book should be because no
one knew how the whole event would
play out.” A chance meeting with an
interested editor led to a contract for
what would become A Sea in Flames and
to a whirlwind of research trips and a
campaign of coming up to speed on the
astonishing technology that underlies
deep-sea drilling.
Like Konrad and Shroder, Safina
also finds that the story of Deepwa-
ter Horizon is all too human. “What
impressed me most,” he tells Kirkus,
“was the total unpreparedness for the
event, followed by the widespread
inanity of the responses. So the book
became a description of why the well
was allowed to blow out (a series of
incredible misjudgments by several
companies all contributed), and a sort
of topography of the emotional, sci- millions of people whose lives along have made risk-taking inevitable. The
entific, political and social landscape the Gulf Coast were disrupted and, longer people go without a disaster, the
of the season that became the total- finally, to every one of us who are impli- more risks they will be willing to take—
ity of the event. The blowout is as cated in the oil economy. the more risk-taking will seem a rational
much, maybe more, about how people Deepwater Horizon is far from course of action—until another disaster
reacted emotionally to the idea of the the first accident to devastate the Gulf becomes inevitable.”
oil, compared to the actual oil itself.” of Mexico, and it will take decades to
Both books are long on seeking to undo the damage—if it can be undone.
assign responsibility—or blame—for Yet the incident probably won’t change
the disaster, and both find it in a com- anything—we will continue consuming
plex chain of events, technical failings, oil, we’ll forget about the catastrophe
miscommunications and clashing cul- and eventually another disaster will
tures. In the end, both books seek to befall us. Notes Safina, the blowout
avoid abstractions. Konrad and Shroder of a Mexican oil well in 1979 prefig-
are particularly good in portraying the ured Deepwater Horizon in many FIRE ON THE
efforts of the men and women of the particulars, and yet absolutely no new HORIZON
Coast Guard and other rescue services improvements were put in place in its John Konrad &
in confronting a challenge that none had aftermath—everyone was too busy Tom Shroder
faced before—for, though its technology thinking about the next bonanza to pay Harper | $27.99
was out of date, Deepwater Horizon had much attention. March 1, 2011
scooped out the deepest oil well in his- As Shroder observes, “The poten- 9780062063007
tory, six-and-a-half miles down. tial profits of oil exploration and pro-
As Safina writes, the story of the duction are so enormous that it drives A SEA IN FLAMES
Deepwater Horizon boils down to 11 us to push the technological envelope to Carl Safina
dead men, leaving nine widows and develop resources that we could never Crown | $25.00
21 fatherless children, along with 17 have dreamed of exploiting before. The April 19, 2011
injured workers. It boils down to the great need for oil and the great rewards 9780307887351

| kirkusreviews.com | nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 665

 YOU MUST GO AND WIN
Simone, Alina
Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus
and Giroux (256 pp.)
$14.00 paperback original | June 14, 2011
978-0-86547-915-9
Wry memoir from an Eastern European
indie-rock sensation.
A significant strength of this literary
debut from singer Simone—whose sec-
ond full-length original album will be released this fall—is her
prose style, which is vibrant, taut and humorous. Born in Ukraine,
she emigrated with her family to Massachusetts in the waning
days of Soviet rule, after her professor father ran afoul of the KGB.
The author amusingly portrays this experience as having trans-
formed her family into caustic Kafkaesque eccentrics. The young
Simone’s response was to retreat into bohemian creativity. One
chapter documents the bittersweet review of artsy VHS tapes
she made with a teenage pal who went on to fame in the Dresden
Dolls. The author married young and pursued a career making
independent folk-rock that, for a number of years, seemed cursed.
After a particularly futile and creepy audition, she writes, “There
is a certain peace that comes with the realization you aren’t ruin-
ing anyone’s life but your own.” Yet, over time, Simone managed
to build an enthusiastic, cultish audience, bolstered in 2008 with
her release of an album honoring Yanka Dyagileva, a Russian folk-
punk performer who’d died mysteriously. The most provocative
and engaging chapters document the author’s wanderlust. In
addition to touring the country, playing her music in run-down
venues, she traveled on multiple occasions to Siberia, her remote
hometown and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union. At points,
she departs on spiritual tangents, as when she discusses her
obsessive research on the Skoptsy, an obscure 19th-century Rus-
sian sect that practiced castration—she found this a good con-
versational topic for discouraging nightclub suitors. The chapters
that focus on her travails as a Brooklyn-based aspiring musician
are both less interesting and more familiar than Simone seems
to perceive. The author skillfully captures the forlorn waiting-to-
be-famous existence of young creative people, yet these passages
become somewhat self-indulgent and unsurprising.
Sure to prove popular with 20-something hipsters, just as
her music seems poised for wider exposure.
THE STORY OF
CHARLOTTE’S WEB
E.B. White’s Eccentric Life
in Nature and the Birth
of an American Classic
Sims, Michael
Walker (256 pp.)
$24.00 | June 7, 2011
978-0-8027-7754-6
An affectionate biography examines the
birth of an American classic.
666 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
As the subtitle indicates, Sims (Apollo’s Fire: A Day on Earth in
Nature and Imagination, 2007, etc.) concentrates on White’s life-
long love of the natural world. He loved the family stable, writes
the author, and roamed the undeveloped places in and around
Mount Vernon, N.Y., as well as reveling in the rustic beauty of the
Belgrade Lakes in Maine, where his family summered. White’s
reading tastes revolved around the “true life” animal stories of
Ernest Thompson Seton and his ilk, and he was also charmed by
the antics of Don Marquis’ Archy and Mehitabel. White began
writing early, first keeping a diary and then joining the child con-
tributors to St. Nicholas, among whom also numbered his future
wife, Katharine Sergeant. Sims also traces White’s New Yorker
career, touching lightly on high points and drawing on his writ-
ings, both public and private, in which he often adopted the
voices of animals. The author avoids the often-irritating ten-
dency of literary biographers to foreshadow portentously from
these early experiences, allowing readers to draw their own con-
nections. His examination of the genesis and development of
Charlotte’s Web—White worked desperately to nurse an ill pig
back to health, knowing that if he was successful, he would end
up killing it anyway—will thrill lovers of the novel. Sims quotes
generously from White’s working drafts, which were constantly
in revision from the beginning. Descriptions of these pages offer
both a fascinating insight into the writing process and crushing
refutation of any claim that writing for children is easy.
Packed with the same kind of sensory detail its subject rev-
eled in, this account is an honorable addition to the literature of
letters. (8-page black-and-white insert. Agent: Heide Lange)
NOT DEAD YET
My Race Against
Disease: From Diagnosis
to Dominance
Southerland, Phil; Hanc, John
Dunne/St. Martin’s (320 pp.)
$25.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-312-61023-4
Inspirational memoir from a champion
cyclist about overcoming a bleak diagno-
sis of diabetes and rising to the top—on
his bike and in life.
Southerland was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at a young
age. As a teenager, he dreamed of creating an organization to
help those who were similarly afflicted. As an adult, he took the
first steps toward his dream by founding Team Type 1, a competi-
tive cycling troop comprised entirely of Type 1 diabetics that has
won a number of championships. Cashing in on his status as a
renowned athlete, Southerland began distributing medical sup-
plies and campaigning for diabetes awareness around the world
on a scale that surpassed even his wildest teen dreams. Here, the
author describes a harrowing and sickly childhood, during which
he was dragged from doctor to doctor, each prognosis gloomier
than the last. He recalls the personal challenges he faced and over-
came on a daily basis in dealing with his diagnosis, which inher-
ently laid the foundation for the strength, will and fortitude it
|
 “Stacey provides a comprehensive look at the varying
nature of family structures spanning from the
United States to southwest China, and she suggests love and
marriage are not necessarily blissfully united.”
from unhitched
took for him to become a champion athlete. The author’s passion
for cycling and drive to excel became blueprints for controlling
his disease and living a healthy life. This motivational coming-
of-age story veers between inspiration and action. Southerland’s
accounts of cycling tournaments are so vividly portrayed, and his
optimistic and humorous tone is appropriate for any age group.
Uplifting book for any person struggling with hardships and
looking for the strength to overcome.
UNHITCHED
Love, Marriage, and
Family Values from
West Hollywood to
Western China
Stacey, Judith
New York Univ. (304 pp.)
$24.95 | May 2, 2011
978-0-8147-8382-5
A candid unearthing of veiled and inviolable
topics related to relationships and marriage.
When considering the pros and cons of entering into a mari-
tal bond these days, one must recognize the progression and, in
many cases, regression of society regarding relationships. For 10
years, Stacey has conducted research based on this rationale, and
her captivating results form the basis of a book that unravels the
mysteries behind marital—and nonmarital—relationships of
all shapes, sizes and colors. With clear-cut, modern prose, the
author infuses her commentary and details her investigation
from all sides of the aisle with well-researched facts and figures.
Stacey uses gay marriage and polyandrous relationships as a
springboard for readers to reflect on the traditional marriage sys-
tem of one man, one woman, and she turns controversial cultural
issues into divisive conjectures. With powerful recognition of
“Gay Parenthood and the End of Paternity as We Knew It,” the
author directly confronts the taboo subject that can be same-sex
relationships and their take on parenthood, running the gamut
from gay men desperate to adopt, to those who decline, whom
she refers to as “refuseniks.” Stacey provides a comprehensive
look at the varying nature of family structures spanning from the
United States to southwest China, and she suggests love and mar-
riage are not necessarily blissfully united.
Clever and practical blend of research, history and anecdote.
HOW THE STATES GOT
THEIR SHAPES TOO
The People Behind
the Borderlines
Stein, Mark
Smithsonian Books (360 pp.)
$24.95 | June 7, 2011
978-1-58834-314-7
A fun sequel offers more recondite tid-
bits of American history.
| kirkusreviews.com
With 50 states, there are plenty of details about border con-
troversies for this mildly titillating follow-up to screenwriter
Stein’s How the States Got Their Shapes (2008), which in turn
inspired the History Channel’s eponymous documentary. The
personalities behind the disputes take center stage: Charles
Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who were actually a pair of highly
accomplished English surveyors of the Royal Society possibly
hired by Benjamin Franklin to establish impartially the dis-
puted 300-mile Pennsylvania-Maryland-Delaware boundary.
“Asking Mason and Dixon to survey a boundary in America,”
writes the author, “was… akin to asking Mozart to play at a
prom.” Thanks to Ethan Allen (“not a furniture maker”) and his
motley posse of Green Mountain Boys, the homesteads making
up the future Vermont were saved from rapacious New Yorkers.
It is largely due to the zeal (or wealth) of John Hardeman Walker
who “put the boot heel on Missouri” in order to keep his land
from sinking into Arkansas. Under the presidency of James K.
Polk, America’s borders increased greatly, incorporating Texas,
the Oregon Territory and everything in between the Rockies
and the Pacific, creating a massive befuddlement for lawmakers;
bright lights such as Sam Houston, Brigham Young and John
Sutter would all wield profound influence on the shape of the
states affiliated with their names. Stein includes contributions
by important women, including proto-feminist Clarina Nichols,
who moved her family to Kansas for the purpose of creating
an anti-slavery majority in 1854, and Representative Eleanor
Holmes Norton, who attempted tirelessly to win statehood for
the District of Columbia. Overall, the author provides plenty
of good stuff for tournament quizzes and Jeopardy questions.
Bright, readable and accessible for all ages. (46 black-and-white
portraits; 85 black-and-white maps. 10-part TV series on The History
Channel featuring the author. Agent: Kenneth Wright/Writers House)
THE MATHEMATICS OF LIFE
Stewart, Ian
Basic (304 pp.)
$27.50 | June 7, 2011
978-0-465-02238-0
In the past, students who loved sci-
ence but hated math studied biol-
ogy. That won’t work today, writes the
prolific emeritus professor of Math-
ematics at Britain’s Warwick University,
who explains why in his usual enthusiastic but definitely not
dumbed-down style.
Physical scientists joked about biologists as “stamp col-
lectors,” and this was not far off until Victorian times, as they
happily occupied themselves discovering and describing living
things. By 1850, botanists counting flower petals wondered why
they almost always came up with 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55—the well-
known series called Fibonacci numbers. Mystical speculation
abounded until 20th-century research proved that the dynam-
ics of growing plants forces cells into specific mathematical
relationships. Having dipped the reader’s toe into his specialty,
Stewart (Cows in the Maze: And Other Mathematical Explorations,
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 667
 2010, etc.) proceeds to deliver a history of biology followed by a
tour of current research. A fine chapter on Darwin and evolution
contains almost no mathematics. The story of genetics, all the
way up to the Human Genome Project, demands grade-school
arithmetic to understand Mendel’s rules of heredity. Readers
with painful memories of high-school algebra will feel reassured
because Stewart accessibly explains population growth, specia-
tion, brain function, chaos and game theory, networking, sym-
metry and even the mechanism that produces animal stripes and
spots. The lack of equations does not imply simplicity, however;
all chapters begin with basics, but readers without a scientific
background will struggle to finish more than one.
An ingenious overview of biology with emphasis on math-
ematical ideas—stimulating but requiring careful reading
despite the lack of equations.
RAT ISLAND
Predators in Paradise—
and the World’s Greatest
Wildlife Rescue
Stolzenburg, William
Bloomsbury (288 pp.)
$26.00 | June 1, 2011
978-1-60819-103-1
Veteran science writer Stolzenburg
(Where the Wild Things Were: Life,
Death, and Ecological Wreckage in a
Land of Vanishing Predators, 2008) pursues the question
of the predator-prey dynamic.
As the author reported in his first book, such well-intended
interventions in nature as the removal of wolves from Yellow-
stone Park can have negative consequences. Here, Stolzenburg
takes another look at ecological engineering. As humans have
moved across the planet, rats have traveled with us. An amaz-
ing 20 percent of the animal species on Earth live on islands, and
nearly half are endangered by rats, feral cats, weasels, goats, pigs
and rabbits which have been introduced by humans either inad-
vertently or as a food source. Most at risk are birds whose eggs
and nestlings provide a source of food for these predators. In 1964,
New Zealand’s Wildlife Service was alerted to an outbreak of rats
that threatened to overrun one of their last pristine refuges on
Big South Cape Island. They were especially concerned to rescue
the endangered kakapo, a green parrot so large that it neither
flies nor swims. Attempts to remove them to safer environments
proved only marginally successful, and the last resort appeared
to be the eradication of feral cats and rats by systematic large-
scale poisoning. Animal-rights advocates began an extensive
campaign to stop the program when it was introduced to Santa
Cruz off the coast of Southern California, but they were unsuc-
cessful and it has continued. “As of the summer of 2010,” writes
the author, “conservation specialists had conducted more than
eight hundred eradications of destructive mammals from islands
they had breached with human help.” Rats have been eliminated,
and songbird habitats preserved. The question remains, however:
Do we have the right to intervene in nature on this scale?
668 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
A tough, nuanced consideration of ethical issues that arise
from man’s relationship to nature. (Appearances at natural history
museums and Audobon Societies. Agent: Russ Galen/Scovil Chichak
Galen Literary Agency)
NEW ATLANTIS
Musicians Battle for the
Survival of New Orleans
Swenson, John
Oxford Univ. (336 pp.)
$27.95 | June 1, 2011
978-0-19-975452-6
A detailed, angry look at the Crescent
City’s imperiled players and traditions in
Hurricane Katrina’s wake.
Veteran music journalist Swenson
(The Rolling Stone Jazz and Blues Album Guide, 1999, etc.), a New
Orleans resident since 1999, surveys the havoc wreaked on his
adopted hometown’s music scene after the so-called “federal
flood” of August 2005. Already threatened by the erosion of
southern Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, the city was flattened
by the massive storm, which scattered its musicians around
the country. Swenson details the natives’ taxing attempts to
reinstate the indigenous musical culture, one of the country’s
national treasures, within a shattered civic infrastructure. He
interviews dozens of locals, ranging from vets like Dr. John,
Dr. Michael White and Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers
to young lions like Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and his
troubled cousin Glen David Andrews. The author excoriates
the city fathers, whose thinly veiled racism led to post-Katrina
opposition to the Mardi Gras Indian tribes and practitioners
of funeral “second lining” (parading). Despite chaos and esca-
lating violence, the music community courageously restored
itself. However, after a description of the celebration of the
New Orleans Saints’ uplifting 2010 Super Bowl victory, the
book ends on a downbeat note with a rushed look at the April
2010 Deepwater Horizon pipeline disaster, which wracked the
region anew. Readers won’t fault Swenson’s journalism, com-
prising on-the-ground observation and interviews, and he is at
home with every pertinent musical genre, from jazz and funk
to rock, gospel and hip-hop. But the lax organization and edit-
ing of the book often slow the narrative’s momentum and lose
the thread of the tale. Chapters stutter to a halt with lengthy
explications of artists’ careers, replete with unsifted quotes, or
with endless descriptions of performances in clubs or on fes-
tival stages. These notebook-clearing exercises too frequently
swamp Swenson’s powerfully affecting story of New Orleans’
monumental cultural tragedy and gutsy rebirth.
A solid, rewarding book that could have been great with
some judicious pruning. (50 photographs)
|
 “Uplifting chronicle of the author’s personal
involvement in disaster-relief efforts after 9/11, the Asian
tsunami of 2004 and the Haitian earthquake of 2010.”
from the third wave
THE THIRD WAVE
A Volunteer Story
Thompson, Alison; Fox, MeiMei
Spiegel & Grau (240 pp.)
$24.00 | July 12, 2011
978-0-385-52916-7
Uplifting chronicle of the author’s personal
involvement in disaster-relief efforts after
9/11, the Asian tsunami of 2004 and the
Haitian earthquake of 2010.
When Thompson heard about the tsunami, she knew she
had to go there to help. With $300 and some gear, she was on
the ground in Sri Lanka by January 5th, ready to start work. Her
impressive accomplishments form the heart of the narrative.
Prefigured by her months in the dust, dirt and rubble of Ground
Zero after 9/11, Thompson’s 14 months in Sri Lanka were alter-
nately painful and gut-wrenching. There was nothing left in
Peraliya when they arrived. Approximately 2,500 had died, and
more than 500 homes had been destroyed. The villagers needed
clean water, food, shelter and medical aid. All the water wells
had been contaminated by the sea. On their first day, the volun-
teers’ truck became an emergency first-aid station. In the first
10 hours, they treated 150 people. By the time they took a break,
after six months, a permanent medical facility was under con-
struction, 75,000 people had been treated, school facilities had
been set up and shelter had been provided. The author and her
fellow volunteer friends had been joined by Germans, Dutch,
British, Danes and dozens of others from around the world,
each with something special to offer. They fought the heartache
of funds that didn’t come through and the suffering of those
who saved their loved ones from the violence of the sea, only to
lose them later due to the inadequacy of follow-up medical care.
Thompson writes that at Ground Zero, she overcame her fear
of death. In Peraliya, she overcame her fear of evil.
An inspiring story demonstrating that there are always ways
to help. For fellow volunteers, the author includes a helpful sec-
tion called “What to Know Before You Go.”
WONDER GIRL
The Magnificent Sporting Life
of Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Van Natta Jr., Don
Little, Brown (256 pp.)
$27.99 | June 2, 2011
978-0-316-05699-1
An enthusiastic, sympathetic biogra-
phy of the incomparable all-around
sports champion.
There is no lack of research into Mildred Ella “Babe” Did-
rikson Zaharias’ life (1911–1956) most notably Susan E. Cay-
leff ’s 1995 biography Babe, but Van Natta’s work spirits the
reader away on this fairy-tale story with grace, humor and an
occasional need to set the record straight. In fact, Babe was
born in 1911, though she publicly shaved a few years off her age.
| kirkusreviews.com
One of seven children born to Norwegian immigrants in East
Texas, Babe was a tomboy and a daredevil, catching the eye of
Melvorne J. McCombs, the scout for the Employers Casualty
Insurance Company in Dallas, which needed a scorer for their
women’s basketball team to win the upcoming Amateur Ath-
letic Union championship, in February 1930. Hired to work at
the company and star on the team, Babe essentially dropped out
of high school, gaining with each victory for her team admiring
coverage in the press and a devoted following. Confining herself
to one sport was impossible for Babe, because of her extraor-
dinary talent, and she was braggart, habitually employing hot-
air tactics to psych out her opponents. After winning a coveted
spot on the 1932 Olympic team by dominating all eight events,
she won two gold medals (javelin, hurdles) and a silver (high
jump), setting world records, then translated her publicity into
high earnings afterward, which got her barred for three years
from amateur golf, the next sport she intended to master. Babe
had a power swing, embarking on a winning streak of American
and British titles that rarely let up until her untimely death by
cancer in 1956. She and her pro-wrestler husband, George Zaha-
rias, started the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA),
which galvanized the game for women.
An enormously inspiring life story for a new generation of
female achievers. (8 pages of black-and-white photographs)
ENTER NIGHT
A Biography of Metallica
Wall, Mick
St. Martin’s (480 pp.)
$27.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-312-64989-0
Semi-sympathetic biography of a diffi-
cult band to like.
British music journalist Wall (When
Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of
Led Zeppelin, 2009, etc.), who has also
penned bios of Ozzy Osbourne, Bono and other major rock
acts, has followed Metallica since they first broke across the
Atlantic with their debut LP in 1983. For the most part, he tells
a straightforward history most fans will know. Beginning with
the tragedy that robbed them of their heart and soul just as they
were poised to become one of the biggest bands in the world—
the death of bassist Cliff Burton in a bizarre bus accident in
Sweden in 1986—Wall returns to the Metallica’s birth in the
hyperactive mind of drummer Lars Ulrich, the metal-obsessed
scion of a Danish tennis dynasty. In Los Angeles, Ullrich met
his polar opposite, the surly rhythm guitarist James Hetfield,
product of a broken home of outsider Christian Scientists. This
odd couple formed the backbone of Metallica and pioneered—
along with Burton, a loose cannon of a guitarist named Dave
Mustaine, who founded Megadeth, and his replacement Kirk
Hammett—what became known as thrash metal, an amalgam
of British heavy metal and West Coast punk rock. In the early
days, the band was beloved for its anti-style style—no teased
hair, spandex or mascara—and unusually honest subject matter
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 669
 for metal songs—death and violence rather than elves and dev-
ils. After the blockbuster success of their eponymous LP, which
fans dubbed The Black Album, Wall argues (non-controversially)
that the band lost their way. As square institutions like MTV,
the Grammy Awards and even the U.S. Congress embraced
them, Metallica practically threw it all away on an ill-conceived
attack on their fan base over “theft” of their music on Napster’s
revolutionary file-sharing platform. Nearly all of the material in
the book will be familiar to most Metallica fans and readers who
have seen the 2004 film Some Kind of Monster.
Wall’s tales of encounters with the band over the years all
seem to make the point that he has never been a true Metallica
fan. That would explain this lackluster treatment. (One 32-page
color photo insert)
DAVID CROCKETT
The Lion of the West
Wallis, Michael
Norton (320 pp.)
$26.95 | May 16, 2011
978-0-393-06758-3
He wasn’t born on a mountaintop in Ten-
nessee, and he didn’t kill a b’ar when he
was only three. Even so, David Crockett
was a force of nature, as this fine biogra-
phy details.
The Scots-Irish son of the American frontier, writes Wallis
(Billy the Kid, 2007, etc.), became a legend within his lifetime and
“died as a work still very much in progress.” Yet much of what we
know about Crockett is erroneous, thanks to fictions perpetu-
ated over the course of nearly two centuries. David Crockett—
David, not Davy—was indeed an accomplished hunter of bears,
having killed more than 100 of them in seven months during
1825–26, as Wallis carefully records. But more than that, he was
a frontier entrepreneur who “approached nature as a science
and hunting as an art,” earning a considerable income supplying
furs for a hungry East Coast and European trade. As a politician,
an endeavor in which hunting stories were guaranteed to liven
up stump speeches, he fell afoul of fellow Tennessean Andrew
Jackson early on, opining against several of Jackson’s policies
and views, particularly on the matter of what to do about the
Indians. (Crockett opposed the relocations that would culmi-
nate in the Trail of Tears.) It was on the hustings, Wallis writes,
that Crockett perfected a kind of bumpkin persona, wearing a
buckskin shirt with two big pockets: “In one pocket he kept a
big twist of tobacco and in the other a bottle of liquor,” either of
which worked to sway a voter. When Crockett’s card in Wash-
ington played out, he left for Texas—whose Anglo secessionists,
writes the author, desired freedom from Mexico at least in part
because Mexico had outlawed slavery. There Crockett met his
end—but not, as Wallis notes, in quite the way Walt Disney
would have it.
An excellent study likely to tick off the hagiographers. (60
illustrations. Author tour to Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis, Tulsa,
Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Austin, Washington, D.C.)
670 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
THE HOUSE IN FRANCE
A Memoir
Wells, Gully
Knopf (320 pp.)
$25.95 | June 22, 2011
978-0-307-26980-5
Memoir of the author’s mother and step-
father and the luminous social and intel-
lectual circles in which they moved.
Remembering her mother, Ameri-
can journalist Dee Wells, and stepfather,
Oxford philosopher A.J. Ayer, Condé Nast Traveler features edi-
tor Wells flits from decade to decade and celebrity to celebrity
without too great a concern for chronology. Dee Wells and Ayer
were two of the original 20th-century bohemians/hippies/free
spirits. Dee in particular was terribly gratified when the ’60s
finally caught up with their lifestyle. In her debut memoir, the
author chronicles the many relationships—social and (mostly)
sexual—of their set; the anecdotes are remarkable for their
vivid attention to detail. All the tangential lives came together
at La Migoua, the eponymous home which absorbed the char-
acteristics of any and all who were welcomed there; the house
reflected the spirit of Dee and her nonconformist outlook on
life. The stories of Wells’ mother and Ayer are a delight to read
and revealing when dealing with the captivating personalities of
their generation, which included, among many others, Christo-
pher Hitchens, Alan Bennett, Bertrand Russell, Iris Murdoch
and Martin Amis. However, the author’s tendency to dwell on
her own tiresome, personal tales, such as her quest to give up
her virginity, slow the narrative and detract from the far more
interesting story of Wells’ parents and their friends.
Too much teenage angst and not enough of the vibrant intel-
lectual society that Wells illuminates in many of the chapters.
(16 pages of photographs. Agent: Irene Skolnick/Irene Skolnick Agency)
IF YOU ASK ME
(And Of Course You Won’t)
White, Betty
Putnam (272 pp.)
$25.95 | May 3, 2011
978-0-399-15753-0
The beloved actress shares some of her
recent experiences.
White’s (Here We Go Again: My Life
in Television, 1995, etc.) autobiographi-
cal work reads much like an enjoyable,
if one-sided, afternoon chat with a charming personality. She
engagingly addresses an ever-present second person and intu-
its the questions her audience would ask. White doesn’t dwell
for long on a given topic, instead relating brief, easily digest-
ible tales. Subsequently, the narrative sometimes lacks cohe-
sion, even structured as it is according to different aspects of
her life—e.g., Hollywood Stories, Stagecraft, Love and Friend-
ship and Animal Kingdom, etc. Yet this only further adds to the
|
 “Excellent big-picture, popularly written
history of the Howard Zinn mold, backed by
a mountain of research and statistics.”
from railroaded
book’s conversational flow. There is nothing overly profound or
moving in these pages, nor do the laughs come fast and furious,
but readers will enjoy White’s gentle tone and cheery stories.
She avoids acrid personal attacks or overwrought self-criticisms,
and she clearly writes because she enjoys it, a fact she admits on
more than one occasion. The book is certainly not an essential
read for either historical or humorous purposes, and it’s often
riddled with clichés, but White’s fans and those looking for a bit
of light fare will enjoy this latest batch of stories.
A quick, pleasant read from an author whose writing voice is
surprisingly reminiscent of her speaking voice. (National public-
ity campaign, with author appearances in New York and Los Angeles)
RAILROADED
The Transcontinentals
and the Making of
Modern America
White, Richard
Norton (736 pp.)
$35.00 | May 31, 2011
978-0-393-06126-0
The railroads may not have advanced
civilization in America, notes this sharp-
edged history, but they were eminently
creative in their destruction.
Latter-day corporatistas will not be pleased with the neo-
Marxist slant that eminent historian White (American History/
Stanford Univ.; Remembering Ahanagran: Storytelling in a Family’s
Past, 1998, etc.) brings to his vigorous account of the 19th-century
transcontinental railroads. It is that great scholar of entrepre-
neurship Joseph Schumpeter whose spirit guides much of White’s
book, particularly his notion that capitalism involves “creative
destruction,” the constant uprooting of the old for the new in
order to sell it all over again. (Think of CDs replacing LPs, and
of MP3s replacing CDs.) In the case of the railroads, the creative
destruction involved the replacement of one form of corpora-
tion with another—and if, as White argues, the 19th-century rail-
road corporations almost always went bust in the manner of the
dotcoms in our own time, the individuals who controlled those
corporations mostly did well for themselves. As he writes, “[t]he
celebrated creative destruction of capitalism is, it seems, gentle
with the rich,” an observation not to be lost in our own time.
White peoples the narrative with characters who are fascinating
as case studies of the seven deadly sins, such as entrepreneur and
wheeler-dealer Tom Scott, who “was not so much tainted by cor-
ruption as impregnated with it”; and Samuel Huntington, who
railed against Scott for beating him at his own game, complain-
ing that “the devil, the communist, and the Pa. R.R. have united
against us.” Huntington opposed Leland Stanford, too, but Stan-
ford was a staunch Republican, and the Republican powers that
be warned him that if Huntington’s opposition cost Stanford his
Senate seat, “they would punish Huntington by punishing [his]
railroad.” And so forth, one alliance conspiring against another—
but, as White makes clear, all conspiring to grow rich, and all at
the expense of the working people.
| kirkusreviews.com
Excellent big-picture, popularly written history of the How-
ard Zinn mold, backed by a mountain of research and statistics.
(8 pages of illustrations)
NOTHING DAUNTED
The Unexpected
Education of Two Society
Girls in the West
Wickenden, Dorothy
Scribner (320 pp.)
$26.00 | June 21, 2011
978-1-4391-7658-0
A detailed study of two spirited and priv-
ileged young women who unexpectedly
became a small part of the history of the American West.
Rosamund Underwood and Dorothy Woodruff, both Smith
College graduates, spent their 20s traveling to Europe and Man-
hattan and pouring tea for suffragettes at home in Auburn, N.Y.
Nearing 30, they were becoming restless and, longing to do
useful and interesting work, applied to become teachers in the
small community of Elkhead, Colo. New Yorker executive edi-
tor Wickenden, Woodruff ’s granddaughter, relates their expe-
riences with a vivid, gossipy flair, and readers get an excellent
sense of what everyday life was like, not only for the privileged
and highly educated, but for the mine worker, the homesteader,
the elementary-school teacher. However, readers expecting a
straightforward, linear narrative will be baffled by the sinuous
curve of the story as it makes switchbacks and loops, like the
much-discussed Moffat Road Railroad. In fact, the momentous
first day of school for the young teachers doesn’t arrive until
halfway through the book. The earlier material covers their
journey to Elkhead, their childhood and college years and their
extensive domestic and international travel. The author’s fre-
quent diversions into local and national history demand careful
attention, and they might delight one reader but bore another.
Wickenden defers the discussion of the women’s marriages until
two-thirds of the way through the book, which both prioritizes
their accomplishments and entices the reader. We know at the
outset that Dorothy has children, and this knowledge pulls us
gently through the narrative’s many turns.
An absorbing maze of a book—readers may well, like Wood-
ruff and Underwood, find their hearts lost to the West.
I’M KIND OF A BIG DEAL
and Other Delusions
of Adequacy
Wilder-Taylor, Stefanie
Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (256 pp.)
$15.00 paperback original | June 7, 2011
978-1-4391-7657-3
A tell-too-much, say-too-little collection
of autobiographical essays about one
woman’s B-grade brushes with stardom.
| nonfiction | 15 april 2011 | 671
 The latest from Hollywood writer and producer Wilder-
Taylor falls well short of satisfying. The first two-thirds of the
book deal with her many mishaps along the road to something
like fame. After graduating from high school, she went to New
York City with vague ambitions of becoming an actress. But her
stage career began and ended in an Italian restaurant where, as a
singing waitress, she demonstrated her total lack of vocal skills.
In Los Angeles, she found her way as a dancing extra in a Bob
Dylan-Dave Stewart music video that quickly “fell off into obliv-
ion.” Later, Wilder-Taylor auditioned for a dating show called
Studs, only to find herself paired with a man who “looked like a
bisexual pirate.” Ever in search of celebrity—or at least, of a way
to be near it—the author briefly drove limos for the likes of such
minor screen luminaries as Lolita Davidovich and Justine Bate-
man. The narrative, which moves rather disconnectedly between
episodes, displays even more disjointedness in the final third of
the book. Wilder-Taylor, now an established figure in the enter-
tainment industry, struggled to cope not only with the demands
of her career, but also motherhood, all while trying to deal with
an drinking problem that had been present since her teens. In
between snarky “letters” she writes to Angelina Jolie about the
actress’ too-perfect maternal image and to David Hasselhoff
about their common “crazy love of booze,” the author offers
maddeningly brief glimpses of real emotional poignancy in her
depiction of her alcohol and codeine-dependent father and
their rocky relationship. Wilder-Taylor’s often self-deprecating
candor is the book’s greatest strength, but also its greatest weak-
ness. While she freely provides gossipy tidbits about her life and
adventures, her capacity to move beyond the superficially funny
and into the meaningfully humorous is lacking.
Kind of a waste of time.
THE 100 BEST AFFORDABLE
VACATIONS
Wooldridge, Jane; Bleiberg, Larry
National Geographic (288 pp.)
$19.95 paperback original | April 19, 2011
978-1-4262-0718-1
Travel journalists Wooldridge and Blei-
berg suggest holidays for all budgets.
Did somebody say vacation? National
Geographic takes readers down highways
and across the friendly skies with 100 ideas for the budget-con-
scious traveler. Wooldridge and Bleiberg provide a collection of
unique trips that will excite all personalities and many wallets.
Like to shop? Drive through the world’s longest yard sale, which
stretches from Michigan to Alabama. Those who enjoy yoga and
meditation should head out to Shambhala Mountain Center in
Colorado. Wooldridge and Bleiberg divide the trips by theme,
including sections on vacations that celebrate Americana or feed
travelers’ “body & soul.” Try a cowboy poetry reading in Elko,
Nev., or a community-service trip to post-Katrina New Orleans.
Readers who are expecting a nuts-and-bolts travel guide will
be disappointed, as the authors do not delve deeply into their
672 | 15 april 2011 | nonfiction | kirkusreviews.com
suggestions. The book should be viewed as a flip-through refer-
ence that will generate ideas for cash-strapped travelers. Most
of the authors’ suggestions are in the U.S., although several take
travelers to more exotic locations like Belize or Puerto Rico.
Rev up the car and hit the road.
BOB DYLAN
Like a Complete Unknown
Yaffe, David
Yale Univ. (192 pp.)
$24.00 | May 24, 2011
978-0-300-12457-6
A slim volume of essays adds more than a
footnote to the long shelf of Dylan books.
After a recent spate of Dylan studies
by prominent academics—Sean Wilentz
and Christopher Ricks, in addition to the
comprehensive Greil Marcus anthology—there would seem to
be nothing left to say about this celebrated and frequently con-
founding artist. Yet music critic Yaffe (English/Syracuse Univ;
Fascinating Rhythm: Reading Jazz in American Writing, 2005, etc.)
sheds some fresh light, or at least offers a provocative perspective.
His four thematic chapters “attempt to elucidate the difficult
pleasure that is Dylan, with his nasal voice, oblique lyrics, compli-
cated relation to race, and controversial appropriation of words
and music.” Obviously passionate about his subject, on whom he
teaches a course, Yaffe writes that “while he is perhaps miscat-
egorized as a poet, he is underrated as a singer.” The author later
makes the far more startling assertion that “Dylan’s relationship
to race is unique,” and that “the story of how Dylan got his groove
back by becoming his own soul sister is also a distinctly Ameri-
can narrative of racial appropriation and sexual exploitation, of
selling out, getting saved, and owning up.” For Yaffe, Dylan’s con-
troversial (and short-lived) “born again” phase is as much about
race (and gospel music) and eros as it is about Christianity. Pretty
much every page could launch a debate, though Yaffe is one of
the few to swallow whole the assertion by Mavis Staples that the
young Dylan would have married her if she had consented. More
than any other recent Dylan book, this one frequently anticipates
his death, the unthinkable prospect of no more Dylan (though
there will be plenty more Dylan books).
Not for the neophyte, but fascinating for obsessives who
think they know everything and want to know more.
|
 children
& teens
DREAMLAND
SOCIAL CLUB
Altebrando, Tara
Dutton (400 pp.)
$16.99 | May 12, 2011
978-0-525-42325-6
In this evocative homage to Coney Island,
the “Playground of the World,” a 16-year-
old girl searches for clues about the
mother she barely remembers.
Upon their grandfather’s death, Jane
and Marcus Dryden and their father move into their mother’s
childhood home on Coney Island. Jane soon discovers that
her mother, Clementine Porcelli, the daughter of two carnies,
founded the still-active Dreamland Social Club at Coney Island
High School. She sets out to learn more about Clementine and
the mysterious club. With the help of an old set of keys and a
tattooed musician named Leo, she unlocks the various haunts
of her mother’s youth and finds the sense of adventure she lost
when her mother died. Along the way, Jane realizes that “nor-
mal” is a matter of perspective and gains insight into the compli-
cated and contentious history of the town’s periods of growth
and decline. Altebrando provides exceptional depth in both the
setting and the motley cast of Coney Islanders, teen and adult,
living and dead. Occasionally breaking the third-person narra-
tive with Jane’s memories of her mother, the author breathes
life into the long-dead Clementine, while weaving in the attrac-
tions of Coney Island’s fabled past.
The result is a memorable tale of personal growth and
acceptance that will make teens eager to join a Dreamland
Social Club of their own. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)
HOW TÍA LOLA
SAVED THE SUMMER
Alvarez, Julia
Knopf (160 pp.)
$15.99 | PLB: $18.99
e-book: $15.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-375-86727-9
PLB: 978-0-375-96727-6
e-book: 978-0-375-89766-5
Series: Tía Lola Stories
Alvarez returns with another Tía Lola
story, replete with adventure and humor.
Revisiting this charming Latino family a couple of months
after How Tía Lola Learned to Teach (2010), readers find 11-year-old
| kirkusreviews.com
Miguel Guzman’s aunt creating a magical summer camp for the
Fourth of July week, complete with campfires and a nighttime
treasure hunt. Víctor Espada is back in Vermont to visit, bringing
his three daughters and his dog to stay at the farm. With romance
blooming between Víctor and Miguel’s divorced mom, Tía Lola
tries to keep the peace between the five children. Meanwhile,
outnumbered by the four girls and sidelined from playing base-
ball by an ankle injury, Miguel is beset by a plethora of worries,
while his 9-year-old sister Juanita struggles to feel special among
the Espada girls. Each of the children (and a couple of the adults)
overcomes a challenge, thanks to Tía Lola’s empathy and wisdom.
The author subtly continues thematic elements of acceptance
and community from the previous novels and blends Spanish
words and phrases into the story, which will appeal to Latino and
non-Latino readers alike.
Returning readers will rejoice in reconnecting with the
effervescent Tía Lola and the rest of the gang, while even read-
ers new to the tales will want to read more about Vermont’s
favorite Dominican aunt. (Fiction. 8-12)
THE WIKKELING
Arntson, Steven
Illustrator: Terrazzini, Daniela Jaglenka
Running Press Kids (256 pp.)
$18.00 | May 1, 2011
978-0-7624-3903-4
The low-key dystopia pictured in this
inventive tale may not strike a chill into
the hearts of young readers, but it’s sure
to disconcert adults.
The highly connected, technological future in which Henri-
etta Gad-Fly lives feels appallingly possible. Safety is the primary
social force, solitude is unknown, traffic jams clog the roads and
horns have been replaced by “Honk Ads,” which relentlessly
tout upgraded cell phones and promote conspicuous consump-
tion. Awkward and lonely, Henrietta is surprised and pleased
to make two friends in the space of a few days. Oddly enough,
Gary and Rose both share her propensity for headaches. The dis-
covery of a “wild housecat” in Henrietta’s attic leads all three to
learn more about the past, connects Henrietta to her family in
new ways and eventually sparks a confrontation with the crea-
ture (or program?) that is draining their energy and causing them
pain. Along the way, Arntson touches on the value of knowledge,
the destruction of the environment and the importance of indi-
viduality, as well as offering intriguing glimpses of a number of
imaginary animals. Most of Terrazzini’s black-and-white illustra-
tions resemble cut-paper silhouettes and provide a suitably stark
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 673
 “An extraordinary novel explores the challenges faced
by children whose parents have gone off to war.”
from the summer before boys
vision of Henrietta’s world. A few wispier grey-on-grey drawings
are included, ostensibly on pages of the antique Bestiary the chil-
dren consult, and these are variously whimsical and frightening.
Provocative and offbeat. (Fantasy. 10-14)
TÍA’S TAMALES
Baca, Ana
Illustrator and Translator: Chilton, Noël
Univ. of New Mexico (32 pp.)
$16.95 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8263-5026-8
Every family recipe has a flavorful story
behind it.
When school is cancelled because of snow, young Luz and
her grandmother (Abuelita) spend the day together. Abuelita
brings a big round box decorated with pink and purple flowers;
inside is a suprise, for later. First, it’s time to make tamales, with
a story about Abuelita’s father Diego and his aunt (tía). When
Diego was a little boy, he worked on the family farm, with little
rest or fun. One winter, the surprise visit of his tía, in a crazy,
elaborate hat, lifts his low spirits. She suggests lunch, but find-
ing food is a challenge, especially in the winter. The chickens
aren’t laying, ice on the river prevents fishing and trees are bare.
Tía declares that the chickens need some laughter and, using
the magic in her hat, soon gets them cackling and laying. She
has similar success with fish and fruit. Back in the present, it’s
time to open Abuelita’s box (the contents of which every reader
will know), which provides the perfect sparkle to an already
wonderful day. Split pages tell the story in both English (top
half) and Spanish (bottom), and Abuelita’s recipe is bilingually
included as well. Chilton’s artful illustrations have the look of
paper dolls placed against a soft, old-fashioned backdrop ren-
dered in a muted, comforting palette.
An embarrassment of riches. (Picture book. 7-12)
THE SUMMER
BEFORE BOYS
Baskin, Nora Raleigh
Simon & Schuster (208 pp.)
$15.99 | May 10, 2011
978-1-4169-8673-7
An extraordinary novel explores the chal-
lenges faced by children whose parents
have gone off to war.
When her mother’s National Guard
unit is deployed to Iraq, Julia spends her
summer with her best friend and cousin, Eliza. The grounds of
the century-old mountain lodge where Eliza’s dad works is the
perfect setting for Julia and Eliza’s favorite childhood game, in
which the girls pretend to be young ladies from the past. For
years, their vivid imaginations transported them to another time.
Now, though, while Eliza eagerly reenters this imaginary land-
scape, Julia discovers her mother’s deployment keeps her firmly
674 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
anchored in reality. The arrival of Michael, a child of another
lodge employee, further strains the girls’ relationship. Julia must
decide where her loyalty lies: partnering Eliza in their imaginary
world or with Michael. Interspersed throughout the narrative
are Julia’s accounts of American women who have died in wars
throughout history. These poignant commentaries serve to illu-
minate Julia’s anguish and uncertainty about her mother’s safety.
Baskin adeptly portrays Julia’s ambivalence and anxiety in
this thoughtful tale that artfully brings the war to the home-
front. (Fiction. 9-12)
HIDE AND SHEEP
Beaty, Andrea
Illustrator: Mayer, Bill
McElderry (32 pp.)
$15.99 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4169-2544-6
Farmer McFitt has lost his flock of mis-
chievous sheep in this comical, rhymed counting book that fea-
tures densely detailed illustrations that beg for repeat visits.
Ten wayward lambs hit the town to avoid a shearing. As a count-
down progresses, the rambunctious crew creates a ruckus at vari-
ous locales, offering readers adventures for varying interests. They
visit the ballpark, museum, beach and library, where “Four hungry
ewes run off looking for snacks. / They roam the library, inspecting
the stacks. / Novels and poetry! All of it free! They nosh and they
nibble from A down to Z.” Even the cinema is overrun, as the lamb-
kins dress up as their movie genre of choice (western, comedy and
period piece). Mayer populates his spreads with playful tableaux,
enticing readers to explore each escapade and find (and count!)
sheep. Done in pen and watercolor with an offset pattern to layer
in color and texture, his simple, cartoony drawing style—reminis-
cent of the Thimble Theatre–era Popeye comic strip—is organic,
spontaneous and skillfully controlled. All ends well as Farmer
McFitt finds his sheep, knits the fleece and gets to stop counting
sheep and sleep. The countdown is entirely textual—no numerals
here—so it’s not a teaching text, but it’s plenty fun for all that.
Beaty’s amusing text teamed with Mayer’s humorous art-
work is one frolicking romp through numbers and naughtiness.
(Picture book. 3-6)
WELLINGTON’S RAINY DAY
Beck, Carolyn
Illustrator: Kerrigan, Brooke
Orca (32 pp.)
$19.95 | May 1, 2011
978-1-55469-284-2
Beck’s attempts to gross out readers con-
tinue with her latest, seemingly innocuous
title, about a hungry dog.
Wellington’s day is not going very well. The fire is out, his
bowl is empty, his nose smarts from a scratch thanks to Honey the
cat and his afternoon walk will be in the rain. And that meatloaf
|
smell—it’s too tempting to pass up. So, after a lengthy drink from
the toilet, he devours his master’s dinner…and the contents of
the garbage can, which are described in all-too-vivid detail. As
he lies belching, his arch-nemesis, Honey, takes the opportunity
to torture him with threats of tattling. Welly’s stomach just can’t
take it. With a great spew of synonyms and adjectives he vomits
and then proceeds to lick it all up again. By the time he returns
home from a rainy walk, he feels he is very deserving of punish-
ment since he has ensured his master will be hungry. But when
Honey gets the blame, his guilty feelings magically evaporate.
Kerrigan’s pencil-crayon and watercolor-wash illustrations por-
tray a rather droll, floppy-eared dog and a spiteful cat. Thankfully,
her artwork is not as detail-oriented as the text.
This is one for only the strong of stomach or Xtreme dog
lovers. (Picture book. 4-8)
THE RELIC HUNTERS
Benz, Derek
Lewis, J.S.
Little, Brown (354 pp.)
$15.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-316-04519-3
Series: Grey Griffins:
The Clockwork Chronicles, 2
A teeming cast, a mare’s nest of plot-
lines and characters with ambiguous
agendas muddle this sequel to The
Brimstone Key (2010).
The morass of steampunk and fantasy conventions includes
giant armored battle suits and flying cars, zombies, magical
weapons and shapechanging Faerie familiars. In the midst of
this, the four young Grey Griffins begin to drift apart. Natalia
makes new friends, and Ernie, still smarting over events from
the previous volume, splits off to lead a band of costumed vigi-
lantes. Meanwhile, Harley becomes the assistant to a renowned
inventor who is wasting away from an unidentified illness, and
Max has confusing visions of the supposedly evil Otto Von
Strife. This last character’s conveniently available notebook
reveals that he’s building a world-threatening Paragon Engine.
Led by mysterious instructor Obadiah Strange, the Grey Grif-
fins reunite first on a failed mission that leaves them watching
as Von Strife’s teleporting associate Smoke whisks away both
Strange and a magical (?) relic called the Schrödinger Box, then
to mount an attack on the Paragon Engine that ends in a cliff-
hanger. Readers hoping to keep track of who’s who and what’s
where will definitely want to start with the previous episode,
but they are likely to feel that they’ve wasted their time after a
climactic revelation renders the entire plot nonsensical.
There’s a lot better out there than this. (Steampunk. 11-13)
| kirkusreviews.com
NUMBERS ON THE MOVE: 1 2 3
DANCE AND COUNT WITH ME
Benzwie, Teresa
Illustrator: Weber, Mark
Temple Univ. Press (32 pp.)
$16.95 | May 31, 2011
978-1-4399-0343-8
From 0 to 10 and back again, children demonstrate numbers
with different movements: jumps, kicks, twists and more.
This demonstration of teaching numbers kinesthetically
serves as a counting book for young readers and a helpful
reminder for parents and teachers of ways to reinforce learning.
In the beginning, a child sits cross-legged, with eyes closed and
body quiet; a different child goes on to stretch out as one; two
more slide at two and so forth, until 10 children are clapping
on a double-page spread. Then the numbers go backward, with
one child leaving the group at a time, leaving the last one sitting
quietly. “Zero is a place of rest / Now you know you’ve done your
best.” A simple text uses sometimes-awkward rhyme in various
patterns to support instructions. A thoughtfully chosen vari-
ety of children of differing ages, colors and abilities appear in
Weber’s illustrations; all are identifiable. Large, legible figures
and a colorful set of numbered blocks on the pages indicate
the number being described. The book concludes with some
extra activities for children, including work with the rhythm of
their name, and a final page for adults suggesting more counting
experiences. The author, a social worker and movement educa-
tor, has previously written about kinesthetic learning, most
recently in Alphabet Movers (2002).
A good reminder about the value of movement in early-
childhood education. (Picture book. 3-6, adult)
WELCOME TO
BORDERTOWN
New Stories and Poems
of the Borderlands
Editor: Black, Holly
Editor: Kushner, Ellen
Random (544 pp.)
$19.99 | PLB: $22.99
e-book: $19.99 | May 24, 2011
978-0-375-86705-7
PLB: 978-0-375-96705-4
e-book: 978-0-375-89745-0
Bordertown: where the human and faerie worlds intersect, a
place populated by runaways and the lost, powered by an unre-
liable mix of magic and technology.
Thirteen years ago, the way to this shared world was closed
after four anthologies (The Essential Bordertown, 1998, etc.) and
three novels (Elsewhere, 1991, etc.). Now, Kushner (one of the
original contributors) and Black (who grew up reading the origi-
nal tales) have reopened the way, and once again teens uncom-
fortable in the world—or just looking for excellent fantasy
fiction—can escape to it. This is punk-rock, DIY fantasy, full of
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 675
 harsh reality and incandescent magic. “Noobs” will be quickly
acclimated by the introductory “Bordertown Basics,” an irrever-
ent tour-guide’s view with everything the visitor needs to know.
Many of the stories echo with loss and discomfort; standouts
include “Crossings” by Janni Lee Simner, a chilling look at the dif-
ference between dreams and reality, and “A Tangle of Green Men,”
Charles De Lint’s heartbreaking examination of love, loss and
life. Poems and songs (from Patricia A. McKillip, Neil Gaiman
and Jane Yolen, among others) balance the fiction, and if some of
the songs don’t play so great to tone-deaf readers, they still bring
the importance of music home. A few stories fall a little flat, but
these tiny flaws don’t detract from a masterful anthology.
Here’s to another generation finding comfort and inspi-
ration on the border. (introductions, author notes) (Fantasy/
anthology. 13 & up)
ARE YOU AWAKE?
Blackall, Sophie
Editor: Blackall, Sophie
Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (40 pp.)
$12.99 | May 24, 2011
978-0-8050-7858-9
The titular question sparks a conversa-
tion many parents will find very familiar.
Edward peppers his mom with question after question—noth-
ing unusual about that. Problem is, it’s 4:00 a.m. Sleepy circular
logic results from the combination of Edward’s repetitious, 30-plus
queries and Mom’s patient, bemused answers. When “Why hasn’t
the sun come up yet?” is posed for the fourth time, she switches
from allusions to moon and stars to a perfunctory “Because it’s
Tuesday.” We learn that Dad is a pilot flying at night—one source,
perhaps, of the little one’s restlessness. Blackall provides visual
indicators that invite children to track the passage from night to
morning. Color alters gradually from the bedroom’s dusky grays
to the golden light suffusing the room at sunrise. An analog clock
shaped like a green owl marks the hour in some spreads. Just for
fun, apparently, in a corner of the verso pages, Edward’s roly-poly
toy elephant cavorts before succumbing to zzzzs. The boy’s dia-
logue is in lower case, while Mom’s is proffered in gently emphatic
caps. As she wakes fully, Mom poses a few Qs of her own, then
opines about yellow things. Edward finally slumbers, Dad comes
home—and a last spread promises more “Why?”s.
Diminutive in size—just right, really, for a midnight conver-
sation—and pleasantly sweet. (Picture book. 2-5)
BOOTLEG
Murder, Moonshine,
and the Lawless Years
of Prohibition
Blumenthal, Karen
Flash Point/Roaring Brook (160 pp.)
$18.99 | May 24, 2011
978-1-59643-449-3
676 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
When Congress passed the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the
manufacture and sale of alcohol, supporters were convinced it
would create a stronger, more moral nation. Instead, it ushered
in an era of corruption and lawlessness, here brought to life
with a fast-paced, gripping narrative and period photographs.
The story opens dramatically in 1929 with the St. Valentine’s
Day Massacre, the murder of seven Chicago men that epitomized
the gangland violence that became a routine by-product of boot-
legging. Blumenthal then chronicles the rise of the temperance
movement in the late 1800s, the passage of and life under Prohibi-
tion and its repeal in 1933. The story is populated with colorful and
notorious characters, such as the hatchet-wielding Carry Nation,
gangster Al Capone and Morris Sheppard, the golden-tongued
senator and champion of Prohibition. Drawing from period news-
paper accounts, personal anecdotes and other primary sources,
the author puts a human face on history, chronicling how par-
ents brewed booze in their bathtubs and children smuggled the
hooch. Blumenthal acknowledges that Prohibition was successful
in some notable ways: Arrests for public intoxication declined as
did alcohol-related diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver. What-
ever positive outcomes there were, however, were eclipsed by the
widespread corruption and violence of bootlegging.
An informative, insightful account of a fascinating period
of American history. (glossary, bibliography, source notes)
(Nonfiction. 12 & up)
FALCON QUINN AND
THE CRIMSON VAPOR
Boylan, Jennifer Finney
Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (384 pp.)
$16.99 | PLB: $17.89 | May 10, 2011
978-0-06-172835-8
PLB: 978-0-06-172836-5
Series: Falcon Quinn, 2
Falcon Quinn returns to another excla-
mation mark–laden year at a school
where nobody understands him, the poor
little angel—literally.
At the end of his last year at the Monster Academy, Falcon
discovered his angelic nature as well as his true parentage: His
father is the demonic Academy headmaster Crow; his mother,
queen of the monster-killing guardians. None of this knowledge
has made him any more popular. The other kids don’t trust him
anyway, and it doesn’t help that he keeps finding himself in ridic-
ulous scrapes. Did Falcon try to kill his friend Pearl, the famous
Chupakabra of Peru? Did he stuff Quagmire, the puddle of bub-
bling glop, in his godzooka during band practice? When Falcon
flees from monsters and finds himself among guardians, he dis-
covers those monster-killers resemble his monster friends more
closely than either side would like to admit. The silliness is con-
sistently funny but not consistently age-appropriate; a pirate
referring to the bottom of the sea as “Peter Tork’s locker” is a
groaner that will zoom right over the heads of middle-school
readers. For the most part, however, egg-laying werechicken
boys and Hamlet “as written in the original Frankenstein dialect”
|
“The plane carrying the 50 Miss Teen Dream Pageant contestants
crashes on a remote desert island, and the survivors must
channel the skills that made them successful on runways to keep
themselves alive until they can be rescued.”
from beauty queens
will keep giggles coming. The humor provides necessary coun-
terpoint to the trowelled-on nobody-loves-me angst.
Goofy, overenthusiastic nonsense with just enough ram-
bling plot to hold it all together. (Fantasy. 9-11)
JACOB WONDERBAR AND
THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW
Bransford, Nathan
Illustrator: Jennings, C.S.
Dial (320 pp.)
$14.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8037-3537-8
Bransford’s debut and the first of a series
is an outer-space comedy of errors.
Sixth-grader Jacob Wonderbar is the
bane of substitute teachers everywhere.
When witchy Mrs. Pinkerton tries to get the class under con-
trol and somehow her precious mug is shattered, a sprinkler is
triggered and the whole class erupts in screams…Jacob gets the
blame and his mother has to pick him up. That night, commis-
erating with his best friends, Sarah and Dexter, they investigate
a strange noise in the forest—and a man in silver offers them a
spaceship in exchange for a corndog. Next thing the trio knows,
they are taking a tour of the solar system aboard Lucy, an opin-
ionated if slightly bored spaceship. Then there’s a little accident
that may involve the breaking of the universe. A space pirate,
the eating of dirt, the universe’s largest carbon allotrope and
a snooty space princess all complicate the trip home…which
Jacob isn’t sure he wants to make. It’s the Saturday-morning-
cartoon version ofHitchhiker’s Guide even if the laughs aren’t
quite so fast and furious (and some of them are a bit of a stretch).
There’s plenty of set-up for future volumes; fans will hope
they won’t have to wait long. (Science fiction/humor. 9-12)
BEAUTY QUEENS
Bray, Libba
Scholastic (400 pp.)
$18.99 | May 24, 2011
978-0-439-89597-2
This inventive satire mocks celebrity cul-
ture while celebrating the resilience of
teen girls.
Printz Award–winning author Bray
(Going Bovine, 2009) plunges into cul-
tural criticism with her latest teen novel.
The plane carrying the 50 Miss Teen Dream Pageant contes-
tants crashes on a remote desert island, and the survivors must
channel the skills that made them successful on runways to
keep themselves alive until they can be rescued. (“From Lady-
bird Hope’s I’m Perfect and You Can Be Too, Chapter Three:
‘A lady’s quick thinking can save a bad situation.’ She was talk-
ing about putting nail polish on a runner in your hose, but I
think the same rule applies here.”) Unfortunately, their sponsor
| kirkusreviews.com
decides there is better press in avenging their deaths than in
mounting a rescue and sets that scenario in motion. An encoun-
ter with the stars of a pirate-themed reality-TV show highlights
their vulnerability. By now, though, genuine survival skills have
been honed, and the teens foil the dastardly plot. While the
foibles of today’s media/celebrity/political culture are the clear
target of this stinging satire, the teen cast is funny and endear-
ing in its own right. As the story unfolds, each girl’s back story
and actions under duress reveal a unique character.
The humor is both dark and madcap, including footnote
asides and commercial scripts that keep the laughs coming.
(Fiction. 14 & up)
THE LAND OF LOST
THINGS / EL PAÍS DE LAS
COSAS PERDIDAS
Bursztyn, Dina
Illustrator: Bursztyn, Dina
Piñata Books/Arté Público (32 pp.)
$16.95 | May 31, 2011
978-1-55885-690-5
A child’s inquisitive search for a lost pen-
cil takes him on an imaginary tour.
Missing his favorite blue pencil, a little boy visualizes his
way through “the land of lost things.” On his quest he encoun-
ters not just his own but a “forest of lost blue pencils.” Ripping
a pencil from one of the trees releases a flood of dark blue color
that spreads across the page. Wielding an eraser, the boy creates
a newly white space to reveal a setting sun, green centipede and
a butterfly of many colors—really his lost golden button, comb
and scissors. Soon, still wandering in this strange world of mislaid
items, the boy finds his flashlight and holey red sock amid a flock
of flying ones as he follows the path to “a mountain of mittens”
and walks through “a garden of lost umbrellas.” Still unable to find
his original blue pencil, a brown one from his pencil box creates
a new drawing of inspired adventure. The boy’s inventive explo-
ration is depicted with whimsical art in digital collage, opaque
watercolors and markers. The art creates the necessary fanciful
atmosphere for this tale, as the bilingual telling lacks verve.
A mildly interesting way to introduce artistic expression to
a preschool audience. (Picture book. 4-6)
THE SWIMMING LESSON
Chaconas, Dori
Illustrator: McCue, Lisa
Viking (32 pp.)
$13.99 | February 22, 2011
978-0-670-01281-7
Series: Cork & Fuzz
Possum Fuzz and muskrat Cork are at
odds over Fuzz’s reluctance to visit Cork’s
house “in the middle of a pond” in this
early-reader series entry.
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 677
 “Christensen effectively re-imagines Warhol’s
unmistakable style for 21st-century kids while offering a
developmentally appropriate take on Warhol’s life.”
from fabulous!
Cork offers to teach Fuzz how to swim, but after a lesson on
land pretending to paddle through tickly grasses, Fuzz declares,
“Swimming is not a possum thing to do.” He decides to climb
out on a branch over the pond to jump down on Cork’s house,
and Cork can barely watch as Fuzz gingerly makes his way along
the branch—which ends up being a bit short. Startled by a bird,
Fuzz falls into the water. Cork immediately dives in, and, in con-
trolled text that ingeniously repeats words introduced earlier,
he implores his friend to “paddle” and “kick.” Safe and sound
at book’s end, the friends delight in Fuzz’s swimming skills as
Cork mulls over an offer of tree-climbing lessons. Throughout,
Chaconas expertly controls and repeats vocabulary, deliver-
ing a tightly paced, engaging story arc over four brief chapters.
McCue’s accompanying illustrations, reminiscent of Garth Wil-
liams’ use of line to create visual texture, strike a fine balance
between echoing key textual events and terms and extending
the narrative.
This swimming lesson will make learning to read a pleasure.
(Early reader. 6-8)
FLAWLESS
Chapman, Lara
Bloomsbury (272 pp.)
$16.99 | $9.99 paperback original
May 1, 2011
978-1-59990-631-7
paper 978-1-59990-596-9
Cyrano gets a sex change and goes to
high school.
Seventeen-year-old academic super-
star Sarah is perfect except for a nose
that’s so enormously large it literally stops traffic in her high
school’s hallways. BFF Kristen is not nearly so bright, but she’s
beautiful, a gifted, fashion-forward shopper, and she definitely
knows how to work a room. When Adonis-like newcomer Rock
(really!) shows up, both girls fall head-over-heels for him, but
Sarah is his intellectual soul mate. Reluctantly, she does what
friends are supposed to do—or at least what Kristen guilts her
into thinking friends should do: She writes all of the e-mails,
love letters and text messages her not-so-bright friend sends, as
well as tutoring her on literary and cultural topics. Each chap-
ter begins with a relevant quote on the true nature of beauty,
messages Sarah ought to be thinking about, since the walls she’s
believably built around herself to fend off nose critics have
fenced out nearly everyone. While it pushes credibility that
Rock doesn’t detect the deceit and Kristen isn’t sufficiently sen-
sitive to notice Sarah’s lust for him, the trying situation is amus-
ing enough to sustain interest, in spite of the worn-out concept
(though teens in the know may feel that both Edmond Rostand
and Steve Martin did it better).
A teen romance with a little heart, it pushes past other for-
mulaic efforts…by a nose. (Romance. 11 & up)
678 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
SLIGHTLY INVISIBLE
Child, Lauren
Illustrator: Child, Lauren
Candlewick (40 pp.)
$16.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-7636-5347-7
Series: Charlie & Lola
Newcomers and devoted fans alike will cheer
for clever, likable siblings Charlie and Lola in their newest outing.
Charlie and pal Marv want solitude for tracking “strange
and tricky creatures,” but younger sister Lola interferes at
every step: “Lola stepped on our spaceship. We had to walk
back to Earth.” When the boys concoct an invisibility potion
(“pink milk, a tiny drop of banana, and a secret invisible ingredi-
ent”), Lola cunningly feeds it to imaginary friend Soren Loren-
son. Child has her own magic potion here: Atop her appealing
mixed-media spreads of collaged line drawings, fabric patterns
and graph paper, she now adds invisible Soren Lorenson. While
Charlie, Lola and Marv (and Soren) look for creatures, readers
have the joy of looking for Soren, whose glossy but uncolored
outline can only be glimpsed by tipping the book until the light
hits just so. The four of them play together, engrossed—under
Lola’s direction—until they catch “the most strange and terri-
fyingly tricky creature in the universe” and have tea with him.
Text bounces around and changes and typeface and font size.
Adults will recognize a spot-on portrayal of children’s imagi-
nation games, while kids will recognize the underwater, outer-
space and mountainous territories that their homes become
every day through play. (Picture book. 3-7)
FABULOUS!
A Portrait of Andy Warhol
Christensen, Bonnie
Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (40 pp.)
$16.99 | May 24, 2011
978-0-8050-8753-6
The “fabulous” life of Andy Warhol is made accessible and
understandable via this child-friendly look at the life and career
of one of America’s most recognizable painters.
Shy, sickly Andy spent many lonely hours resting in bed.
Warhol’s mother understood his uniqueness, and instead of
forcing him to attend school, stand up to bullies or play sports,
she unfailingly nurtured his talents and accepted and supported
his interests. Andy attended art classes at the Carnegie Museum
art school in Pittsburgh and was encouraged by teachers who
also recognized his promise. Comics, movie magazines, glamor-
ous superstars and luminous icons from his Eastern Orthodox
parish church fueled his imagination. Christensen effectively
re-imagines Warhol’s unmistakable style for 21st-century kids
while offering a developmentally appropriate take on Warhol’s
life. She focuses on his early graphic work and the exciting,
transformative era of Pop Art. She conveys the explosive impact
of his Campbell’s soup cans and Marilyn as she discretely limns
the early activities of “The Factory.”
|
 Though readers will need to consult the backmatter for the
details of the more complex and tumultuous years from the
mid-’60s to his death in 1987, they will find this a vital and excit-
ing child-appropriate introduction to an American icon. (Pic-
ture book/biography. 6-9)
SO MUCH CLOSER
Colasanti, Susane
Viking (256 pp.)
$17.99 | May 3, 2011
978-0-670-01224-4
In a voice that is alternately clichéd,
naive and spot-on, high-school junior
Brooke narrates a novel that explores
familiar territory about teenage angst.
For two years, Brooke has been less
concerned about her future than she is
about Scott, the boy she´s secretly lusted after. Acting on her
certainty that they are meant to be together, Brooke attempts
to reveal her feelings to Scott. Before she can, Scott announces
his family is moving to New York City. Brooke does her research
and coincidentally finds that her father, with whom she is not
spoken in six years, lives around the corner from Scott’s new
home and that if she moves, they will attend the same school
during their senior year. Once they finally begin dating, though,
Brooke realizes Scott enjoys the physical part of their relation-
ship much more than discovering who she is. Colasanti’s Man-
hattan is a teenager’s paradise, with late-night rendezvous at
sandwich shops, rooftop hideaways and low parental involve-
ment. The contrast between Brooke’s dull New Jersey town
and life in the big city will resonate with teens craving a change.
Although predictable in its outcome and characterization, this
quick read will satisfy those looking for a light beach book.
The escapist setting at least partially makes up for flat char-
acters and a rather ludicrous plot. (Fiction. 12 & up)
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
AND SUSAN B. ANTHONY
A Friendship That
Changed the World
Colman, Penny
Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (272 pp.)
$18.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-8050-8293-7
Two of the most iconic figures in wom-
en’s history were linked in deep friend-
ship as well as commitment to the most
contentious causes in 19th-century America: antislavery and
woman suffrage.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a married mother of four boys at
the time they met, and Susan B. Anthony, an unmarried school-
teacher, formed a friendship that lasted until Elizabeth’s death
more than 50 years later. Their tireless work, including advocacy,
| kirkusreviews.com
speeches, organizing and writing, placed them at the center of
tumultuous events in the middle of the 19th century. They were
associates of other prominent activists, such as Frederick Doug-
lass, William Lloyd Garrison and Lucretia Mott. This lively, very
readable narrative paints a picture that depicts each woman’s
path to activism and demonstrates that these passionate figures
often disagreed with each other and their fellow activists over
strategy, allies, direction for the movement—even rhetoric. The
tenor of the times is on full display as the struggle to extend
rights to women is resisted by most institutions in society. Con-
flicts within the movement are discussed, although the long-
term breach that occurred when Stanton and Anthony opposed
the amendment granting the right to vote to freedmen because
women of all races were denied is not fully explored.
This thoughtful portrayal of two complex women is further
enhanced by comprehensive backmatter, making this an invalu-
able addition to the literature of suffrage. (Nonfiction. 12 & up)
THE MAGNOLIA LEAGUE
Crouch, Katie
Poppy/Little, Brown (368 pp.)
$17.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-316-07849-8
A Southern take on the ever-popular
supernatural thriller.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Lee, who
has been raised on a communal farm in
California, loses her mother to a car acci-
dent and is sent to Savannah, Ga., to live
with a wealthy grandmother she’s never meant. Hippie, über-
socially-conscious Alex is told that, by birthright, she belongs
to an exclusive social club, The Magnolia League, comprised of
rich, beautiful and fashionable women. Two other girls in the
League are given—and actually begin to make progress on—the
herculean task of transforming Alex into a true Magnolia before
the upcoming debutante ball. The slow pace of the novel’s first
half may cause readers to lose interest, but those who persevere
will discover the answer to some building questions. For start-
ers: How do the women in the league become and stay so per-
fect, and why don’t any of them leave Savannah? And who is the
hauntingly beautiful Sina, the only person who seems to scare
the Magnolias? Once she begins to understand the darker side
of the League’s magic, Alex agrees to flee Savannah with her
boyfriend Thaddeus while she still can. She makes a run for it,
but her grandmother might have one more trick up her sleeve
guaranteed to make Alex stay.
Though it probably won’t win any converts, this one will
please current fans of the genre; expect sequels. (Supernatural
thriller. 12 & up)
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 679
 THE LEMONADE CRIME
Davies, Jacqueline
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (160 pp.)
$15.99 | May 2, 2011
978-0-547-27967-1
This sequel to The Lemonade War (2007),
picking up just a few days later, focuses
on how the fourth graders take justice
into their own hands after learning that
the main suspect in the case of the miss-
ing lemonade-stand money now owns
the latest in game-box technology.
Siblings Evan and Jessie (who skipped third grade because
of her precocity) are sure Scott Spencer stole the $208 from
Evan’s shorts and want revenge, especially as Scott’s new toy
makes him the most popular kid in class, despite his personal
shortcomings. Jessie’s solution is to orchestrate a full-blown
trial by jury after school, while Evan prefers to challenge Scott
in basketball. Neither channel proves satisfactory for the two
protagonists (whose rational and emotional reactions are fol-
lowed throughout the third-person narrative), though, ulti-
mately, the matter is resolved. Set during the week of Yom
Kippur, the story raises beginning questions of fairness, integ-
rity, sin and atonement. Like John Grisham’s Theodore Boone, Kid
Lawyer (2010), much of the book is taken up with introducing
courtroom proceedings for a fourth-grade level of understand-
ing. Chapter headings provide definitions (“due diligence,” “cir-
cumstantial evidence,” etc.) and explanation cards/documents
drawn by Jessie are interspersed.
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and
will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage
with the characters enough to care about how the justice actu-
ally pans out. (Fiction. 8-10)
NO DOGS ALLOWED!
Davis, Anne
Illustrator: Davis, Anne
Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.)
$16.99 | PLB: $17.89 | May 1, 2011
978-0-06-075353-5
PLB: 978-0-06-075355-9
Proof, once again, that archetypal ene-
mies can become friends.
Bud, a large marmalade cat with strong opinions and decid-
edly anthropomorphic appearance and abilities, is perfectly
happy living and playing with his cat friend Gabby, as readers
of their eponymous first adventure may remember. The sud-
den appearance of Cookie, a black-and-white dog, displeases
Bud mightily. Gentle Gabby, however, seems only too willing
to make friends with the interloper. Bud puts up with Cookie’s
antics at first but soon grows jealous and insists that dogs aren’t
allowed in their house. Then a storm cloud and Gabby’s tender
heart persuade him otherwise. Simple declarative sentences
communicate the action concisely but also allow for subtle
680 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
humor, as when Bud observes “Umbrellas are tricky for cats…”
Richly colored paintings have a primitive feel that meshes well
with the understated text. Effective, if potentially confusing,
multiple representations of the same character on a single page
convey movement, while slight changes in the position of ears
and eyes telegraph changing emotions. There are no real sur-
prises and not much obvious motivation for Bud’s about-face,
but readers will likely be pleased with the happy ending.
Definitely predictable but potentially entertaining, as well
as useful to parents looking for yet another paean to the merits
of learning to share. (Picture book. 3-6)
TEMPEST RISING
Deebs, Tracy
Walker (352 pp.)
$16.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-8027-2231-7
Among the recent spate of mermaid
books this easily stands as the darkest,
even though romance remains the main
thrust of the story.
Tempest, aptly named, must choose
between life on land or in the sea when
she turns 17. As seems usual in these stories, her mother was a
mermaid who has returned to the ocean. Tempest experiences
stormy emotions and frequent sudden bursts of anger as she
faces what may not be a choice after all. If it’s a choice, why has
she grown gills on her neck? Tempest is an excellent surfer with
a wonderful boyfriend, Mark, but when she meets Kai, a strange
new surfer, she feels an instant and strong attraction. Kai turns
out to be a sea creature too. He’s trying to protect Tempest
from an evil sea witch when lightening nearly kills him. To save
his life, Tempest drags him to the sea then plunges into the
ocean to follow when other creatures swim away with him. She
swims to a magical kingdom where she and Kai do battle with
the witch and find her mother. Deebs dispenses with the sus-
penseful battle quickly and returns to the romance, described
in an increasingly Harlequin-esque style, and adds an intriguing,
possibly sequel-ready, ending.
An exciting-enough story, seriously overdone, which many
young readers will love. (Fantasy romance. 12 & up)
OyMG
Dominy, Amy Fellner
Walker (256 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8027-2177-8
Speech-and-debate summer camp pro-
vides a backdrop for romance and the
fight against anti-Semitism.
Ellie Taylor has been a champion
orator at her middle school and is look-
ing forward to a summer honing her
|
 “Full-bleed, shiny, saturated spreads
depict the buccaneers—the very definition of a
motley crew—with calculated, joyful excess.”
from pirates of the sea!
persuasive skills at the prestigious Christian Society Speech
and Performing Arts summer camp at Benedict’s School. Her
favorite, most reliable and endlessly maddening verbal sparring
partner isn’t a kid, though, it’s her beloved grandfather, Zeydeh.
Although Ellie assures Zeydeh that the camp is Christian in
name only, her faith in both herself and her religion is tested
when Mrs. Yeats, who endows the scholarship Ellie needs to
win to afford attendance at Benedict’s, is revealed as a lifelong
anti-Semite. (Naturally, Mrs. Yeats’ grandson Devon is Ellie’s
debate partner and “sizzling” crush object.) Zeydeh and Mrs.
Yeats both challenge Ellie to pick a side—her heritage or her
future—provoking her to resort to a variety of realistically
clumsy subterfuges before staking out her identity on her own,
clear terms. More mature than Fiona Rosenbloom’s You Are SO
Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2005) and less contemplative
than Jenny Meyerhoff ’s The Queen of Secrets (2010), Dominy’s
debut balances light and heavy subject matter with ease.
There’s nothing earth-shatteringly original here, but read-
ers who like their frothy romance with a bracing dash of serious
social issues will be clamoring for seconds. (Fiction. 11-14)
PIRATES OF THE SEA!
Dorman, Brandon
Illustrator: Dorman, Brandon
Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-06-204068-8
A pirate yarn sails familiar territory in
satisfyingly rollicking fashion.
Subscribers all to the pirate code—
“No cryin’ / No dyin’ / No brushing yer teeth! / No stealin’ / No
squealin’ / No eatin’ Parrot Pete!”—the ragged crew of Cap’n
Bones sets out aboard the battered but seaworthy Dragonfish
of Doom in search of hidden treasure. Dorman pairs his rousing
(if not always regular) rhyme to swashbuckling scenes of scurvy
knaves in typical pirate regalia (Cap’n Bones sports both pegleg
and hook). They leer at mermaids with snaggle-toothed glee
and weather hazards from butt-biting sharks to wild waves on
the way to digging up a chest full of gold coins and more. “There
be trinkets, / There be jewels, / There be even a gold chair. /
There be goblets, / There be diamonds, / There be pirate under-
wear!” Young buccaneers along for the voyage will join the gen-
eral derision that greets a proposal to “buy lace britches—we’ve
oodles of riches—and start our lives anew.” Full-bleed, shiny,
saturated spreads depict the buccaneers—the very definition
of a motley crew—with calculated, joyful excess.
As pirate fare goes, this is far from the only ship on the sea,
but it does sail along smartly. (Picture book. 6-8)
| kirkusreviews.com
EVEREST
You Decide How to Survive!
Doyle, Bill; Borgenicht, David; Morton, David
Illustrator: Labat, Yancey
Chronicle (208 pp.)
$12.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8118-7123-5
Series: Worst-Case Scenario
Ultimate Adventure
An armchair-adventurer franchise goes
to Everest.
The premise is familiar: Readers engaged in a video-game–
like scenario face a series of decisions. At each challenging
juncture choices must be made. Do this and turn to page… Do
that, and you’ll discover you’re doomed. Readers become mem-
bers of the youngest team to ever scale Mt. Everest. Those that
trouble to study the backmatter will receive some pithy advice
from climbing expert Morton (who has successfully scaled
Everest multiple times.) It is wise to heed that advice. The team
consists of three young teens, three experienced climbers and
the sponsor, a video-game–company owner, all of whom are
just lightly sketched—it’s all about the plot. Most of them will
almost seductively offer you opportunities to make major mis-
takes. Realistically, the errors made on the approach to Ever-
est are generally forgiven: a quick recovery period then back to
climbing. Those made higher up may be lethal. Brief text sec-
tions are accompanied by an occasional short graphic section
consisting of five or six frames of action-filled art. Readers that
make cautious choices will be rewarded by reaching the summit,
but it’s easy to be led astray, and only a path or two through the
minefield of mistakes will result in full success—although there
are quite a few amusing ways to fail without actually dying.
Quick, clean fun; no crampons needed. (Action/adventure. 8 & up)
THE DAGGER QUICK
Eames, Brian
Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (336 pp.)
$15.99 | May 10, 2011
978-1-4424-2311-4
Pirates! Bullies! Murder and mayhem!
Family secrets! Seventeenth-century
England to Cape Verde and the Carib-
bean! But no ending.
Debut novelist Eames commits a
cardinal sin by ending his story without a
resolution. It opens well, however, with our hero and a bully and
a fistful of horse manure. Said hero is Kitto, 12 years old, club-
footed, about to discover that his last name is different from
what he thought, that his deceased mother had a dark and com-
plicated past and that his uncle is a pirate. Kitto’s father, a coo-
per, is murdered, and Kitto kills his attacker, then is off to sail
with his uncle after his stepmother and adored little brother are
kidnapped. The characters are not so much developed as moved
like chess pieces: hidden treasure, scary tattoos, a treacherous
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 681
 “The economical text packs in a surprising amount, offering
an adventure for the anthropomorphic little bird, who encounters
a bear, a mountain goat, a camel, a frog and three pink possums
in his quest for understanding what makes a house (or a home) perfect.”
from purple litle bird
friend with a pet monkey, a rescued slave, a climactic ship-to-
ship battle with circling sharks. Things are dropped in: an intri-
cately inlaid dagger that belonged to Kitto’s mother; his Quaker
stepmother’s premonition of what might be magic in him; adult
sailors following a 12-year-olds’ orders. Sometimes the language
is clunky or awkward. It does, however, draw readers in, at least
until the last pages, where Kitto lands after his clubfoot is bit-
ten off by one of those sharks, and his companions are about to
cauterize it.
Then what? Readers who plummet off this cliff will hope
there are no sharks circling below. (glossary) (Adventure. 8-12)
THE DARK CITY
Fisher, Catherine
Dial (384 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8037-3673-3
Series: Relic Master, 1
A gripping fantasy adventure, the first
of a tetralogy, satisfies but does not
surprise.
Raffi, the novice “scholar” sworn to
the surly Relic Master Galen, finds little
joy in their now-outlawed Order’s sacred task of seeking out
the ancient technology of the vanished Makers. After one such
exploding “relic” stripped Galen of his mystical powers, a vicious
thief lord bullies the pair into pursuing a member of the catlike
Sekoi race into the post-apocalyptic city of Tasceron, which just
might harbor a magic powerful enough to heal Galen. Mean-
while, the Watch, fanatical enemies of the Order, has set one
of their murderous agents on their trail... Fisher takes a hoary
science-fiction trope—the Lost Colony revering the ancestral
“Starmen” as gods and their forgotten gadgets as holy objects—
and melds it with the standard quest fantasy, complete with the
archetypal naive-yet-powerful apprentice, the wise-but-bitter
mentor, the roguish spy-with-a-heart-of-gold and the vaguely
elfin alien. Yet her mastery of detailed and exotic worldbuilding,
every scene hinting at intriguing secrets and untold back story,
blends these speculative staples into a tale redolent with humor,
wonder and suspense. Genre-savvy readers will undoubtedly
predict every plot twist pages in advance; nonetheless, they will
also demand the sequels.
Well-crafted storytelling provides more than the sum of its
parts. (Fantasy. 11-16)
PURPLE LITTLE BIRD
Foley, Greg
Illustrator: Foley, Greg
Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (32 pp.)
$14.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-06-200828-2
A small purple bird—Pierre is the name
on his purple mailbox—who “love[s]
682 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
everything purple” circumnavigates the world in search of
the missing ingredient in his nearly perfect purple house: a
little variety in color, as it turns out.
The economical text packs in a surprising amount, offering
an adventure for the anthropomorphic little bird, who encoun-
ters a bear, a mountain goat, a camel, a frog and three pink pos-
sums in his quest for understanding what makes a house (or a
home) perfect. Bear, goat, camel and frog live in places that have
their pluses (“It is cool and refreshing,” the purple bird tells the
frog in his pond) and minuses (“But…it’s too damp!”). Foley uses a
crayon palette to good effect, with warm hues and quick strokes
that color outside the friendly cartoon lines and fill the page.
Each of the other animals lives in its own natural habitat—for-
est greens and browns for the bear, snowy white and gray for the
mountain goat, warm yellow and tan for the camel and a surpris-
ingly red tree for the pink possums. The same colors appear in
the next-to-last opening as Purple Bird and his possum friends
paint his (formerly) purple house to perfection.
Satisfying for the very youngest. (Picture book. 18 mos.-4)
BEE & BIRD
Frazier, Craig
Illustrator: Frazier, Craig
Neal Porter/Roaring Brook (40 pp.)
$16.99 | May 10, 2011
978-1-59643-660-2
A bee and bird travel from tree and truck
to boat and beehive; the likable pair are
the perfect guides to this wordless work
on perspective.
A bright-red triangle peeks from the corner of a spread dom-
inated by black and yellow stripes. This evolves into a bee riding
a bird’s head (the red triangle, it turns out, was that little bit of
bird readers could see beyond the abdomen of the highly mag-
nified bee). The bird sits on a branch—of a tree—on a truck and
so on, the illustrator’s “camera” pulling back further with each
page turn to reveal more and more. Frazier’s images create a
quaint narrative as the previous page’s patterns are represented
in a new context on the following page. With each spread, Bee
and Bird’s journey unfolds, and the perspective puzzle is pieced
together. Done in Frazier’s signature style, the illustrations are
filled with simple, bold patterns in primary colors, and every-
thing is thoughtfully abstracted into geometric patterns and
shapes. However, here fans of Frazier’s Stanley and Hank books
will feel a lack of joyful freedom in the forms, as his artwork
appears to be restricted by the confines of concept.
Still, pleasant and cheery, it is an interesting and urbane
read. (Picture book. 2-6)
|
 MAGGIE’S SECOND CHANCE
A Gentle Dog’s Rescue
Furstinger, Nancy
Illustrator: Hyatt, Joe
Gryphon Press (24 pp.)
$16.95 | May 1, 2011
978-0-940719-11-8
Based on a true story, this selection tells
the story of an abandoned dog and how a group of children
fought to build a shelter in order to save her.
Realistic, detailed illustrations show Maggie with longing,
sorrowful eyes that follow readers through the pages. Initially,
Maggie is left behind in her house, without any food and close
to giving birth, when her family moves away. She is discovered
just in time and brought to a pound, where she has her puppies.
Maggie’s story is featured in the local papers and her pups are
all adopted, but Maggie still does not have a home when a boy
named Mike asks his teacher what will happen if she doesn’t
find one. When the class finds out she will be euthanized, they
decide to have a local shelter built. By the time they are able
to get the permits, the money and the building done, Maggie
has reached the end of the line. Will Mike be able to get to the
pound in time to save her and the other dogs like her? Of course!
Includes notes on Maggie’s and the children’s stories and Web
resources to help young activists turn thought into deed.
A nice example of how empowered children can really make
a difference, this earnest, heartfelt selection will inspire chil-
dren to start their own efforts. (Picture book. 4-8)
BUT I LOVE HIM
Grace, Amanda
Flux (264 pp.)
$9.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-0-7387-2594-9
A disturbing reverse chronology of first
romance gone horribly wrong.
Ann regains consciousness on her
bedroom floor, bruised and bloodied,
one wrist broken, and reflects on the
past year. How did her loving, thought-
ful boyfriend Connor transform into this
unpredictable, violent monster? It seems impossible to recon-
cile Connor’s two sides, but as readers follow Ann’s mental snap-
shots, working backward from one August to another, they will
unearth clue after red-flag–raising clue pointing toward Con-
nor’s poorly controlled anger and borderline-suicidal feelings of
worthlessness and Ann’s own desperate desire to be needed and
loved. When these two damaged, yearning souls connect, their
problems simmer, then boil over into a foul brew of codepen-
dency and isolation from everyone who might help them. The
parental characters are stock—Connor’s parents are locked in
a years-long abusive dance, while Ann’s mother is still so lost in
grief over her husband’s death that she hasn’t said “I love you”
to Ann in three years—but Ann and Connor are more finely
| kirkusreviews.com
drawn than expected, inhabiting every shade of hope, despair,
confusion, ecstasy, longing, rage and guilt with heartbreaking
realism. Although Grace’s efforts surpass Jennifer Brown’s Bit-
ter End (2011), they fall victim to the cliché that only emotionally
scarred young women are drawn to abusive young men.
Flawed, but powerful and compulsively readable. (Fiction. 14-18)
INSIGHT
Greenwood, Diana
Zondervan (224 pp.)
$15.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-310-72314-1
A mid-century family road trip becomes
a journey into faith.
Elvira’s sister Jessie is born at home
in a difficult delivery, several months
after their alcoholic but loving father
apparently perished in the sinking of his
World War II troop ship. As Jessie grows, she becomes decid-
edly strange, not speaking until after her fourth birthday, when
the first word she utters is “Damnation!” Jessie seems to have
an unusual connection to psychic forces, able to read some peo-
ple’s minds and sometimes see into the future—but not appar-
ently at will. Their cantankerous, unhappy mother packs up the
family, and they hit the road with an itinerant preacher, bound
for California. The reason for their trip is not obvious at first,
but Elvira gradually comes to believe that her father may not
be dead and that Jessie’s vision of him is guiding their mother.
Under the preacher’s kindly ministrations, Elvira slowly devel-
ops belief in a benevolent God, and although she remains con-
flicted about what His role ought to be in her life, she accepts
that Jessie’s visions are providing much-needed guidance.
While Christian beliefs flavor this effort, they never overpower
the narrative but are instead organic to it.
Given the generally unloving relationship Elvira has with
her mother, the feel-good ending seems too pat, but the super-
natural element will extend appeal to a broader audience. (Chris-
tian/supernatural fiction. 10 & up)
TIGHTER
Griffin, Adele
Knopf (224 pp.)
$16.99 | PLB: $19.99
e-book: $16.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-375-86645-6
PLB: 978-0-375-96645-3
e-book: 978-0-375-89643-9
Drug addiction and tainted love mess
with the mind of a befuddled au pair in
this creepy update of Henry James’ The
Turn of the Screw.
Seventeen-year-old Jamie is secretly treating a broken heart
with her parents’ prescriptions when she leaves for a dream
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 683
 babysitting job in a swanky summer community off of Provi-
dence, R.I. After a teacher spurns her schoolgirl crush, Jamie
sinks into a funk that she hopes will be lifted by focusing on
sweet 11-year-old Isa. But once in place, Jamie is tormented by
gossip of last summer’s nanny, a reckless girl named Jessie, and
her boyfriend, Peter, who died in a plane crash. Through her
pill-induced haze, Jamie begins seeing the pair everywhere and
hears Peter’s vengeful voice coming out of Isa’s brother Milo’s
mouth. Then a confrontation with some of the local rich kids
sends Jamie spinning off to the same cliff where she first saw
the dead lovers take flight. Who or what is driving her to fol-
low their fatal path? Griffin interweaves subtle commentary
about social class, drug abuse and mental illness into this mar-
velous homage while winding the suspense knob all the way to
11. Whether or not the ghosts are real, Jamie’s alienation and
addiction are, and readers will feel her growing claustrophobia
at each turn of the page.
A contemporary reboot that does the original proud. (Fic-
tion. 12 & up)
WE’LL ALWAYS
HAVE SUMMER
Han, Jenny
Simon & Schuster (304 pp.)
$17.99 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4169-9558-6
Can teenage love ever be forever?
Isabel (Belly) from The Summer I
Turned Pretty (2009) and It’s Not Sum-
mer Without You (2010) finishes up her
freshman year at college somewhat
unconvincingly committed to Jeremiah Fisher, one of the two
brothers with whom she has spent summers since she was small.
Isabel becomes furious to learn that Jeremiah had sex with
another girl from their college in Cabo on spring break, but
he wins back her affections with a grand gesture: a proposal of
marriage. Caught up in the idea—she will plan a summer wed-
ding! they will attend college as a married couple!—Isabel tries
ignores her misgivings about Jeremiah, the appalled silence of
her mother and her own still-strong feelings for Jeremiah’s older
brother, Conrad. It’s both funny and believable when Jeremiah
insists he wants to dance the wedding dance to “You Never Can
Tell” from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. Han gives a satisfying
nod to wedding-planning fantasies even while revealing their
flimsy basis for an actual marriage. A final chapter in 23-year-old
Isabel’s voice reveals the not-so-surprising happy ending.
Han’s impressive ear for and pitch-perfect reproduction of
the interactions between not-quite-adult older teens make this
an appealing conclusion to this trilogy romance among bright
middle-class young people. (Fiction. 12 & up)
684 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
TRUE...SORT OF
Hannigan, Katherine
Greenwillow/HarperCollins (368 pp.)
$16.99 | PLB: $17.89 | May 1, 2011
978-0-06-196873-0
PLB: 978-0-06-196874-7
Impetuous, mercurial Delaware Pattison,
stuttering Brud and silent, lonely Ferris
find an intertwined salvation.
Delly, an impulsive middle child
loved by her parents and tagalong young
brother, meets life on her own terms and with such self-cen-
tered focus that she bends language to suit and reflect her. A ride
home in Officer Tibbetts’ squad car is a “Dellylivery”; “What
the glub?” Delly exclaims, citing her “nocussictionary”; she
anticipates “surpresents” especially for her; Ferris’ treehouse
is a “hideawaysis.” (An appended glossary—Dellyictionary—
offers 40 of these portmanteaux). Brud longs to shoot baskets
like Ferris, a girl so silent and thin that both he and Delly think
she’s a boy. Ferris fascinates Delly with her solitude and ability
to connect with wild creatures and Brud with her miraculous
basketball skills. Delly’s teachers, though aware of Ferris’ elec-
tive mutism and fear of being touched, don’t question the girl’s
safety at home. But Delly notices scars on Ferris’s back and gets
a bad feeling about Ferris’ normal-seeming father. There’s a lot
going on, and Delly’s quirky language occasionally threatens
to obscure the plot. Ferris is rescued, at least temporarily, but
young readers may be left wondering whether adults are truly
capable of protecting them.
Plenty of action and dialogue carry this uneven story along.
(Fiction. 9-12)
FIVE 4THS OF JULY
Hughes, Pat Raccio
Viking (304 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-670-01207-7
While the American Revolution rages,
teenager Jake Mallery fights his own war
for freedom.
Living in East Haven, Conn., Jake
feels like a servant to his father and hope-
less in his love with a bonded servant girl.
But when Jake, never completely attached to the revolutionary
cause, is imprisoned for over a year on a British prison ship, he
learns what the loss of freedom and the hatred of captors feel like.
On board, he learns through his friendship with Fortnum, who
had been born a slave, that there “was nothing about being owned
that was acceptable to a man,” destroying Jake’s earlier assump-
tion that well-treated slaves were happy. As M.T. Anderson did in
his Octavian Nothing novels and Laurie Halse Anderson does in
Chains (2008) and Forge (2010), Hughes examines the paradoxes
and hypocrisies surrounding liberty in our War of Independence,
but on a smaller, more domestic stage. In the five Fourths of July
|
 “Despite their species-typical behavior, the characters are
distinctive; the squabbling shrew Queen Dukwina and
her lizard husband Empraking Dibby, well-shod Dandy Clogs and
the gluttonous Wiltuds are particularly memorable.”
from the rogue crew
covered in Hughes’ straightforward and well-conceived novel,
Jake goes from boy to rebel to soldier, from prisoner to patriot,
and returns to find home a new place and himself “[n]ot changed,
but changing. Not healed, but healing.”
A fine addition to collections on the war and an eye-opening
look at the horrors of British prison ships, where 11,500 Ameri-
cans died. (Historical fiction. 10 & up)
THE ROGUE CREW
Jacques, Brian
Philomel (400 pp.)
$23.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-399-25416-1
Series: Redwall
Animal warriors band together against
innovative corsairs in this 22nd novel set
in the richly detailed world of Redwall.
Scarred and psychotic Razzid Wearat
and his mutinous crew wreak havoc along
the coast, but when they head inland and overland on the Green-
shroud—having equipped the ship with wheels—the Long Patrol
hares, the ruthless Rogue Crew otters and the Guosim shrews
must race to save Redwall Abbey. Grim warriors outnumber
peaceful Abbey beasts, and there is far more fighting than feast-
ing. The many battle scenes and deaths—of disposable pirates
and high-spirited heroes—are graphic but not gratuitous, and
the action sequences are carefully choreographed. In contrast to
earlier books, the villain faces an ensemble rather than a strong
protagonist, which might account for the narrative’s rapid scene
changes. Despite their species-typical behavior, the characters
are distinctive; the squabbling shrew Queen Dukwina and her
lizard husband Empraking Dibby, well-shod Dandy Clogs and
the gluttonous Wiltuds are particularly memorable. Though the
plot, characters and setting resembles those of the previous 21
books, the multi-stranded plot demands attentive reading. The
mouthwatering descriptions of food, the various dialects and the
detailed settings also make for an immersive experience.
Familiar, perhaps formulaic, but a nonetheless rousing read
from the late Jacques. (Animal fantasy. 9-12)
GOOD NIGHT GIANTS
Janisch, Heinz
Illustrator: Bansch, Helga
American Psychological Association/
Magination (32 pp.)
$14.95 | 9.95 paperback original
May 15, 2011
978-1-4338-0950-7
paper 978-1-4338-0951-4
This odd compendium of story, song lyrics and advice to parents
misses the mark as a prescription for sweet dreams.
The beginning and ending scenes focus on a little boy who is
having difficulty getting to sleep. He concentrates on counting
| kirkusreviews.com
imaginary giants as a way to relax, enumerating groups of differ-
ent giants from a pair up to six and then back down to another
pair of huge creatures, shown with just their feet sticking out
from a red blanket. The rhyming text in these sequences is quite
sing-song and doesn’t scan well, possibly as a result of having been
translated from the original German. The giants themselves have
an eerie, nightmarish quality in the illustrations, which are done
in a loose, cartoonlike style in watercolor and pencil. The activi-
ties of the giants are nonsensical, as in a dream, showing them
on rooftops or coming out of a huge watering can. The words to
a song are also provided, urging “happy thoughts” and repeated
deep breathing, though there is no music included, and the words
don’t readily transfer to a familiar melody. Two pages of advice to
parents on getting children to sleep finish it off.
Strange giants, sing-song rhymes and generic psychological
advice don’t add up to a soothing bedtime read. (Picture book. 3-5)
AFRICAN ANIMAL ALPHABET
Joubert, Derek; Joubert, Beverly
Photographer: Joubert, Beverly
National Geographic 48
$16.95 | PLB: $26.90 | May 1, 2011
978-1-4263-0781-2
PLB: 978-1-4263-0782-9
The Jouberts, National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence,
introduce young readers to the African animals they have stud-
ied for years and give them a lesson in letters at the same time.
A large capital letter frames every page (sadly, without its
lowercase counterpart), while the photography takes center
stage. A short paragraph either introduces a fact or two about
the animal or describes what is happening in the photograph.
Heavy alliteration encourages kids to look for each instance
of the featured letter on the page—how many b’s are on the
baboon page? Attempts to include the featured letter in the
paragraph sometimes feel forced, overly anthropomorphic or
inappropriate; for example, after cheetahs catch their dinner,
they “chomp and chew with delight.” But the letter hunt will
be secondary for most children—the photographs will keep
them riveted. Beverly Joubert gives readers an up-close and
personal view of each animal, capturing the features that make
them unique. A brief glossary helps young readers with some
of the more challenging vocabulary: boisterous, rambunctious,
vociferous. Backmatter also includes a list of sources for more
information and a double-page spread showing each letter of
the alphabet, a thumbnail photo of the animal it represents and
a brief listing of facts, including habitat, size, food, sounds and
how many babies they have at a time.
A solid introduction to Africa’s fauna—happy (letter) hunt-
ing. (Informational picture book. 4-6)
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 685
 “Among the pleasures of this high-tech fairy tale
are Maddie’s initiative, courage and independent spirit, stoutly
risking rejection in pursuit of her heart’s desire.”
from awaken
AWAKEN
Kacvinsky, Katie
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (320pp.)
$16.99 | May 23, 2011
978-0-547-37148-1
Can love exist in a digital age?
It’s 2060, and American teens are
educated at home via DS—digital school.
Few venture outside their comfortable
virtual worlds, but 17-year-old Maddie
leads a life even more confined than most.
She’s been grounded for years—punishment for serious digital
misbehavior—and despite a sympathetic mom, her dad, architect
of the DS system, won’t let Maddie off the hook yet. Then, at a
face-to-face tutoring session, she meets her digital-study–buddy
Justin, who introduces her to a new world, the three-dimensional
one. Thoroughly smitten, Maddie allows Justin and his cohorts
to draw her into their conspiracy to end DS for good. The futur-
istic and political trappings make little sense (DS was instituted
to end violence in American schools, including mass killings of
elementary schoolchildren by terrorists aiming to curb over-
population). However, as the title hints, this debut’s true subject
is romantic awakening. Before readers can succumb to disbelief,
the narrative shifts to Maddie’s dawning attraction to Justin and
the natural world he represents, following her sensual voyage of
discovery and exploration of first love’s frustrations and joys.
Among the pleasures of this high-tech fairy tale are Maddie’s ini-
tiative, courage and independent spirit, stoutly risking rejection in
pursuit of her heart’s desire. (Science fiction/romance. 12 & up)
BETTY BUNNY LOVES
CHOCOLATE CAKE
Kaplan, Michael B.
Illustrator: Jorisch, Stéphane
Dial (32 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8037-3407-4
A spunky bunny girl, whimsical water-
color illustrations and a laugh-out-loud plot are the key ingredi-
ents for this sweet and satisfying treat of a story.
“Betty Bunny was a handful.” That’s what her mother always
tells her, and the author and illustrator show readers just how
much of a handful she is, capturing her irrepressible personality
(which includes a streak of creative naughtiness). Little Betty,
the youngest child of four, becomes enraptured with choco-
late cake, announcing she loves it so much, she wants to marry
it. Her brothers jump right in to tease her, her sister tries to
help and her mom offers calm solutions, all with minimal text
set in an attractive type with key phrases in larger, bold font.
Kaplan, a television writer and producer, has an exquisite sense
of dramatic pacing and comedic timing, as well as a deep under-
standing of a 5-year-old bunny girl’s emotions. Betty has intense
feelings: She truly loves her chocolate cake, and she is truly furi-
ous at her siblings when they tease her. The author captures
686 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
the flavor of sibling interactions as well, with each of the three
older rabbit children interacting with Betty in characteristic
ways, including some hilarious smart-aleck comments from the
bunny brothers. Betty not only wants to marry her chocolate
cake, she wants to keep it close to her too, finding out the hard
way that cake doesn’t belong in your pocket…or your sock.
Delicious. (Picture book. 3-6)
SEVEN SORCERERS
King, Caro
Aladdin (336 pp.)
$15.99 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4424-2042-7
Jam-packed with magic, danger, mon-
sters and mysterious events, this import
never quite lives up to its potential.
The problem isn’t a lack of imagina-
tion. King has clearly spent a lot of time
and thought on worldbuilding, and there
are plenty of intriguing details to pore over. There’s also a quest
of sorts, which plunks Ninevah Redfern, King’s heroine, into
a parallel world known as the Drift. Intent on rescuing her
recently abducted younger brother, Nin is aided by the typical
stalwart companions—in this case Jonas, a young man who’s
been navigating both worlds on his own for a while, and Jik, a
creature Nin makes from the powerful mud of the Drift. Then
there’s what feels almost like a parallel plot, the story of the
eponymous seven sorcerers, whose efforts to defer death inad-
vertently created the villain, a cruel man who’s been gruesomely
mistreated and feeds on misery and destruction. It’s a lot to
absorb, and the fact that some characters speak in difficult dia-
lect doesn’t help. Add the facts that several characters change
their allegiance for no apparent reason and that Nin’s primary
strength is that she’s lucky, and it seems likely that most readers
will be more frustrated than fascinated.
Those who do enjoy this, however, will be pleased to know
that a sequel has already been published in the U.K. (Fantasy. 9-12)
MOONGLASS
Kirby, Jessi
Simon & Schuster (240 pp.)
$16.99 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4424-1694-9
When Anna Ryan was 7, her mother
drowned in the ocean, leaving Anna with
inescapable guilt and a growing rift with
her withdrawn lifeguard father.
After he accepts a job transfer to
southern California the summer before
Anna’s junior year, they end up stationed at the same beach
where her father and mother met and fell in love and living
beside the abandoned cottage her mother resided in for several
summers. The teen’s new surroundings, beautifully described in
|
the first-person narration, invite unexpected friendships and a
secret relationship with young lifeguard Tyler, who’s been warned
not to fool around with the boss’ daughter. And enveloped by her
now-mythical mother’s stomping grounds, locals who remember
her mother, a growing need for answers about her mother’s past
and an eerie pull from the ocean itself, Anna’s fond memories
of collecting sea glass by the light of the moon with a carefree
mother turn to anger as she begins to remember details about her
troubled mother’s “accident.” Like sea glass, this smooth, radiant
debut, reminiscent of Sarah Dessen, sets authentic and sympa-
thetic characters working through a life-changing transforma-
tion against the backdrop of a steamy summer romance.
Great for beach time—or anytime. (Fiction. 12 & up)
COLD CASE
Leonard, Julia Platt
Aladdin (288 pp.)
$15.99 | May 10, 2011
978-1-4424-2009-0
An interesting premise falls victim to too-
familiar plotting.
When Oz Keiller opens the refrig-
erator door at his family’s restaurant and
discovers the body of Aaron Sneider, he
quickly finds he has also cracked the seal
on a long-buried family secret: Years ago his father had been
caught stealing nuclear secrets from Los Alamos. Oz teams up
with his crime-show–obsessed best friend, Rusty, to hunt for
evidence to prove his brother’s innocence after his brother is
arrested for a crime Oz knows he didn’t commit. While inter-
viewing his father’s old colleagues and Aaron’s contacts, Oz
learns that his father may have been a scapegoat himself for a
much larger conspiracy. Trying to craft a sophisticated plot with
multiple suspects, Leonard unfortunately pulls too much from
the same crime shows Rusty is obsessed with and gives the mys-
tery away to savvy readers all too soon. Even though there’s not
much in the way of scene-setting, it manages to feels like Oz is
slogging back and forth between the same few places in a repeti-
tive loop. The near-absence of adults is forced through a series
of coincidences and comes across as a contrivance rather than a
natural narrative occurrence.
An indistinguishable middle-school narrator in an unre-
markable mystery. (Mystery. 10-14)
SURVIVOR KID
A Practical Guide to
Wilderness Survival
Long, Denise
Chicago Review (224 pp.)
$12.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-1-56976-708-5
Based on her work with middle-school
students, Long offers lessons on how to
| kirkusreviews.com
stay healthy and out of trouble while awaiting rescue, the same
lessons taught to adults in her survival classes.
Her matter-of-fact, no-nonsense tone will play well with
young readers, and the clear writing style is appropriate to the
content. The engaging guide covers everything from building
shelters to avoiding pigs and javelinas. With subjects like kissing
bugs, scorpions, snow blindness and “How going to the bath-
room can attract bears and mountain lions,” the volume invites
browsing as much as studying. The information offered is some-
times obvious: “If you find yourself facing an alligator, get away
from it”; sometime humorous: Raccoons will “fight with your
dog, steal all your food, then climb up a tree and call you bad
names in raccoon language”; and sometimes not comforting:
“When alligators attack on land, they usually make one grab at
you; if they miss, you are usually safe.” But when survival is at
stake, the more information the better, especially when leav-
ened with some wit. An excellent bibliography will lead young
readers to a host of fascinating websites, and 150 clipart-style
line drawings complement the text.
A splendid volume for young adventurers. (index not seen)
(Nonfiction. 9-14)
JEREMY BENDER VS.
THE CUPCAKE CADETS
Luper, Eric
Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (240 pp.)
$15.99 | May 3, 2011
978-0-06-201512-9
A not-so-lightweight tale rises above
drag jokes to reveal surprising profundity.
At first bite, this lightly humorous
novel about two sixth-grade boys infil-
trating the Cupcake Cadets (think Girl
Scouts) to win a $500 prize seems to be going for cringe com-
edy, heavy on the gag aspects of boys wearing girls’ clothing. But
once the guys actually join the troop and discover that they
can pass, the story becomes a richer, more layered confection.
Jeremy Bender loves boats and dreams of piloting his father’s
beloved Chris-Craft. But when he and his best friend, Slater
Stevenson, accidentally ruin the engine, Jeremy has to come
up with big bucks to fix it. That’s when he gets his big, albeit
crazy idea—join the Cupcake Cadets and win their Windjam-
mer Whirl, a model sailboat race. It’s a hubris-filled plan with
multiple pitfalls, and Jeremy and Slater fall into every one. Life
lessons are learned, as the disasters prompt not only a renewed
determination in our heroes, but also better planning and fore-
thought, which are largely seen as female virtues. A subplot
about a school bully who just happens to be the troop leader’s
son adds flavor, as does a determined, hardworking Cadet’s dis-
covery of their not-so-little secret.
Although amusing, this story never quite reaches the level
of funny, but it’s well-meaning and enjoyable. (Fiction. 8-12)
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 687
 THE SWEETEST THING
Mandelski, Christina
Egmont USA (352 pp.)
$17.99 | e-book: $17.99 | May 10, 2011
978-1-60684-129-7
e-book: 978-1-60684-253-9
A teen with a talent for cake decorating
wrestles with love and loss in this com-
ing-of-age story.
Sheridan Wells lives with her father,
a well-known chef and restaurateur, in
small-town Michigan. Her mother, a cake decorator and Sheri-
dan’s inspiration, deserted the family when Sheridan was 7.
Nonetheless, Sheridan thinks about her obsessively and longs to
reunite. So when her father is offered his own television cook-
ing show and Sheridan is asked to celebrate her birthday during
the first episode, she gets a crazily brilliant idea—why not track
down her mother and get her to co-decorate the birthday cake?
The plot is complicated by Sheridan’s dueling love interests, and
the author makes the risky choice of creating a central character
that takes a long time to warm to. The most engaging scenes take
place in the kitchen, demonstrating Sheridan’s passion for the art
of cooking and cake decoration, and they showcase the intrinsic
rewards of a job well done. Although satisfying, the climax, which
takes place on several fronts, is not as stirring as it should be.
Aimed squarely at teenage girls, this sensitive story explores
the need to embrace the reality rather than the fantasy of love,
both familial and romantic. (Fiction. 12 & up)
EVERYBODY BUGS OUT
Margolis, Leslie
Bloomsbury (192 pp.)
$15.99 | May 24, 2011
978-1-59990-526-6
Series: Annabelle Unleashed, 3
Margolis delivers a vivacious third install-
ment in the Annabelle Unleashed series.
It is post–winter vacation, and Anna-
belle is full of New Year’s resolutions and
hope for the new semester. However,
her equanimity is short-lived, as she finds herself embroiled
in a multitude of secrets. Two key events occurring over the
upcoming Valentine’s Day weekend—the science fair and the
first school dance—have created a moil of anxiety and intrigue
among Annabelle and her friends. Annabelle silently nurtures
a secret crush on her gregarious science-fair partner, Oliver.
However, her silence leads to distress when good friend Claire
openly declares her intent to ask Oliver to the dance. Is it too
late for Annabelle to be honest with herself, her friend and
Oliver about her crush? Annabelle also finds herself in a quan-
dary when she discovers Emma’s boyfriend has cheated on his
science-fair project; Annabelle must decide when it is OK to
divulge a secret. Margolis’ breezy tone nicely conveys the peaks
and valleys of middle-school life.
688 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
Readers will be cheering for Annabelle as she struggles to extri-
cate herself from this tangled web of subterfuge. (Fiction. 8-12)
WHEN I WAS BORN
Martins, Isabel Minhós
Illustrator: Matoso, Madalena
Tate/Abrams (32 pp.)
$10.95 | May 1, 2011
978-1-85437-958-0
This cheerfully existential tome charms,
from the stylized cherry tree on the end-
papers to the very last page.
The first page is black, with white sans-serif letters: “When
I was born I had never seen anything.” The narrator had never
seen “the sun or a flower or a face” or the sea or the forest. His
hands didn’t know about playing. “Everything was about to
start.” His mouth discovers it can taste and shout and kiss and
stick his tongue out. He lists smells he loves, like the scent of his
grandmother’s lap. Each day he discovers something new: run-
ning and jumping; saying “nice words and bad words”; learning
colors. The images are made of strong, simple shapes and hues
of red, white, black, green and gold. There is a wonderful spread
of peppers, cherries, melons and tomatoes, as well as a wall of
family pictures with an uncle with a long (bright) red beard, an
auntie with green skin, a pink-faced grandpapa and a golden-
skinned grandmamma (both with white hair). Birds, animals,
leaves and boxes sit proudly on the pages, surrounding the child,
who sports a green-and-white striped shirt and rosy cheeks.
Translated from the Portuguese and first published in Eng-
land, this account of a child’s discovery of the world and its won-
ders unfolds self-consciously but winningly. (Picture book. 3-8)
TO MARKET, TO MARKET
McClure, Nikki
Illustrator: McClure, Nikki
Abrams (40 pp.)
$17.95 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8109-9738-7
Readers join a mother and child on their
trip to the farmers market, meeting vendors and learning how
they prepare their goods for sale.
Exact, masterful cut-paper illustrations bring the market’s
smells, produce, bustle and cheery people to life. At each stand,
a double-page spread introduces the artisan and the next item
on the family’s shopping list (which appears on the title page).
On the left, proud portraits of smiling producers selling their
goods immediately humanize the quotidian errand; on the right,
the list item appears in large, colored lettering followed by a
brief introduction to both sellers and their products. McClure
calls the vendors by their first names only, and her conversa-
tional tone feels almost as warm as a good handshake. A page-
turn takes readers back to the orchard, field, smoke-house,
garage or barn where their goods originated—earthy, realistic
|
 “Em is an entertainingly cheeky narrator and appealingly
resilient heroine; when she meets Michael’s friends, she wryly
comments, ‘Team Freak. Wonder if we could get jerseys.’ ”
from hourglass
scenes captured brilliantly through bold, black lines and the
use of a single color associated with each item. Opposite pages
deliver lengthy, sometimes exhausting, descriptions of each
production process. McClure clearly wishes to honor the sell-
ers’ unflagging energy and admirable work, and she succeeds
handily through her lively illustrations. Here, cut paper reads as
freeze frames, action shots of real people with cockeyed grins,
tattoos, funny hats, dogs and children.
These soulful images never feel static—an amazing feat for
such a deliberate, painstaking medium. (Picture book. 2-8)
GOYANGI MEANS CAT
McDonnell, Christine
Illustrator: Johnson, Steve
Illustrator: Fancher, Lou
Viking (32 pp.)
$16.99 | May 12, 2011
978-0-670-01179-7
This beautifully illustrated, gentle adop-
tion story stands out from most other
treatments of the topic by honestly and reassuringly addressing
the loss—of a birth family, a birth culture—inherent in adop-
tion as well as the joy a new family experiences.
Here, Soo Min, a young Korean girl, is adopted by an Amer-
ican couple. Everything seems strange and new: She doesn’t
speak any English; her adoptive parents know little Korean. She
finds comfort with Goyangi (“cat”), who doesn’t need language
to communicate, whose fur she strokes when afraid and who
“licked her hand with his towelly tongue” when she is homesick
for Korea. Soft-focus collage-and-paint illustrations show the
family members getting to know one another: at the playground,
in the library, playing soccer and just spending time at home
together. Korean words in hanja (characters) incorporated into
the pictures’ backgrounds and the presence of Korean words
in the Western alphabet interspersed throughout the text make
this an excellent choice to share with children like Soo Min; see-
ing the words in both languages comforts as well as educates.
Soo Min’s age isn’t specified; she looks about 2 or 3, which is
older than most Korean children adopted in the United States,
but that doesn’t take away from the main idea.
A sensitive portrayal of international adoption, authenti-
cally and realistically done. (Picture book. 4-7)
HOURGLASS
McEntire, Myra
Egmont USA (408 pp.)
$17.99 | May 14, 2011
978-1-60684-144-0
Troubled teen Emerson Cole returns to
her Southern hometown and old “haunts”
in this genre-blending story.
Despite her cushy new life with her
older brother Thomas and his wife Dru,
| kirkusreviews.com
Em can’t overcome her dark past; she started seeing ghosts at
13, shortly before her parents’ tragic accident. Caught talking to
seemingly empty space too often, Em is verbally and physically
defensive, unable to completely confide in Thomas, Dru or her
best friend Lily. When Thomas hires handsome college-aged
Michael Weaver (a consultant from the mysterious Hourglass
institute) to help Em with her “hallucinations,” predictably
tempestuous romance and unexpected adventure ensue. After
meeting an X-Men–esque group of former Hourglass students—
and the dangerous but sexy Kaleb Ballard, Michael’s rival for
her affections—Em learns that she’s not crazy but gifted, and
that she might be able to change the past as well as see it. Em is
an entertainingly cheeky narrator and appealingly resilient her-
oine; when she meets Michael’s friends, she wryly comments,
“Team Freak. Wonder if we could get jerseys.” First-time author
McEntire deftly juggles plot, characters and dialogue; her por-
trait of grief is particularly poignant.
The ambitious combination of paranormal romance and
sci-fi action leads to some pacing problems but also makes for a
refreshing read. (Fiction. 12 & up)
IF ROCKS COULD SING
A Discovered Alphabet
McGuirk, Leslie
Illustrator: McGuirk, Leslie
Tricycle (48 pp.)
$17.99 | PLB: $20.99 | May 24, 2011
978-1-58246-370-4
PLB: 978-1-58246-395-7
With sharp eyes, endless patience and vivid imagination,
McGuirk seeks and finds rocks in the shapes of alphabet letters
and items representing those letters.
Using these finds and some inventive photography, she has
created a most unusual alphabet book. The opening spread lays
out all the amazingly accurate stone letters (some uppercase,
some lowercase) on a background of soft, natural, earthy beige.
Each letter is given its own page, and some have a double-page
spread. The letter-shaped rock names the shape—as in “e is for
elephant”—and the remarkable rock shapes either stand alone
or are given props. The “ghost” rocks float eerily on a black
background, while “K is for kick” aims a foot-shaped rock at a
bright-orange ball. The seahorse floats among seaweed, and a
rock mitten is paired with one made of wool. Some of the more
conceptual references stretch the imagination a bit, and little
ones may need some explanation. For “U is for up,” two animal-
shaped rocks play on a seesaw; too bad there was no umbrella or
unicorn rock to be found. The ever-difficult “x” is the only dis-
appointment; “x is for xoxo” depicts a pudgy figure that kind of
resembles two people kissing, but this may be a stretch for chil-
dren. An author’s note provides additional information about
McGuirk’s dedicated collection process.
Begs to be pored over again and again. (Alphabet book. 3-10)
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 689
 “Messner gets all the details of third grade right.”
from marty mcguire
THE SUMMER OF
FIRSTS AND LASTS
McVoy, Terra Elan
Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (432 pp.)
$16.99 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4424-0213-3
Three sisters try to figure out themselves
and their relationships with each other
during their last summer together at
Camp Callanwolde.
Calla is ambitious, smart and obsessed
with her longtime crush and never boyfriend, Duncan. Violet is artis-
tic, confident and head over heels with James, who is definitely
off-limits. Daisy is athletic and taken by surprise by Joel, who is
as intriguing as he is confusing. Everything seems on course for it
to be the best summer ever, when Brynn, a girl who is determined
to make things happen, turns all their lives upside down. Brynn is
sometimes a catalyst for good, encouraging Daisy to try the zip
line and to stand up to the girls intent on bullying her. However,
in the midst of her shenanigans she nearly destroys the bonds
of trust that exist between the sisters. Rather than forging their
own summer experiences, the sisters seem at the mercy of their
circumstances, a lack of growth that makes the story unsatisfying.
The sisters’ three stories merge and separate as the point of view
shifts from one sister to the next with each new chapter. Shifting
narrators, a too-large cast and competing, rather than comple-
menting, story lines keep this tale from ever finding its legs.
Readers will quickly become frustrated by the uneven plot
and the setting of summer camp, which never makes it past cli-
ché. (Fiction. 14 & up)
MARTY MCGUIRE
Messner, Kate
Illustrator: Floca, Brian
Scholastic (144 pp.)
$15.99 | $5.99 paperback original
May 1, 2011
978-0-545-14244-1
paper 978-0-545-14246-5
When the promised land of third grade
does not pan as promised, Marty McGuire
finds herself playing a completely new role.
Mrs. Aloi, her maracas-shaking teacher, is putting together
the parts for the class play of The Frog Prince, and she decides
that Marty is perfect for the part of the princess. Marty, who pre-
fers learning about frog anatomy to kissing or, worse, throwing a
frog, is horrified. She gets little support from her scientist mother
or her teacher father—a princess she shall be! On top of this bad
news, Marty’s best friend has joined the girly-girl group and does
not seem interested in playing outside and pretending to be Jane
Goodall anymore. Messner gets all the details of third grade right:
the social chasm between the girls who want to be like the older
kids and the ones who are still little girls, the Mad Minutes for
memorizing arithmetic facts, the silly classroom-control devices
690 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
teachers use and the energy students of this age put into projects
like class plays. Floca’s black-and-white sketches are filled with
movement and emotion and are frequent enough to help new
chapter-book readers keep up with this longer text.
Believable and endearing characters in a realistic elemen-
tary-school setting will be just the thing for fans of Clementine
and Ramona. (Fiction. 7-10)
THE FIRES BENEATH
THE SEA
Millet, Lydia
Big Mouth House (256 pp.)
$17.99 | May 1, 2011
978-1-931520-71-3
Series: The Dissenters
Nature and science in a vivid Cape Cod
setting create layers of meaning as
13-year-old Cara and her brothers con-
front the puzzle of their mother’s disappearance.
Mom vanished two months ago, and summer’s ending.
While swimming in the ocean, Cara spots a sea otter—but
sea otters don’t belong on Atlantic beaches. Cara reaches out
her fingertips, and the otter streams words into Cara’s mind:
“TAKE CARE OF THEM FOR ME.” The next morning, on
a bayside beach (across the Cape from the ocean beach), she
sees the otter again—or another one—and Cara’s dog picks
up a piece of driftwood inscribed “CARA. CONSULT THE
LEATHERBACK.” Ten-year-old brother Jax, a genius with odd
ESP gifts, communes with the aquarium’s leatherback turtle;
16-year-old brother Max, a skeptic, needs coaxing but joins the
mission too. A man stalks them, water flowing continuously out
of his face; he arrives, horribly, through faucets and lawn sprin-
klers. In a stunning and luminescent scene, Cara and Jax con-
front the Pouring Man on the ocean floor. Their quest has three
levels: a personal level about their missing mother, an ecological
level about ocean acidification and an epic level about good and
evil that the kids don’t understand yet. Millet’s prose is lyrically
evocative (“the rhythmic scoop and splash of their paddles”).
A lush and intelligent opener for a topical eco-fantasy series.
(Fantasy. 9-13)
FLUTTER
The Story of Four Sisters and
One Incredible Journey
Moulton, Erin E.
Philomel (208 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-399-25515-1
Almost relentless peril besets two resource-
ful girls who seek a miracle cure for their ail-
ing newborn sister in Vermont’s mountains.
Maple, 9 1/2, and her older sister
Dawn set out in search of the “Wise Woman of the Mountain,” a
|
folkloric formation in the Green Mountains, and “her” curative
waters. What ensues is nonstop danger, making for fast reading.
This doesn’t add up to necessarily believable reading, however,
as the sisters’ adventures, which include encounters with a bear,
rapids and poachers, would daunt adults with wilderness expe-
rience. While readers will turn pages to discover how all this is
resolved and will sympathize with the girls’ motives for the trek,
they’ll likely not buy that youngsters of these ages would believe
in a magical presence and potion, and the sheer number of dan-
gers strains credulity. Disappointing is the butterfly metaphor:
Maple continually notices a monarch that acts as an encourag-
ing totem and spirit guide at various dramatic stages through-
out the novel. In the end, this turns out to be an unnecessary
motif, because the girls ultimately learn that love and pulling
together are really what effect miracles. Maple’s first-person/
present-tense, sometimes repetitive narration, which places
readers in every hazardous moment, sometimes gets bogged
down with inconsistent use of contractions.
A generally realistic portrait of sisterly conflict, and unde-
manding readers will enjoy the fast-paced action. (Adventure. 9-12)
BUGLETTE THE
MESSY SLEEPER
Murguia, Bethanie Deeney
Illustrator: Murguia, Bethanie Deeney
Random (32 pp.)
$15.99 | PLB: $18.99 | May 10, 2011
978-1-58246-375-9
PLB: 978-1-58246-394-0
Buglette is neat and precise during the
day, but each morning she awakens to a messy bed that reflects
the big dreams of the night before.
Driving a construction machine leads to a mountain of
blankets, and kicking a ball over the moon leaves her pillow tee-
tering on a branch. Her parents tend to be heavy handed with
guilt-inducing comments, comparing her to her brothers, who
are “neat little sleepers,” and sighing over “how we ended up
with a messy sleeper.” They also plant the seed of blame when
they suggest that her nighttime movements might wake up
their feared predator, the crow. Her brothers make an attempt
to “put a lid” on her, but the result is near disaster when the
crow makes his move. Buglette bravely saves them all by emu-
lating her intrepid dream self. Murguia’s tale sends mixed mes-
sages. Messy sleeping may be an issue for bugs, but it probably
won’t resonate with humans, and literal-minded young readers
will not be able to project any alternate interpretations. Mama
Bug’s attitude is especially problematic and obfuscates the
apparent theme of celebrating differences and dreaming of
possibilities. The watercolor illustrations in nature’s colors are
appealing, and Buglette’s action-packed dreams are charmingly
depicted. They also serve to provide a visual interpretation that,
perhaps, rises above the text.
Here’s hoping Murguia’s next book has a clarity of text that
matches the illustrations. (Picture book. 4-7)
| kirkusreviews.com
TEN
Myracle, Lauren
Dutton (208 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-525-42356-0
Series: The Winnie Years
In this prequel to The Winnie Years series,
fans meet their heroine as she celebrates
her 10th birthday, secure in her family’s
love and her identity.
Winnie writes in a note to herself:
“Being weird is much more fun than not being weird… I can
handle anything, and the reason why is because I am me and I
am ten and I am awesome.” Winnie must remind herself of this
when she encounters the changing emotional terrain of fifth
grade. Myracle keeps Winnie refreshingly honest and perky as
she faces down self-doubts, whether by announcing that she is
not in that stage yet when the other girls in class decide they
must all have crushes on boys or standing up to the bully Mindy.
In this nuanced portrayal, Winnie also develops her EQ (emo-
tional-intelligence quotient): she learns to listen to her friend
Amanda, concede a point rather than be right, even feel empa-
thy for Mindy. Winnie is not challenged with big questions the
way Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Alice is, nor does she have the
complicated depth and eccentricity of Susan Patron’s Lucky.
She is simply the quintessential girl-next-door to whom young
readers can comfortably relate.
A solid addition to a winning series, this provides the founda-
tion for the characters and action in Eleven (2004). (Fiction. 8-12)
INCREDIBLY ALICE
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds
Atheneum (288 pp.)
$16.99 | May 10, 2011
978-1-4169-7553-3
Series: Alice McKinley
The newest entry in a series that sits
proudly in second place on the ALA’s
list of Most Banned/Challenged titles of
the 21st century (behind Harry) takes its
insecure but sensible 17-year-old narra-
tor through her final semester of high school.
Alice navigates past such fixed points as Senior Prom, Prank
Day and graduation as well as more personal triumphs and trib-
ulations, from getting one of those flat business envelopes from
her first-choice college to finding out that her boyfriend Patrick
will be spending the next year in Spain. As ever, Naylor-as-Alice
fills the interstices with teachable moments including (but not
limited to) the short-lived appearance of a “Restricted Reading”
shelf in the school library, watching an older co-worker and her
loving husband with their new baby, coping with stress-related
insomnia, attending a pregnant classmate’s baby shower and
wedding and reacting to a friend’s admission that she’s saving
up for a labiaplasty. It’s all embedded in a milieu of quotidian
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 691
 detail, familiar characters and memories from previous epi-
sodes that add both continuity and a matter-of-fact credibility
to the advice and insight.
The author leaves Alice and friends posing for gradua-
tion pictures and looking forward to pre-college summer jobs
aboard a cruise ship that will frame the next few volumes in this
richly entertaining, reliable and informative guide to growing
up. (Fiction. 13-15)
MY TATTOOED DAD
Nesquens, Daniel
Illustrator: Magicomora
Translator: Amado, Elisa
Groundwood (48 pp.)
$18.95 | May 1, 2011
978-1-55498-109-0
From Spain, a son’s affectionate trib-
ute to his wandering, heavily decorated,
yarnspinning father.
Recalled as the not-quite-adult-sounding narrator remem-
bers them, “all tangled up, like a ball of wool that someone has
dropped,” his often-absent father’s rousing if unlikely tales are
backed up, or at least inspired by head-to-toe tattoos. They fea-
ture death-defying encounters with a double-tailed tiger and a
giant bird, a conversation with a huge spider and remarkable feats
like catching in midair both the lad himself, who as a baby once
flew out a window as the car rounded a bend, and also a crazed
trick-shooter’s bullet. Alternating tattoo-style vignettes of ani-
mals, hearts, skulls and the like framed in baroque flourishes with
wildly fanciful full-page cartoons, pop surrealist Magicomora
provides urbane visual counterparts to the stories’ increasingly
freewheeling flights. “When I was little,” concludes the narrator,
“I thought Dad was in charge of hanging the moon in the sky. Not
I know that’s not true. But sometimes, on nights when he’s out
there, he does hang up a star. That one, for example.”
A strange and entertaining affirmation of the parent-child
bond. (Picture book. 10-12)
WOW! OCEAN!
Neubecker, Robert
Illustrator: Neubecker, Robert
Disney Hyperion (40 pp.)
$17.99 | May 17, 2011
978-1-4231-3113-7
Series: Wow!
The excitement of the ocean world from
the beach to the deep and all between
is conveyed by the jam-packed illustra-
tions in this celebration.
The text is limited to a sentence before the title page set-
ting up the premise—Izzy’s family goes to the beach—and
captions for the double-page spreads—“Wow! Shells!” “Wow!
Tide Pool!” “Wow! Turtles!” and so forth. Each busy, oversized
692 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
spread contains a colorful framed illustration with numerous
figures drawn with a heavy, black line. Each creature has an
almost inconspicuous label. Even the frames are filled with
color splotches. Two children, variously equipped with surf
boards, masks, diving gear and submersible vehicles, explore
these waters. Sharp-eyed readers will also follow their dog chas-
ing the crab through each setting (even in the fishy endpapers).
The author has chosen his creatures carefully, including many
his readers will already have heard of (octopus, manta rays, blue
whales, great white sharks) and more that will be new. These
are not pictured to scale but are reasonably recognizable by
shape and coloration. There’s humor and fantasy (in the deep,
the dog sprouts fins and a tail) but also plenty of solid identi-
fication information for readers who like to know the names
of things. Izzy’s enthusiasm will be familiar to readers of Wow!
City! (2004), Wow! America! (2006) and Wow! School! (2007).
This ideal post–aquarium-visit souvenir has similar child
appeal. (Picture book. 3-7)
SPARROW ROAD
O’Connor, Sheila
Putnam (256 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-399-25458-1
The mystery of why her mother suddenly
took a job at a summer artists’ refuge far
from home is solved when 12-year-old
Raine meets Gray James, the father she
never knew.
But that’s only a piece of the puzzle
of what was and what could be at Sparrow Road and in her life.
The crumbling country estate, a former orphanage, is a place
readers will want to explore. It is suffused with a sense of long-
ing, the same wistful atmosphere surrounding the characters
in this beautifully written novel, with its leisurely revelation of
secrets and sad events of the past. Remarkably, O’Connor has
peopled her story almost entirely with grown-ups: Raine’s fam-
ily; Viktor, the mysterious owner; and Lillian, Josie, Diego and
Eleanor, artists working there for the summer. These are well-
developed secondary characters, each with a distinct personal-
ity, but this is fully Raine’s tale. The adults nurture her, but they
also set her free to discover herself, her family and her own art-
istry. She and Josie, the quilt maker, piece together the history
of the house while Raine imagines, dreams and reconstructs
her former contentment, shattered by revelations about her
father’s alcoholism and her grandfather’s anger. Set perhaps 30
years ago, the specific time and place are unimportant.
Readers finding themselves in this quiet world will find plenty
of space to imagine and dream for themselves. (Fiction. 10-14)
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 “As a plant (in this world, faeries are biologically plants),
Laurel works with powders and beakers and pestles trying to
determine Yuki’s secret—is Yuki a faerie too?”
from illusions
TROUBLE AT IMPACT LAKE
Oertel, Andreas
Lobster Press (192 pp.)
$10.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-1-926909-86-8
Series: The Archaeolojesters, 3
It’s another archaeological adventure for
13-year-olds Cody, Eric and Rachel, in the
third installment of this action-packed series.
Just back from Egypt and travels in
time, the kids find a mystery right on
their own doorstep in Manitoba. They
meet three people at the service station who claim to be search-
ing for Harrier planes that sunk at Impact Lake during World
War II, when the lake was the site of the British Common-
wealth Air Training Plan for training floatplane pilots. But Cody
is immediately suspicious of the strangers, knowing that Har-
rier planes didn’t exist during the war. Off go the three inves-
tigators, launching themselves on another escapade involving
drowned pilots, ghosts, rumors of a crazy trapper, a killer bear
and kidnappers. What are the strangers looking for at Impact
Lake? Lively action and plenty of dialogue make this volume as
much fun to read as its two predecessors. Oertel knows how to
develop a scene for maximum scary or humorous effect, and his
three young protagonists come off as real kids with a penchant
for adventure.
Two latter-day Hardy boys and a Nancy Drew may just
awaken the Indiana Jones in young readers and teach a bit of
history at the same time. (Adventure. 9-12)
THE BOY WHO BIT PICASSO
Penrose, Antony
Illustrator: Picasso, Pablo
Photographer: Miller, Lee
Abrams (48 pp.)
$16.95 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8109-9728-8
“Picasso was great fun to play with. He
liked to romp around on the floor and
have pretend bullfights. His tweed
jacket was nice and scratchy. He smelled good too. He smelled
of cologne and French tobacco.”
To a set of seldom-seen photos taken by his mother, Lee
Miller, interspersed with both pictures of roughly hewn toys
and playful art created by Picasso and a page of drawings of the
titular incident by modern children, Penrose adds appreciative
comments and authentically sketchy childhood memories of a
renowned family friend. Taken in France and England, the pho-
tos offer glimpses of the artist in his studio or posing with young
Antony, along with shots of his own children, other friends such
as George Braque and artwork done in a characteristic array of
media and found materials. Images of colorful works from the
author’s personal collection are added as well; the author’s little
Noah’s Ark set appears juxtaposed to a tiny Picasso piece called
| kirkusreviews.com
Mrs. Noah, for instance. The text itself adds playful notes with
variations in size and weight, along with occasional wavy lines
and is set on solid backgrounds of pale blues, yellows, lilacs and
other pastel hues.
Though certainly not a systematic overview of Picasso’s
life and career, this intimate, child’s-eye view serves up a win-
ning glimpse of the artist’s personality and unparalleled creative
breadth. (glossary, thumbnail bios) (Memoir. 8-10)
ILLUSIONS
Pike, Aprilynne
HarperTeen (384 pp.)
$16.99 | May 3, 2011
978-0-06-166809-8
The third in this four-leaf series wilts at
the outset, with prose more clichéd than
its predecessors, but perks up in the sec-
ond half.
Laurel’s back in her real-world home-
town of Crescent City, Calif., trying to
live a normal teenage life without pining for Avalon, her faerie
homeland. Trolls are probably hunting her, but they don’t attack
often, so Laurel’s biggest quandary in this installment is decid-
ing between—chime in, paranormal romance fans!—the two
dreamy boys who adore her. Steadfast David is human, while
steamy Tamani is Lauren’s personal faerie guardian; they’re
equally loyal and equally smitten. Daily life becomes precari-
ous when Klea, a tough special-ops fighter who frequently
saves Laurel’s life but emanates untrustworthiness, asks Lau-
rel to befriend Yuki, an exchange student who’s obviously
hiding things. As a plant (in this world, faeries are biologically
plants), Laurel works with powders and beakers and pestles
trying to determine Yuki’s secret—is Yuki a faerie too? Pike’s
third-person narration uses Tamani’s perspective sometimes,
conveniently showing readers scenes behind Laurel’s back. It’s
unclear how Laurel and Tamani shift from knowing that Yuki
and Klea’s motivations are unknown, to assuming they compre-
hend who Yuki and Klea really are (they have no evidence), but
those unfounded assumptions underlie the climax’s surprise.
Fans will revel in the idealized characterizations, breathless
abstinence romance, lurking danger and newly explicit Arthu-
rian parallels. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)
PRETEND
Plecas, Jennifer
Illustrator: Plecas, Jennifer
Philomel (32 pp.)
$15.99 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-0-399-23430-9
A sweet, imaginative father-son adventure.
Dad is sitting on the sofa, reading a magazine, shoes off, feet
up, cookies and milk on the side table. Jimmy says, “Pretend”
that the couch is a boat on the ocean, and they are surrounded
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 693
 “After Mother and Father ask [Dude] if he’s cleaned his
room and done his homework, Dude and Betty
don’t ‘go’ like Dick and Jane, nor does his dog Bud ‘run’ like
Spot—they ‘bail’ and head back to the beach.”
from dude
by sharks, suddenly tired and starving. The sofa begins to float,
and sharks fill the water, but Jimmy uses his fishing lines (the
dog’s leash) to capture dinner (the escaped cookies). Jimmy and
Dad get out their binoculars (cue image of kid and dad using
their hands to make circles over their eyes in classic gesture)
and find an island. They have to climb to the hilltop to be safe
(the stairs morph into a steep, green hill) and make a fort from
stumps and large fronds (chairs and blankets). All this is ren-
dered in friendly ink lines and soft watercolor. The button-eyed
father and son share the same half-cookie smile and fuzzy hair.
At the end, Jimmy says to pretend they are looking at the stars
and building a campfire so they can say, “This is the best time
ever”—and Dad notes that they don’t have to pretend that part.
It ends with a tiny coda, the best “for pretend and for real.”
Darling and genuine. (Picture book. 3-7)
DUDE
Fun with Dude and Betty
Pliscou, Lisa
Illustrator: Dunne, Tom
HarperCollins (40 p.)
$14.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-06-175690-0
This cheeky debut from Pliscou and Dunne
pokes fun at traditional reading primers
while reveling in California surf culture.
Truly non-bogus retro artwork in the style of 1950s Dick
and Jane illustrations evokes a nostalgic sensibility with con-
temporary updates—including a notably multicultural cast of
characters in several beach scenes. The pictures throughout
the book are brightly colored and detailed, with endpapers
decorated with paintings of surfboards and characters that rely
more on gestural strokes than detail. The control of the text
is intentionally broken to incorporate “surf-speak” on nearly
every page, including when Dude’s friend Betty is introduced:
“Betty is a righteous surf bunny. She does not live in the Valley.”
While this might undermine the book’s success as a beginning
reader, it totally ratchets up the humor in a most excellent way.
After Mother and Father ask him if he’s cleaned his room and
done his homework, Dude and Betty don’t “go” like Dick and
Jane, nor does his dog Bud “run” like Spot—they “bail” and head
back to the beach. “Waves are happening,” reads the final page.
“Dude is stoked.”
Readers will be stoked too about this fresh, funny, way-cool
slice of Americana. (Early reader. 6 & up)
694 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
DIE FOR ME
Plum, Amy
HarperTeen (352 pp.)
$16.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-06-200401-7
Boy meets Girl. Boy turns out to have a
deep—nay, otherworldly—connection
to Girl despite being the loneliest mem-
ber of a family of immortal, sexy, good-
hearted monsters.
Newly-orphaned Brooklynite Kate
Mercier is now living in Paris with her grandparents and sister.
She’s grateful for anything that breaks the constant tyranny of
her depression, even the weird obsession she’s developing with
Vincent, a hot Parisian she’s seen in her favorite café. Vincent
is equally obsessed with Kate, but after a few dates his secret is
revealed: Vincent is a revenant, driven by some mystical force to
give his life to save others again and again, constantly reborn as an
18 year old with rippling “rock-hard abdominal muscles.” Along
with his revenant family (one father figure, several extremely
sexy pseudo-brothers and a teenage girl to be Kate’s friend), he
rescues at-risk Parisians while fighting off the revenant’s evil
counterparts among the undead. Kate and Vincent are, of course,
drawn to each other, miserable with despair when apart. When
they are together, it takes all Vincent’s willpower not to molest
his beloved; readers of Twilight and its ilk know the drill. But
wait! Evil is afoot, and perhaps it will spice up their love life!
Those obsessed with paranormals won’t dislike anything here,
but everyone else should give it a miss. (Paranormal romance. 12-14)
LARK
Porter, Tracey
Laura Geringer/HarperCollins (192 pp.)
$15.99 | PLB: $16.89 | May 24, 2011
978-0-06-112287-3
PLB: 978-0-06-112288-0
After the rape and murder of a suburban
16-year-old, two girls learn to cope in a
world that stubbornly insists on continu-
ing without her.
Lark is a gymnast, diver and stellar
student, until one January day she’s kidnapped from her Arling-
ton, Va., school. Her body is found naked, beaten and stabbed
in the snowy woods. Over the next few months, the children
and adults of Arlington recover—or fail to recover—from Lark’s
death. Interleaved chapters provide three points of view: Eve,
who was Lark’s childhood friend until a devastating experi-
ence of her own led to Eve’s personality shift in middle school;
Nyetta, whose parents are going through a messy divorce and
who thought Lark was the best babysitter ever; and Lark her-
self, who recaps the rape and murder in gutwrenching ghostly
interludes. Lark’s ghost is haunting Nyetta in an attempt to get
someone, anyone, to look directly at the damage done by the
murderer. It’s no easy task: This is a town where grief counselors
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teach girls that avoiding assault is a matter of how they dress,
move and walk. It’s a town where a mother doesn’t take her
daughter’s assault seriously because there hasn’t been penetra-
tive sex. Nyetta and Eve will only be able to move past Lark’s
death if they face its most devastating truths.
Harrowing. (Fiction. 13 & up)
BLACKOUT
Rocco, John
Illustrator: Rocco, John
Disney Hyperion (40 pp.)
$16.99 | May 24, 2011
978-1-4231-2190-9
“It started out as a normal summer
night”—until the lights go out, citywide.
When it gets “too hot and sticky”
inside their apartment (no fans or AC
tonight), one busy family (mom, dad, two girls and a black cat)
heads to the rooftop of their building, where they find light via
stars and a block party “in the sky.” Other parties are happening
down on the street, too. When the lights come back on, every-
thing returns to normal, except for this family, which continues
to enjoy the dark. The plot line, conveyed with just a few sen-
tences, is simple enough, but the dramatic illustrations illuminate
the story. Beginning with the intriguing cover—the silhouetted
family on their rooftop under a vast, dark-blue sky dotted with
Starry Night–type swirls, black is used as both a backdrop and
a highlighter. Page composition effectively intermingles boxed
pages and panels with double-page spreads, generating action.
Brilliantly designed, with comic bits such as a portrait of Edison
on a wall and the cat running from a hand shadow of a dog.
Not all young readers will have experienced a blackout, but
this engaging snapshot could easily have them wishing for one.
(Picture book. 5-8)
JAKE RANSOM AND THE
HOWLING SPHINX
Rollins, James
HarperCollins (384 pp.)
$16.99 | May 3, 2011
978-0-06-147382-1
Series: Jake Ransom, 2
An adventure series mashup built on
Indiana Jones-like tropes picks up steam
with this second volume.
Three months have passed since
eighth-grader Jake Ransom and his older sister Kady returned
from the ancient land of Calypsos on Pangaea, where they saved
the inhabitants—Neanderthals and lost Roman legionaries and
ancient Maya—from the evil magister Kalverum Rex. Neither
teen knows any more about the location of their archaeologist
parents, missing three years now, but both are sure that their par-
ents are lost somewhere in time. After an attack on their home,
| kirkusreviews.com
the siblings visit an Egyptian exhibit at the American Museum of
Natural History only to be attacked again by the blood magic of
Kalverum as he seeks the Key to Time. They are thrown into the
desert kingdom of Deshret, cut off from the rest of Pangaea by a
flesh-tearing windstorm. The bracelets given them by the elders
of Calypsos also draw in their friends from their last adventure,
and the five find themselves once again battling the Skull King
and his minions while trying to find traces of their parents. Rol-
lins’ second Jake Ransom adventure is tighter, more magical and
more thrilling than the series opener.
Likely to win Jake more fans, this will have adventure seek-
ers of both genders clamoring for volume three (likely to deal
with Norse lore, given the dropped hints). (Adventure. 9-12)
AL PHA’S BET
Rosenthal, Amy Krouse
Illustrator: Durand, Delphine
Putnam (32 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-399-24601-2
Less a traditional abecedary than an
original pourquois tale, Rosenthal’s lat-
est asks the question, how did the alpha-
bet come to be?
The story purports that letters (along with fire, the wheel
and shadows) were already invented when title character, Al
Pha, makes a bet with himself that he can devise the best order
for them. The king has high hopes that “once the letters are
organized, writing will really take off! Books! Poetry! Love let-
ters! Stop signs!” The illogic of this anticipation is mitigated by
the humorous tone of the text and Delphine Durand’s cartoon-
ish, acrylic illustrations, which then depict Al Pha lugging a sack
of letters home to begin to sorting them into an order largely
based on associations. “The first one was easy. He chose A, for
Al.” Later, “Feeling hungry, Al picked an apple. ‘Mmmm. Deli-
cious.’ All that mmmming led him to the next letter. And that’s
double perfect, thought Al. M for middle.” His task complete
a few spreads later, Al Pha presents the ordered letters to the
king, who sings them in sequence and then names the arrange-
ment in honor of Alpha and his bet.
A fresh take on a tried-and-true topic. (Picture book. 3-5)
THIS PLUS THAT
Life’s Little Equations
Rosenthal, Amy Krouse
Illustrator: Corace, Jen
HarperCollins (40 pp.)
$14.99 | PLB: $15.89 | May 1, 2011
978-0-06-172655-2
PLB: 978-0-06-172656-9
You don’t have to be a math whiz to enjoy these equations that
explore many aspects of a child’s daily life with surprising
results, depending on what’s added, subtracted or divided.
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 695
 One plus one does not equal two; rather, “1 + 1 = us” as two
little girls hug to become “us.” Colors blend together on the
page to show how “red + blue = purple,” “blue + yellow = green”
and “yellow + red = orange,” while droplets of each color cascade
down the page to prove that all colors added together equal a
rainbow. Altering a component triggers different results. A
“smile + wave = hello,” but a “smile + ocean wave = beach.” “Chalk
+ sitting = school,” but “chalk + jumping = hopscotch.” The mini-
malist text, presented in the form of equations, and the simple,
light-hearted watercolor, pen and ink illustrations, featuring the
same children throughout, function symbiotically. The opaque
equation “(snow + carrot) + rosy cheeks = winter” makes plenty
of sense with its illustration of a child bundled in a snowsuit
taking a bite out of a snowman’s carrot nose. Surprising in their
variety, the equations range from the sublime (“soul + color =
art”) to the ridiculous (“balloon + wind = lost”).
Clever premise + artful execution = sure winner. (Picture book. 4-8)
DIVERGENT
Roth, Veronica
Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (496 pp.)
$17.99 | May 3, 2011
978-0-06-202402-2
Cliques writ large take over in the first of
a projected dystopian trilogy.
The remnant population of post-
apocalyptic Chicago intended to cure
civilization’s failures by structuring soci-
ety into five “factions,” each dedicated
to inculcating a specific virtue. When Tris, secretly a forbidden
“Divergent,” has to choose her official faction in her 16th year,
she rejects her selfless Abnegation upbringing for the Dauntless,
admiring their reckless bravery. But the vicious initiation process
reveals that her new tribe has fallen from its original ideals, and
that same rot seems to be spreading… Aside from the prepos-
terous premise, this gritty, paranoid world is built with careful
details and intriguing scope. The plot clips along at an addictive
pace, with steady jolts of brutal violence and swoony romance.
Despite the constant assurance that Tris is courageous, clever and
kind, her own first-person narration displays a blank personality.
No matter; all the “good” characters adore her and the “bad” are
spiteful and jealous. Fans snared by the ratcheting suspense will
be unable to resist speculating on their own factional allegiance;
a few may go on to ponder the questions of loyalty and identity
beneath the façade of thrilling adventure.
Guaranteed to fly off the shelves. (Science fiction. 14 & up)
696 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
LIMOS, LATTES &
MY LIFE ON THE FRINGE
Rue, Nancy
Zondervan (241 pp.)
$9.99 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-0-310-71487-3
This high-school drama with a strong
evangelical subplot may appeal to Chris-
tian readers.
A brainy girl who’s always on the out-
side of high-school society because of
her “I’m-better-than-you” attitude finds a cause that puts her
into conflict with the popular kids who rule the school. The
wealthy “ruling class” rules the prom with their expensive and
exclusive glamour, while the “K-Mart” kids feel frozen out. Tyler,
an appealing and strong character and one of the school’s few
African-American students, sticks to her defiant streak when
she’s nominated for prom queen as a joke. Still, she realizes that
she isn’t the only student who feels left out of the prom and
organizes a campaign to bring the prom to the whole school.
However, when Patrick, the leader of the “ruling class” joins her
cause, she’s dismayed to find herself attracted to him. Mean-
while, she meets Valleri, a new student committed to Christi-
anity. Tyler finds a strange book with paranormal powers that
responds directly to her own thoughts as it explains Bibli-
cal stories of “Yeshua.” The religious subplot appears to exist
entirely to evangelize readers, but Rue works it into the book
well enough that it doesn’t interfere with the main plot until the
story veers off into melodrama in the final 30 pages.
Overall, an interesting and entertaining-enough school
story. (Christian fiction. 12 & up)
A MANGO IN THE HAND
A Story Told Through
Proverbs
Sacre, Antonio
Illustrator: Serra, Sebatsiá
Abrams (32 pp.)
$16.95 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8109-9734-9
A “story told through proverbs” could easily go terribly wrong,
but this sweet tale succeeds beautifully.
On Francisco’s feast day, Mamá and Papá plan to make ropa
vieja, tostones and aguacate. For dessert Francisco would like
fresh-picked mangos from the tree a short walk from his home.
Finding several bees near the tree, Francisco returns empty
handed. Papá asks for an explanation. “La verdad, por dura que sea.
/ The truth, no matter how hard it is.” Francisco admits his fear of
the bees, but Papa tells him to gently shoo them away. A second
attempt results in his picking more than he can handle, making
for a gooey mess. Papá suggests one more time. “You can do it by
yourself, mi’jo / Querer es poder. / Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Francisco succeeds but on the way home generously gives all his
mangos to the neighbors. Through the little proverbs, Francisco
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 “Particularly arresting are the nighttime scenes,
the first of which shows the husband sneaking into the witch’s
enchanted garden…it is rendered in hues of purple
and blue, with black silhouettes popping out in stark contrast.”
from rapunzel
learns that life is about trying, succeeding and sharing. “Amor con
amor se paga. / Love is repaid with love.” This smoothly written
family story is filled with warmth and humor and incorporates
a blending of well-placed proverbs in both Spanish and English
to drive the story’s themes. Digitally colored pencil-and-ink car-
toon drawings reflect the lush greens of summertime and out-
door living in this intergenerational barrio.
Muy dolce. (Picture book. 5-7)
RAPUNZEL
Reteller: Sage, Alison
Illustrator: Gibb, Sarah
Whitman (32 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8075-6804-0
This gorgeous offering is a retelling of
the Brothers Grimm story with intricate
illustrations taking center stage.
Reminiscent of elaborate embroidery or tapestries, the
pictures create and sustain the tale’s magical atmosphere. Par-
ticularly arresting are the nighttime scenes, the first of which
shows the husband sneaking into the witch’s enchanted garden
in search of the plants that will cure his ailing wife; it is ren-
dered in hues of purple and blue, with black silhouettes popping
out in stark contrast. The size and layout, as well as the color, of
the illustrations vary according to the action and mood of the
story. For instance, one remarkable page is divided horizontally
into four panels; the stunning series of images in silhouette on
pastel backgrounds depicts the action described in prose on the
facing page in the manner of a graphic novel. A few pages later,
an entire two-page spread is devoted to an illustration of the
prince riding through the forest with Rapunzel’s tower in the
background. In this instance, natural colors dominate, forming
a lush background for the prince and his horse, which are ren-
dered in exquisite detail.
Children and adults alike will be spellbound, poring over
the pages again and again, delighting each time in new details
and discoveries. (Fairy tale. 6-11)
ROMEO AND JULIET
Shakespeare, William
Illustrator: Nagar, Sachin
Adaptor: McDonald, John F.
Campfire (80 pp.)
$9.99 paperback original | May 10, 2011
978-93-80028-58-3
Series: Campfire Graphic Novel Classics
A bland, uninspired graphic adaptation
of the Bard’s renowned love story.
Using modern language, McDonald
spins the well-known tale of the two
young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times oddly
psychedelic-tinged backgrounds of cool blues and purples, the
| kirkusreviews.com
mood is strange, and the overall ambiance of the story mark-
edly absent. Appealing to what could only be a high-interest/
low–reading level audience, McDonald falls short of the mark.
He explains a scene in an open-air tavern with a footnote—“a
place where people gather to drink”—but he declines to offer
definitions for more difficult words, such as “dirges.” While
the adaptation does follow the foundation of the play, the con-
temporary language offers nothing; cringeworthy lines include
Benvolio saying to Romeo at the party where he first meets
Juliet, “Let’s go. It’s best to leave now, while the party’s in full
swing.” Nagar’s faces swirl between dishwater and grotesque,
adding another layer of lost passion in a story that should boil
with romantic intensity. Each page number is enclosed in a little
red heart; while the object of this little nuance is obvious, it’s
also unpleasantly saccharine. Notes after the story include such
edifying tidbits about Taylor Swift and “ ‘Wow’ dialogs from the
play” (which culls out the famous quotes).
There are certainly better adaptations out there. (Graphic
classic. 12 & up)
THE LUCKY KIND
Sheinmel, Alyssa B.
Knopf (208 pp.)
$16.99 | PLB: $19.99
e-book: $16.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-375-86785-9
PLB: 978-0-375-96785-6
e-book: 978-0-375-89866-2
Unexpected relatives complicate a teen’s life.
In his junior year at a private school
in Manhattan, Nick’s biggest concern
is finally getting the attention of Eden, a girl he’s known since
kindergarten. Nick’s ordinary, stable home life is upended
when his father gets a phone call from a stranger named Sam.
After a tension-filled weekend, Nick’s father reveals that
Sam is the son he and his girlfriend gave up for adoption 30
years ago. Nick feels betrayed by the enormity of the secret
that his parents have kept, and his anger at them threatens
to taint his new relationship with Eden. He can’t separate
his emotions about his family from his feelings for Eden and
abruptly breaks up with her after sleeping together. His best
friend Stevie tries to point out that he’s probably afraid of
making the same mistake his father made. It’s not until Nick
meets Sam and learns the details of his non-Jewish father’s
early life in small-town Ohio that he can come to grips with
his family’s new reality. Nick is lucky in his choice of girl-
friend—Eden patiently waits for him to sort things out.
Sheinmel effectively uses a breezy, often humorous first-
person voice that’s deceptively slight in its handling of deep
issues, even as Nick does the hard emotional work to pull him-
self out of the depths of his self-pity. (Fiction. 12 & up)
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 697
 “Readers will be enchanted by the idea that the lovely
orb that shines above all the world’s peoples has engendered
so much wonder and so many rich traditions.”
from a full moon is rising
EVERFOUND
Shusterman, Neal
Simon & Schuster (512 pp.)
$17.99 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4169-9049-9
Series: The Skinjacker Trilogy, 3
Shusterman ends his provocative trilogy
with a rock-solid adventure that man-
ages to examine deep questions of faith
and morality.
At the end of Everwild (2009), Nick
the Chocolate Ogre had dissolved into a mass of chocolate pud-
ding, Mary Hightower was asleep in a glass coffin waiting to be
reborn, Allie the Outcast was strapped to the front of a run-
away train and Mikey McGill (formerly the monstrous McGill)
was searching for a way to rescue her. The adventures continue,
with Mexican Afterlight Jix joining the cast of characters as a
furjacker, slipping into the bodies of giant cats as he spies on
Mary’s army for the Mayan King. The rules of Everlost are
unique, catering to the children who go there upon death and
wait until they are ready to go into the light. But even those
rules can be overset with the introduction of Clarence, the scar
wraith, whose touch can extinguish anyone out of existence—
forever. Alliances form and melt as characters decide between
their own self-interest and what is right; the shifting third-per-
son perspective gives readers glimpses into everybody’s souls.
Rich in detail, with exceptional characterization and shot
through with unexpected (and very necessary) humor, this is an
engrossing and thoroughly satisfying ending to a unique saga of
life after death. (Science fiction. 12 & up)
THE BREAK-UP DIARIES
Simone, Ni-Ni; London, Kelli
Dafina/Kensington (288 pp.)
$9.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-0-7582-6316-2
Series: The Break-Up Diaries, Vol. 1
Lessons, frenemies and posturing
abound in this pair of novelette-length
bittersweet romances featuring Afri-
can-American teens.
Simone’s (Shortie Like Mine, 2008)
“Hot Boyz” stars confident 16-year-old Chance, who prefers
Atlanta’s rougher Bankhead neighborhood to her rich moth-
er’s gated community. After catching her “trial run” boyfriend
cheating at a Bankhead club, Chance meets her “chocolate
knight,” the handsome, hard-to-get and, as it turns out, 22-year-
old Ahmad. As their romance deepens, Chance becomes guiltily
entangled in the lies she tells both her friends and Ahmad about
their respective ages until, inevitably, a somewhat contrived
string of bad decisions brings the truth to light. In debut author
London’s “Boy Trap,” head cheerleader Gabrielle, aka Easy
Breezy, plans to follow in her mother’s footsteps: snag an NBA-
bound high-school basketballer, “trap” him by having sex and
698 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
guarantee herself a future as a millionaire. But Tyler, the baller
on whom she sets her sights, won’t take the bait. As Breezy’s
disturbingly manipulative schemes escalate, so do Tyler’s often
didactic admonishments: “First, you have to be good enough for
yourself.” The language in both stories is fresh and appealing,
filled with contemporary slang, wordplay and censor-friendly
modified curses (“Oh, hello!”), and each protagonist’s pride has
enough cracks to let the reader in.
Fun, if heavy-handed. (Fiction. 12 & up)
A FULL MOON IS RISING
Singer, Marilyn
Illustrator: Cairns, Julia
Lee & Low (48 pp.)
$19.95 | May 30, 2011
978-1-60060-364-8
A celebration of the full moon via various
cultures, countries and festivals.
Singer deftly invites readers to con-
sider and appreciate Earth’s silvery satellite through poems
written in a variety of styles that offer a glimpse of how the full
moon is enjoyed and welcomed throughout the world. Several
of the offerings reflect fascinating natural phenomena that
occur or are influenced during periods of the full moon, and
short endnotes about the poems provide helpful, contextual
information. Cairns’ cheery, childlike, energetic watercolors,
feeling the double-page spreads, make the diverse cultures
and locales come alive. Readers will be enchanted by the idea
that the lovely orb that shines above all the world’s peoples
has engendered so much wonder and so many rich traditions.
In addition to facts about the natural world, readers will learn
some interesting trivia: Who knew that when one bends over
and looks through the legs the moon looks smaller? Double-
page world maps on the endpapers that pinpoint the locales in
which the poems are set and a foreword with illustrations of
the moon’s phases in both hemispheres add to the interest and
helpfulness of this volume, enhancing its usefulness as a literary
work and a supplement to classroom studies about the moon.
Gentle and lovely, just like its inspiration. (Picture book/
poetry. 7-10)
ARE YOU GOING TO
KISS ME NOW?
Tanen, Sloane
Sourcebooks Fire (368 pp.)
$8.99 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-1-4022-5461-1
This clever comedy strands a starstruck
girl on a deserted island with major
celebrities.
Francesca, an aspiring writer who
devours tabloid journalism by the ream,
enters an essay contest and wins a trip to Africa to promote
|
literacy. She quickly learns that, far from being a dream come
true, her experience won’t be entirely pleasant. The party com-
prises two rival young actresses, both already fading from fame;
the hottest, yet not-so-very-bright teen heartthrob of the day;
a fatherly, also-fading actor who pilots the plane; the Christian
rocker illegitimate son of the fatherly actor-pilot; a TMZ-like
gay blogger; and Francesca, with her exploding red hair and
freckles. The protagonist’s six egomaniacal companions prove
mostly useless, starting with the fatherly actor who crashes
their plane, neglects to send a distress message and lets their
signal fire go out. With the only actual adult sunk in depression,
the rest act out their jealousies on each other. Francesca copes
by writing and stockpiling text messages to her best friend. The
scenario makes for some marvelous dry humor, enhanced by
Tanen’s ability to turn an original phrase: “OMG she was the
size of a lima bean.” Yes, the characters learn some important
and dramatic lessons and maturity happens, but the thrust of
this book is comedy, and it scores.
A witty winner aimed straight at reality-TV fans. (Comedy
adventure. 12 & up)
CORSETS & CLOCKWORK
13 Steampunk Romances
Editor: Telep, Trisha
RP Teens (448 pp.)
$9.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-0-7624-4092-4
Simply sticking a few gears in does not
steampunk make, no matter what the
subtitle says.
The 13 stories, from a range of
authors including several who have pre-
viously written mostly for adults, range from romance to horror,
cover a gamut of times and places and include both the sublime
and the sublimely bland. The opening story has both corsets
and clockwork but little real depth, and at least four stories are
more romantic fantasy (of varying quality) with a few elements
meant to evoke a steampunk ethos. Others take some elements
of the genre and transport it (with fair success) to the American
south of the ’50s and Nazi-occupied Poland. The best stories are
those that most closely adhere a fairly traditional definition of
steampunk in manners, machinery and punk spirit, like Frewin
Jones’ weirdly wonderful “The Cannibal Fiend of Rotherhithe,”
with its half-mer cannibal heroine and a plucky boy who might
be true love or just a snack; Adrienne Kress’ “The Clockwork
Corset,” high romance with a spunky cross-dressing heroine;
and Kiersten White’s excellent closing tale, “Tick, Tick, Boom,”
whose narrator is a machinist and noble’s daughter who falls for
an anarchist.
All in all, a diverse and too-often off-topic collection that’s
not steamy enough in either sense of the word but is partly
redeemed by a few gems. (introduction, author biographies)
(Steampunk/fantasy/romance anthology. 12 & up)
| kirkusreviews.com
THE DARK ZONE
Testa, Dom
Tor (288 pp.)
$16.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-7653-2110-7
Series: Galahad, 4
The fourth installment in Testa’s teen saga
of space exploration, the Galahad Series.
A year into their mission to establish
a new home for humankind beyond the
edge of the known universe, the crew of
the Galahad has had their share of trials. There hasn’t been
much time to deal with the usual issues of teen angst and first
loves, but that doesn’t mean these aren’t part of the mix. Deal-
ing with relationships is the central issue in this outing, from
friendship to love to loss. Most importantly, how does the
team build a relationship with a new species? Vulturelike crea-
tures appear, pace and then attach themselves to the outer hull
of the ship. Are they a threat? Mere observers? Perhaps they
are messengers…but from whom and from where? The Coun-
cil has to put aside their personal considerations to resolve the
best course of action—for the ship and the crew, their mis-
sion and all that remains of humanity. Slow to start, this book
regains momentum halfway through to race toward an open
conclusion. With only two more books in the series, the next
installment should pick up the pace.
Dedicated fans of the series will appreciate it, but it prob-
ably won’t win new converts. (Science fiction. 12 & up)
THE BOOK WITH A HOLE
Tullet, Hervé
Illustrator: Tullet, Hervé
Abrams (96 pp.)
$14.50 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-1-85437-946-7
Deliciously interactive and profoundly
immersive, this book provides rich imagi-
native play from cover to cover.
The cover is red, black and white, with a substantial diecut
half-circle void bisecting its spine. The pages are just black
and white. Each spread has an irresistible circular hole in its
middle and a few black lines to make an image for its ques-
tion. “What are you going to cook?” invites readers to see the
hole as the opening of a pot, with savory steam rising from
it. The hole becomes the mouth of a three-eyed creature, the
stomach of a dyspeptic gentleman (“what did he eat too much
of?”) and then the expansive middle of a cheery pregnant
woman (“Did she eat too much, too?”) Readers can put their
own heads in the holes to be king or queen or build their own
block skyscraper through a hole that’s surrounded by them.
There’s a game board—with the hole of course—to make up
your own rules. Readers are invited to toss a crumpled sheet of
paper through a hole to shoot baskets or to make a trunk for
an elephant with their arms. Sometimes the black-and-white
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 699
 k i r k u s q & a w i t h
p h i l b i l d n e r
He may not be in front of a classroom on a
daily basis anymore (he taught most recently at P.S.
333, a junior high in Manhattan), but Phil Bildner
still loves to teach. With his picture books about
baseball and its legendary players, he may well have
attracted a whole new generation of sports fans.
THE UNFORGETTABLE Kirkus talked with him about his latest pic-
SEASON: The Story ture book, The Unforgettable Season: The Story of
of Joe Dimaggio, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and the Record-Setting
Ted Williams and Summer of ’41, illustrated by S.D. Schindler, why he
The Record-Setting believes those 1941 records still stand, why he loves
Summer Of ’41 baseball and why this should not be labeled “the
Phil Bildner steroid era.”
Putnam
$16.99 Q: What attracted you to the summer of 1941 and the two
March 3, 2011 records achieved by Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams?
9780399255014
A: I think it was a combination of elements that
brought me to this story. I was looking for one
that hadn’t been done before, or not as often. The
Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is obviously well known,
but these two men were heroes and went on to be
WWII heroes as well.
Q: And, just to be clear, Ted Williams was not the first to
maintain a .400 batting average through an entire sea-
son, but he was the last. Correct?
A: Correct. He’s the last one to do it. People
openly wonder if in this media age it’s possible to
accomplish it again. When Barry Bonds was chas-
ing [Roger Maris’] home-run record, and when
[Mark] McGwire and [Sammy] Sosa were going
after it, it was a media circus. I think today it
would be overwhelming. Once it got to 35 or 40
hits, every at-bat would be tweeted. Would they be
pitched to? Would they get days off? Every game
would be on ESPN instead of local networks—like
when Hideki Matsui first came to the U.S. [from
Japan, to play for the Yankees], and everywhere he
went he was “Godzilla.”
Q: After DiMaggio’s 55-game-hit-streak-ending game in
Cleveland, he went on to another 16-game hitting streak
that season. DiMaggio would hit safely in 72 of 73 games,
another record. How do you decide what to include and
what to leave out?
A: The Yankees went on to play in the World
Series that year and that was originally in the
book. There were other individual stories about
DiMaggio and Williams, and we had to decide
what to keep in and what to leave out. The fact
that they came together in the All-Star Game
in such a way [Williams hit a home run to win
the game for the American League; one of the
runners to score on that hit was DiMaggio]. If
700 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
it weren’t nonfiction, it would be hard to believe
that it worked out that way.
Q: How did you work with Steve [S.D.] Schindler?
A: How wonderful are the illustrations? They’re
beautiful but in an understated way. That was
one of the fun things! Since it’s nonfiction, the
amount of fact-checking that went into this—
down to what color uniform and what hats they
were wearing. There’s an element of playfulness
in some of the games in Fenway Park. Steve
didn’t use the actual advertisements because we
weren’t sure about rights issues, so he used KAY-
IX for the dog food with the Roman numeral for
“9.” He had some fun with it also. I enjoyed the
research. You uncover things when you double-
check the facts—like the fact that Jo DiMaggio’s
bat was stolen [during his hitting streak]! That’s
the type of thing that will leap off the page when
a kid is reading it.
Q: You end with some of baseball’s all-time great stats,
including Maris breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record.
Do you think there should be a caveat, to note that Maris
broke the record the first year the baseball season was
extended from 154 to 162 games?
A: I think Roger Maris’ record is completely legiti-
mate and doesn’t need an asterisk.
Q: Do you think that those playing in the past decade
should be labeled with “the steroid era”?
A: I think it already is [labeled that way] and many
people do. I don’t think you “officially” do it.
When did it start, when does it end? Do you just
label steroids, or human growth hormone? In the
’80s, everyone was all jacked up on greenies. It
was commonplace to use amphetamines and mari-
juana. For the pitchers in the 1960s, the mound
was higher. Do you want to say they were pitching
in an era that was pitcher-friendly? I think we all
talk about it and people are aware of it. The long
and short of it is, “No.”
I take a stand by not talking about the Barry
Bonds’ [home run] record. Its absence speaks for
itself. If someone wants to bring it up, I feel I’ve done
my job as an author. I look at my books as a launch-
ing point. It’s a great place to start a discussion. That’s
what I hope to do with a lot of my books.
P H OTO BY JUS T IN B IS H OP
|
 “Indolent, irascible and utterly irresistible,
Fuddles is the undisputed focus of every scene in this hilarious
reminder to stick with a good thing when you’ve got it.”
from fuddles
lines become patters with no text, leaving youngsters to ask
their own questions about that hole.
Most apps have a long way to go before they will be as artful
and engaging as this interactive wonder. (Picture book. 3-8)
POINDEXTER
MAKES A FRIEND
Twohy, Mike
Illustrator: Twohy, Mike
Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.)
$15.99 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4424-0965-1
Poindexter is a pig with a problem: He is shy.
Cartoonlike illustrations show this
earnest hero alternately hiding and playing alone, a bit lonely
but still independent. Various animals from the neighborhood
would like to be his friend, but Poindexter only watches through
his window as they pass by, excusing himself when they ask him
to join them. Mostly Poindexter stays safely ensconced in his
room, reading stories to his stuffed animals, or enjoying himself
in the library, reading alone or helping out the librarian. One
day, a frightened turtle named Shelby ventures into the library,
and the librarian encourages Poindexter to help him find a book
on how to make friends. Together, the two read the book and
follow its rules by smiling, introducing themselves, sharing and
being nice to each other. They are even able to use their new
skills to help another library patron. By the end, Shelby has
come out of his shell both figuratively and literally, and the two
make plans to meet the next day and read a book together on a
common interest (stuffed animals). The brief, straightforward
text is well matched to the expansive, gently funny illustrations.
A sweet story with a satisfying ending, this provides some con-
crete ideas that can help a child make friends and may draw the
shyest youngsters out from under their shells. (Picture book. 3-6)
FUDDLES
Vischer, Frans
Illustrator: Vischer, Frans
Aladdin (32 pp.)
$15.99 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4169-9155-7
A pampered, protected house cat turns
outdoor adventurer when he escapes
into the front yard of his residential
neighborhood and encounters reality.
Fat, flaccid and totally spoiled by his family, feline Fuddles
lives a life filled with eating, sleeping and the occasional litter-box
trip. When he finally opts for adventure, Fuddles discovers he’s
not allowed outside. Obsessed with going out and fighting the
foes he knows await, Fuddles initiates a “strict exercise regime.”
Eventually Fuddles spies an open front door, darts outside and
loses no time leaping after birds on the porch, where his tubbiness
weighs him down. He tries chasing squirrels but can’t claw his way
| kirkusreviews.com
up a tree. His catnap in the neighbor’s yard turns into a harrow-
ing flight from an aggressive dog, leaving Fuddles lost without his
litter box as night descends. Scared and lonely, missing his family
and feeling hungry, Fuddles learns the hard way there’s no place
like home. Digitally rendered, comical illustrations trace Fuddles’
journey from spa-like existence in tub and hammock to his feeble
fitness training with scratching post and toy mouse to the reality
of his outdoor adventure, punctuated by indignant falls, futile
clawing, frantic flight and fearful search for home.
Indolent, irascible and utterly irresistible, Fuddles is the
undisputed focus of every scene in this hilarious reminder to
stick with a good thing when you’ve got it. (Picture book. 4-7)
BETWEEN TWO ENDS
Ward, David
Amulet/Abrams (304 pp.)
$16.95 | May 1, 2011
978-0-8109-9714-1
A book about a book within a book.
Years ago William and Shari wished
themselves into a book, the unabridged
version of 1,001 Arabian Nights, and
although William wished himself back,
he is consumed with guilt because Shari
stayed, as the character Shaharazad. Twenty years later, William’s
anguish has brought his family to the brink of dissolving. In a last-
ditch attempt to hold it all together, they visit his boyhood home,
the scene of the mysterious events. His son Yeats becomes the
vessel for restoring Shari to the real world. It all involves wishes,
magic bookends, pirates, danger, intrigue and imagination. Yeats
is very much the hero of the piece, absorbing and responding to
every impossible, fantastic occurrence with ingenuity and spirit.
Ward presents just enough of an outline of the traditional Arabian
Nights frame story to set the stage for modern readers, while cre-
ating his own fantasy within the fantasy to grab their attention.
But there is a lack of consistency in the framework of his fantasy
world, especially in its treatment of time. The supporting char-
acters are not all fully developed, especially Shari, who, although
she is the focus of the whole endeavor, remains insubstantial.
The conclusion allows little time for emotional denoue-
ment and strongly hints at a possible sequel. A fast-paced but
flawed adventure. (Fantasy. 10-12)
ELLRAY JAKES IS
NOT A CHICKEN!
Warner, Sally
Illustrator: Harper, Jamie
Viking (144 pp.)
$14.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-670-06243-0
Series: EllRay Jakes, Vol. 1
The creator of the series about third-
grader Emma McGraw (Only Emma, 2005,
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 701
 “In a build-up that explores the process of grief, second chances
and even the meaning of life, Cullen’s and Cabot’s worlds slowly
intersect and solve the mystery of Gabriel’s disappearance in
this multilayered debut for sophisticated readers.”
from where things come back
etc.) focuses on a new character here: EllRay Jakes, one of
Emma’s classmates.
EllRay, a likable everykid with a sense of humor, is getting
picked on; he doesn’t know why, nor what to do about it. Ell-
Ray’s voice is chatty and authentic, especially in articulating
kids’ and adults’ perceptions of the playground dynamic: “Ms.
Sanchez is smart about what goes on inside her classroom, but
she doesn’t know what goes on outside—before school and
during nutrition break, lunch and afternoon recess. And out-
side is when school really happens for kids.” When bully Jared
reveals he’s after EllRay because EllRay once hurt his feelings,
it feels a bit pat, although the resolution is realistic: The boys
don’t become best friends, but they learn to get along. EllRay
is African-American in a predominantly white school; race is
addressed openly here (he sometimes wishes there were more
kids who look like him; his father suspects—incorrectly—that
race is the reason EllRay is getting teased) without serving as
the main issue, which is refreshing.
EllRay’s struggles and eventual success coping with bully-
ing, a hot-button topic, ring true, and kids who enjoyed previ-
ous Emma stories will appreciate this take from the boys’ side.
(Fiction. 7-11)
NERD CAMP
Weissman, Elissa Brent
Atheneum (272 pp.)
$15.99 | May 24, 2011
978-1-4424-1703-8
Gabe is torn between his enthusiasm for
a summer residential program for gifted
children and his fear that his new, cool
stepbrother-to-be will find out he’s a nerd.
Just his age, 11, Zack seems like the
ideal sibling to Gabe, who has always
wanted one. But surfer-boy Zack really doesn’t like nerds. All
the things Gabe enjoys—math team, reading and the gifted
program—Zack describes as weird. Luckily, sleep-away camp
impresses him. Episodic chapters combine camp scenes, letters
home and a growing chart of the things Gabe’s done he can tell
Zack about and the geeky details that he can’t. The third-per-
son narration describes the fun of a camp where students write
poetry, solve problems and investigate lice with microscopes
and also swim, kayak, play sports and compete in a Color War.
While Gabe is trying to present six weeks of camp activities in
the best light for Zack, he’s also choosing them in order to avoid
fellow-camper Amanda, a girl who seems to be stalking him but
turns out to be someone who could be a friend. The author sets
up the thematic conflict believably, but the contrast between
Gabe’s enjoyment and his social fears gets tiresome. The pro-
testing goes on too long, the resolution is pat and the author’s
hand and purpose seems evident.
This celebration of summer camp and geekiness tries too
hard. (Fiction. 9-12)
702 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com
WHERE THINGS COME BACK
Whaley, John Corey
Atheneum (240 pp.)
$16.99 | May 3, 2011
978-1-4424-1333-7
If extinct woodpeckers can come back,
can people, too?
In Lily, Ark., “the land that time for-
got,” cynical 17-year-old Cullen Witter,
who likes to jot down titles for books he
intends to write and pines for Ada Taylor
(Lily’s “black widow” because all of her boyfriends have died
in accidents), narrates his unforgettable summer after senior
year. Following the overdose death of his cousin, some “ass-hat”
ornithologist claims that the Lazarus woodpecker (based on the
Lord God Bird) has resurfaced after 60 years of extinction. It’s
hard for Cullen to enjoy the frenzy and hope it brings his small
town when the woodpecker receives more media coverage than
his younger brother, Gabriel, who has inexplicably disappeared.
Alternating chapters with Cullen’s account is a third-person nar-
ration about Benton Sage, an 18-year-old missionary to Ethiopia.
He discovers the Book of Enoch, an ancient text not included in
the traditional Bible, which describes Archangel Gabriel’s role
of ridding Earth of fallen angels. Benton’s secret journal about
Enoch falls into the possession of his college-freshman room-
mate, Cabot Searcy, whose curiosity turns into an obsession. In
a build-up that explores the process of grief, second chances
and even the meaning of life, Cullen’s and Cabot’s worlds slowly
intersect and solve the mystery of Gabriel’s disappearance in
this multilayered debut for sophisticated readers.
Unexpected, thought-provoking storytelling. (Fiction. 14 & up)
HOORAY FOR AMANDA
& HER ALLIGATOR!
Willems, Mo
Illustrator: Willems, Mo
Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (72 pp.)
$17.99 | May 1, 2011
978-0-06-200400-0
An exploration of the nature of surprises between good friends.
The point of view belongs firmly with Amanda’s stuffed
alligator, whose patience wears thin whenever Amanda is away
and he is waiting for her return, and whose generosity is taxed
when Amanda brings home a new stuffed panda from a zoo visit.
Resourceful Amanda plows through a stack of library books
with enticing titles (Whale Songs for Beginners; You Can Make It
Yourself: Jet Packs!) as her alligator thinks of ways to engage her
attention. When Alligator begins chewing on Amada’s head,
she tells him “Books beat boredom,” but he still thinks her
head tastes better than a book. Alligator’s worry over his price
tag (he came from the sale bin) and the introduction of the new
“friend” add emotional complexity to the simple friendship tale.
The pacing, word volume and wide trim size are all inviting
and encouraging, bringing readers close to the cozy friendship
|
between Amanda and her impatient stuffed friend. The figures
are set against plenty of white space, giving them an appealing
kinetic energy and encouraging the eye to move, or sometimes
gallop, across the page.
Silly, warm and inviting, the six-and-1/2 short episodic chap-
ters are just right for reading aloud as well as for beginning read-
ers who are steady on their reading feet. (Picture book. 3-7)
CAPTURED
Wood, Maggie L.
Lobster Press (288 pp.)
$12.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-1-77080-071-7
Series: The Divided Realms, Vol. I
This sweet, exciting fantasy finds a lonely
15-year-old girl suddenly transported to
a magical realm where she’s a princess
with a dangerous mission.
Willow has been raised by her Nana,
whom Willow thinks is her grandma but really is her nurse
from the magical realm of Mistolear. When Nana dies, Willow
touches a glowing crystal that whooshes her home, where she
learns that she is literally a pawn in a life-and-death chess game
played with real people who are frozen into chess pieces when
captured. Nana taught Willow to be a good chess player, and she
can see no way for her side to win the game. Worse, she learns
that she must fight the evil magical overlord who is controlling
events, but she doesn’t know any magic. Wood builds the stan-
dard fantasy medieval world, complete with towering, turreted
castles, dark cobblestone streets and bright costumes with huge,
trailing sleeves, and she’s also careful to include the overpower-
ing garbage smells and starving peasants. She keeps the action
moving, throwing in plenty of wry comedy, a classic hates-him-
at-first-but-it’s-love romance and a couple of originally drawn
sidekicks. If the adults come off as a bit stereotypical, the ado-
lescent heroes make up for it with verve. The magic and the liv-
ing chess game work well.
A successful kickoff to this new series. (Fantasy. 12 & up)
THE DARKENING
Wood, Maggie L.
Lobster Press (288 pp.)
$12.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011
978-1-77080-072-4
Series: The Divided Realms, 2
This second installment of Wood’s fan-
tasy series finds Princess Willow battling
goblins and various demons even as she
attempted by the attentions of her sworn
knight, Brand, and an enticing faery, Theon.
As promised by the title, this story takes a grimmer tone
than the first, but the author eventually lightens the mood with
winning comedy from goblin children. This time Willow travels
| kirkusreviews.com
to the faery realm, but when Brand breaks the all-important
rules by stowing away in her magical transport spell, the faer-
ies turn the pair over to the dark lord Jarlath Thornheart, who
throws them into the terrifying goblin’s gauntlet. Thornheart’s
twins, Dacia and Theon, accompany them, but Willow doesn’t
trust them even though their magical powers are held in abey-
ance during the game. Various magical beasts attack. When tiny
goblins try to gnaw the adventurers to death, however, Willow
takes control. With their fractured English and irrepressible
spirits, the little goblins, especially Pitt, the heir to the goblin
throne, steal much of the show. Wood takes her time getting to
the gauntlet game as she builds a back story for the dark faer-
ies and, curiously, keeps returning to a bodily waste–elimination
motif. Finally in the gauntlet, Willow realizes her powers and
makes major moral choices.
Although slower than the first installment this story remains
entertaining; here’s hoping the little goblins become recurring
characters. (Fantasy. 10 & up)
NO ONE BUT YOU
Wood, Douglas
Illustrator: Lynch, P.J.
Candlewick (32 pp.)
$16.99 | May 10, 2011
978-0-7636-3848-1
Wood and Lynch pair once more (Gran-
dad’s Prayers of the Earth, 1999) to cele-
brate the simple joys of individual moments.
Every action, whether it be smelling the earth after a rain
shower or savoring the first bite of a red, ripe strawberry, is
unique and personal. “There are so mavny things in the world, /
so many important things / to be taught, / to be shown” Wood
imparts, “But the best things… / No one can discover them but
you.” Children strive to find a place in the world where they
feel significant. Allowing them to own these moments, and
cherish them, is an important step, and Wood’s articulation of
this truth should strike chords of recognition in both children
and adults. Lynch’s softly smudged oil paintings, drenched in
sun- and moonlight, match the gentle flow of this sensory walk
through nature. City-dwellers may not have experienced all of
these specific actions, but they should feel encouraged to come
up with a list of their own.
A touching and genuine exhortation that just teeters on
the edge of sentimentality but is lifted by a strong purpose:
Self-discovery can be found in the most surprisingly simple of
moments. (Picture book. 6 & up)
| children & teens | 15 april 2011 | 703
 I KICK THE BALL /
PATEO EL BALÓN k i r k u s r o u n d-u p
Zepeda, Gwendolyn
Illustrator: Torrecilla, Pablo
Piñata Books/Arté Público (32 pp.)
continuing series
$16.95 | May 31, 2011
978-1-55885-688-2

With an underlying message of good nutrition and daily exercise, FIBBLE: The Fourth THE DRAGON IN
Zepeda introduces a young boy struggling to balance school and Circle of Heck THE VOLCANO:
chores with his dreams of future soccer stardom. Basye, Dale E. Dragon Keepers, #4
After school, Toñito is on his suburban front lawn with his Illus. by Bob Dob Klimo, Kate
soccer ball. Lost in a fantasy world, he runs as fast as a race car, Random (384 pp.) Illus. by John Shroades
kicks his ball high in the sky and jumps as high as a fish. He is $16.99 | PLB $19.99 Random (240 pp.)
playing soccer before imaginary cheering crowds when he finally May 24, 2011 $15.99 | PLB $18.99
hears his mother’s call of “Toñito! TOÑITO! Luis Antonio!” ISBN: 978-0-375-85678-5 May 24, 2011
Toñito completes his homework and willingly eats his dinner of PLB: 978-0-375-95678-2 ISBN: 978-0-375-86692-0
chicken, cabbage, spinach, rice and fruit, describing how each of (Fiction. 9-13) PLB: 978-0-375-96692-7
these foods fuels “his soccer machine.” Soon it is time for bed, (Fantasy. 8-12)
where the young boy’s active imagination carries over into his
dreams. The first-person tale concludes with Toñito’s oppor- THE DISCOVERY:
tune realization that he can attain his dreams if he maintains Ghost Huntress, #5 DEAD IS NOT
his healthy lifestyle. Torrecilla’s vibrant full-page, animation- Gibson, Marley AN OPTION
inspired illustrations often feature multiple dynamic versions of Graphia (264 pp.) Dead Is…, #5
Toñito, mirroring the energetic and occasionally onomatopoeic $8.99 paperback original | Perez, Marlene
text. On facing pages, smaller illustrations separate bilingual text May 2, 2011 Graphia (252 pp.) | $7.99
blocks (English over Spanish), which vary in length, complexity ISBN: 978-0-547-39308-7 paperback original
and subtlety. Bilingual text, a focus on the imagination and inven- (Paranormal romance. 12 & up) May 2, 2011
tive visual elements save this story from the overt didacticism ISBN: 978-0-547-34593-2
typical in health and nutrition picture books. (Paranormal mystery. 12 & up)
A good bet for young soccer fans. (Picture book. 4-8) MOSQUITOES ARE
RUINING MY SUMMER!:
And Other Silly Dilly I SO DON’T
Camp Songs DO FAMOUS
Katz, Alan I So Don’t Do..., #4
Illus. by David Catrow Summy, Barrie
McElderry (32 pp.) Delacorte (304 pp.)
$16.99 | May 3, 2011 $16.99 | PLB $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-4169-5568-9 May 10, 2011
(Picture book/poetry. 4-8) ISBN: 978-0-385-73790-6
PLB: 978-0-385-90699-9
(Paranormal mystery. 10-14)

This Issue’s Contributors

#
Kim Becnel • Marcie Bovetz • Sophie Brookover • Louise Brueggemann • Timothy
Capehart • Louise Capizzo • Julie Cummins • Katie Day • GraceAnne A. DeCandido
• Dave DeChristopher • Elise DeGuiseppi • Lisa Dennis • Diane B. Foote • Barbara A.
Genco • Judith Gire • Carol Goldman • Heather L. Hepler • Megan Honig • Jennifer
Hubert • Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Betsy Judkins • Deborah Kaplan •
K. Lesley Knieriem • Robin Fogle Kurz • Megan Lambert • Angela Leeper • Lori Low •
Joan Malewitz • Jeanne McDermott • Kathie Meizner • Lisa Moore • R. Moore • John
Edward Peters • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Kristy Raff ensberger • Nancy Thalia Reynolds
• Lesli Rodgers • Leslie L. Rounds • Ann Marie Sammataro • Mindy Schanback • Dean
Schneider • Chris Shoemaker • Karyn N. Silverman • Robin Smith • Rita Soltan • Edward
T. Sullivan • Jennifer Sweeney • Deborah D. Taylor • Monica D. Wyatt

704 | 15 april 2011 | children & teens | kirkusreviews.com |

kirkus indie
Kirkus has been keeping an eye on self-publish-
ing ever since we started our Kirkus Discoveries
program in 2005. Two years later, authors were
self-publishing about 125,000 books annually.
In 2009, the number had tripled. In 2010, that
number passed the 1 million mark.
And it’s not just the number of books
being self-published that’s staggering. As
technology advances, particularly in the
realm of e-books, independent authors
are finding larger and larger audiences.
J.A. Konrath reports daily sales of over
1,800 copies. Amanda Hocking sold
450,000 e-books in a month.
The age of indie has truly arrived.
As the times have changed, so has Kirkus.
Kirkus Discoveries is now Kirkus Indie, and
at kirkusreviews.com, you’ll find an “Indie”
section right alongside “Fiction,” “Nonfic-
tion” and other traditional publishing catego-
ries. We don’t care how books are produced.
We just want to let you know about them.
Take this issue’s interview with Fred-
ric Maffei. The Arizona-based author has
| kirkusreviews.com
submitted four of his books to Kirkus Indie
or Kirkus Discoveries, and we’ve enjoyed
each one. We’ve shared our reviews of his
works in our newsletters and on our web-
site, but we love talking to writers as much
as you love reading about them, so we bent
Maffei’s ear and he bent ours right back.
Kirkus Indie brings readers the best
works by independent authors, and we
bring independent authors the crucial tools
to get the word out about their books like
no one else. We’ll give your book an unbi-
ased, professional review, and then you’ll
have the option to have that review posted
on our website where it will stand along-
side traditionally published books, greatly
improving your book’s chances of being
discovered by readers.
To learn more about Kirkus Indie and
start promoting your title, please visit us
online at kirkusreviews.com/indie/about.
| kirkus indie | 15 april 2011 | 705
 A ROSE FOR MY MOTHER
Canfield, Nancy Lee
iUniverse (300 pp.)
$31.95 | $21.95 paperback | June 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-1450231251
Paper: 978-1450231237
An account of one woman’s turbulent
childhood and her paranormal awakening.
Canfield’s parents Ralph and Lor-
raine meet as teenagers in South Buffalo
and quickly create a large family when
children keep arriving despite the pair’s inability to care for
them, either financially or emotionally. Even when Ralph had
steady work at an arms plant during World War II, money was
tight, and as work dries up after the war, the family’s situation
deteriorates. Ralph and Lorraine argue and drink too much,
leaving the children to largely fend for themselves. The fam-
ily splits up, and Nancy Lee is sent to live with her aunt and
abusive uncle for a short stint before being placed in numer-
ous foster homes and eventually an orphanage. After a few
years, the family reunites underneath one roof, but Nancy Lee
is much changed, scarred by her experiences. She eventually
marries the first man she meets, who is 23 to her 17, out of a
clear desire to escape the highly toxic and dysfunctional fam-
ily home. By 20, Nancy Lee is the mother of three children
and the wife of a man who physically and verbally abuses her.
Knowing that she is trapped, she repeatedly tells her husband
that one day she will leave him. After 20-plus years, Nancy Lee
finally keeps her promise and files for divorce, explaining that
a key component in her ability to make such a bold move is
the inner strength she has developed through harnessing her
paranormal sensitivities; Nancy Lee is a highly sensitive per-
son with psychic abilities, signs of which are seen throughout
her childhood. The author’s tell-it-like-it-was memoir is mov-
ing because of its lack of sentimentality; she neither demon-
izes nor idealizes her parents and depicts the people in her
life so vividly that at times it’s easy to forget that this startling
tale is nonfiction. While the paranormal details, coupled with
some purple prose, may make the book hard for some read-
ers to swallow, on the whole, Canfield’s story is an incredible
account of childhood neglect and her power to triumph in a
life riddled with obstacles.
An inspirational, unsentimental tale of overcoming the odds.
706 | 15 april 2011 | kirkus indie | kirkusreviews.com
ALL RISE
Doughtie, Nath
Trafford (306 pp.)
$21.05 paperback | May 14, 2007
ISBN: 978-1425103590
Retired jurist Doughtie presents a twisty legal
drama of nasty doings in northern Florida.
Judge Alva “AC” Cason sits on the
bench of Florida’s Eighth Judicial Cir-
cuit, hearing and passing judgment on
the miseries spilled out in the family
division. Much of the business is sad
but tedious: “He thought he could do this job in his sleep,
but remembered he sometimes did just that, which was gen-
erally frowned upon.” Doughtie is having fun here, for AC
is drawn as a warm and decent man, learned, confident and
ethical, informed but not flouting. He is a rich character, as
are the other principals, whose complexity gives the story
its pleasing misdirection and color. Doughtie ably handles
a number of strands—an increasingly ugly child dependency
case, a crooked judge, rich folks ruining everything, a con
man overstepping his moral boundaries and a surging roman-
tic relationship between AC and caseworker—as he authenti-
cally engages the legal system. It is clear that Doughtie loves
the legal profession, though he is not above teasing it: “Judge
AC tried to exhibit the concerned expression of a person
with hemorrhoids”; he revels in explaining courtroom minu-
tiae with expository narrative that only feels forced when he
takes it outside judicial business, as when detailing the con
man’s tricks. Equal to, if not transcending, the legal aspects
of the story is the love affair of AC and Vicky, sweetly and
very physically presented, yet, thankfully, unlike the law,
not minutely. Indeed, Doughtie keeps the tale quite every-
day, avoiding the theatrical and extravagant, but allowing
for him to give time pondering such elements as the Florida
landscape that he loves as much as the law: turkey oaks and
wiregrass, the rosemary bushes and tumbledown farms, the
dozy inland river ways and the pencil factory that ate all the
cedars. The final pages offer a dumbfounding surprise, and
an emotional cliffhanger.
Doughtie has tendered an understated, sophisticated, reveal-
ing legal entertainment that leaves the reader wanting more.
|
 CROSSING CAINE’S
ROAD
Hinton, Maggie
Trafford (442 pp.)
$27.26 paperback | January 30, 2007
ISBN: 978-1412098410
Love and second chances sprout like
fragile desert wildflowers in this win-
some romance.
With her husband in a coma for six
years now, Melanie Greyson figures it’s
time to start over, so she packs up and moves to the northern
Arizona village of Buena Suerte to take a teaching job. Her
three kids—especially 17-year-old daughter K.C, dragged away
from her friends and trumpet lessons during her senior year—
are not amused when they see the tiny burg and the flyblown
trailer in which they’ll be living. The Greysons’ malaise lifts,
though, when Jesse Cockran, the school’s new music teacher,
complete with pony tail, piercing blue eyes, well-muscled frame
and haunting trumpet technique, roars up on his Harley and
moves in across the street. Soon Jesse is flirting up a storm with
Melanie and inspiring K.C., who finds her dreamboat in foot-
ball captain Cooke Nasby, a soulful if sometimes exasperating
boy from the Apache reservation. As Melanie and K.C. plunge
into their sometimes tender, sometimes testy romances—the
one young and passionate, the other mature and much more
passionate—readers will settle happily in with their engaging
story, which the author tells with a good feel for the tingling
excitement, awkward hesitancies and sudden abandon of new
love. Alas, complications both external and internal threaten
their bliss: K.C. and Cooke confront the minefield of sex, Jesse
battles a hostile school board president and a junkie, harridan
ex-wife, and Melanie finds herself torn between her raging
attraction to Jesse and her loyalty to her husband—a dilemma
made more agonizing by family pressure to pull the plug. In her
first novel, Hinton strikes a nice balance between realism and
melodrama. She writes a supple prose and populates her small
but by no means insignificant town with vivid characters pos-
sessing rich, complex emotional lives. We can’t help rooting for
Melanie and K.C. as they fight their way through the tug-of-war
between desire and responsibility.
A fine debut, written with style and heart.
CHANGING THE
CONVERSATION:
Transformational
Steps to Financial and
Family Well-Being
Klaben, Gary
Navigator (304 pp.) | $24.95
October 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0982800904
A refreshingly philosophical perspective
on the real meaning of money and worth.
| kirkusreviews.com
If Klaben has set out to change the way the American con-
sumer defines financial well-being, this book is an excellent
foundation. While it is more concerned with philosophical or
spiritual issues than with simply doling out financial advice—
though Klaben is a financial adviser—the book is no less useful
as a guide to gaining control over money. Klaben talks at length
about “KASH,” which stands for Knowledge, Attitude, Skills
and Habits. Most important in the formula is Attitude; the
secret to successful achievement in anything, says the author,
is “a consistent strong purpose and positive attitude.” The
advice is clearly intended to guide the reader not just toward
better financial control, but better control of his or her life. The
author imparts a good deal of wisdom and urges the reader to
write down goals as a way to “define our purpose and achieve our
destination.” He implores readers to follow a moral compass
because “doing the correct thing is what defines who we are.”
According to Klaben, sound financial decision-making follows
three simple guidelines: sufficiency, sustainability and appropri-
ateness. He speaks of having mentors, being a “chief,” making
our own luck and keeping the focus on the simple. He says when
it comes to challenges and setbacks, “Bad news does not define
us. How we react to bad news is what defines us.” In the end,
Klaben says, there are only three stages of life: learning, earn-
ing and yearning. “Mastering money,” says the author, “is a life-
long journey.” Those looking for an easy path to the selection of
appropriate investments or extending one’s wealth through the
retirement years will not find that here. But this book will pro-
vide a fresh way of viewing one’s own financial future. In fact,
this is a book that may very well cause the reader to rethink his
or her value system and redefine “worth.”
A thoughtful, engaging book with a lasting impact.
SIRENS’ SONGS: Livre
D’Artiste Facsimile
Stevens, Elisabeth
BrickHouse (88 pp.)
$18.00 paperback | February 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1935916031
A compact yet thematically and sty-
listically wide-ranging verse collec-
tion that contains lyrical and nuanced
explorations of love, power, imper-
manence and aging.
The sea washes through this collection, not as a fixed sym-
bol, but rather as something as capricious and mutable as life
itself. Its currents may represent irresistible forces of attrac-
tion (“Siren’s Song”); its depths, the generative source of life
(“The Mermaid’s Tale”); its tides, the vicissitudes of aging (“I’d
Hate to See My Love Grow Old”); and its unyielding forces, a
threat to reclaim what it has birthed (“The Sea Dance,” “First
Marriage”). Out of fear, love or simply wonder these narrators
hold fast to the sight of the sea, by turns flailing to escape its
currents or submersing themselves in its solemn, primordial
metaphors. Not surprisingly for a volume drenched in super-
latively feminine associations, these poems have much to say
| kirkus indie | 15 april 2011 | 707
 k i r k u s q & a w i t h
f r e d r i c m a f f e i

Fredric Maffei was a professional musi-
cian at 15, served four years in the Navy during the
Vietnam War and lived in Hollywood for far too long.
These varied experiences work their way into his
novels, four of which have received strong reviews
from Kirkus, largely because of their sly humor, well-
drawn characters and social acuity. Here, he talks to
us about his work and the writing life.
at 15, boozing it up with a couple of friends at Sugar
Hill, that tiniest of jazz clubs in Newark, New Jersey.
And joining us at our table between sets, the lovely
Billie Holiday. There’s always a sigh after that par-
ticular memory, to have been so honored. But even
so, the “memoir” stands. It’s in the between-lines of
everything I write. But good luck ferreting me out. I
doubt even I could do it.

Q: With two of your books, And of the Holy Ghost and
Divinely Smitten, religion, spirituality and magic realism
feature prominently. What interests you about those topics?
A: The big question first? Before I’ve even had a
DIVINELY SMITTEN chance to warm up? But I do think it goes a lot fur-
Fredric Maffei ther than mere interest—that each of us is obliged,
CreateSpace finally, to somehow place him- or herself in the grand
$12.95 paperback scheme of things. I mean, until we do that—figure
November 2009 out the nature of that fine little silken strand we’re
978-1449577360 hanging from—nothing makes any sense. And while
I’m hanging from that same strand just like everyone
else, as a writer I try to play with it as interestingly
and provocatively as I can, reeling it in here, letting
it out there. Maybe even attach a yoyo to the thing,
ratchet it down a notch from the dire seriousness of
it all, Christ help us… or Buddha… or somebody!
Q: Your book about Hollywood, All the Little Sparrows,
seems very well informed of how showbiz operates. Do you
K I R K US M E DI A L L C have some personal experience there?
#
President
A: Actually, it couldn’t be more impersonal, which is
M A RC W I N K E L M A N to say all secondhand. But I was hooked from that
first Disney film. Later, there was that quite impres-
SVP, Finance
JA M E S H U L L sive stack of screenplays I’d written, letters sent,
rejections received… and that I lived in Hollywood
SVP, Marketing
MIK E HEJ N Y far too many years… and that I once passed Kirk
Douglas going one way on the sidewalk while I was
SVP, Online
PAU L H O F F M A N
going the other. I’m sorry, but all this feels like a ter-
#
rible flashback that I’m almost but not quite certain
happened to someone else.
Copyright 2011 by Kirkus
Media LLC. KIRKUS
REVIEWS (ISSN 0042 Q: Of all your books, do you have a favorite?
6598) is published semi-
monthly by Kirkus Media
LLC, 6411 Burleson Road, A: Curious, but I almost don’t want to say which, for
Austin, TX 78744.
Subscription prices are
fear the others might hear. But I’ve got to lean most
$169 for professionals ($199 heavily toward my Divinely Smitten. For its taking on
Q: Do you have a writing routine?
A: I’m a desperately unhappy camper between books.
But when I’m really latched on, I wake in the wee
small and generally don’t quit till I’ve got my 1,000
words or so.
Q: What drives you to write?
A: I warn you, I’m about to lose all brevity. It didn’t
start out as writing at all. It started out as a 4-year-
old’s surviving with the help of his “friends,” such
imaginary characters as he was hard at work creating
and interacting with. See, maudlin already. But then
I’m still doing it, even at 4 plus 66. You’d think I’d
have found a different tack to take by now, wouldn’t
you? Now, of course, I’ve evolved a whole other batch
of reasons to write. I’ve set aside childish things.
Sometimes I write in order to stave off such alternate
fates as I’ve sensed in store for myself. And of the Holy
Ghost does that for me. But more often, I view the
novel as the great testing ground for whatever could,
should or might come next. And what could be more
relevant than that?
Q: Does the flute player on the cover of And of the Holy
Ghost have anything to do with your e-mail address
“flutesby…”?
A: Yes, I’m a flutist, or flautist, as they say in France.
Incidentally, the naked flutist on the cover is me, but
I don’t tell anyone. I figured if I was going to bare my
soul in my books, why draw the line?
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your path to self-publishing?
A: I’d already had a novel commercially published.
But by then I’d lost all patience and hated the whole
PH OTO C OU RT ESY O F F R E D RIC MA F F E I

International) and $129 more than the others. incredible game of it. My fellow self-publishers know
($169 International) for
individual consumers (home exactly what game I’m talking about. Wonderfully
address required). Single Q: Your biography on your Amazon page is really interest- freeing, no longer having to wag one’s tail to please.
copy: $25.00. All other rates
on request. ing. Any plans for a memoir? Wonderful, letting a book be the book it is with-
out having to first pass some bottom-liner’s muster.
POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to A: I don’t think I could write about myself directly. There only remains to do what it is we writers do,
Kirkus Reviews, PO Box It’d be too maudlin, too angry, too boring, and I’d which is to write. Life is good.
3601, Northbrook, IL
60065-3601.
have to delve too deeply into such broken bits as I’m
Periodicals Postage Paid trying to fix. One thing I’d put in, though: that shiny
at Austin, TX 78710 and at black-haired boy that I was, a professional musician
additional mailing offices.

708 | 15 april 2011 | kirkus indie | kirkusreviews.com |

 about gender issues and the burdens and triumphs of feminin- Philip K. Dick’s blood flowing through his veins—it only
ity. There are unabashed celebrations of sexuality, such as in adds to the richness and variety of his developing oeuvre.
“Doughnut Man,” which conflates several sensory pleasures, This range notwithstanding, Townsend knows the value of
and even frightening glimpses of a woman who kills dispas- mining the single moment, and many of his best stories fea-
sionately the man she loves in “The Crime.” But there are also ture lush descriptions of a simple meal or an intimate conver-
threats to the female body and psyche as in “First Marriage” sation. Further, he has a flair for writing believable dialogue
where the narrator flatly acknowledges that “He fucks to kill,” that reveals, among other things, that the gay Mormon expe-
or in “Mustache Man” in which the narrator “couldn’t stop rience is simply another aspect of the human experience.
laughing / until one man walked right through me, / followed Mormon literature with a universal appeal.
by another, and another. / Then, as the tide rose and the sun
sank, / they trampled me into the dark, wet sand.” In exploring
the crimes perpetuated on the female body and heart, Stevens
(Ragbag, 2010) occasionally resembles Sharon Olds, though
without the sustained brutality and conceptual density. While
the poems suggest a world of both empowered and victimized
women, where the men are as likely to be the sirens as not
(“The Steel Pier”), her accompanying illustrations, simple line
sketches, tend to portray women in almost comically erotic
terms, but always with a hint of elemental wildness to them,
suggesting that they can never be victimized for long.
A triumphant and eloquent collection that never shies away
from the emotional and intellectual entanglements of love and lust,
connection and manipulation, the momentary and the eternal.

MORMON FAIRY TALES

Townsend, Johnny
Booklocker.com (318 pp.)
$17.95 paperback | January 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1609105945

Townsend writes gorgeous, intimate

tales from the edges of one of the fast-
est-growing religions in the world.
The best thing you can say about
Townsend’s collection of short stories
is that, after reading it, you can’t tell if
Townsend is a Mormon. While his many touching vignettes
draw deeply from Mormon mythology, history, spirituality
and culture, his book is neither a gaudy act of proselytism nor
angry protest literature from an ex-believer. Like all good fic-
tion, his stories are simply about the joys, the hopes and the
sorrows of people—and here, many of those people just hap-
pen to be Mormons. Townsend’s status as a Mormon could
be best described as a gay ex-Mormon who still associates
himself with the traditions of his youth. The author reflects
on his complicated faith by creating characters that, like him,
dwell on the borders of the Mormon community—a nonbe-
liever stuck in purgatory, a young Mormon ready to shirk his
missionary responsibilities, a gay contemporary of Brigham
Young uneasy about taking a fourth wife. Townsend’s genre-
bending tales span geography, space and time, taking us from
19th-century Salt Lake City to late-21st century Kansas City,
or from “Spirit Prison” to the U.N. where an alien has just
arrived to explain that God does really live on the planet
Kolob. For a lesser writer, this challenging range would press
fiction into absurdity. But for Townsend—who has a bit of

| kirkusreviews.com | kirkus indie | 15 april 2011 | 709