The Male Gift Giving Survival Guide: The Rules and Taboos For Giving Gifts to Women
Tim Connor
Worldwide Press
Box 397, Davidson, NC 28036
704-895-1230 tim@timconnor.com
http://www.timconnor.com
ISBN: 1930376367 $19.95 141 p.
Bonnie Jo Davis
Reviewer
This extraordinary book was recommended to me by a colleague after he visited my new web site,
Gift Ideas For Women. The Male Gift Giving Survival Guide compliments my website perfectly,
untangling for men the web of gifts for women. It deciphers the components of the complex
female psyche to its most logical terms. And no, that's not a misprint...I just used the words
"female" and "logical" in the same sentence.
There is but one universal truth about those of the fairer sex: "Women Love Gifts". So, all women
love gifts... a guy doesn't have to be a genius to grasp that concept. Or does he? Ask your golf
buddy who gave his wife a garden rake for her birthday. "You just had to remind me" he mumbles
dropping his head. Make certain that you have lined up another friend for next week's game
though...your buddy is going to drop you like a rock. According to the author, women adore gifts
that reflect the love of the giver and his explicit understanding of her desires and tastes. As a
woman, I must salute this author. His book is the literal lifeboat of women's gift ideas, without
which no self-respecting man would ever set sail on the sea of relationships.
The author, Tim Connor, is a seasoned and well-traveled professional speaker who has authored
45 books. He wrote this book based upon the knowledge he gained in his personal mission to
discover the keys to female happiness. The result of his quest is this easy-to-read, spiral bound
book that men can refer to routinely. Not only does Tim's book disclose the keys to a woman's
happiness, it is the genuine tool for unlocking it with an ever-so-easy click.
The book begins with the quote:
"A man who knows what women want rules the world."
- Nick Marshall
This first quote of many accurately reflects the intention of this book. Continual studies concur
that the happiest relationships, right or wrong, are those in which the woman is happy and
fulfilled. There are some common guidelines in the book that apply to every woman regardless of
her individual preferences and needs.
Important chapters include "The 20 Biggest Gift-Giving Mistakes Men Make", "It's not about the
money or the number of gifts, or is it?" and two chapters detailing in-depth, women's stories
about the worst and best gifts they have ever received. Many of the best gifts, as pointed out in
the book, were not the most expensive or glittery. They were often romantic gifts that were well
thought out, affordable, considerate and timely.
Many of the collective complaints about gifts from men to women are that the men often don't
remember important dates, don't pay attention to the nuances of a woman's life and don't know
what she prefers most or cares for the least. The Male Gift Giving Survival Guide covers all three
bases. The book features an extensive diary prompting men to record important dates, what
makes her happy or feel loved, favorite colors, dress and jewelry sizes, travel destinations, food,
restaurants, activities, etc. Guys can fill out this diary as their relationship with a woman
progresses and consult it regularly for help choosing the perfect gift. Other diary sections are for
tracking any gift given to the woman, her reaction and also a gift log so that the same gift is not
given again and again.
Overall, I found this book to be an amusing and accurate portrayal of the importance of gifts in
the life of a woman. Every male over the age of twelve who reads and follows this book will
certainly reflect the female appreciation of his genius in the smile he wears on his face.
The Book of Ruth
Jane Hamilton
Doubleday
1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036
ISBN 0385265700, $12.00, 328 pp
Coletta Ollerer
Reviewer
Ruth is a girl separate from the main stream: strange looking, a poor student. In fact, her language
implies she has a borderline retardation. Her low self-esteem is reinforced by a mother who
prefers Ruth's brother, Matt, and is not shy about expressing her choice. Ruth's resentment and
indignation moves her to lash out at her brother and harbor animosity toward her mother. Her
mother, May, cannot shake her disdain for her daughter while smothering Matt with love.
Nonetheless, Matt hates his home life and leaves at the first opportunity.
Ruth marries a man her mother dislikes. This puts a lot of pressure on the marriage but economic
necessity forces them to live under her roof. Ruth's sad life is tempered by the kindness of a few
friends and her Aunt Sid. "For coffee she (Aunt Sid) suggested moving to the screened-in porch,
and when she brought out the mugs, she also had a box, containing all my letters, tied up by the
year in green ribbon. She had saved my letters because they were precious to her. I sat in my chair
long past dark, reading my life over by candlelight while Sid moved in and out, doing her chores,
washing the dishes and reading her paper."
This is a story of abuse, desperation and redemption and love. The reader comes to understand
and sympathize with Ruth and is pulling for her. The story is engaging and highly recommended
because of its content and especially because the author skillfully takes on the voice of a person
with a skimpy education, low IQ and deprived background and reveals her as worthwhile and very
heroic. Ruth's natural wisdom prevails as she comes to grips with the terrible calamity which
changes her life.
The Janson Directive
Robert Ludlum
St Martin's Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
ISBN#: 0312989385 $7.99 693 pages
Marty Duncan, Reviewer
www.omagadh.com
The protagonist is a male agent of the CIA; his adversary is a government program that is
imploding due to bureaucratic bungling. He has met with the President of the United States who
has asked him to sanction' the leader of the Mobius program, a former commander of Army
Special Forces who has turned renegade and stolen' the Mobius program from its original
controllers.
Does any of this sound familiar? Give Ludlum credit for inserting an attractive expert with a
sniper rifle who may just be a love interest. Credit him also for inserting dog who repeatedly
attacks a fence, allowing the protagonist to deftly slip over the fence while hoodwinking the
guards.
With all of Ludlum's novels (excepting The Road to Omaha) there is shooting, gunfire,
explosions, conspiracies, bad bureaucrats and a man who must overcome impossible odds to beat
the enemy.
If you like long novels, read Ludlum. I can say, without reservation, that Ludlum writes good
novels. So did Alistair Maclean and Ian Fleming. They make a notable triumvirate of authors.
Nuff said.
Spiritual Astrology: Your Path to Self-Fulfillment
Jan Spiller and Karen McCoy
Simon and Schuster
Rockerfeller Center, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.simonandschuster.com.au
ISBN: 0671660411 $A 24.95 452 pages
Rose Glavas
Reviewer
Having read Jan Spiller's "New Moon Astrology" in the past (and finding it very interesting), this
was another incentive to look closely at the information presented in this book.
Self-fulfillment means different things to individuals, so I am interested to see what Jan and Karen
have to offer - directions to self-fulfillment for all that read this book seems a bit of a large
undertaking!
Jan Spiller has a long history of involvement in the astrological field, including contributions as a
monthly columnist for Dell Horoscope, the astrology magazine with the largest circulation in the
world. She teaches astrology and appears regularly as a radio and television guest. Other books
Ms Spiller has authored include New Moon Astrology, How to be Safe in an Unsafe World and
Astrology for the Soul which have been translated into 10 languages to date.
Part One of Spiritual Astrology looks at the planets, signs and houses and was written by Ms
Spiller. Some of the information here can be found in many basic astrology books but the author
interprets the various symbolism in a spiritual context. The meaning of Moon and Saturn signs in
regards to past lives and karma are explored in this section too.
Prenatal eclipses in regards to life path and destiny are explored in Part Two. Karen McCoy
researched the work in this chapter for four years and used more than four thousand birth charts
during this time! Her research looked at the difference between the solar and lunar eclipse and
what they meant to the individual. She also discovered another aspect of eclipses that may interest
readers who have children. Jan Spiller contributed to this part of the book too.
The instructions include a section explaining how to use the information if you don't share others'
belief in reincarnation and explanations of the difference in meaning between solar and lunar
eclipses.
After reading the material that relates to my own birth data, I came to the conclusion that this
book has a lot to offer. The information covered much ground and gave me a lot to think about.
The meaning prenatal solar and lunar eclipses in the twelve zodiac signs were explored in detail,
as well as looking at the placement of eclipses in the various houses of the birth chart.
On top of all this the authors also examine the aspect patterns between the solar and lunar eclipses
and how the individual could experience them. The mathematical tables in Part Three cover the
positions of the Sun through to Pluto, and of course the solar and lunar eclipses. A full computer
service for calculating detailed eclipse and birth chart information is also offered.
In summary Spiritual Astrology has a lot to offer for the reader who is interested in understanding
their life (and past lives!) in a broad perspective. The information is easy to read and clear - I
would highly recommend this title to the reader who has a beginner's level of astrological
understanding and an interest in reincarnation and karma.
Print-On-Demand Book Publishing
Morris Rosenthal
Foner Books
Springfield, MA
FonerBooks.com
ISBN 0972380132 $14.95 173 pages
Peter Hupalo
Reviewer
Morris Rosenthal wrote Print-On-Demand Book Publishing to help authors and self-publishers
develop a new and more profitable business model of book publishing using Print-On-Demand
(POD) book publishing technology.
Rosenthal writes: "Print-On-Demand allows publishers to print commercially competitive books a
single copy at a time, a true revolution in the basic publishing model. ... This means there is more
opportunity than ever for new authors and publishers to break into the business."
The first section of Print-On-Demand Book Publishing discusses traditional trade book
publishing. Rosenthal gives readers a solid understanding of the economics of modern book
publishing and how it works against authors and small publishers.
Rosenthal characterizes trade book publishing by 1) Large, offset press runs of books, which tie
up thousands of dollars in inventory and run a substantial risk of leaving authors and publishers
with books that don't sell; 2) The need for publishers to give distributors large trade discounts
(typically 55% or more of the retail price of the book goes to the distributor) to receive adequate
distribution; and 3) the need to accept book returns.
Rosenthal tells us that conventional book publishing is based upon a business model that
developed during the great depression and it hasn't changed much since then. To allow bookstores
to afford inventory during the depression, publishing became a consignment business. Today,
because of POD technology, Rosenthal says authors and small publishers have a better
alternative.
"POD does not obey the economics of traditional offset publishing [,]" writes Rosenthal. Using
Ingram's Lightning Source (LS), Rosenthal develops a business model where authors and small
publishers can utilize POD printing and fulfillment capabilities to operate a publishing company
with little capital investment and essentially no inventory. The cost to get started is only a couple
of hundred dollars and full book distribution is achieved. All distribution and drop shipping can be
handled by LS in Rosenthal's model.
Because Lightning Source will distribute books on a short discount to Ingram, Amazon, and other
booksellers, Rosenthal shows us that the profit per book sold is much higher using his model than
if the books were sold through traditional trade publishing.
To demonstrate his model works in practice, Rosenthal discusses one of his own POD titles in
depth, showing how it earned $11,000 on 1,600 sales in 2003, even though the retail price of the
book was a modest $14.95.
Print-On-Demand Book Publishing provides all the information the reader needs to get started
using POD, including how to acquire ISBN numbers and copyrights, and how to create files to
submit to the POD printer.
A valuable section of the book discusses "Author Basics." In this chapter, Rosenthal shares his
experiences as an author working with trade publishers. Topics covered include book contracts,
royalties, querying publishers with new manuscripts, and the publication process. Of particular
value is Rosenthal's discussion of the book marketing practice which tends to create a limited
window of opportunity for a new book to succeed.
Because of the meager royalties authors typically receive from traditional publishers, Rosenthal
concludes that authors could often earn as much money going the POD route as getting a
traditional publisher to accept their books. In particular, Rosenthal asks: If you can earn ten times
as much per book doing it yourself with POD and if ten percent of the traditional sales typically
go through amazon.com, what do you need a trade publisher for anyway?
The marketing aspect of Rosenthal's model focuses on the Internet. About a third of
Print-On-Demand Book Publishing is devoted to Internet marketing, creating a website,
understanding how to market your book on Amazon, and other Internet-marketing-related
topics.
Rosenthal says that the Internet has revolutionized the publishing industry, giving authors and
publishers new opportunities to reach huge audiences and market their books.
Rosenthal writes: "The strength of authors and publishers is the written word, and the Internet is
the media most ideally adapted to the written word since the invention of the printing press."
As an author and a publisher with over five years of experience with both traditional offset
publishing and POD publishing, I can honestly say that for most new publishers or aspiring
authors wishing to sell their work that Rosenthal's Print-On-Demand Book Publishing Model is
the best method for getting started in the publishing industry today.
I highly recommend Print-On-Demand Book Publishing to all authors and publishers.
"Leaving his boots in the outer room, he strolled barefoot to his inner chamber. Valek's feet fell
silently on the stone floor due to the floor's covering of human hair."
Are you wondering where Valek got so much human hair? Oh, that's easy. When you take the
soul from a body, it leaves behind a pile of lifeless skin, hair and body. Most of the skin is thrown
into a garbage pit, except for what's used for making drums. Most of the body is thrown in the pit
as well, except for what henchman MaxMion eats.
This is not the first book I've reviewed by Nicole Givens Kurtz, and it's always a pleasure to see
her imagination at work. Valek isn't some cardboard cutout of a villain. He's an intelligent and
worthy adversary for the Minister Knights of Souls.
This story revolves around Sarah, whom the Ministers rescued from the soul cages. Her sister
Amana was left behind. Sarah escapes to another world, one filled with many fascinating
characters who have very high expectations of her.
To write in an established genre is a balancing act. One must follow the formula while being
original at the same time. Fail on either of these two counts, and the reader is disappointed. Nicole
Givens Kurtz does not disappoint. She builds people and she builds worlds, and she brings them
both to life with sparkling description that makes you feel you are in that place.
Daddy's Little Girl
Mary Higgins Clark
Simon & Schuster
Rockefeller Center
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0739425641 $TBA 448 pp.
Lola Pierce
Reviewer
I selected Daddy's little Girl by Mary Higgins Clark because I have read and enjoyed other books
she had written. I am an avid reader and enjoy many genres of books.
Once again, Mary Higgins Clark came through with an exceptional reading experience. Her
characters are real and believable. Ms. Clark has a talent for drawing you into the character's lives
and walking with them through the twists and turns of the plot.
In Daddy's little Girl, Ellie seeks to keep the man, who was convicted of murdering her older
sister, from being paroled from prison. He has spent eighteen years in prison and has served his
sentence. All though Ellie couldn't stop the brutal murderer from being paroled, she starts an
investigation into his allegations that he was wrongly incarcerated.
When Rob gains his parole, He, with the support of his wealthy family, produces evidence that a
young man, with limited mental capabilities, committed the murder he served eighteen years in
prison for.
Ellie can't believe the evidence and investigates the murder that took her sister, eventually causes
her mother's death, and broke her family apart when she was just a child.
Ms. Clark takes us through many plot twists and dangerous situations with flair, wonderful
characters, and surprises around every corner.
The book is written in the first person, but in such a way, it isn't annoying or boring, as this
reviewer usually finds first person books. I was totally engrossed from the first page to the last. It
will appeal to all Mary Higgins Clark fans as well as anyone who enjoys a great murder/adventure
story.
Ms. Clark is a talented writer with many books to her credit, including, I'll Be Seeing You, On
The Street Where You Live, and A Cry In The Night. Of all her books I have read, she has never
disappointed me. Daddy's Little Girl is one of my favorites.
Stalking The Divine: Contemplating Faith With The Poor Clares
Kristin Ohlson
Hyperion Press
ISBN: 1401300251, $23.95, 256 pages
Lorna Collier
Reviewer
In this exquisitely written book, Kristin Ohlson explores a common condition many of us aging
Baby Boomers face: the sense that somewhere along the way, we missed the turn-off to Faith. We
thought we didn't need to stop there; religion, especially the organized variety, seems somehow
antiquated, illogical and just plain archaic to our modern educated selves. But as the years pass, as
the miles pile up, we realize a sense of loss. Something is missing. Something others have.
Ohlson is a skeptical searcher, trying out churches in Cleveland, where she lives, but never finding
the perfect fit. Until one Christmas day, she comes upon an older downtown church, home of a
Poor Clare sect of cloistered nuns. She is fascinated both by the nuns (what kind of women shut
themselves up for the rest of their lives in one building -- in a dying part of town, in a church with
a diminishing population, no less?). She also is fascinated by the church itself, by the priests and
the community who find comfort in their regular attendance.
Ohlson continues to visit the church under the guise of a journalist, researching the nuns for an
article and possible book. But her task becomes more personal as she slowly finds herself
becoming a member of the church and, in the end, making at least some contact with the elusive
Divine.
Highly recommended for any reader, but especially those who are skeptics when it comes to
religion, but also feel a lack in their spiritual lives.
The Wilderness Within
Barbara Spring
Publish America
www.publishamerica.com
http://www.geocities.com/barbaraspring/
ISBN: 1592867855 $16.95
Poems and travel stories ranging from Great Lakes, to Africa, Galapagos and Mexico dot one
hundred pages of this work produced by author, professor, featured writer and poet Spring. Bear
Woman, Celtic Mirror, Whale Songs, Persephone Emerges, Prairie Child, On Puget Sound,
Queen Asa's Viking Ship, He was a Farm Boy Once and Forget me Nots and Otters are some of
the titles to entice the reader. Grizzly dancing to tambourine, wild turkey leaving runic calligraphy
and a bedtime story and two halves of a speckled egg all beckon the reader. Bird migrations,
horses, whales, deer, and bats are sure to appeal to animal lovers as all receive notice by this poet.
Form dictates the subject, or does the subject dictate the form? Humingbirds, Sea Speak, My
Kites, In Darkness, Denali Springtime, Radial Lines are created in words and eye appealing form.
Viking Ships, islands, Wild Flowers, Foggy Dawn, Great Lakes leave their impression upon the
poet and upon we the readers. Snowy Owls silent as silk, A grandmother with forget me not blue
eyes, the fragrance of acacia trees, the dragon home - a labyrinth of coiled power offered in fluid
verse to bring treat to the senses. Mount St Helen's, Jonah, Dante's Limerick, little girls sewing
and granddaughters are all offered for the reader to enjoy.
On the pages of The Wilderness Within poet Spring take the reader on a expedition through the
landscape of her life. Affection for lastingness, location, season and family resonate in the opulent
diversity of her work. The stark magnificence of Snow or a Stormy May Morning, effervescent
delight and rich intensity of a Day Lily or My Strawberries, and the more delicate shades of Wild
Flowers and Unseen Opals reflect life in general for us all. From Spring's first offering, "Bear
Woman" right on to "The Gift of the Rabbit" the reader is transported to reflections and
reminiscences that cannot fail to touch the inner spirit.
There is something for everyone in The Wilderness Within. Writer/Poet Spring says they just
keep coming, these poems. Places, friends, family, animals, birds, fish, flowers, stones, lakes,
rivers, and the unseen world enter these poems in unexpected ways.' Poet Spring's love of nature
flows to the reader as these poems and essays are enjoyed. Accomplished, piercing, words to
enrapture, and thrill are offered as poet Spring draws upon adventures of life to give rise to an
opus of lovely work. Family life, life lessons, enlightenment communicate to the heart of the
reader in agreeable and measurable manner. Readers will be sure to be transformed in a very
tangible way while reading the words offered by this perceptive, straightforward woman whose
observable zeal is to share her life with others.
While I love the sea and humming birds, if I had to choose just one verse composition as my
favorite from the many offered by Poet Spring I would have to pick My Kites for my father." I
like both the sentiment and the visual form.
This is a difficult book to review because most people won't get it. Jed McKenna is a heterodox
individual. His approach to enlightenment and awakening are unorthodox. In his first book,
Spiritual Enlightenment-The Damnedest Thing he guides the reader through the maze of theories
and practices towards a desirable conclusion. His approach is simple, his words direct and uncut
and his methods are shameless. Oh, but how effective!
In Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment, he takes a classic piece of literature, Herman Melville's
"Moby Dick" and dissects it with the skill of a surgeon. His carefully placed quotes by Mark
Twain, U.G. Krishnamurti, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman move the reader
strategically from one chapter to the next. The conclusion he draws from the classic is astute,
logical and unsullied.
This is an unusual book by an unusual man and it requires an unusual review. After reading both
of Jed McKenna's books, this reviewer has come to the conclusion that spiritual enlightenment or
awakening is as easy as ABC. Let me explain using the theater as my vehicle.
A Audience- Most of the world's population fits into category "A" or the Audience. These people
are happy to buy their ticket, sit in their seats and watch the illusion play out on the stage. They
have no desire to become the actors or to direct the play.
B Balcony- Some people move from the audience into the Balcony; usually clutching their Bibles,
while expounding the virtues of religious spirituality. People in category "B" consider themselves
above those in "A" spiritually, but are content to sit and enjoy the illusion as long as they have
their ingrained Beliefs.
C Characters- After trying the balcony seats, people often move on in their search for the ever
illusive enlightenment, to the stage where they become Characters. Copying their new spiritual
Mentors, they wear the Costumes, hold the props and act out their own new illusion. These
people feel that they have achieved greater understanding through their Chakras, Chants and
Crystals. They think they are now Content.
D Disillusioned with the costumes and the play-acting, some seekers actually go backstage
looking to Discover a different set design, learn some new Dialogue and Dissimulate themselves.
However, these people often miss the Curtain Calls and return to the stage "C" driven not by
truth but Ego.
E Encore for the Ego or exit stage left, enter stage right, repeat as necessary. This is where many
get stuck changing costumes, learning new dialogue all in an effort to achieve Enlightenment-
Evolving turns into revolving, a never-ending search for Euphoria. A merry-go-round as the
author describes it. Jed McKenna's books are not for people in category "A", "B", "C", or "D".
Don't waste your money; you won't like it and you won't get it. However, people like Julie, the
student in the book who shares her Spiritual Autolysis while in category "E", may want to see the
Finale.
F Finale-In the Finale, those that jump or fall off of the revolving stage end up in the dressing
room. Facing Fears, Free of Falsehoods, Facing Facts- layer after layer of makeup is removed
only to find another layer beneath, until only the naked truth remains. The costume lies discarded
on the Floor, the script has Failed, the props didn't work and now you must Finally Face the
Truth.
G Go, going, gone. Running through the stage door, away from the illusion- gone is the mystery.
The seeker has awaken!
H Home. Author, Jed McKenna rose from his seat, tried the balcony, took his turn on stage,
closed the curtain, stripped off his makeup, threw away his costumes, ran for the stage door and is
safely spiritually at Home, where he enjoys the most Important letter-
I "I"
Simple really and what a coincidence that Jed's book takes us through Herman Melville's, Moby
Dick. The story of Ahab and Ishmael, (A-I) Coincidence? I think not!
Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment guides the reader to the realization that being enlightened is
reaching a point were you realize that there is no "self" to be enlightened!
If you are really ready to Awaken, pick up a copy of this book today. Way to go Jed, you did it
again! Bravo!
Living to Tell the Tale
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Translated by Edith Grossman
Alfred Knopf
1745 Broadway, New York, New York 10019
ISBN 1400041341 $26.95 484 pages
Mary Sarko
Reviewer
Gabriel Garcia Marquez has described in interviews how his life changed after he won the 1982
Nobel Prize. Instead of affectionately being addressed as "Gabo," people started calling him "Don
Premio," and whenever he went to perform his life-long profession as a journalist, other reporters
on the scene would stop covering the story at hand and try to interview him.
For more than two decades Marquez has been the literary equivalent of a super star. "One
Hundred Years of Solitude" has sold 30 million copies worldwide since its publication in 1967,
and Marquez's name and his so-called "magic realism" writing style are a constant presence in
promotional blurbs for books that transgress in any fashion the boundaries of realism. Like other
superstars, he travels with bodyguards, and on visits to his native Colombia, in an armored car.
Now with the prodigious international sales of "Living to Tell the Tale," the first volume in a
projected three-volume memoir, Marquez has again demonstrated his phenomenal
popularity.
In this first volume of his projected three-volume memoirs, Marquez does not disappoint his
readers. As in his novels, there is myth, humor, satire, history, economics, sex, romance, and
tragedy. Often times the descriptions of key historical events are written in journalistic style, but
for the most part, the narrative wanders through time and the world of Marquez's youth in
novelistic style. Although much will be familiar to those who have read his novels, what is new is
the characterization of the young writer himself.
The memoir begins with a description of Marquez as a twenty-two-year-old bohemian journalist
who is committed to the goal of becoming a writer of novels. His mother has asked him to take a
journey with her to sell his grandparent's home in Aracataca. As Marquez chain smokes and reads
"Light in August," he passes by boat through a channel carved through a swamp by slave labor in
colonial times and then by train through the small towns of Colombia's Caribbean region, until the
train stops at a station where there is no town.
Soon after leaving this station they reach "Macondo," the only banana plantation on the route
with its name written over its gate. Marquez reflects on how he liked the poetic resonance of the
word and on how the word may be the name of a tree that never existed, but in this volume there
is no direct description as to how Marquez created the Macondo of his novels. The journey to
Aracataca is still though pivotal. As Marquez puts it, "Neither my mother nor I, of course, could
even have imagined that this simple two-day trip would be so decisive that the longest and most
diligent of lives would not be enough for me to finish recounting it."
What he discovers on this journey is that the world of his childhood is full of myths and drama. A
predominate myth is that the banana company would return to Aracataca and bring another
economic boom. Marquez recalls how every stranger who came to Aracataca with a briefcase
"was the man from the United Fruit Company back to reestablish the past." Although the banana
company left economic ruin in its wake and was responsible for the massacre of untold numbers
of banana workers, nostalgia, Marquez realizes, had created not only an idealized vision of the
past but also social and intellectual stupor.
In Aracataca, Marquez also encounters Vita, who had worked in his grandparent's kitchen for
many years. When she passes by Marquez and his mother, she doesn't recognize them and seems
to be in a different world. Fifty years later, when Marquez writes about this encounter, he says,
"Even today I ask myself if Vita had not died long before that day."
In "One Hundred Years of Solitude," the ghosts that haunt the Buendia family are part of what
has condemned the family to their fatal solitude, but as Marquez acknowledges after his contact
with Vita, he is not completely divorced from a world in which the dead continue their existence
in the land of the living.
One of the common explanations for Marquez's popularity is his ability to both joyously embrace
the popular culture of his youth while at the same time offering penchant criticism of its insularity
and prejudices. On this journey to Aracataca then Marquez established much of the subject matter
and conceptual framework for his later fiction.
Marquez also makes it clear though that after his fateful journey back to Aracataca, he still had
much to learn about the craft of writing. Although this memoir gives detailed descriptions of his
formal education, he maintains that he learned his craft largely from by writing everyday as a
journalist and by reading voraciously.
Marquez's fascination with Faulkner's literary exploration of the stagnation of the American
South has been already documented, as has his interest in Joyce, Rabelais, and Virginia Woolf.
But it is from Kafka, Marquez reports, that he learned that it "was not necessary to demonstrate
facts: it was enough for the author to have written something for it to be true, with no proof other
than the power of his talent and the authority of his voice." Marquez ultimately of course went a
step farther than Kafka by revealing the artifice of fiction, but the notion that fiction could rest on
the author's voice rather than on the strictures of realism had a dramatic influence on Marquez's
writing.
Although this memoir is often times impressionistic, Marquez also attempts to give a faithful
description of not only the pivotal events in his life but also in Colombian history. He presents an
extended description of the 1948 assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan in Bogota and the years of
political violence and repression that followed it. He also presents a genealogy of his family, and
he devotes much time to acknowledging his many life-long friends.
The memoir ends in 1955 as Marquez is flying to Geneva and waiting for a response to the
marriage proposal to Mercedes Barcha, who would become his wife two years later. Marquez at
this point is a well-known journalist in Colombia, but he has yet to produce any major works of
fiction and is about to begin a period of world travel. In this first volume though Marquez has
revealed the major premises of his fiction and has made a complex and extensive journey through
his youth.
Not surprisingly there has been much speculation as to why a man in his seventies who is suffering
from cancer would cloister himself in his home in Mexico City to write such an ambitious memoir.
Perhaps those looking for reasons why Marquez wrote this memoir can only get an answer from
the book's epigraph: "Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers and how one
remembers it in order to recount it."
Alisa's Bookshelf
The Safety of Unknown Cities
Lucy Taylor
Overlook Connection Press
http://overlookconection.com
overlookcn@aol.com
ISBN: 189295012X $24.95 277 pp.
The Safety of Unknown Cities by Lucy Taylor demands a new categorization. While it certainly is
a horror novel, the graphic sex and thriller-suspense aspects make it a unique and fascinating book
to read. It is no wonder this book won the Bram Stoker award for best first novel in 1995.
Our heroine, Val, is most definitely damaged, but we certainly can relate to her. Her mother,
Lettie starts the novel off by gouging out her eyes with a spoon. This act sets the tone of the book
and foreshadows what is to come.
Val leads a very nomadic life. She travels from one city to another, from one bed to another, in
search of a new' thrill something that will fill the void inside of herself. From whispers and
gossip, Val learns of a place called the City,' a place that makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like
Little House of the Prairie. Val becomes obsessed with finding this place and sampling all it has to
offer.
Entering into this tangle of characters is Breen, a cross between Hannibal Lector and Jeffrey
Dahmar. Breen is one scary person and has set his sties on obtaining and killing Val. Nothing will
stand in his way and he will do anything to posses her.
The Safety of Unknown Cities is not just about graphic sex and violence. It is also about the loss
of childhood and innocence. Lettie damaged Val and as a result, Val seeks out the thrills that
dominate her life. Val is unable to truly love and to receive love in return. She recognizes a part of
herself that is capable of committing heinous acts in the pursuit of pleasure. Val is afraid
redemption will mean the loss of sexual fulfillment.
As the story progresses, the sex becomes more graphic and less appealing. In the beginning of
Val's journey the sex acts seem to be enjoyable and titillating to read. Further into the novel, they
clearly becoming more like a bodily function you wish no one would mention. In the City,'
everything and anything goes. Nothing is taboo. Lucy Taylor shows us glimpses of sexual
depravation that creates images in your mind you will wish you could forget.
I was very ambivalent writing this review as the subject matter will not be appropriate for a large
number of readers. This book was hard to read. The sexual acts become very disturbing and gave
me a few nightmares. This alone is testament to Lucy Taylor's wonderful skills as a writer. After
much thought, I decided the book has a great deal of value in our world today. In America, sexual
images are everywhere. This overload of sexuality is a key element in the Safety of Unknown
Cities. How do you find love and fulfillment in a world that promotes depravations and
promiscuity? At the conclusion of the book, we are left to ponder this and many other questions
about love.
Lucy Taylor is the author of numerous novels and short stories. Spree and Dancing With Demons,
a novel of erotic horror, are two of her more recent works. She has won a number of Bram
Stoker awards of the years.
Brilliance of the Moon
Lian Hearn
Riverhead Books
http://www.theotori.com/
http://www.penguin.com
ISBN: 1573222704 $24.95 328 pp.
With a mix of Japanese folklore and medieval courtly drama, Lian Hearn takes us on a journey
that started with Across the Nightingale Floor, was continued in Grass For His Pillow, and
Brilliance of the Moon is the wonderful conclusion to the Tales of Otori trilogy. I highly
recommend this series as both entertaining and thought provoking.
At the conclusion of Grass For His Pillow, Lord Otori Takeo and Lady Kaede Shirakawa have
married without permission. Takeo lives under a death threat from the Tribe, a ninja-like group of
assassins and spies. Kaede is trying desperately to retain her inheritance of Maruyama and heal
from her ordeals. Lord Arai has taken over the Tohan and is waging war on the tribe. As one of
Kaede's relatives, Lord Arai is outraged by her marriage to Otori Takeo without his
permission.
Takeo is troubled by many things. He feels he must avenge his adopted father, Lord Shigeru, who
was betrayed by Otori Lords. Takeo is further burdened by the tribe, Kikuta, who have claimed
him as their own. Takeo is the son of the Kikuta's most infamous assassin, who was murdered
after attempting to leave the family tradition and one of the Hidden. The Hidden are a Christian
like religious group who are persecuted. Lastly, Takeo is driven by his love for Kaede. He loves
her in every sense of the word carnally, emotionally, and spiritually.
In Grass For His Pillow, Takeo is gifted and burdened with the following prophecy:
Three bloods are mixed in you. You were born into the Hidden, but your life has been brought
into the open and is no longer your own. Earth will deliver what heaven desires. Your lands will
stretch from sea to sea, but peace comes at the price of bloodshed. Five battles will buy you
peace, four to win and one to loose. Many must die, but you yourself are safe from death, except
at the hands of your own son.
The prophecy weighs heavily on Takeo and he finds himself falling into despair at the bloodshed
his revenge is causing. It takes a very special man to inspire other to their deaths. Those who die
by Jato, his sword, and those he could not protect haunt him. Takeo must find a way to seek
revenge without the loss of his soul or his love, Kaede.
Tales of the Otori is a wonderfully written work of fantasy that is enjoyable on many levels. The
story itself is not simply a story of familial revenge. Takeo cannot just kill those who have killed
his family. Their deaths are a result of betrayals that run much deeper. That betrayal never ends
and is like a weed. You can cut the head off, but the roots run very deep. In the end, Takeo must
decide how ruthless he will be in order to seek the vengeance his soul cries out for. That
vengeance comes at a very high price in blood.
Lian Hearn is the author of the Tales of the Otori; Across the Nightingale Floor, Grass For His
Pillow, and Brilliance of the Moon. Hearn was born in England and currently lives in Australia. A
website with further information on the trilogy can be accessed with the following link:
http://www.theotori.com/
Tiddley-winks old man
Suck a lemon if you can
If you can't suck a lemon
Suck an old tin can.
Life, like this old rhyme, is a nonsense. "So much work, talent, courage, and then everything is
over", as Barnes's octogenarian composer puts it. And like all the characters in this book, we live
a little, love a little, learn a little, create a little music, and then comes silence. "Cheer up!" says
Barnes's famous composer. "Death is around the corner". And he goes to dine at the lemon table,
where it is "permissible - indeed, obligatory - to talk about death". He finds that "most
companionable".
Barnes's Lemon Table stories, however, are not so much about the moment of mortality but about
slow decline and the little deaths which occur all through life. Each of his characters, in these
eleven stories, confronts this inevitable process in different ways. And what comes through this
book most strongly is the persistence of individual character and the sheer, life-affirming
determination and energy which these habits of behaviour demonstrate, even when they are not
socially acceptable.
Few music lovers can fail to sympathize with the man in 'Vigilance' who objects to "coughers" at
orchestral concerts. Few, however, would do more than glare and grumble. Barnes's man does
more. After a lifetime of suffering such unwelcome interruptions, he has had enough. His sarcasm
is scathing and funny, as he tells us of the tactics he adopts. But his growing confidence in
confronting the culprits is entirely in character with his increasing need to vent his own personal
frustrations on others, even to the bitter (and bloody) end. Barnes is superb at creating characters
through their own voices, and his ventriloquism in this story never falters. Perhaps there is an
element of caricature involved, but the reader quickly recognizes the bitchy, slightly camp tones of
this self-appointed policeman of concert-hall behaviour, and the underlying tensions in his
conversations with "Andrew, my civilized friend, companion and ex-lover".
Sylvia Winstanley, in 'Knowing French', is also an entirely believable creation. And this time, a
likeable and humorous one. In her very first letter to "Dear Dr Barnes", she introduces herself as
"(Me, old woman, rising eighty-one)" and immediately launches into a sharp-witted, ironic
account of how the "Red Cross" choice of fiction in the "Old Folkery", where she now resides,
drove her to start reading all the fiction at the public library, "beginning with 'A'". Her comments
on the 'A' authors could well be read as Barnes's own joke against at least one of his best-known
fellow novelists. Sylvia Winstanley's eventual discovery of Flaubert's Parrot, and her own French
bi-lingual background, prompt her first letter to Dr Barnes, and clearly, although we only have her
half of the correspondence, "Mr Novelist Barnes" (as she liked to call him) responded. And what
author could fail to be charmed by a reader who tells you that "Barnes comes at chest level", and
goes on to proclaim King Lear, which she had just read for the first time,"total balderdash".
Topics in the letters range from literature, to the daily trials of life in the Old Folkery among "the
deafs and the mads", and include musings on death and the after life. The 'nonsense' of life is
described and demonstrated, and life itself is summed up as "just a coincidence". But, as Barnes
asks via Sylvia W., "what sort of coincidence?". Sadly, this is never resolved.
Each of Barnes's characters, like each of us, lives life differently. Some, like Major Jacko Jackson
(retired), in 'Hygiene', rely on routine - everything in order, everything checked off, everything
strategically planned. This routine, in Jacko's case, includes the annual, post regimental-dinner
adultery with "dear old Babs", for hygiene's sake, just to make sure "his machinery was still in
working order". Sadly, even routine cannot stave off time and change. Dear old Babs (who was
known to the other 'girls', anyway, as Nora) has died, and the new young girl just doesn't fit the
old pattern. So? Adjust the routine, change the pattern, keep "on the qui vive". Life goes on.
The people in The Lemon Table come from different countries and different eras, they are as
different from each other as is possible, but what they demonstrate most effectively is that human
nature doesn't change as we get older. We still want the same things - love, sex, food, happiness,
comfort - it's just that the world changes around us, our bodies let us down more frequently, and
some cope with the changes better than others.
Some, like Gregory Cartwright, in 'A Short History of Hairdressing', manage to get by. Others,
like Mat Israelson, in 'The Story of Mat Israelson', never quite manage to get the hang of it. Two
elderly women in 'The Things You Know', share a monthly breakfast date, but only share the
secrets each knows about the other's dead husband with the reader. They exchange news and
gossip, whilst silently criticizing each other and pondering the alternative version of each's marital
reminiscences. They are, as one wryly comes to recognize, not so much friends as allies - people
who share memories, help each other in small ways, and "see you through to the end".
There can be other, darker, secrets, too, as people get older. In 'The Fruit Cage', a man talks
about the break-up of his elderly parents' marriage, when his father leaves his mother for another
woman. There are hints of physical abuse within the marriage But the son, caught between the
conflicting stories told him by the three elderly people, has no way of determining who is telling
the truth or of knowing whether some mental instability due to age is a factor in all that
happens.
The final story in the book, 'The Silence', is told by the octogenarian musician who explains the
purpose of the lemon table. He is as individual a personality as any of Barnes's other characters
but his musings on music, literature and art could well be taken to be Barnes's own thoughts as he
contemplates his future. "How dreadful old age is for a composer!", laments the old man. "Things
don't go as quickly as they used to, and self-criticism grows to impossible proportions". And he
muses on Wagner's opinion that "if we enjoyed life fully we would have no need of art" but
concludes that this is "back to front". Nevertheless, he believes that "To be misunderstood and
forgotten, such is an artist's fate". "So", he insists, "misunderstand me correctly". It's a piece of
nonsense: like life. And the end, which this composer accepts and embraces, is what he believes
all music aspires to: silence. Let's hope that Mr Novelist Barnes is not yet ready for that.
House by the River
Sid Smith
Picador
ISBN: 033048124X A$22.00 262 pages
Sid Smiths style of writing is unusual. There is a dream-like quality to it which perfectly suits the
story he has to tell. And it has a smoothness which is soothing and beguiling, so that it carries you
along like the river which runs through this tale.
The story, too, is unusual - combining history, folk-lore, adventure, religion and magic, all in a
Chinese landscape and culture with which Smith clearly feels comfortably at home.
John and Grace are two people whose childhood has been shaped by China.
John's father, an American lay preacher, had "dreamt of a great harvest in the Orient", but he had
died on the way to China. John's mother, who had never wanted to go to China in the first place,
was denied Mission funds to return home. So she found another way to get back, but she left baby
John for the Mission women to rear. John's "substitute mother", Song Lan, was herself an orphan.
With no-one to ensure she would not become a hungry ghost when she died, she had become the
Mission amah, hoping that the Christian Father would look after her. Her gods remained Chinese
gods, however, and she taught John a similar pantheism. Her Cantonese language, too, became
John's mother tongue.
Growing up in the Holy Word Mission, John was taught to be a missionary. A marriage was
arranged for him, and he was sent to teach the Word of God to the fisher-folk upriver of the
Canton-Hong Kong estuary. It was to be the first inland mission from the Canton Mission
House.
Grace, who accompanied her new husband to this small fishing settlement, was half Chinese. Her
mother, the daughter of a London merchant, had fallen in love with the second son of a Chinese
trader and married him. Her misery as a Chinese daughter-in-law, cut off from her family by
distance and custom, was intense. "She ate two balls of opium with a glass of wine and died
without pain". Grace, at the wishes of her English grandfather, was sent to live in the American
Mission House, and was educated in its schoolrooms. She grew up to consider herself European,
her looks and her language, however, remained partly Chinese.
The story of John and Grace and their lives meanders like the river. And, like the river, it has
places of calm and places of turbulence and danger. It is the story, too, of the fisher-folk they live
with; of authority wielded by autocratic self-serving officials far from the centre of government; of
tribal and social conflicts; and of a shaman called Jivu Lanu.
Grace's intriguing interpretations of Chinese ideograms and her use of these to explain the Gospel
in her missionary work, is one thread woven through this story. John's growing attachment to the
Chinese spirits and his involvement with the spirit-haunted daughter of the village headman, is
another. Chance separates Grace and John, then brings them together again. But Smith handles
their story as if weaving it into an ancient map of the Chinese river by which they live.
The end of the book is as simply told as the rest of the story. In another book, one of different
character to this one, it might seem like an anticlimax. Here, it is just another small detail on
Smith's map of a river which changes slowly but which never ceases to flow.
A House by the River has a quiet charm which grows on you as you read it. It is a fine and most
original book.
Dr. Ann Skea, Reviewer
http://www.ann.skea.com/
Bethany's Bookshelf
Aisles
Paul Magrs
Allison & Busby Ltd.
c/o International Publishers Marketing
22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166
0749006560 $25.95 1-800-758-3756
Aisles is an extraordinary novel that unfolds a seemingly nondescript Norwich community.
Beginning in a steamy internet chatroom, it leaps and bounds into a love story of escalating
complexity. Burgeoning disasters wreak increasing havoc on local people, and secret
heart-to-heart chats reveal a broader pattern of emotion that parallels the chaotic world around
everyone, in this enthralling and fantastic emotional love story with modern-day twists.
The Road To El Dorado
Joan K. McAfee
Sunflower University Press
PO Box 1009, Manhattan, KS 66505-1009
0897452739 $12.95 1-800-258-1232 www.sunflower-univ-press.org
The Road To El Dorado is a novel of twentieth-century adventure. A husband just returned from
the Vietnam War and his wife venture to the inhospitable mountains of Colorado, in search of a
family treasure lost one hundred years ago when their ancestor buried his beloved wife and her
gold in a sealed cave. A fantastic tale of the siren song of gold, and the terrible toll it can wreck
upon loved ones and close relationships, The Road To El Dorado is as much a caution against
compromising true worth for the fleeting value of money as it is an engaging treasure hunt
story.
This Matter Is
Barbara Holland Criswell & Paul Ruffin, editors
Texas Reviewe Press
c/o Texas A&M University Press
Drawer C, College Station, TX 77843-4354
1881515605 $20.00 1-800-826-8911
Written by a veteran of World War II who taught English at Mississippi State University after his
service to his country, This Matter Is: The Selected Poetry And Prose Of Robert Holland collects
prose and poetry selections of a lifetime's worth of searching, sacrifice, and effort to share
understanding. The broad spectrum of works assembled reflect a desire to inspire, teach, and offer
insight to future generations. "Redemption": Rarer than a winter rose, / Rarer than a sun at night,
/ This moment is a perfect close / And chapter end to our delight. // All the years are centered
here / Like a single crystal star, / All the vast confusion clear, / And peace, the aftermath of
war.
No Lonesome Road
Don West, poet/author
Jeff Biggers & George Brosi, editors
University of Illinois Press
1325 South Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820-6975
0252071573 $25.00 1-800-545-4703 www.press.uillinois.edu
No Lonesome Road: Selected Prose And Poems collects the work of Appalachian poet and
activist Don West (1906-1992) well known as a labor organizer, organic farmer, preacher,
cofounder of the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, found of the Appalachian South Folklife
Center in West Virginia, and more. Crossing five decades in West's literary career, No Lonesome
Road offers poems from each of West's collections, key prose selections, and a newly recovered
chapbook. Co-edited by a long-time personal associate of Don West, No Lonesome Road offers
thoughtful, lively, and insightful vignettes of inspiration that call the reader to personal and
community action, and is highly recommended.
The Complete I Ching
Alfred Huang, translator
Inner Traditions International, Ltd.
One Park Street, Rochester, VT 05767
0892811455 $19.95 1-800-246-8648
Expertly translated by Alfred Huang, a third-generation master of Wu style Tai Chi Chuan, Chi
Kung, and Oriental meditation, The Complete I Ching is the ancient Eastern philosophical classic
and book of divination that has been used since ancient times to seek meaning. This English
version is exceptional in that it includes full translations Confucius' Ten Wings, his commentaries
and insights that are crucial to the wisdom the I Ching has to offer. An extensive introduction
teaches the reader about the subtleties of the translation as well as instructions for using the I
Ching in the manner it was meant to be used. Due to its exhaustive and meticulous accuracy, The
Complete I Ching is the version to have for English speakers interested in exploring the insights
and uses of this age-old resouce.
Jasmine In Her Hair
Huma Siddiqui
White Jasmine Press, Inc.
PO Box 2561, Madison, WI 53701-2561
0974837105 $29.95 www.whitejasmine.com
Jasmine In Her Hair: Culture And Cuisine From Pakistan blends enjoyable stories of culture and
passion, mouth-watering Pakistani recipes, and beautiful color photographs to delight avid chefs
seeking to create their own taste of Pakistan and cookbook collectors alike. Written by cooking
school instructor Huma Siddiqui in order to share and perpetuate Pakistani traditions, Jasmine In
Her Hair is a flourishing, joyous celebration, featuring such delectible dishes as Kofta (Beef
Meatballs), Cholay (Spicy Chickpeas), Rasgullah (Cheese Balls In Sugar Syrup), and more, all
heightened by the intriguing anecdotes of everyday life in Pakistan, from insights into the
philosophy of Ramadan fasting to traditional wedding dress and much more. Highly
recommended.
Crying Tiger
Supatra Johnson
Jasmine Market
14050 Pilot Knob Rd., Suite 140-111, Saint Paul, MN 55124
0974276804 $14.95 www.supatra.com
Written by a professional Thai cooking instructor and former owner of an Asian grocery, Crying
Tiger: Thai Recipes From The Heart is a Thai cuisine cookbook written especially for those who
may or may not be familiar with the basics, ingredients, and preparation techniques of Thai
cuisine. A wealth of black-and-white photographs illustrate the basic directions. An introductory
section features illustrations, descriptions, and recommendations of where to find ingredients
unusual to western cooking, from plantain bananas to dried silver bean thread noodles (and many
other types of noodles) to green papayas, thai eggplant, palm & coconut sugar, and much more. A
superb, user-friendly introduction to creating high-quality Thai food.
Queen Victoria
Walter L. Arnstein
Palgrave/St. Martin's Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
0333638069 $29.95 1-888-330-8477 www.palgrave.com
Written by a Professor Emeritus of History of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
Queen Victoria is an engaging expose of both the private and public life of the princess who
inherited Britain's throne as a teenager and became the strong guiding figure and symbolic head of
the largest empire in the world. Drawing upon past studies and research as well as Victoria's own
writings to illuminate her not only as a ruler, but as a human being gripped by concerns ranging
from gender roles and religion to political machinations and the state of Ireland. An excellently
researched and presented portrayal of one of the strongest and most influential women of
history.
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Betty's Bookshelf
There Will Be Dragons
John Ringo
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403, Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
ISBN 0743471644 $7.99 544 pp.
Like one of those webcams that begins out in space and ends up, by increments, on the beach in
Florida, Ringo starts his book with a prologue set in "otherness". There, apart from life on earth, a
computer AI named "Mother" by her human creators is busily running the earth: making a note of
each death, watching over likely spots for war to break out, running the weather. The godlike
AI's job is never done, and few if any humans ever think about Her at all. This is going to
change.
The first chapter introduces readers to members of the Terrestrial Council for Information
Strategy and Management, humans both humanoform and other, who run the Web and (through
their control of Mother) oversee the use of the technology that makes life so easy.
The weather is now completely under control. Food is easy to produce and can be grown in the
most remote areas of the planet, since it can be shipped anywhere in the blink of an eye. And with
the help of the nannite and replicator technology of modern medicine, humans can look like
anything they want to, be almost anything they want to be, and live anywhere they want to, from
the highest cloud to the deepest ocean to the middle of the hottest lava flow.
One thing technology hasn't given the human race is a sense of their own mortality and a
knowledge of their own history. Wealthy recluse Sir Edmund Talbot has both. He isn't on the
council and mistrusts the human race's dependence on technology, so he spends his days learning
to do things by hand and attending Renn Faires, where like-minded people come together to play
at living in long-ago times.
Not everyone finds his lifestyle enjoyable, though. Reenacting has driven away his gene-mate Dr.
Danae Ghorbani, whose work depends on the nannites. It's gotten between him and his teenaged
daughter, Rachel, who thinks his hobby is silly. And it separates him from many of his
acquaintances, who think he's wasting his time. Then the power goes down and people start
dying. Now, Talbot and his band of reenactors may be all that stands between the human race and
annihilation.
Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons
Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris
HarperTrophy, HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
ISBN 0064408485 $5.99 256 pp.
Hippolyta and her younger sisters are the daughters of Queen Otrere, the peace queen of the
Amazons. The Amazons, a mighty race of women, do not marry and allow no men to live among
them, and their very existence depends on their obedience to the words of an old prophecy: an
Amazon queen may only have one living son and he must be sent to his father before his first
birthday. Any other male children born to a queen with a living son must die. If not, the Amazon
race will cease to exist.
And so, Queen Otrere's first son, a brother Hippolyta never even knew about, was sent away.
This time, when the queen learns her newborn child is another son, she refuses to give him up for
sacrifice, and she is put in prison, where she will await the death of her son and her own exile to
the world of men.
But she will not give in. Instead, when Hippolyta visits her in secret, Otrere gives her a charge:
Take her baby brother to Troy, to his father, King Laomedon, who is already raising Otrere's first
son. Laomedon can raise this one, too, and protect him from the wrath of the other
Amazons.
Hippolyta is appalled. She doesn't want brothers, and she doesn't want her mother to die. She
will, though, if someone doesn't do something; the penalty for disobedience, even for a queen, is
death. And Hippolyta really doesn't want to take the baby into the world of men, a world she's
never seen. Besides, she knows nothing about babies. How will she manage to get baby Podarces
to his father? Her mother is adamant. Save your brother!
Now, Hippolyta is torn. Should she save her mother by disobeying her, or should she save her
brother by taking him to Troy? If she does, King Laomedon might be willing to come back and
rescue her mother. Or should she take the baby with her instead, as she tries to find the lost city of
Arimaspa, where the curse originated? Queen Otrere doesn't believe the gods would require the
death of an innocent child. Have the words of the prophecy been twisted all these years?
Hippolyta has no idea, but she's going to find out - when the time for the sacrifice arrives, she and
the baby will be headed for the biggest adventure any Amazon has ever faced.
The Lion of Ireland
Morgan Llywelyn
Tor Books
New York, NY
0765302578 $15.95 432 pages
Being born in New York City to Irish parents gives Morgan Llywelyn, Irish historian and
internationally best-selling author, dual citizenship. She spent half her childhood in Ireland and
now lives there, outside Dublin, as an Irish citizen. Her books, which cover the Celts and Ireland
from the earliest times to the present day, are critically acclaimed and have been translated into
many languages. One of them, The Lion of Ireland, was a sensation in the 1980's and was
re-released by Tor Books in March, 2002, to mark the millennial celebration of the 1000th
anniversary of Brian Boru's crowning as High King of Ireland and the establishment of the Irish
Clans.
The Lion of Ireland introduces readers to Brian Boru himself, the greatest king Ireland has ever
known. Brian, a legend both in his own time and for the history books, led his people into
Ireland's golden age, and in the pages of Llywelyn's book he lives again, in a story that sweeps
readers into the tumult and intrigue of tenth century Ireland and brings them face to face with a
man who was larger than life..
Readers first meet Brian as a scabby-kneed, scrawny boy, the youngest child of Cennedi, king of
the Dal Cais and prince of Thurmond, and his wife Bebinn. Young Brian is dazzled by his big
brother Mahon and he dreams of the coming day when Mahon will be king and Brian will fight by
his side. However, when the slaughter of most of Brian's family by Northmen ends his childhood
and causes him to lose hope in Mahon, he becomes a warrior with only one thing on his mind: to
find and kill those who took the lives of his family.
As Brian learns to wage war (and to make love, make friends, and make difficult decisions), his
vision for his life increases and eventually, he takes on the biggest job of all, uniting all of Ireland
under the kingship of one man, himself - Brian Boru. Brian Boru's life and times are
well-documented in history and Llywelyn uses real characters, real events, and realistic dialogue
to move the story along; only his Druid lover, Fiona, and his spear carrier, Padraic, were created
for the book. Even if you've never been interested in Irish history before, you may want to read
The Lion of Ireland, because in its pages, you will meet one of the most fascinating men in history
- Brian Boru.
True Valor
Dee Henderson
Multnomah Publishers Inc.
PO Box 1720, Sisters, Oregon, 97759
ISBN 1576738876 $11.99 338 p.
True Valor is the second book in Dee Henderson's "Uncommon Heroes" series and like all of her
books to date, it has strong, memorable characters and a story that pulls you along in its wake,
impatient to see where it'll go next. In the prologue, Henderson introduces the reader to Bruce, a
young boy growing up on an Air Force base, who longs (despite his fear of water) to become one
of his heroes, an Air Force Pararescue Jumper, and to Grace, who dreams of growing up and
flying Navy jets like her father, even though women aren't allowed to fly them - yet.
As the main story begins, Major Bruce "Striker" Stanton, an Air Force Pararescue Jumper who's
lived for years for his job and the PJ motto, "These things we do, that others may live", is looking
for more than the job that has consumed his life to date. He wants a dog, a house, a wife. He
wants to settle down, but the woman he has his eye on, Navy pilot Lieutenant Grace "Gracie"
Yeats, isn't sure she wants to get involved with him. He's military and she knows the trouble that
can be; she dated pilot Ben Grossel for years and put off marriage because of the pressures of
separation and the conflicts inherent in two military careers, until a car wreck during her second
deployment took her choices away and didn't even give her a chance to say good-bye.
Trying to recover from her grief over Ben's death, she's leery of Bruce, even as they exchange
letters and e-mails and she begins to fall in love. Can they make it work? She's still trying to
decide when her plane goes down behind enemy lines - with her in it, unable to eject. Badly
injured, the PJs are her only hope. Her life is in Bruce's hands. If she gets out alive, will she put
her future there, too?
Dee Henderson's books (the O'Malley series as well as "Uncommon Heroes") are filled with
believable characters who hold down interesting jobs and get involved in exciting situations, while
working out where they stand with each other and with the God that brought them together. In
True Valor, the reader gets more than one set of lovers; Henderson brings back "Bear" and Kelly
Baker (from her first "Uncommon Heroes" book, True Devotion) to give the reader a glimpse at
their continuing story, and she introduces a secondary romance between Bruce's civilian sister,
Jill, and Grace's cousin and lifelong best friend, Tom, a Navy SEAL better known as Wolf, to
help carry the storyline.
For readers who aren't familiar with military terms and aren't sure where things are in the Middle
East, Henderson also includes a glossary and a map, which make it easier to follow the battle
scenes. If you like romance and military excitement all rolled into one and you don't mind being
kept up past your bedtime with a story you can't put down, get a copy of True Valor. You won't
regret it!
Quilted Memories: Celebrations of Life. Mary Lou Weidman. C&T Publishing, Inc., PO Box
1456, Lafayette, CA, 94549. http://www.ctpub.com . ISBN# 1-5712-0166-1. 2001. $23.95. 96
p.
As the Baby Boomer generation begins to age, we've become aware of our mortality, and
scrapbooking and journaling have begun to be hot topics. Scrapbooking stores seem to be
springing up everywhere and every time I turn around, I see a new magazine or book about it or
about journaling: how to do it, why to do it, examples of what others have done... and on it
goes.
At first, it seemed self-indulgent to me. I mean, who really wants to read about someone else's
ordinary life? Now, though, I'm beginning to understand it. I became a grandmother in 2000 and
since I don't get to see my granddaughter, saving family memories has begun to take on a new
importance. My children know our stories, but Kendall doesn't. Recorded memories may be the
only way I ever get to share family history with her, not to mention other grandchildren and
great-grandchildren I may not live long enough to know about.
However, even if you're a writer, as I am, how many reams of memories can you write before
boring even yourself? And what about those who can't write a coherent sentence, but want to
leave something of themselves through which they can touch future generations?
That's where Spokane quilter and teacher Mary Lou Weidman's book, Quilted Memories:
Celebrations of Life, comes in. Its glorious quilt designs and ideas are meant to inspire you to "go
and do likewise". She says, "These quilts become journal pieces in fabric and become a legacy of
celebrations to be shared by those people who are privileged to view them."
But you can't sew or draw, you say? Weidman would say it doesn't matter. She cuts figures and
lettering freehand in folk art style and warns the loved ones she immortalizes in fabric that they
shouldn't expect to look pretty. As for sewing, she says, "If my stitches show, I don't sweat it.
...If my thread does not match, I can live with that, also. Do I worry if I am using black thread on
a pink project? No. It's ok. And do you know why it's ok? It's ok because the whole point of
these quilts is the story, the celebration, and not whether or not the thread matches. Do you think
the members of your family care what color thread you use to tell their story?"
The book is filled with fun examples of quilts that tell of birthdays, favorite recipes, summer
vacations, weddings, holidays, and other family stories, and there are patterns for many of the
elements in the back of the book. However, the point of the book is not to slavishly follow one of
Weidman's designs. Instead, you should allow her ideas to inspire a quilt story of your very
own.
To this end, one chapter is called "How to Increase Your Creativity Quotient", and it is filled with
tips like "Be thankful", "Surround yourself with positive people", and "Start more than one
project". (Starting more than one project is not something that most creative people need to be
told, unfortunately. For them, she may need to add, "Finish what you start!")
If you're at all interested in journaling, family history, or quilting, this book is one you won't want
to miss. If you've never thought about any of this before, maybe you should start. Time is passing
and there are generations of your family yet to come. Wouldn't you like to leave something for
them? Get started!
Betty Winslow
Reviewer
Brittingham's Bookshelf
Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto
Anneli Rufus
Marlowe & Company
161 William Street, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10038
ISBN 1569245134 $14.95 272 pages
One of the benefits of living in the current era is that anything and everything has become a focus
for discussion --- call it a coming out of the closet' but on a wider, non-sexual scale. Be it disease
(mental, physical, spiritual), religious orientation or personal proclivity, we are ready to face it
head on in a public forum. Whether or not this is the consummate benefit of the Information Age
is a worthy topic in itself.
At a time of nearly painful political correctness, it would seem that every minority has already
demanded its right to acknowledgment and respect. Anneli Rufus has found yet another deserving
group, those who choose to be outsiders by embracing solitude.
Society (note that this is a collective noun) has largely stigmatized the loner by asserting the
following: it is peculiar --- even borderline immoral --- to celebrate holidays alone, to find no
discomfort in dining alone, to engage in pastimes enjoyed alone (reading would certainly be one),
to dislike the intrusiveness of the telephone and the oftentimes lengthy chats that answering it may
incur, to be disinterested in games, and to avoid clubs or group activities. While the masses adore
pop icons that are also loners, characters like Batman, Spider-Man, Superman and the American
Cowboy, they grow squeamish about living next door to someone who "keeps to himself." Why,
surely there must be something wrong with him!
Ms. Rufus takes on this demon of generalization through a variety of approaches. Technology,
advertising, friendship, religion, the arts, all are scrutinized in terms of how they present the loner
and how loners have affected them. She reminds us of some world class loners: John Lennon,
Franz Kafka, Emily Dickinson, da Vinci, Cezanne, Michelangelo, Henry David Thoreau, J.D.
Salinger, H.P. Lovecraft, Eugene O'Neil, Anne Rice, Jack Kerouac, Nabokov.
Obviously, these are creative minds. Humanity has demonstrated a certain tolerance for
them, having recognized that writers, musicians, poets, painters, scientists, sculptors and the like,
need space if they are to amaze us with something new, beautiful, or progressive.
Heaven help the poor slob who simply enjoys quietude while lacking an aberrant artistic gene. He
or she is weird. Aloof. Crazy. And probably a serial killer.
As Rufus points out, most serial killers are alone because those they attempted to befriend
recognized that there was something amiss, and avoided them. One of the most famous murderers
of the last half-century was Charles Manson --- who surrounded himself with "The Family", a
group of miscreants and easily manipulated minds.
In dealing with this aspect of lonerism, the author manages a few well-aimed potshots at
profiling.' While racial profiling is to be assiduously guarded against, stating that a crime spree is
being perpetrated by a loner has become de rigueur. Charming, handsome extroverts do not
commit multiple atrocities. Unless, of course, they are the Ted Bundys of the world.
Whether you are yourself a loner, have a child or other relative who fits the bill, or work with
someone who seems detached from the company social circle, if you are merely curious about this
state of mind, then you have good reason to explore Anneli Rufus' book. The author shamelessly
(why not?) flaunts her lonerism and, while defining its parameters, manages to demonstrate
admirably that even quiet people can possess a healthy sense of humor.
Loners of the World, Unite! (But only in spirit.)
B. A. Brittingham
Reviewer
Buhle's Bookshelf
Final Fantasy XI Online Offical Strategy Guide Spring 2004 Version
Brady Games
Pearson Technology Group
201 West 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46290-1097
0744003687 $19.99 1-800-428-5331
Now in an updated edition for Spring 2004, Final Fantasy XI Online Offical Strategy Guide is a
resource packed with full-color screenshots and in-depth strategy, and an absolute must for
anyone interested in the complex and enthralling massively multi-player online role playing game
that is Final Fantasy XI, currently available for both the personal computer and the Playstation 2
entertainment system. Final Fantasy XI is an extremely challenging game, that when first started
up may overwhelm the player with menus upon menus, and the seemingly towering challenge of
raising one's lowly level 1 character to fame and fortune. The Final Fantasy XI Online Official
Strategy Guide covers everything from basic statistics for all race and class combinations, to
general gameplay advice, a glossary of common acronyms and abbreviations used online, a long
list of monster battle tactics and weaknesses of monsters, a trade skill database, maps, a weapon
and item database, detailed quest walkthroughs, and much, much more. Highly recommended,
with notable upgrades to its information to reflect the ever-changing online world.
American Railroads In The Nineteenth Century
Augustus J. Veenedaal
Greenwood Publishing Group
88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
0313316880 $45.00 1-800-225-5800 www.greenwood.com
Part of the outstanding "Greenwood Guides To Historic Events, 1500-1990" series, American
Railroads In The Nineteenth Century is a detailed reference to the history of railroads in historic
America and how they changed the nation forever. Chapters cover the technology, financing,
regulation, economy, and much more concerning railroads, with a special look at their use and
impact in the Civil War. Meticulously researched, American Railroads is nonetheless written in
terms accessible to the lay person and is an engaing and welcome addition to railroad history and
reference shelves for casual and scholarly readers alike. An exceptionally interesting guided tour
of how a commonly accessible means of transportation changed the country as a whole.
Life In Laredo
Robert D. Wood, S.M.
The University Of North Texas Press
PO Box 311336, Denton, TX 76203-1336
157441173X $24.95 www.unt.edu/untpress
Written by the keepr of the archives at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, where there Laredo
Archives are housed, Life In Laredo: A Documentary History From The Laredo Archives is a
straightforward history drawing heavily from primary sources concerning a small Texas town that
existed under rulership of Spain, then Mexico, then the United States. Focusing heavily on how
changing politics affected small-town life, including the terrible threats of war and the
perseverance of ordinary people to survive, Life In Laredo is a fascinating micro-history,
thoroughly researched, that transports the reader to personally experience another era and place.
Despite its extensive documentation, Life In Laredo is thoroughly accessible to the lay reader and
a recommended supplement to Texas history shelves and reading lists.
The Confessions Of St. Augustine
James Marshall Campbell & Martin R.P. McGuire
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
1000 Brown Street, Unit 101, Wauconda, IL 60084
0865160589 $26.00 www.bolchazy.com
The Confessions Of St. Augustine: Books I-IX (Selections) is a Latin textbook and work of
literature. It is not a formal instructional book, but rather a reader that presents the biographical
writings of St. Augustine, which reflect his profound faith and insight into human motives, ideals,
and man's need for God, in the original Latin. Although a glossary, an extensive introduction, and
numerous translation footnotes aid the reader in understanding the Latin text, there is no English
translation per se of Augustine's words - the advanced Latin student is left to contemplate them
on his or her own. A core addition to college-level Latin students' reference shelves and reading
lists.
Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer
Burroughs' Bookshelf
Java Examples In A Nutshell
David Flanagan
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
1005 Gravenstein, Hwy N., Sebastopol, CA 95472-2811
0596006209 $39.95 1-800-998-9938
Now in a newly updated and expanded third edition, Java Examples In A Nutshell is a 720 page
instructional compendium by Java expert David Flanagan expertly covers Java 2 Version 1.4, and
the tutorial companion to "Java In A Nutshell." Featuring 193 complete examples with practical
applications, over 21,900 lines of thoroughly commented, professionally written code, new
chapters on the Java Sound API and New I/O API, and much more, Java Examples In A Nutshell
is a must-have for any beginning or experienced programmer seeking to learn by doing and hone
their skills for adapting to any given programming task. As a tutorial companion, "Java Examples
In A Nutshell" does not focus on excessive explanation but rather direct learning through
experience; both "Java Examples In A Nutshell" and the more pedantic "Java In A Nutshell" are
highly recommended.
Worlds Of Wonder
Jean-Francois Leroux & Camille La Bossiere, editors
University of Ottawa Press
c/o University of Toronto Press
10 St. Mary Street, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4Y 2W8
0776605704 $27.95 1-800-565-9523
Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by Jean-Francois Leroux (Associate Professor,
Department of English, College Universitaire de Saint-Boniface) and Camille La Bossiere
(Professor Emeritus, Department of English, University of Ottawa), Worlds Of Wonder: Readings
In Canadian Science Fiction And Fantasy Literature is an anthology of sixteen literary criticisms
and essays by a wide variety of learned individuals, especially focusing upon the genre of science
fiction and fantasy and specifically in the context of Canadian literature and culture. Examining
the works of Margaret Atwood, Charles de Lint, Guy Gavriet Kay, and many more, these writings
offer a unique perspective upon the context, identity, psychodrama, parallels to the modern day,
and more found in widely popular and enduring works of fantastic expression. A welcome
addition to science fiction and fantasy literary criticism shelves.
Satellite Imagery For The Masses
Harold Hough
Loompanics Unlimited
PO Box 1197, Port Townsend, WA 98368
1559502401 $20.00 www.loompanics.com
Satellite Imagery For The Masses: How To Use And Profit From The Satellite Revolution is a
handy guide to using the technology of satellite photo interpretation for business or personal use.
Chapters address how satellite imagery works and what it can do, means of making money off of
the ability to extract in-depth visual information from satellite images, acquiring satellite imagery,
picking the right system for one's needs, and much more. From uses as evidence in court, a
reliable locator of pollution, building video games that show what it's like to fly over the earth
with uncanny accuracy, choosing where best to plan private or public real estate development, and
much more, the profitable uses of satellite imagery abound an Satellite Imagery For The Masses
uses no-nonsense, easy-to-understand terms to explain just how anyone can take advantage.
Secret London
Andrew Duncan
Interlink Publishing Group
46 Crosby Street, Northampton, MA 01060-1804
1566565278 $17.95 www.interlinkbooks.com
One of the outstanding "Interlink Walking Guides" series, Secret London: Exploring The Hiddin
City: Exploring The Hidden City, With Original Walks And Unusual Places To Visit is a travel
guide especially for the walking tourist determined to explore the greatest sights of London,
including obscure treasures such as rivers long buried, ancient buildings, and sites where anyone
can enjoy free lectures. Full-color photographs, extensive descriptions, street maps clearly
illustrating the route of the walk, contact and opening time information, and much more fill this
handy travel guide for the visitor who wants to see it all. Also very highly recommended for the
London visitor is the Interlink Publishing "Walking Guides Series" edition of Christopher
Somerville's Walks In The Country Near London (1566565286, $17.95).
Improving Achievement In Low-Performing Schools
Randolph E. Ward (Mary Ann Burke, editor)
Corwin Press, Inc.
2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 1320-2218
0761931740 $24.95 1-800-818-7243
Ably edited by Mary Ann Burke, Improving Achievement In Low-Performing Schools: Key
Results For School Leaders by academician Randolph E. Ward is a practical and professional
guideline especially for teachers, and education professionals concerning innovative management
practices to improve low performance in multi-stressed schools. Chapters focus upon how to
improve student achievement in core subjects, creating safe, clean, and secure facilities, forging
stronger links with parents and the community, raising the level of management effectiveness and
accountability, and much more. Sample checklists illustrate the key principles outlined for
dynamically improving the conditions and results of an educational institution.
The Survival Of The Coolest
William Pryor
Clear Books
c/o International Publishers Marketing
22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166
1904555136 $14.95 1-800-758-3756 www.internationalpubmakret.com
The Survival Of The Coolest: An Addiction Memoir is the true story of one of the great-great
grandsons of Charles Darwin, his addiction to heroin, near-death experiences, and eventual
treatment and recovery. Arguing strenuously against the "war on drugs" mentality that pervades
today, The Survival Of The Coolest tells of a life where drugs were an effect, not the cause of the
author's severe problems. An invaluable, soul-baring personal testimony of descent and
redemption, offering a real-world viewpoint of the problem of drug addiction from one who has
been there firsthand.
Handy English Encoder Decoder
Harvey Bluedorn
Trivium Pursuit
PMB 168, 429 Lake Bark Blvd., Muscatine, IA 52761
0974361623 $9.00 www.triviumpursuit.com
Handy English Encoder Decoder is not a book about cryptography per se; rather, it is a
straightforward instruction manual to understanding the codes and rules for representing English
phonics and spelling. Comprising of more than 60 categorized spelling rules, over 200 phonics
rules, rules for dividing a word into syllables, commonly confusing word spellings and word pairs,
spelling and phonics games, and much more, Handy English Encoder Decoder is a concise,
quick-reference, easy-to-use supplement highly recommended for any writer or editor's reference
collection. Especially recommended for anyone working on their pronounciation skills or learning
English as a second language.
Ships Of Wood And Men Of Iron
GerardKenney
Canadian Plains Research Center
University Of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, S4S 0A2
0889771685 $14.95 1-306-337-2365 www.uregina.ca
Ships Of Wood And Men Of Iron: A Norwegian-Canadian Saga Of Exploraiton In The High
Arctic is the true story of Canadian and Norwegian exploration expeditions into the perilous and
bitterly cold arctic islands during the first half of the twentieth century. A meticulously researched
and engagingly presented saga of the remarkable men who endured the elements and more in
pursuit of science, fame, or commercial interests, Ships Of Wood And Men Of Iron is a riveting
look into history and pitting of man versus nature. Black-and-white photographs enhance this
superb documentary.
Fort Lowry And Raiders On The Rappahannock
Carroll M. Garnett
Vantage Press Inc.
516 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001
0533137667 $24.95 1-212-736-1767
Fort Lowry And Raiders On The Rappahannock relates a landmark event in naval history which
occurred during the American Civil War. When General Lee commanded the creation of a "Water
Battery" (an 8-gun coastal installation) on the Rappahannock River in order to protect
Fredericksburg from Union forces, it cost an immense amount of resources and labor from slaves
and free Negroes alike to become a reality. In the end, it never fired upon the enemy because the
Federals never came up-river while it existed, but its creation set the stage for modern naval
history. Researched and written by teacher and historian Carroll Garnett, Fort Lowry And Raiders
On The Rappahannock draws heavily upon original documents as well as secondary sources to
provide the most accurate rendition possible of historical figures and events.
Meuse-Argonne Diary
William M. Wright, author; Robert H. Ferrell, editor
University of Missouri Press
2910 LeMone Boulevard, Columbia, MO 65201
0826215270 $29.95 1-800-828-1894
Meuse-Argonne Diary: A Division Commander In World War I is unique, for during the length of
America's participation in World War I, only one commander of a division - the author William
M. Wright - is known to have kept a diary. It chronicles General Wright's two months at St.
Mihiel and particularly the Meuse-Argonne, the largest and deadliest battle in American history.
Wright's division of 28,000 draftees from Missouri and Kansas was one of two American point
divisions when the U.S. First Army pressed the German defenders back to the Meuse River. A
remarkable and pinpoint-critical eyewitness account of a pivotal time in world history, that bravely
commisserates with those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country in desperate
times.
Operatives, Spies And Saboteurs
Patrick K. O'Donnell
The Free Press
Jane Wesman Public Relations (publicity)
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
074323572X $27.00 1-800-223-2336 www.simonandschuster.com
Drawn heavily from interviews, Operatives, Spies And Saboteurs: The Unknown Story Of The
Men And Women Of WWII's OSS is the fascinating true story of espionage, intrigue, and
sabotage that took place across the occupied territories of Europe. From disruption of supply
lines to the relaying of critical information, targeted killings, resistance organization and much
more, Operatives, Spies And Saboteurs covers a different dimension of warfare in depth and is a
most welcome addition to World War II military history and reference shelves. An inset selection
of black-and-white photograph illustrates this remarkable account of the OSS and its critical work
in the shadows, long overdue for its public acclaim for weakening Axis defenses.
M*L*B*U
Bob Ringma
General Store Publishing House
499 O'Brien Road, Box 415, Renfrew, ON, Canada, K7V 4A6
1894263855 $19.95 1-800-465-6072 www.gsph.com
M*L*B*U: Full Monty In Korea is the true story of the Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit and its
duties in the Korean War. Written by an officer in the army assigned to the MLBU, charged with
the responsibility of moving vans of equipment and personnel to locations near the Front to
provide exhausted troops with the niceties of a shower and clean clothing, M*L*B*U: Full Monty
In Korea perfectly captures and oft-overlooked side of war. Told in matter-of-fact prose and
sparsely illustrated with black-and-white photographs, M*L*B*U is a different kind of military
memoir and a recommended supplementary addition to Korean War history and reference
collections.
Ingrained Legacy: Saskatchewan Pioneer Woodworkers 1870-1930 surveys the lives and
creations of over eighty dedicated pioneer woodworkers who made their home in Saskatchewan,
all of whom carved their creations by hand with locally available materials. Synposes of their lives,
backgrounds, and talents are accompanied by over 400 black-and-white photographs and insights
into the difficulty of survival in pioneer times. A "must-read" for anyone interested in the history
of woodworking or seeking inspiration from those who considered it their passion when breaking
ground in a new land.
Jack Buroughs
Reviewer
Charisse's Bookshelf
Murals: Walls That Sing
George Ancona, author/photographer
Marshall Cavendish
99 White Plains Rd., Tarrytown, NY 10591-9001
http://www.marshallcavendish.com
0761451315, $17.95, 48 pages
"The most natural, purest and strongest form of painting is the mural," Jose Clemente Orozco,
renowned Mexican muralist, said of his work and the medium. "It is also the most generous, since
it cannot be turned into an object for personal profit; it cannot be hidden from the benefit of the
privileged few. It is for the people."
In Ancona's latest book, "Murals" celebrates an intricate art style once considered illegal graffiti.
Renowned for his photo-essay style, Ancona examines this urban art form not only
representative of past voices but also of the common man's present struggle with an eye for
personal stories that translate into universal themes, more often than not reflective of the diverse
cultures populating the neighboring streets where the murals can be found. His journey begins
with the infamous works of Mexican artists Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David
Alfaro Siqueiros, and includes a prehistoric wall painting from the Lascaux Cave of France.
Following these groundbreaking murals, Ancona travels across the United States in search of
today's community artists whose works, often commissioned, memorialize cultural stories and
social issues on retaining walls, railroad cars, apartment buildings, and a myriad of other suitable
outdoor canvases with spray paint, tiles, and mosaic materials. His findings range from the garage
door murals in San Francisco to a Philadelphian mural of jazz musician Grover Washington, Jr.;
from the images of Russian icon-styled saints painted on the exterior walls of a chapel in
Albuquerque by Russian Orthodox monks to a depiction of the Asian immigrant history on a
building in Boston's Chinatown once slated for destruction and saved by neighborhood activism.
With as many as three or four full-color photos per double-page spread, each appropriately
credited and titled, the book's design captures the inspired vision of each artist through a range of
panoramic camera shots to tighter zoom perspectives smaller vignettes as well as supportive
histories for each piece. The most dynamic mural in the collection is found in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, on a supermarket wall. "The Potluck," created by David Fichter, sings with
laughter, friendship, and fellowship as families assemble for a jubilant feast.
Ancona, inspired by Mexican artist Rufino Tamoyo, studied painting and sculpting at the
Brooklyn Museum of Art School and the Academia de San Carlos in his early years and returned
to New York to focus on his photojournalism career. Author of several award-winning children's
books including "Turtle Watch," an ALA Notable Book, Ancona pays homage to the phenomenal
murals of the world through his vibrant photographs. Whether adopted into the core of a social
studies program or read solely for its cultural content, "Murals" is an exceptional choice for
mid-grade students, ages 8-12.
Suki's Kimono
Chieri Uegaki, illus.
Kids Can Press
2250 Military Road, Tonawanda, NY 14150
1553370848, $15.95, 32 pages
Armed with the same tenacity and unwavering determination as Henke's precious Lily (Lily's
Purple Plastic Purse), Suki takes center stage. The comparison stops there, however, as the
story's tone evokes more reverence than sass in the face of adversity.
When Suki's grandmother (obachan) visits for the summer, she brings a special gift from the
Japanese homeland a blue kimono. Memories of a delightful street festival come to life as Suki
recalls the first time she donned the beautiful garment the tasty cuisine, colorful paper lanterns,
and traditional dances. Understandably, the "fan-patterned blue kimono" is Suki's "favorite
thing." In honor of her grandmother and her rich heritage, Suki declares she will wear her
Japanese robe on the first day of school!
Uegaki, a graduate of the University of British Columbia's Creative Writing Department and a
finalist in The Writers' Union of Canada Writing for Children Competition, is a first-time
children's author. Her story, written for ages 4-8, rings true on so many levels. Her main
character, an independent first-grader, decides to openly embrace the traditions of her Japanese
ancestry. She wears her kimono, sash (obi), and wooden clogs (geta) to school, regardless of her
sisters' disapproval. Marked as the opening scene, the reader is appropriately prepared for the
reaction she will soon receive from her classmates. Suki's mother, who obviously appreciates her
daughter's individuality, does not challenge her decision. Throughout the day, Suki stands tall and
strong in her right to express herself as she sees fit, despite the teasing and ridicule. Only one child
dares to befriend her and ask the questions no one else has the courage to ask. The crowning
moment for Suki is when the teacher asks her to tell the classroom what she experienced during
the summer months. Suki moves to the head of the class and tells of her grandmother's visit. As
she describes the festival dancers, Suki loses herself in a graceful demonstration of a traditional
dance and hums the familiar music of Japan. Upon returning to her seat, her classmates, reluctant
at first, reach out to her in a thunderous round of applause. Suki's Kimono addresses the
challenges of diversity and intolerance, and realistically explores the role fear of the unknown
plays in the equation.
Jorisch's playful watercolors literally glide across the page as Suki retraces her grandmother's
dance patterns. She is the recipient of the Ruth Schwartz Award for her last Kids Can Press
picture book, Oma's Quilt, as well as two Governor General's Awards and many other artistic
honors during her career as an illustrator.
Goldfish and Chrysanthemums
Andrea Cheng
Michelle Chang, illus.
Lee & Low Books Inc.
95 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016
http://www.leeandlow.com
1584300574, $16.95, 32 pages
"'Brother says the city needs space for apartment building, so they tear down our father's old
house in Suzhou," Ni Ni said softly. She held the photos to the light from the window. "Ba Ba
had a fishpond in the middle," she said, pointing to the courtyard.'"
As Grandma Ni Ni slices carrot flowers and her granddaughter, Nancy, swirls and rinses the
dinner rice, grandson Greg bursts into the busy kitchen with a blue envelope mailed from China.
Grandma recognizes the return address as that of her brother. Two devastating photographs fall
to the countertop, and she quickly reads her brother's words.
Seeing Grandma Ni Ni heartbroken by the news of the destruction of her childhood home and the
precious goldfish pond, Nancy seizes the opportunity to restore the joy that once shone in her
grandmother's countenance. In the midst of her search for something to brighten Grandma Ni
Ni's day, Nancy wins a pair of goldfish at the summer fair. When she returns with the goldfish
bowl, Grandma Ni Ni reminisces about the pond in her past and the brilliant, yellow
chrysanthemums that lined the garden path. Her vivid memories launch a plan in Nancy's mind
that she quickly sets into action.
Cheng, director/instructor of an English as a Second Language program in Ohio, is the author of
Grandfather Counts (2000), chosen as one of "50 Multicultural Books Every Child Should
Know" by the Cooperative Children's Book Center. Her inspiration for Goldfish and
Chrysanthemums is attributed to the personal experiences of her mother-in-law who was reared in
China. Through the decisive actions of a child, Cheng shows how one person can make a
powerful difference in the world. The compassion demonstrated by Nancy's concern for her
grandmother carries the theme of selfless-giving throughout the book and strongly defines the ties
that bind generations together.
Chang, who has published in many award-winning magazines, debuts in children's fiction with
Goldfish and Chrysanthemums. Her luminescent oil paintings artfully capture the nostalgia of an
age gone by, essentially creating a scrapbook effect through a tinted lens. The color scheme is the
strength of Chang's work. Each full-page painting radiates in golden honey and amber.
Goldfish and Chrysanthemums is a choice picture book written for ages 4-8. For older readers,
educators could easily work this text into a family history unit or a classroom assignment that
delves into journals and memoirs.
Grow Grow Grow
Barbara Riley
Jaenet Guggenheim, illus.
Azro Press
1704 Llano St B, Santa Fe, NM 87505
http://www.azropress.com
1929115083, $19.95, 40 pages
"Little seed / sound asleep. / Wake up, calls the rain. / Wake up, calls the sky."
While a sunflower seed sleeps beneath the surface of the nutrient-rich soil, the sky above calls out
for life to begin. Long, thin earthworms move in and out and all around, aerating and fertilizing,
preparing the earth for the sunflower's growth. Rain moistens the earth, and a tender root pushes
its way downward in search of nourishment. "Who's calling me?" asks the seed. Firmly grounded,
a strong, green shoot bursts forth in search of the one who calls. "I'm listening," it shouts. "Are
you calling me?"
Riley, a poet who lives and works in the great Southwest, recounts the remarkable journey of a
single seed buried in the earth as it grows into a gigantic, Russian Mammoth sunflower, towering
high in the simmering sky. Through the birds-eye view of a burgeoning flower, this captivating
story-poem propels the reader through every enlightened step of the flourishing cycle of life. Each
clear, direct question grabs the listener's attention as the author demonstrates the flower's
unwavering determination to survive in the wild. An acutely-disciplined poet, Riley draws upon
the five senses through these same engaging questions and the accompanying lines of fearless,
self-confident pronouncements. By book's end, the poem comes full circle as the matured
sunflower drops its dormant seeds to the ground for yet another prosperous growing season.
Every page bursts with kaleidoscopic intensity as the artist playfully illustrates the marvels of
nature lurking beneath and beyond the poetic lines. Guggenheim, author and illustrator of
"Herman and Poppy Go Singing in the Hills," boldly illustrates from an assortment of exotic art
papers exquisitely designed by artists from across the globe. Out of gratitude for their matchless
talent, Guggenheim pledges to contribute half of her royalties to various children's charities in the
native countries of these paper designers via UNICEF.
"Grow Grow Grow" articulates the music of life. The paper-collage artwork features countless
details from the plant and animal kingdoms, as well as the indispensable world of insects, and
Riley's freestyle poetry inspires creativity, exploration, and even movement through stretches,
exercises, and free-spirited dance. "Grow Grow Grow" is ideal for the baby/preschool age group
and would significantly enhance a science program in the early elementary classroom.
The Ghost on the Hearth
Susan Milord
Lydia Dabcovich, illus.
Vermont Folklife Center
http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org
0916718182, $15.95, 32 pages
"I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do for your Emily," the doctor told them. "She's in
God's hands now."
These words echo through a quaint farmhouse in rural Quebec as twelve-year-old Emily, victim of
a winter illness, nears the end of her life with her family at her side. She spent her days in the
service of a busy housewife on a nearby farm cleaning, cooking, and mending where work was
never lacking. Every evening before retiring to bed, she knelt before the fireplace on the rugged
stone hearth to scrape away the wax drippings from a well-used candle.
Soon after Emily's passing, the farmer's wife hires another young girl to work at her side. When
the wife rises one morning and finds hardened wax on the hearthstone, she chastises her servant
for her negligence. The servant vehemently denies the charges and meticulously recounts her daily
movements. Disarmed by the situation, the farmer's wife asks her husband to oversee the
servant's chores. Although he sees the young girl scrape the wax drippings, the household rises to
find hardened wax on the hearthstone. The next night he stands watch, but the hours grow long
and he drifts off to sleep. Once again, the wax appears. Frustrated by this unending mischief, the
farmer's wife vows to take the next watch, and the discovery she makes is a story still told in
homes today!
Milord, author of Tales of the Shimmering Sky, awarded the Benjamin Franklin Best Juvenile
Fiction Award, and Tales Alive!, winner of both the Parents' Choice Award and the Stepping
Stones Multicultural Honor Award, recounts an 1830s tale of the supernatural kept alive through
generations of traditional oral storytellers. She unfolds the story through a cautious progression of
page turns, steadily building the hair-prickling tension to an optimum dramatic level, and yet she
skillfully treats each ghostly event with an air of calm that keeps the fear factor pulsating at a low
pitch for younger ears.
Dabcovich, illustrator of the popular Annushka's Voyage, a classic immigrant tale, and
author-illustrator of The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale, honored as a Notable Social Studies
Book for Young People, among other titles, paints the charm of rural life in historical detail with
scenes that move and speak and react far beyond the text.
The Ghost on the Hearth, for ages 4-8, lends itself well to both the young and the old. A
memorable classroom application might include a reader's theater, a guest storyteller, or a
retelling of treasured family stories in a structured story hour. The author includes straightforward
directions for creating a basic story-starter kit, along with adaptable suggestions for enhancing the
storytelling experience.
Small One's Adventure
Doris L. Mueller
Parker Fulton, illus.
All About Kids Publishing
6280 San Ignacio Ave., Ste. C, San Jose, CA 95119
http://www.aakp.com
0971027811, $16.95, 32 pages
As a thirsty elephant herd storms toward the river, stampeding faster and faster as they pick up
the smell of water, Small One moves safely amid the tall, gray legs of the adults. Protected by the
dynamics of the family circle, she gains more confidence than she can handle at her young age.
Caught up in a desperate struggle to gain independence and maturity, the young elephant creates a
dire situation for herself.
In the young calf's eagerness to show the herd her grown-up capabilities, Small One ignores the
perils of the river and goes too far. She openly declares her right to be in control of her own
playtime, ignoring the warning signals of a watchful mother. She thinks nothing of the impending
danger as she watches a pair of twins carefully navigate the slippery mud, their trunks firmly
wrapped around the tail of nearby "aunties." As she reluctantly obeys her mother's call, Small
One attempts to climb the muddy riverbank and discovers her steadfast resolve could be at the
cost of her very own life.
Mueller, a semi-retired college professor, writes Small One's Adventure from personal
observations made on an African adventure of her own. After noting a young elephant calf's
expressions and carefree patterns, Mueller weaves a tender yet suspenseful story of youthful
impatience and the inherent consequences of impetuous choices. She cautiously steps inside the
elephant's family unit to document the physical and emotional interactions characteristic of a
matriarchal society. Mueller's true-to-life portrayal of the excursion to the watering hole is quite
realistic. She magnifies every meaningful detail in the herd's behavioral makeup and carefully
identifies their communication style. They stomp, spray, swing, and moan a distinct significance
for every action. The book's title falls short on the surface, but Small One's story, written for ages
4-8, is a powerful one and well worth the read.
Fulton, a seasoned wildlife artist, opens up Small One's world in her outstanding double-page
spreads. The tension built into the story's climax is just as evident in her illustrations, complete
with a full range of emotions easily translatable into human terms. Every other spread, adorned
with a double band of colorful African motifs and designs, artistically amplifies the environmental
setting for Mueller's dramatic text, adding a believable dose of cultural flavor throughout.
It Rained All Day that Night: Autographs, Rhymes & Inscriptions
Lillian Morrison, compiler
Christy Hale, illus.
August House Publishers, Inc.
P.O. Box 3223, Little Rock, AR 72203-3223
http://www.augusthouse.com
0874837359 $16.95, 80 pages
"It was midnight on the ocean. / Not a streetcar was in sight. / The sun was shining brightly, / For
it rained all day that night."
Nonsense and playfulness prevail, as the title poem suggests, in this witty compilation of
autographs, rhymes, and inscriptions. Scattered across the pages in a unique layout style, these
classic verses will appeal to both the young and the young at heart.
Morrison, editor of the cherished "Yours Till Niagara Falls," is a verse enthusiast who has a
passion for collecting quirky sayings and memorable album verses. The energy behind her interest
moves beyond the surface wit to a level of historical relevance. After careful study, the author
acknowledges a shift through the years from a more literary form to a "style [that] tends to be
direct, down-to-earth, often mocking, humorous sometimes sweet, sometimes nonsensical." She
also points out that today's autograph collector falls into the pre-teen range, an activity once
popular among older teens.
The Table of Contents divides the book into themed sections. The text, arranged in various angle
placements, is reminiscent of the jottings familiar to school yearbooks and souvenir books, with
all commentary reserved for the author's Afterword. For the computer savvy, most sections
feature a block of verses with clever graphics and keyboard symbols. Some duplicate the
preschooler's rebus style or align words, numbers, and symbols in mathematical equations, while
others are printed backwards and upside down. In the Inspiration segment, the rhymes lean
toward the hopeful "May your life " and "May you be " The Friendship selections espouse the
virtues most noteworthy trustworthiness, loyalty, and allegiance while the verses in the Insults
category carry the sentiment of "Roses are red, / Violets are blue ." Since Morrison approaches
this compilation from a historical standpoint, some of her choices appear outdated and stale, with
much of the humor lost in the changing times, but the importance of each verse to the collection
as a whole is obvious and easily appreciated.
Hale is the illustrator of the critically acclaimed Elizabeti's Doll, named Best Book of 1998 by
School Library Journal, winner of the Charlotte Zolotow Award and the Ezra Jack Keats Award.
Her lighthearted illustrations move freely throughout the book's eye-catching design and directly
interact with each individual verse.
"It Rained All Day that Night," published for mid-graders, is a compilation of sincere and
not-so-sincere verses and notations for readers of all ages, including adults. The historic value
alone makes this work a one-of-a-kind collection.
Riding on a Range: Western Activities for Kids
G. Lawson Drinkard
Fran Lee, illus.
Gibbs Smith, Publisher
P.O. Box 667, Layton, Utah 84041
1586850369 $8.95, 63 pages
Filled with activities suitable for any season of the year, Riding on a Range is an entertaining
guide for everything relative to the cowboy culture. Drinkard provides an assortment of games
and projects that children of any age can enjoy.
Down-home recipes, reminiscent of the chuck wagon's outdoor kitchen, are outlined in simple
steps with basic ingredients and ample instructions. Cow-Pie Cookies made from peanut butter
and oatmeal top the list of favorites. Beans in a Bedroll layers refried beans, beef jerky, and
cheddar cheese atop a warmed flour tortilla, a fun visual image of a cowboy sacked out in a
canvas bedroll. In a refreshing twist, Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade rounds up the usual ingredients
and further provides handy instructions for juicing a lemon, a "cowgirl secret."
Plenty of cowboy games, histories, and how-to's are scattered throughout the pages a clever
sport of Bean Shootout, a round of old-fashioned horseshoes utilizing recycled shoes, and the
inside scoop on staging a cowboy play, complete with script and costuming ideas. Boot spurs and
roping skills are discussed at length, not to mention the modern-day cowboy wave from behind
the wheel of a pickup truck. To further flesh out the cowpoker personality, Drinkard adds a
section of western lingo and traditional rodeo terms in a glossary format. Combined with
authentic cattle brands and markings, any picnic, campout, or western-themed event spells a
recipe for success with specialty banners, invitations, and one-of-a-kind party favors.
Drinkard, author of Hiding in a Fort: Backyard Retreats for Kids and Fishing in a Brook: Angling
Activities for Kids, writes Riding on a Range in a similar easy-to-read style. Published as an
oversized paperback, this attractive resource book is designed in a well-organized, concise format
with helpful illustrations at every turn. Written for ages six and beyond, this unique, passionate
collection opens the door to the marvels of nature in a revolutionary attempt to reverse the
sedentary trend in the lives of today's children.
Lee is the illustrator of many of the Gibbs Smith activity books. Her latest work is My Vacation
Album (Richard Elton), a spiral-bound activity book for young amateur photographers.
A Snowflake Fell: Poems About Winter
Laura Whipple, compiler
Hatsuki Hori, illus.
Barefoot Books
2067 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140
1841480339, $16.99, 40 pages
In celebration of the seasonal joys of wintertime, Whipple, in A Snowflake Fell, has compiled a
simple yet profound collection of children's poetry. With an ear for the classical nuances of poetic
form, the author has diligently researched the best of the best and successfully pulled them
together into an exquisite, themed anthology, beautifully illustrated by Hori, an award-winning
illustrator of several books in the Japanese market.
In this selection of twenty-four poems, the compiler draws from the talented works of several
renowned poets, such as Gary Soto, Marilyn Singer, Jack Prelutsky, James Whitcomb Riley, and
Michael Spooner. Each poet brings a unique perspective to the attention of the reader and
explores a wide range of wintry experiences, from the universal to the most personal. In David
McCord's rhyme, "Joe," the reader witnesses firsthand the touch-and-go plight of hungry birds
patiently awaiting their turn as one gray squirrel eats his fill of birdseed. For a more contemplative
example in a freestyle form, poet Nancy Wood personifies nature in "Old Man Winter" as an
elderly man who rests upon the snowy mountaintops, stretching his icy fingers down into the
valleys, "stealing the leaves from the trees." Opting for first-person humor, Jack Prelutsky's "My
Mother's Got Me Bundled Up" examines the season through the eyes of a child wrapped in
enormous layers of warmth: scarves, socks, and sweaters. In an alliterative approach, Whipple
herself breathes life into the words she chooses to describe a skater's metal blades slicing through
the frozen ice: "Swish, slash, / my skates / crash on ice."
Written for ages 4-8, A Snowflake Fell depicts animals, objects, and activities familiar to even the
youngest frosty panes, snowmen, and various species of wildlife through a magical blend of
text and illustration. Hori, debuting in the English-speaking market, works in pastel and
watercolor to create soft, expressive illustrations, her signature style.
Whether the intent is one of playfulness or serious reflection, each poem flows effortlessly across
the page, drawing readers into a wintry world with lines of humor, contrasts of warmth and
blinding cold, and plenty of heartwarming imagery. Whipple is the author of the poetry collection
If the Shoe Fits: Voices From Cinderella (2002). Her latest collections include Celebrating
America: A Collection of Poems and Images of the American Spirit and Eric Carle's Dragons
Dragons.
Almost to Freedom
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Colin Bootman, illus.
Carolrhoda Books, Inc.,
Div. of Lerner Publishing Group
241 First Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55401
http://www.lernerbooks.com
157505342X $15.95, 40 pages
Not since The Leaving (Stroud) has there been such an emotionally authentic accounting of the
Underground Railroad experience. Evident from the very beginning, Almost to Freedom, written
for ages 4-8, is a first-person story told from a unique perspective a young girl's homemade rag
doll.
By the light of day, Lindy's doll is neatly roped about her waist while she picks cotton with her
mother, always under the watchful eye of a cruel, relentless overseer. By night, the slaves huddle
around an inviting campfire and talk of freedom, a treasure only obtainable through a place called
"North." One night, Lindy's sleep is interrupted by the gentle nudges of her mother. The time has
come! Lindy grabs her precious doll and scrambles through the underbrush to the boatman's skiff
at the water's edge. Upon reaching the other side, her father leads his family to a white man's
home lit by the glow of a lantern. Hidden beneath the storeroom floor, Lindy's family takes
refuge.
Nelson, twice a member of the Newbery Award Committee, is the author of Mayfield Crossing,
winner of the Georgia Children's Book Award, and Beyond Mayfield, recipient of the Parents'
Choice Gold Award. A story of undeniable courage, Almost to Freedom urges the reader along a
dangerous trek as a slave family takes advantage of timing and circumstance to claim their
freedom. By choosing to tell the story through the eyes of a rag doll, the author invites her
audience to become eye-witnesses to the dramatic escape and active participants in the overall
movement. Nelson further demonstrates, through an unexpected plot twist, the role abounding
hope plays in even the most hopeless of times.
Bootman, a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York, is the illustrator of several books,
including The Music in Derrick's Heart (Battle-Lavert) and Don't Say Ain't (Smalls-Hector). His
realistic, large-as-life paintings complement the tone of Nelson's text with an incredible wash of
warmth and tenderness, though the story moves through the dark of night on a wave of mounting
tension.
Almost to Freedom, a heartfelt story that embraces the power of unshakable faith, hope, and
courage, exposes the very spirit of freedom during a remarkable period in American history. A
detailed Author's Note anchors the black rag dolls in a timeline and documents their existence in
various Underground Railroad sites. Almost to Freedom is a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor
Book.
David Gets His Drum
David "Panama" Francis/Bob Reiser
Eric Velasquez, illustrator
Marshall Cavendish
99 White Plains Rd., Tarrytown, NY 0591-9001
http://www.marshallcavendish.com
0761450882, $16.95, 32 pages
"In the islands they say everybody must find his own drum. When he finds one that sings for him,
he must play it for the world to hear." These words of wisdom from Brulla Roberts, lead drummer
of the St. Agnes Band, to the heart of six-year-old David ring as true as the enchanting rhythms of
the distant isle of Haiti, the homeland of his father.
Every Saturday night, the cadence of a regimented marching band fills the air with every turn of
the tabletop record player. When young David closes his eyes, he sees himself as the leader of the
band, boldly marching through the historical streets of old Miami. He was born to rhythm. He
feels it in his bones! Only one thing is holding David back. He has no drum!
Together, Francis and Reiser recount the passionate story of a young man who always knew he
was a drummer, and that drummer was David "Panama" Francis himself, so named for the
Panama hat he always wore. Francis was a jazz trumpeter whose career spanned seven successful
decades. He achieved his fame in the 1930s while playing with the Savoy Sultans at the Savoy
Ballroom in Harlem, known as the "home of the happy feet." He played his drums with the best in
the music industry Dinah Washington, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Buddy Holly, and many
others. Francis was one of the most popular studio drummers on the circuit until the time of his
death in 2001.
Velasquez, winner of the Coretta Scott King New Talent Award for his illustrations in "The Piano
Man," artfully captures the pulse of the South in each double-page spread. The oils are warm and
expressive, grounded in the realism of the era, and the brushstrokes, smooth and fluid. As David
resolves to achieve his dream, each dynamic illustration stands as a testament to his fearless
determination.
"David Gets His Drum" is a fictionalized account of a true event in a young boy's life. The gift of
a shiny metal drum sparks a remarkable career in swing jazz. While the longer text is more
suitable for the older reader, the timeless theme will satisfy readers and listeners of all ages.
Apple Doll
Kathleen Phillips Poulsen, author/illus.
The Overmountain Press
P.O. Box 1261, Johnson City, TN 37605
http://www.overmountainpress.com
1570722226, $9.95, 32 pages
"Outside, the wind grew cold and frosty. Inside, apple slices were baked into bubbly pies. The
warm, spicy air turned the apple head tan and spongy."
On the heels of Indian Summer, just before the killing frost of autumn, young Samantha spies a
plump, red apple in one of Gram's orchard trees. As the shiny, round apple dangles high above,
Sam's brother climbs the picker's ladder. He plucks the sun-ripe apple for his sister, a gift for
Gram.
In "Apple Doll," Poulsen, a retired teacher who spent her career in learning-disabled classrooms,
writes a story grounded in the heritage of Southern Appalachia. As the distant past moves into the
present, the apple serves as an inspirational tool for storytelling and tradition-sharing, draws
generations together in a wondrous seasonal activity, and enriches family relationships. Gram and
her grandchildren share in the fun of apple peeling by tossing each twisted spiral over their
shoulders to see what fancy letter will fall to the floor. Songs are sung and rhymes are recited as
Sam and her siblings patiently watch Gram carve a perfect doll's face into the apple's juicy surface.
While they wait for the apple to dehydrate on the fireplace mantel, everyone partakes in the
chores of autumn. Precious time is spent picking and shucking corn, pressing pungent cider, and
baking sweet, flavorful apple pies. When the apple head finally reaches its prime, Gram shares the
task of dressing the new doll with her granddaughter. This activity prompts a memorable
conversation about the traditions of her Indian grandmother and the art of making apple
dolls.
Poulsen's scratchboards bring the nostalgic past to life. The details in each colorful illustration are
skillfully refined, with the woolen hair strands, the doily headscarf, and the charming, puckered
face of Sam's apple doll so meticulously crafted. Each page is filled with items and concepts not
mentioned in the text that can readily spark new discussions. The book's most striking feature is
the inclusion of an apple doll pattern, complete with simple, easy-to-read instructions. "Apple
Doll" is a picture book written for children four to eight, but the doll pattern opens the age range
to any classroom or storytelling opportunity where active participation is desirable.
