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Internet Bookwatch

Volume 26, Number 1 January 2016 Home | IBW Index

Table of Contents

Reviewer's Choice American History Shelf World History Shelf
Travel Shelf Cookbook Shelf Metaphysical Studies Shelf
Poetry Shelf Christian Studies Shelf Islamic Studies Shelf
Needlecraft Shelf Fiction Shelf Biography Shelf
Social Issues Shelf Fishing Shelf Writing/Publishing Shelf
Health/Medicine Shelf Mystery/Suspense Shelf Graphic Novel Shelf
Audiobook Shelf Library CD Shelf Library DVD Shelf
Fantasy/SciFi Shelf Money/Finance Shelf Civil War Shelf
Humor Shelf Sports Shelf Business Shelf
Theatre/Cinema/TV Shelf Parenting Shelf Jobs/Careers Shelf
Divorce Shelf Art Shelf Reference Shelf
Science Shelf Beer/Wine/Spirits Shelf Education Shelf
International Studies Shelf Computer Shelf Autism Shelf
Nautical Shelf Automotive Shelf Literary Studies Shelf
Political Science Shelf Agriculture Shelf Economic Studies Shelf
Architecture Shelf Pets/Wildlife Shelf Aviation Shelf
Judicial Studies Shelf Native American Studies Shelf Psychology Shelf
Language Studies Shelf Photography Shelf Wisconsin Shelf


Reviewer's Choice

Curvology
David Bainbridge, PhD
The Overlook Press
141 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10012
www.overlookpress.com
9781468312027 $26.95 hc / $12.99 Kindle www.amazon.com

Accessible to readers of all backgrounds, Curvology: The Origins and Power of Female Body Shape applies evolutionary biology, cultural observation, and the latest findings in human psychology to a question that has perplexed anthropologists for generations: why are humans the only mammals on earth whose females have curvy bodies? Author and researcher David Bainbridge, PhD examines how wider hips improved women's ability to survive giving birth to babies with large brains; how storing body fat is both a survival tool and a means to signal to potential mates that one is well-nourished; and perhaps most interestingly, the ramifications of competition for social status and desirable mates between members of the same sex. "There is a huge amount of psychological data showing that women exist within a tumult of social competition, fueled by an indirect verbal aggression which contrasts strongly with the good old violence which makes men's lives so straightforward. And the evidence strongly suggests that indirect aggression works. The recipients of within-sex indirect aggression tend to start dating later in life, they flirt less, they find it harder to find romantic and sexual partners, and their romantic relationships do not last as long." Curvology does not shy from unpalatable psychological, social, or biological deductions in its science; yet in order to create a better world for humanity today and tomorrow, it is essential to understand the drives that have affected both male and female humans since prehistory. For its contributions to social science and anthropology, Curvology is highly recommended especially for public and college library collections.

Safe and Fun Playgrounds: A Handbook
Heather M. Olsen, EdD, Susan D. Hudson, PhD, and Donna Thompson, PhD
Redleaf Press
10 Yorkton Court, St. Paul, MN 55117-1065
9781605544601 $29.95 www.redleafpress.org

Written by the founders of the National Program for Playground Safety, who share over 80 years of combined professional experience, Safe and Fun Playgrounds: A Handbook is a straightforward guide to creating, maintaining, and supervising children's playgrounds that foster healthy cognitive, social-emotional, and physical development. Physical safety is given paramount importance (and incorporated into age-appropriate design choices as well as recommendations for fall surfacing), but the "fun" part of "safe and fun" is given its due as well. A wealth of appendices, including a supervisory checklist, an ADA accessibility checklist, routine safety/maintenance inspection checklists, and more round out this practical, "must-have" resource for schools, day care centers, and anyone involved in the creation of a public playground. Highly recommended!

Speaking Well: A Pocket Guide
Adam Hamilton
Abingdon Press
2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd.
PO Box 280988, Nashville, TN 37228-0988
9781501809934 $14.99 www.abingdonpress.com

Speaking Well: A Pocket Guide lives up to its title as a first-class guide for anyone tasked with public speaking, including business leaders, preachers, and educators. Chapters are filled with tips, tricks, and techniques for staying relaxed, the judicious use of humor, encouraging audience participation, dealing with ambivalent questions, and most importantly of all, conveying one's core message in a clear and memorable fashion. "...Many who sit in the audience believe that speakers who rely too heavily on presentation slides are masking the lack of content in the message or the speaker's ineffectiveness as a speaker. Graphics, photos, and video can be effective, as we'll see in the next chapter. But there are several reasons to minimize your use of text-based presentation slides." An absolute "must" for anyone whose chosen career path requires adroit public speaking!

A Numerate Life
John Allen Paulos
Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, NY 14228-2197
www.prometheusbooks.com
9781633881181, $17.00, www.prometheusbooks.com

A Numerate Life: A Mathematician Explores the Vagaries of Life, His Own and Probably Yours comes from a mathematician who blends his personal memories with insights on mathematical approaches to viewing his personal life and his world, and wraps all this in a lively blend of autobiography and fun math insights. These vignettes go where few mathematician efforts can follow in offering a math focus on life itself - blended with philosophy, wit, and wisdom. Readers who hold a prior affection for math - but not necessarily an expertise in the subject - will find his a revealing, education and entertaining story all in one.

Uncle John's Factastic Bathroom Reader
The Bathroom Readers' Institute
http://bathroomreader.com
c/o Portable Press
PO Box 1117, Ashland, OR 97520
c/o Printer's Row Publishing Group
www.printersrowpublishinggroup.com
9781626864269 $22.95 flexibound / $15.99 Kindle www.amazon.com

Part of a proud, ongoing tradition of incredible, fact-filled books perfect for browsing anytime and anywhere, including but not limited to the commode, Uncle John's Factastic Bathroom Reader is filled cover to cover with little-known history, weird news, obscure origins, and much more. From the true story of President George Washington's attempts to covertly recapture a fugitive slave, to the silliest invented measurements (such as "the garn", a measure of space sickness, with one garn being as sick as possible), to the street performer who holds the world record for "Most Eggs Carried on a Hat", Uncle John's Factastic Bathroom Reader will delight, amaze, and edify from cover to cover.

Polka Heartland
Rick Mareh, author
Dick Blau, photographer
Wisconsin Historical Society Press
816 State Street, Madison, WI 53575
www.wisconsinhistory.org
9780870207228, $29.95, 208pp, www.amazon.com

"Polka Heartland: Why the Midwest Loves to Polka" by author, folklorist, and polka enthusiast Rick Mareh wonderfully captures the beat that pulses in the heart of Midwestern musical culture and offers up the fascinating history of how "oompah-pah" sound of polka music came to be the sound of middle America. From the crowded dance tent at Pulaski Polka Days to an off-the-grid Mexican polka dance in small-town Wisconsin, "Polka Heartland" explores the people, places, and history behind the Midwest's favorite music. From polka's surprising origin story as a cutting-edge European fad to an exploration of the modern-day polka scene, this collaboration between author Rick March and photographer Dick Blau take readers on a joyful romp through this beloved, unique, and richly storied genre. "Polka Heartland" describes the artists, venues, instruments, and music-makers who have been pivotal to polka's popularity across the Midwest and offers six full-color photo galleries to immerse readers in today's vibrant polka scene. A unique, engaging, informed, informative, and inherently fascinating cultural history from beginning to end, "Polka Heartland" is very highly recommended for both community and academic library American Music History reference collections and supplemental studies lists. For the non-specialist general reader with an interest in polka music and dance, it should be noted that "Polka Heartland" is also available in a Kindle edition ($15.99).

Tales of Texas Cooking
Frances Brannen Vick, editor
University of North Texas Press
1155 Union Circle #311336, Denton, TX 76203-5017
9781574416183 $34.95 www.unt.edu/untpress

Tales of Texas Cooking is an anthology of true stories and more than 120 recipes enjoyed throughout Texas' history, organized by the 10 vegetation regions of the state. A handful of black-and-white photographs enhance this compendium of memories, cultural traditions, and the joy of sharing lovingly crafted cuisine in hearth and home. A treasury for culinary connoisseurs, Tales of Texas Cooking will also spice up one's kitchen with its authentic dishes!

Under Paris Rooftops
Arleen & Norman Shabel
Chateau Publishing House, Inc.
525 Route 73 North, Suite 302
Marlton, New Jersey 08053
www.chateaupub.com
9781467591072 $23.95 hc / $5.99 Kindle www.amazon.com

Under Paris Rooftops is the true-life testimony of an American couple who, for years, experienced their dream of living in Paris, the City of Lights. As a former French teacher, Arleen Shabel spoke fluent French; her husband did not speak French at all. Together they sought out the Paris apartment of their dreams, but if not for the aid and support from a French lawyer and friend, Stanley Chaney, their dream could have succumbed to disaster. Life in Paris was a wondrous adventure and font of literary inspiration. Eventually all good things must come to an end, and after eight years, the Shabels chose to return to another city they loved, New York. Under Paris Rooftops is a testimony of their experience, at once both an enjoyable browse and a wealth of practical wisdom for anyone considering expatriate life in France. Highly recommended!


The American History Shelf

Beyond Rust: Metropolitan Pittsburgh and the Fate of Industrial America
Allen Dieterich-Ward
University of Pennsylvania Press
3905 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4112
9780812247671 $39.95 www.upenn.edu/pennpress

Beyond Rust: Metropolitan Pittsburgh and the Fate of Industrial America is an in-depth history about the rise, fall, and renewal of the city of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Once a bastion of steel production worldwide, Pittsburgh suffered from deindustrialization along with other American cities of the "Rust Belt". The story of the "Pittsburgh Renaissance", a public-private partnership that fueled ambitious goals of pollution control and infrastructure development, offers a positive model for other cities struggling with similar challenges. Enhanced with extensive notes and an index, Beyond Rust is a valuable economic case study as well as a detailed and vivid exploration of Pittsburgh's modern history, highly recommended for both public and college library collections. "There are both costs and limits to Pittsburgh's success, however, that pose a cautionary tale to those attempting to recreate its neoliberal model. First, the city has remained in Pennsylvania's 'temporary' distressed communities program, known as Act 47, since December 2003 in part due to decisions Murphy made, including diverting millions of dollars from the operating budget to a development fund... Forty percent of Pittsburgh's land area is now tax-exempt, a fact that has led to nearly three decades of tension...."

Moonfire: The Epic Journey of Apollo 11
Norman Mailer
TASCHEN America
107 Greene Street, New York, NY 10012
www.taschen.com
9783836556224, $19.99, HC, 624pp, www.amazon.com

Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007) was one of the 20th century's greatest and most influential writers, as well as one of America's most renowned and controversial literary figures. On July 20, 1969, after a decade of tests and training, supported by a staff of 400,000 engineers and scientists, and with a budget of billions, the most powerful rocket ever launched brought Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the moon. Nobody captured the men, the mood, and the machinery like Norman Mailer, hired by LIFE magazine to cover the mission in a dazzling reportage he later enhanced into the brilliantly crafted book, "Of a Fire on the Moon". Now a new generation of appreciative readers will be able to rediscover this epoch-making event with "Moonfire: The Epic Journey of Apollo 11", the TASCHEN adaptation of Mailer's account. The text is accompanied by hundreds of photographs from the NASA vaults, the archives of LIFE, and other leading magazines of the day, documenting the development of the agency and the mission, life inside the command module and on the moon's surface, as well as the world's jubilant reaction to the landing. Captions by leading Apollo 11 experts explain the history and science behind the images, citing the mission log, publications of the day, and post-flight astronaut interviews. "Moonfire: The Epic Journey of Apollo 11" is very highly recommended for personal reading lists, and will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to community and academic library 20th Century American History collections.


The World History Shelf

From Versailles to Mers el-Kebir
George E. Melton
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402
www.nip.org
9781612518794 $42.95 hc / $28.99 Kindle www.amazon.com

From Versailles to Mers el-Kebir: The Promise of Anglo-French Naval Cooperation, 1919-40 is a close examination of the nautical alliance between British Royal Navy and the French fleet in the two decades before World War II. This alliance, created in part to balance both powers' overextended defense commitments, was notably successful in keeping both Italy and Japan neutral early in WW II. Although there were squabbles between their allies, it was not until the French armistice with Germany in 1940 that the naval cooperation came to a violent end. Fearful that the French navy would be used against Britain, the British engaged in a surprise attack against the French squadron at Mers el-Kebir. 1,297 French servicemen were killed; one battleship was sunk; five other ships were damaged. Divided opinions on the attack linger to this day - was it a draconian but necessary defensive measure for desperate times, or a cruel and unnecessary slaughter? From Versailles to Mers el-Kebir argues the latter perspective, openly challenging the alleged necessity of the attack on Mers el-Kebir with meticulous research and documentation, and ultimately concluding that the attack was a disastrous failure. Notes, a bibliography, and an index round out this excellent contribution to public and college library nautical, military, and world history collections.


The Travel Shelf

Better Than Fiction 2
Edited by Don George
Lonely Planet Publications
150 Linden Street, Oakland CA 94607
9781743607497 $15.99 www.lonelyplanet.com

Better Than Fiction 2: True Adventures from 30 Great Fiction Writers is a literary anthology of true-life travel writing and essays by accomplished authors, including Joyce carol Oates, Isabelle Allende, Pico Iyer, Porochista Khakpour, and many more. From a dangerously close brush with being arrested on an English train platform, to glorious solitude in majestic Iceland, to experiencing a miracle in Luhansk, Ukraine, Better Than Fiction 2 is the next best thing to traversing the globe in person (or in some cases, going back in time). A "must-read" for armchair travelers, Better Than Fiction 2 lives up to its title! Also highly recommended is Lonely Planet's previous true-life travel anthology, "Better Than Fiction" (9781743217153, $15.99).


The Cookbook Shelf

Plant-Based Cookbook
Trish Sebben-Krupka
DK Publishing, Inc.
c/o Penguin Group USA
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.dk.com
9781465435361, $25.00, HC, www.amazon.com

Trish Sebben-Krupka is a chef, culinary educator, cookbook author, and freelance editor. She is also the owner of Local Girl Makes Food, a personal chef and culinary education business catering to clients interested in vegan, vegetarian, and eco-friendly diets. In "Plant-Based Cookbook" Trish has compiled a 256 page, beautifully illustrated, culinary compendium showcasing some two hundred thoroughly kitchen cook friendly recipes that are as palate pleasing and appetite satisfying as they are healthy and nutritious. The recipes range from Whole-Wheat Banana Pecan Pancakes; Ginger Kale Soup; Roasted Beet Salad; and Braised Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts; to Eggplant and Roasted Tomato Polenta Lasagna; Farror Risotta with Roasted Fennel and Mushrooms; Easy Slow-Rise Oatmeal Bread; and Triple Ginger Molasses Cookies. A simple pleasure to browse through and ideal for menu planning, the "Plant-Based Cookbook" is enthusiastically recommended for personal, family, and community library cookbook collections. It should be noted that the "Plant-Based Cookbook" is also available in a Kindle edition ($4.99).

Better Homes and Gardens I Didn't Know My Slow Cooker Could Do That
Better Homes and Gardens
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003
www.hmhco.com
9780544569812, $19.99, PB, www.amazon.com

A slow cooker or crock-pot is an indispensable kitchen tool, especially for the time-stressed kitchen cook wanting to make nutritious and delicious meals with a minimum of effort and a maximum of insured success. The "Better Homes and Gardens I Didn't Know My Slow Cooker Could Do That" is a 304 page, beautifully illustrated compendium showcasing 150 outstanding recipes for dishes not ordinarily associated with a slow cooker or crock-pot, but that would grace any dining occasion from simply family meals to elegant culinary celebrations. The recipes range from Dried Cherry Scones; Double-Berry Cobbler; Greek Stuffed Meatballs; Ham Steaks with Kickin' Red-Eyed Gravy; and Southern Corn Pudding; Chile Verde Breakfast Lasagna; Cajun Riblets; Brat Meatballs with Mustard Sauce; Shrimp and Grits with BLT Relish; and Lentil Taco Salad. Full nutritional information is provided for each individual recipes, along with prep time, cooking time, and serving size. Thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly', "Better Homes and Gardens I Didn't Know My Slow Cooker Could Do That" will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to personal, family, and community library cookbook collections. It should be noted that "Better Homes and Gardens I Didn't Know My Slow Cooker Could Do That" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

The Magic of Spice Blends
Aliza Green
Quarry Books
c/o Quarto Publishing Group USA
400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401-1722
www.quartous.com
9781631590740, $24.99, 160pp, www.amazon.com

"The Magic of Spice Blends: A Guide to the Art, Science, and Lore of Combining Flavors" by chef and food industry consultant Aliza Green reveals the secrets of creating and cooking with the world's classic spice blends from seven regions: Africa, the Far East, Europe, India, the Middle East, North America and the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America. Chef Aliza Green guides you through the principles of choosing, working with, and blending spices. Join the fun of creating personalized spice and herb blends and knowing just what goes into them--no ancient, bitter, musty dust here! Find resources on where to purchase great quality herds and spices, even organic, non-irradiated. You can even grow your own and use them to make those wonderful spice blends. Along with background information on the history, culture, and culinary uses of each blend, "The Magic of Spice Blends" includes recipes and variations for 50 spice blends and an additional 50 recipes featuring the blends ranging from Spicy Moroccan Steamed Mussels with Charmoula (Africa); to Vietnamese Chicken Bahn-Mi Sandwich with Chinese Five Spice (the Far East); to Swedish Gingerbread Cookies (Europe); to Grilled Vadouvan Salmon with Date-Tamarind Chutney (India); to Watermelon, Labne, and Mint Salad with Lime-Advieh Dressing (the Middle East); to Louisiana Spicy Boiled Crayfish (North America); and to Jerk-Spiced Turkey Wings (the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America), and so many more! Profusely and beautifully illustrated throughout, "The Magic of Spice Blends" is thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' in tone, content, organization, and presentation, making it very highly recommended for personal, family, and community library cookbook collections.

Liquid Health
Lisa Montgomery
Hatherleigh Press
c/o The Hatherleigh Foundation
62545 State Highway 10, Hobart, NY 13788
www.hatherleighpress.com
9781578265770, $16.50, www.amazon.com

Compiled by Lisa Montgomery, "Liquid Health: Over 100 Juices and Smoothies Including Paleo, Raw, Vegan, and Gluten-Free Recipes" is 192 page compendium comprised of more than 100 tantalizing recipes suitable for everything from the raw food diet to the Paleo and vegan diets. All that is needed to take advantage of what "Liquid Health" has to offer is a blender and a juicer! "Liquid Health" includes: Simple, easy-to-follow instructions for each recipe, including unique tips from author Lisa Montgomery; The benefits of superfoods, and how to include them in your diet today; Easy-to-prepare smoothies and juices to help you stay energized throughout the day; The building blocks to a perfect smoothie - what each ingredient does for your body, and why. The recipes range from Tangible Life Orange Drink; Pomaberry Slushee; African Sweet Potato Peanut Soup; and Coconut Water Kefir; to Tropical Amazement Smoothie; Steamy Basil Soup; Raw Sesame Power Drink; Peach Raspberry Smoothie; Lisa's SuperGreen Smoothie/Juice and many more! "Liquid Health" removes the worry and stress of trying a new diet for the first time with dishes that are as easy to love as they are to make. Very highly recommended for personal, family, and community library collections, it should be noted that "Liquid Health" is also available in a Kindle edition ($7.99).

The Great Vegan Grains Book
Celine Steen & Tamasin Noyes
Fair Winds Press
c/o Quarto Publishing Group USA
400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401-1722
www.quartous.com
9781592336999, $22.99, www.amazon.com

Whole grains are a great source of protein and other nutrients that are typically found in meat and eggs, making them a valuable part of any plant-based diet. While naturally vegan by nature, grains are often paired with non-vegan ingredients, making many recipes off-limits to vegans. That's where "The Great Vegan Grains Book" comes the rescue, taking you step-by-step through the myriad grains available today, and providing you with more than 100 delicious and easy plant-based, whole-grain recipes (many of them low-fat, soy free, and even gluten-free!). Each recipe uses whole-food ingredients that can be easily found at most grocery stores, so you can say yes to grains and eating better too! Beautifully illustrated and thoroughly kitchen cook friendly in organization and presentation, "The Great Vegan Grains Book" is an ideal, 176 page culinary compendium offering vegan dishes that range from Apples and Oates French Toast; Creamy Amaranth Polenta with Marinara; Teff and Pea Fritters; Pepper Grain Sausages; and Cajun Rice Patties; to Burst Tomato Farro; Turkish Bride Soup; Roasted Corn and Sorghum Salad with Chipotle Dressing; and Wheat Berry Mechwia. Of special note are the recipes for Basic Cashew Cream and Slightly Cheesy Cashew Sauce. As much fun to browse through as it is useful to plan vegan menus with, "The Great Vegan Grains Book" is very highly recommended for personal, professional and community library Vegan/Vegetarian cookbook collections. It should be noted that "The Great Vegan Grains Book" is also available in a Kindle edition ($14.49).

Cook the Pantry
Robin Robertson, author
Annie Oliverio, photographer
Vegan Heritage Press
P.O. Box 628, Woodstock, VA 22664
9781941252185 $21.95 www.VeganHeritagePress.com

"Cook the Pantry" is a collection of over 60 vegan recipes, described as "Vegan Pantry -to -Plate Recipes in 20 Minutes (or Less!)" A handy introduction and beginning chapter introduces the reader/cook to the concept of vegan pantry perfect cooking, with added information about plant proteins, dairy-free products, suggestions for vegetable broth, use of herbs, kitchen time savers, and more. A dazzling array of quick and easy vegan recipes follow in six chapters including: Soups, Stews, and Chilis, Salad Savvy, Pizza, Burgers, Sandwiches, Stovetop Suppers, Pantry Pasta Plus, and Sweet Treats. Relying on all kinds of spices and herbs for flavor, fresh fruits and vegetables, and many common pantry staples, these recipes are both tempting to the palate and to the eye. Color photos of most of the recipes are deliciously appealing. Some examples of recipes from the Soups and Stews chapter include: Black Bean Soup with a Whisper of Sherry, Curry-Spiced Pumpkin Bisque, and Vegetable Bricolage, "the stew you make when you're down to your last bits of produce and grocery day isn't until tomorrow." The chapter on salads, Salad Savvy, has some classics plus some fresh ideas for vegan salads, such as "Hearts of Palm Ceviche, Moroccan Couscous Salad, Tabbouleh Salad, even something called Southwest Salmagundi, a vegan salad based on seven layer dips, featuring pinto beans, chiles, cilantro olive oil, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and vegetarian refried beans, a ripe Hass avocado, and mild or hot salsa and tortilla chips as desired. Chapter 4 covers Pizza, Burgers, and Sandwiches, a challenge for vegan cuisine. Here are Texas Caviar Wraps, Samosadillas, Artichoke Muffaleta Po' Boys, and Black Bean and Walnut Burgers. There is even a recipe for Jalapeno-Hummus Pizza! Stovetop Suppers chapter 5 offers Southwest Polenta, Greek Freekeh and Spinach with White Beans, Tuscan Chickpea Frittata, and Jerk Tempeh with Coconut Quinoa, not to mention Cheesy Grits and Greens with Smoky Mushroom. This is followed by chapter 6, Pantry Pasta Plus, which offers Penne and Broccoli with Red Bell Pepper-Walnut Sauce, Manchurian Black Bean Noodles, and Spaghetti Lo-Mein, among other tasty tidbits. The final touch, chapter 7 or Sweet Treats, offers surpassing desserts and special treats. Some of these are Coconut Lime Drops, Mangos with Pistachios and Cranberries, Pecan Pie Squares, and even Easy as Chocolate Pie! "Cook the Pantry" is a versatile, modern approach to healthy vegan eating and cooking which appeals to the senses as well as the pocketbook, all easily prepared in 20 minutes or less. What's not to like?

Vegan Bowls
Zsu Dever, author/photographer
Vegan Heritage Press
P.O. Box 628, Woodstock, VA 22664
9781941252154 $21.95 www.VeganHeritagePress.com

"Vegan Bowls: Perfect Flavor Harmony in Cozy One-Bowl Meals" is a delightfully presented fresh assortment of healthy, appealing, one dish meals. Recipes combine a variety of color, flavor, texture and taste in ingredients that fairly sing on the page. Different cuisines and flavors are explored for a variety of tasty vegan casual dining. A little vegan cooking experience would be helpful, but the recipes are generally clear and accessible. The cookbook begins with a brief overview of the traditions of bowl food, dividing the components of a bowl recipe into texture, aroma, color, flavor combinations, and taste. A Just-in-Case Basics chapter provides basic recipes for such homemade staples as vegetable broth, slow simmered seitan, chapatis, corn tortillas, 30-minute brown rice, and more. These are not necessarily required for most recipes, but can really enhance the taste experience. Chapter 3 is all about Grain Bowls, from Southern Beans and Grits Bowl with Collards to Spicy Ginger Polenta Bowl with Bok Choy and Chickpeas. There is even a recipe for Tex-Mex Risotto Bowl. Bowl recipes continue with chapters on Sauteed Bowls, Grilled Bowls, Salad Bowls, Soup Bowls, Breakfast Bowls, and even Build Your Own Bowls. Perhaps the last chapter is for graduates of the philosophy and application of bowl cooking. This last chapter describes the ingredients of bowl cooking as consisting of starch, protein, sauce, and vegetables. Methods of cooking include stir-fry, roasting, and steaming. Assembly is simple: "Divide the starch, protein and vegetables among 4 bowls... and top with sauce and garnish as desired." A helpful table divides the starch, protein, sauce, vegetables and garnish ingredients into three cuisine categories: Asian, European, and Latin American. Each cuisine has recipe examples with page numbers from "Vegan Bowls," to make original bowl creation fun and easy for the adventurous vegan cook. "Vegan Bowls" is a fun, fresh approach to creating adventurous vegan eating with a minimum of fuss. The color photographs of bowl recipes is stunning, tempting, and lush. Those with a yearning for exotic roots in their vegan cuisine will find fresh ideas hard to ignore in "Vegan Bowls."

Cooking at Home
Chuck Williams
Weldon Owen
415 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA 94111
9781616289621, $40.00, www.weldonowen.com

Cooking at Home: More than 1,000 Classic and Modern Recipes for Every Meal of the Day is a Chuck Williams' 100th Birthday Limited Edition celebrating the founding of Williams Sonoma, and packs in a thousand recipes with a hundred from his personal collection. It's meant to be a 'bible' of everyday food from breakfast to sandwiches and dinner: thus home cooks will find over twenty chapters packed with detailed instructions and recipes for Crab Bisque, Pork Medallions with Lemon and Rosemary, Chile-Corn Muffins, and much more. The result is an outstanding cookbook that takes the basics and moves them a step up for any who would entertain and cook at home.

Slow Cooker: 500 Recipes
Sara Lewis
Hamlyn
c/o Octopus Publishing
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
9780600632450, $19.99, www.octopusbooksusa.com

Slow Cooker: 500 Recipes packs over 400 color photos into a cookbook filled with soups, stews, and casseroles perfect for slow cooker winter preparations, and is especially recommended as a warm and welcoming introductory text to any new to slow cooker preparations. Chapters go beyond providing tested, foolproof recipes: they cover the basics of how to get the most of a slow cooker, how to avoid common problems, and how to prepare food for the cooker to take best advantage of its operations.

Cook the Pantry
Robin Robertson
Vegan Heritage Press
P.O. Box 628, Woodstock, VA 22664-0628
9781941252185, $21.95, www.veganheritagepress.com

Cook the Pantry provides vegan dishes that can be constructed in 20 minutes or less in a cookbook that shows how to use ordinary ingredients on hand to make a vegan meal. From what kinds of ingredients constitute a well-stocked pantry for quick, last-minute dishes to color photos peppered throughout to international influences in an Asian Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing or a Pantry Bulgur Pilaf with dried cranberries, this is a delicious cookbook that busy vegan cooks will especially appreciate.

Sea Salt Sweet
Heather Baird
Running Press
c/o Perseus Book Group
250 W. 57th St., Suite 1500, New York, NY 10107
9780762453962 $18.00 www.runningpress.com

Illustrated with sumptuous color photography, Sea Salt Sweet: The Art of Using Salts for the Ultimate Dessert Experience is a dessert cookbook that reveals how sweet and salty flavors can combine to create a culinary wonderland. Author Heather Baird, creator of the popular "SprinkleBakes" blog for bakers, showcases recipes such as "Butterscotch Budino Tiramisu", "Strawberry Balsamic Sorbet", "Bacon Fat Buttermilk Biscuits with Chocolate Gravy", "Overnight Doughnuts with Merlot Glaze", and much more. Supplementary information includes a brief overview of salt blends, dried herb salts, and wet or saturated salts, as well as guidelines to the use of an assortment of baking equipment. Accessible to bakers of all skill and experience levels, Sea Salt Sweet is a treasury of unforgettably tasty delights!

Incredibly Decadent Desserts
Deb Wise
Oxmoor House
c/o Time Inc. Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.timeincbooks.com
9780848744519, $24.95, www.amazon.com

Deb Wise is a truly innovative baker who enjoys the challenge of creating delicious desserts. with "Incredibly Decadent Desserts: Over 100 Divine Treats with 300 Calories or Less" she showcases beautifully illustrated and thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' recipes for desserts that would grace any dining occasion from simple family meals to the most elegant of dining occasions. This impressively presented, 272 page culinary compendium offers sumptuous desserts ranging from Eggnog Coffee Cake; Spicy Bacon and Brew Manffins; Chai Cream Pie; Spiced Apple Two-Bite Tarts; and Stone Fruit Cobbler; to Ginger-Plum Grunt; Milk Chocolate and Amaretto Creme Brulee; Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Cinnamon Grape-Nuts; Pecan Sticky Wedges; and Chocolate Marshmallow. A pure pleasure to browse and truly inspiring to plan menus with, "Incredibly Decadent Desserts" will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to any personal, family, or community library cookbook collection! It should be noted that "Incredibly Decadent Desserts" is also available in a Kindle edition ($17.99).

Winter Cabin Cooking
Lizzie Kamenetsky
Ryland, Peters & Small
341 East 116th Street, New York, NY 10029
www.rylandpeters.com
9781849756600, $24.95, 176pp, www.amazon.com

Beautifully illustrated throughout with the color photography of Nassima Rothacker, "Winter Cabin Cooking" is a 176 page compendium of outstanding recipes compiled by Lizzie Kamentsky, an English-born food stylist and writer with natural flare and passion for beautiful food and fantastic recipes. The recipes themselves are deftly organized into chapters on Dumplings & Noodles; Warming Soups & Hearty Stews; Oozing Cheese & Cream Bakes; Lunch, Brunch & Small Plates; Desserts; Cakes, Pastries & Baking; Drinks & Hot Toddies. As delicious as they are nutritious, the thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' dishes showcased in the pages of "Winter Cabin Cooking" range from Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms; Goulash Soup; Swiss Chard Gratin; and Parmesan - Ricotta Cheese Cake; to Schnitzel with Warm Potato Salad; Prune and Armagnac Souffle; Banana Cake; and Hot Toddy. Perfect for planning cold weather menus, "Winter Cabin Cooking" is enthusiastically recommended for personal, family, and community library cookbook collections.

Making Dough
Russell Van Kraayenburg
Quirk Books
215 Church Street, Philadelphia PA 19106
www.quirkbooks.com
9781594748189, $24.95, 208pp, www.amazon.com

Pastry baking is one half creativity, one half science, and one half old-fashioned know-how. If that seems confusing, don't worry: "Making Dough: Recipes and Ratios for Perfect Pastries" by baking expert Russell Van Kraayenburg makes perfect sense out of the often-intimidating task of preparing homemade pastry dough. With helpful diagrams, easy-to-follow recipes, and step-by-step instructions for home cooks, every type of dough from puff pastry to short crust is demystified, deconstructed, and delicious. Thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly', even the most novice of bakers will find the recipes comprising "Making Dough" to be easy to follow, especially after reading the opening chapter 'Getting Started' which includes What is Do?; Measuring; Ratios; Ingredients; Tools; Mixing Methods; Tips for Working with Dough; and Making it Your Own. The come the thematic chapters on a variety of dough forms (and each with their own representative recipes) including Biscuit, Scone, Pie, Shortcrust, Sweetcrust; Pate A Choux; Brioche; Puff Pastry, Rought Puff Pastry; Croissant; Danish; and Phyllo. Beautifully illustrated throughout and a complete course of instruction under one cover, "Making Dough" is ideal as baking class textbook for school curriculums, as well as personal and community library cookbook collections. It should be noted that "Making Dough" is also available in a Kindle edition ($14.72).

Maple
Katie Webster
Quirk Books
215 Church Street, Philadelphia PA 19106
www.quirkbooks.com
9781594748042, $22.95, 176pp, www.amazon.com

Katie Webster is a food blogger, recipe developer, and former food stylist who focuses on healthy eating and cooking with locally sourced seasonal ingredients. She lives in Richmond, Vermont, deep in a stand of maple trees. Her family taps their trees every spring to make pure maple syrup. In "Maple: 100 Sweet and Savory Recipes Featuring Pure Maple Syrup" Katie Webster has compiled one hundred beautifully illustrated recipes for dishes that utilize the properties of maple syrup in their making. The individual recipes are grouped into the categories of Breakfast; Drinks and Appetizers; Soups, Side Dishes, and Salads; Main Courses; and Desserts. The palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, and healthily nutritious dishes range from Dutch Baby Pancake with Maple Rhubarb Compote; Cinnamon Maple Punch; Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette; and Maple Ranch Dressing; to Maple Tahini Chicken and Broccoli; Maple Pork Loin Roast with Apple Chutney; Maple Ginger Roasted Salmon; and Maple Date Bread Pudding. Enhanced with the inclusion of Knife Skills; Pantry Notes; Resources; Metric Conversions; and an Index, as well as being available in a Kindle edition ($13.49), "Maple: 100 Sweet and Savory Recipes Featuring Pure Maple Syrup" is a unique culinary resource and will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to personal, family, and community library cookbook collections.

Best Of Bridge Home Cooking
Best of Bridge
Robert Rose Inc.
120 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 800, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4P 1E2
www.robertrose.ca
9780778805144, $29.95, HC, www.amazon.com

The "Best Of Bridge Home Cooking" is a spiral bound, hardcover, beautifully illustrated, 360 page compendium of 250 palate pleasing, appetite satisfying recipes that evokes all the goodness of family home cooking. In addition to the thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly recipes, there are a wealth of culinary tips to help even the most novice of family cooks to deal with the midweek madness of meal preparation and, as always, the dishes are made with ingredients that are easily found at a local supermarket or grocery store. The recipes range from Creamy Onion Soup with Kale; Sumptuous Chicken Sandwich with Brie; Lentil Shepherd's Pie; Creamy Tuna Pasta Bake; and Zesty Black Bean Pie; to Coconut Shrimp Curry; Indian Spiced Chicken and Barley; Easy Asian Flank Steak; Best-Ever Meatloaf; Oven French Fries; and Baked Apples with Buttered Rum Sauce. "Best Of Bridge Home Cooking" is very highly recommended and will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to personal, family, and community library cookbook collections.

No Meat Athlete
Matt Frazier & Matthew Ruscigno
Fair Winds Press
c/o Quarto Publishing Group USA
400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401-1722
www.quartous.com
9781592335787, $19.99, PB, 256pp, www.amazon.com

In the pages of "No Meat Athlete: Run on Plants and Discover Your Fittest, Fastest, Happiest Self", Matt Frazier, with the assistance of Matthew Ruscigno, combine the winning elements of proven training approaches, motivational stories, and innovative recipes. The result is a unique instructional guidebook, healthy-living cookbook, and nutrition primer for the beginner, every day, and serious athlete who wants to live a meatless lifestyle. "No Meat Athlete" will prove of special interest to any athlete concerned with weight loss which will often lead to increased speed; easier digestion and faster recovery after workouts; improved energy levels to help with not just athletic performance but day-to-day life as well; and having a reduced impact on the planet. The recipes range from Hearty Chickpea Pasta Soup; Buckwheat Pinole and Chia Pancakes; Black Ben Brownies; and Chocolate Avocado Mousse; to Sweet Potato Pie Parfait; Cowboy Chili; The Incredible Veggie burger Formula; and Thai Pineapple Coconut Curry with Bok Choy and Tofu. "No Meat Athlete" will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to personal, community, and academic library cookbook collections. It should be noted that "No Meat Athlete" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

Paleo Perfected
Editorial Staff
America's Test Kitchen
17 Station Street, Brookline, MA 02445
www.americastestkitchen.com
9781940352428, $26.95, PB, 344pp, www.amazon.com

Compiled by the editorial staff of America's Test Kitchen, "Paleo Perfected: A Revolution in Eating Well with 150 Kitchen-Tested Recipes" is a beautifully and profusely illustrated, 344 page culinary compendium showcasing thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' recipes for appetizers and snacks, breakfast favorites, poultry, beef, pork, lamb, seafood, vegetable mains, and vegetable sides. The palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, exceptionally nutritious dishes range from Poached Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce; Nut Crusted Chicken Breasts; Steak Tips with Mushroom-Onion Gravy; Grilled Stuffed Pork Tenderloins; and Oven-Steamed Mussels with Coconut Curry; to Spicy Stir-Fried Bok Choy and Shiitakes; Roasted Artichokes with lemon Vinaigrette; Fennel Salad with Onion and Capers; Roasted Butternut Squash with Cilantro and Sesame. Of special note is the beginning chapter on 'The Paleo Kitchen: Getting Started'. Very highly recommended for personal, family, and community library cookbook collections, it should also be noted that "Paleo Perfected: A Revolution in Eating Well with 150 Kitchen-Tested Recipes" is also available in a Kindle edition ($17.32).


The Metaphysical Studies Shelf

The Union of Isis and Thoth
Normandi Ellis and Nicki Scully
Bear & Company
One Park Street, Rochester, Vermont 05767
www.BearandCompanyBooks.com
9781591432081 $18.00 pbk / $9.99 Kindle www.amazon.com

The Union of Isis and Thoth: Magic and Initiatory Practices of Ancient Egypt is a mystical guide to communing with the ancient Egyptian pantheon, and make oneself receptive to divine wisdom. Chapters discuss shamanic visioning, and how to construct and consecrate a Moon Temple dedicated to Thoth, both in a physical and an inner spiritual sense. "In ancient times, hymns recited at dawn were intended to awaken or activate the divine energies of the animated, sacred statue of the temple deity. When the outer gates were opened and the sunlight streamed in toward the statue of Ra at Heliopolis, for example, that would be the appropriate time to recite the hymn 'Adoration of Ra'." The Union of Isis and Thoth is a welcome addition to metaphysical studies, new age, and spirituality collections.

The Book of Practical Candle Magic
Leo Vinci
Red Wheel/Weiser/Conari
65 Parker Street, Suite 7, Newburyport, MA 01950
www.redwheelweiser.com
9781578635788 $14.95 www.amazon.com

Occultist Leo Vinci presents The Book of Practical Candle Magic, a guide to magical techniques requiring only a minimum of equipment and experience. Step-by-step instructions for making, dressing, and anointing candles for use in a variety of rituals (including attraction, banishment, peace/contemplation, and the Mystical Novena) are included. Of particular interest are the recommendations for interweaving candle magic with the effects of planetary alignment and the dates corresponding to signs of the zodiac. Enhanced with reference tables and an index, The Book of Practical Candle Magic is a welcome addition to metaphysical studies collections. It should be noted that The Book of Practical Magic is also available in a Kindle edition.

Tarot for the Beginner
Dayle Schear
Blue Dolphin Publishing
PO Box 8, Nevada City, CA 95959-0008
www.bluedolphinpublishing.com
9780931892929, $10.00, PB, 64pp, www.amazon.com

The tarot is a pack of playing cards (most commonly numbering 78), used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot. From the late 18th century until the present time the tarot has also found use by mystics and occultists for divination. "Tarot for the Beginner" is a quick and easy read in which Psychic Dayle Schear teaches a method to read the cards in one, easy lesson. By following these step-by-step directions, "Tarot for the Beginner" will enable even the most novice of tarot card readers to read the past, present, and future, easily and quickly. It should be noted that tarot readers don't have to be a Psychic to read the cards! Dayle Schear learned to read the Tarot early in her life and devised and perfected her reading method over the last twenty years. She has successfully taught thousands of people to read the Tarot in classes and workshops throughout the western hemisphere. Dayle is the only living protege of world-famous psychic, Peter Hurkos. She trained with Peter, solving murder cases and finding missing children. Now Dayle invites you to step into her world of Tarot. "Tarot for the Beginner" covers as: Court Cards; Tarot Card Layout; The Layout; Major Arcana Cards; and Minor Arcana (Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles). Thoroughly 'user friendly' in commentary, organization and presentation, "Tarot for the Beginner" is very highly recommended for anyone wanting to learn the basics of tarot card reading -- quick and easy!

Angels, Fairies, Demons, and the Elementals
John Van Auken
ARE Press
215 - 67th Street, Virginia Beach, VA 23451-2061
9780876047705, $12.95, PB, www.AREPress.com

The late Edgar Cayce (March 18, 1877 - January 3, 1945) was an American mystic who answered questions on subjects as varied as healing, reincarnation, wars, Atlantis, and future events while in a trance. He was popularly known as "The Sleeping Prophet." A nonprofit organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment was founded to facilitate the study of Cayce's work. A hospital and a university were also established, as well as the A.R.E. Press. "Angels, Fairies, Demons, and the Elementals: With the Edgar Cayce Perspective on the Supernatural World" by John Van Auken (Director of the Edgar Cayce association) offers a fresh and fascinating perspective on the supernatural realms and its inhabitants, exploring angels, brownies, fairies, and more. Van Auken's easy-to-read writing style is thoroughly 'reader friendly' in tone, content, and commentary. Of special note is the final and tenth chapter on 'Second Sight and the Sixth Sense'. An absolute 'must' for students of the life and work of Edgar Cayce, "Angels, Fairies, Demons, and the Elementals" is very highly recommended for all non-specialist general readers with an interest in metaphysical studies. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Angels, Fairies, Demons, and the Elementals" is also available in a Kindle edition ($12.95).


The Poetry Shelf

Errata
Lisa Fay Coutley
Southern Illinois University Press
1915 University Press Drive
SIUC Mail Code 6806, Carbondale, IL 62901
www.siupress.com
9780809334483, $15.95, 88pp, www.amazon.com

Lisa Fay Coutley's lyrical debut collection, "Errata", investigates the delicate balance between parent and child, love and loss, hope and grief. Errata's narrator reflects on struggles and fears that span generations in compositions that are at once musical and bleak. Coutley's narrative journey is often a dark one, exploring not only the loss of loved ones but also the potential to lose one's very self. The collection unravels the lingering consequences of abuse and addiction, yet threads of hope and determination weave a finely wrought path through the dark side of human relationships, illuminating the power of the will to survive. Coutley's sharp yet tender collection will both haunt readers and move them to reflect, to remember, and most of all, to persevere. Also available in a Kindle edition ($12.28), "Errata" is the latest addition to the outstanding Crab Orchard Series in Poetry from the Southern Illinois University Press and very highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library Contemporary Poetry collections. 'Commute': It happens when I'm Driving. / I see a woman at a bus stop, // gray & frail, frump- / backed in a tattered coat, // looking older than she should. / In the space of a shallow breath, // I'm certain she's you -- / pinning shame, chin to chest, // tugging an outgrowth of witchy bangs, / one hand fisted, tucked against tweed. // I know that woman cannot be you. Still, / some mornings, I slip my feelings // into the pockets of a stranger / & send them off on a bus.

Geis
Caitriona O'Reilly
Wake Forest University Press
PO Box 7333, Winston-Salem, NC 27109
www.wfu.edu/wfupress
9781930630734, $13.95, 88pp, www.amazon.com

Caitriona O'Reilly was born Dublin in 1973, grew up in Wicklow and Dublin, and now lives in Lincoln. She studied archaeology and English at Trinity College Dublin, where she wrote a doctoral thesis on American literature; she has also held the Harper-Wood Studentship from St. John's College, Cambridge. Geis is a word from Irish mythology meaning a supernatural taboo or injunction on behavior. In this, her third volume of poetry (following the critically acclaimed The Nowhere Birds and The Sea Cabinet), Caitriona O'Reilly examines the geis in all of its psychological, emotional, and moral suggestiveness: exploring the prohibitions and compulsions under which we sometimes place ourselves, or find ourselves placed. Pot Latch: Since what we have become folds over us / in days and years as involute as petals. // keeping us separate as we pass / on the stairs, or in the kitchen, or in close conversation, // so it becomes necessary and formal, / this other language, // this astonished fluency of touch; / as if, each time we make love on the hand-woven blanket, // it is again the first time, / and all we have hoarded we burn. It should be noted that "Geis" is the first appearance of a volume by Caitriona O'Reilly in North America, though she has been anthologized numerous times. Highly recommended for community and academic library Contemporary Poetry collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Geis" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.95).

Memories
Lang Leav
Andrews McMeel Publishing
1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, MO 64106-2109
www.andrewsmcmeel.com
9781449472399, $19.99, HC, 256pp, www.amazon.com

In the pages of "Memories", accomplished poet Lang Leav presents a gorgeous hardcover gift book featuring the best of Lullabies and Love & Misadventure plus thirty-five new poems for fans to discover, along with her original color illustrations. Lang Leav's evocative poetry in a gorgeous package with ribbon marker and cloth spine is an irresistible gift for any poetry lover! A pure pleasure for lovers of deftly crafted prose poems to simply browse through from first page to last, "Memories" is very highly recommended and certain to be an enduringly popular addition to community library poetry collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Memories" is also available in a Kindle edition ($8.49). The Things We Hide: And so, / I have put away / the photographs, / every trace of you / I know. // The things that seem / to matter less, / and the ones / we put on show.

The Unfixed Horizon
Medbh McGuckian
Wake Forest University Press
PO Box 7333, Winston-Salem, NC 27109
www.wfu.edu/wfupress
9781930630758, $18.95, PB, 344pp, www.amazon.com

Amply displaying her bewitching, opulent imagination, The Unfixed Horizon: New Selected Poems is a 344 page compendium of Medbh McGuckian's poetry and traces a remarkable trajectory through fourteen volumes of her work that were published between 1982 and 2013,. Enhanced with the inclusion of a comprehensive introduction by editors Borb la Farag˘ and Michaela Schrage-Fruh offering a valuable overview and rare insight into the work and the myriad influences both private and public of this mysterious poet, "The Unfixed Horizon" perceptively charts the history through which the poet has lived. McGuckian's early poems, the editors point out, view Belfast's sectarian violence through the lens of the female body and domestic imagery, while her political engagement later becomes more direct. McGuckian's poems are firmly rooted in Northern Irish soil, yet encompass a world of interests erotic and maternal, spiritual and sensuous, private and political. Readers open to her enigmatic syntactical structures, wide-angled metaphors, and metamorphic images multiplying in dream-like fashion will be richly rewarded. "The Unfixed Horizon" is very highly recommended for, and a critically important addition to, both community and academic library Contemporary Poetry collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "The Unfixed Horizon" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99). The Brood-Bird: My encircler, I am placing a lock / upon my lips, thought nine deaths / were in my unhemmed mouth / or they mouth breast-white to my breast. // The tongue and knot and pulsing oil / of death without death goes round / in a thread, so i see neither the black / nor the white, tonight, in the upper chamber: // only the knee-woman, the world-woman, / the woman of songs.


The Christian Studies Shelf

The Social Media Gospel, second edition
Meredith Gould, PhD
www.meredithgould.com
The Liturgical Press
2950 Saint John's Road, PO Box 7500
Collegeville, MN 56321-7500
9780814647073 $19.95 www.litpress.org

Now in an updated second edition, The Social Media Gospel: Sharing the Good News in New Ways is a guide by digital strategist and social media expert Meredith Gould, PhD written especially for church leaders who seek to take advantage of new media to connect with and serve their communities. Chapters methodically evaluate a variety of social media platforms, including blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat, and discuss how to effectively integrate social media into one's ministry. No prior expertise with social media is presumed, making The Social Media Gospel an excellent choice for digital revolution neophytes! "...members of the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers are more likely to prefer blogs because this social media tool involves reading and writing. The passion GenXers and Millennials have for YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram makes sense once you know about how curricula shifted to emphasize oral, aural, and visual learning when those cohorts attended elementary school. Because they're highly visual, Generation Z types love Instagram and Snapchat but seem to generally ignore Pinterest, possibly because it seems labor-intensive."

Here I Am
Edited by Grace Ji-Sun Kim
Judson Press
PO Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851
9780817017637 $16.99 www.judsonpress.com

Here I Am: Faith Stories of Korean American Clergywomen is an anthology of theological contemplations and true tales of faith from Korean American women who serve in various forms of church ministry. The stories often reveal challenges that faced them, including marginalization due to their ethnicity or gender, but they also contain efforts to make lasting change for the better, as well as the devotion to serve God's calling. Inspired and inspiring, Here I Am speaks to faithful Christian readers of all backgrounds and walks of life, and especially to those who may aspire to becoming an ordained minister.

Pope Francis in the U.S.
Introduced and Compiled by Marianne Lorraine Trouve, FSP
Pauline Books & Media
50 St. Paul's Avenue, Boston, MA 02130-3433
9780819860279 $8.95 www.pauline.org

Pope Francis in the U.S.: Words of Mercy and Hope is pocket-sized collection of selected words of wisdom from Pope Francis during his visit to the United States of America from September 22-27, 2015. Pope Francis spoke at the canonization of Father Junipero Serra; at the United Nations; and he was the first pope to address a joint session of Congress. Frances spoke in a multitude of venues, to a broad variety of people, including clergy, children, immigrants, volunteers, prisoners, the homeless, sexual abuse victims, and more. These passages, arranged by topic, encourage the reader to reflect upon the Gospel and ask themselves, "how can I make the world a better place?" Highly recommended. "God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world: / peace in the hearts of all men and women / and peace among the nations of the earth. / Turn to your way of love / those whose hearts and minds / are consumed with hatred, / and who justify killing in the name of religion."

Heaven Meets Earth
John Kosmas Skinas
Ancient Faith Publishing
PO Box 748, Chesterton, IN 46304-0748
http://store.ancientfaith.com
9781936270187, $24.95, 68pp, www.amazon.com

Beautifully and profusely illustrated in full color, "Heaven Meets Earth: Celebrating Pascha and the Twelve Feasts" by John Kosmas Skinas is specially designed to enhance a family celebration of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. Informatively written and appealing to readers of all ages, "Heaven Meets Earth" is bountifully illustrated with memorable icons and more. "Heaven Meets Earth" brings alive each of the Twelve Great Feasts (plus Pascha, the Feast of Feasts) with hymns, traditions, Old and New Testament scriptures, explanations of the festal icon, and quotes from the Fathers. A wonderful companion as we journey through the liturgical calendar year after year, deepening our faith one feast at a time, "Heaven Meets Earth" is very highly recommended for all members of the Orthodox Christian community and is an ideal introduction for the non-specialist general reader to the principle feasts and celebrations of the Orthodox Christian church.

Ichthus: Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Saviour
Sinclair B. Ferguson & Derek W. H. Thomas
Banner of Truth
PO Box 621, Carlisle, PA 17013
www.banneroftruth.org
9781848716209, $13.00, PB, 184pp, www.amazon.com

Ichthus is the Greek word for a fish. Its five Greek letters form the first letters of the early Christian confession that 'Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Saviour.' To draw a fish sign meant: 'I am a Christian.' The sign of the fish was the universal symbol of Christianity until the symbol of the cross came to supplant it around the third century A.D. when the Emperor Constantine became a Christian having won a major battle for the crown under the sign of the cross. To be a Christian, according to the New Testament is to know Christ. But who is he, and what is the meaning of his life? In "Ichthus: Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Saviour" Sinclair Ferguson (retired in 2013 as Senior Minister of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina) and Derek Thomas (Professor of Systematic Theology at Redeemer Seminary, Dallas, Texas) answer these questions by taking us on a tour of nine key events in Jesus' life and ministry. Their aim is to help us both understand and share the confession of those early Christians who drew the fish sign. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Ichthus: Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Saviour" is a welcome and highly recommended addition to personal reading lists and academic library Christian Studies reference collections.

Scandinavian Pietists
Mark A. Granquist
Paulist Press
997 MacArthur Boulevard, Mahwah, NJ 07430
www.paulistpress.com
9780809106189, $35.95, HC, 304pp, www.amazon.com

Pietism was a movement within Lutheranism that began in the late 17th century, reached its zenith in the mid-18th century, and declined through the 19th century, and had almost vanished in America by the end of the 20th century. While declining as an identifiable Lutheran group, some of its theological tenets influenced Protestantism and Anabaptism generally, inspiring the Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement and Alexander Mack to begin the Brethren movement. The Pietist movement combined the Lutheranism of the time with the Reformed emphasis on individual piety and living a vigorous Christian life. Though pietism shares an emphasis on personal behavior with the Puritan movement, and the two are often confused, there are important differences, particularly in the concept of the role of religion in government. The Pietist movement has always been strong in the Scandinavian countries and in many places their influence is still felt. Compiled with commentary by Mark A. Granquist, "Scandinavian Pietists: Spiritual Writings from 19th-Century Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland" collects and introduces the writings of prominent Pietists from each of the countries, including such well-known names as Nils Grundtvig (Denmark), Carl Olof Rosenius (Sweden), Lars Levi Laestadius (Finland), and the hymn writers, prominent among whom are women. Very highly recommended for personal, church, seminary, community, and academic library Christian Studies reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists, this edition of "Scandinavian Pietists" is the only collection of writings exclusively by Scandinavian Pietists and is a welcome and critically important contribution to the study of Scandinavian culture as well as for the study of spirituality and church history.

The Lies Couples Believe
Chris Thurman
David C. Cook
c/o Cook Communications
4050 Lee Vance View, Colorado Springs, CO 80918
www.cookministries.com
9781434709059, $15.99, PB, 224pp, www.amazon.com

If you are experiencing conflict, anger, or hurt in your marriage, you don't need positive thinking or an escape clause -- you need to replace the lies you believe with God's transforming truths for your relationship to become all that it was meant to be. According to Christian psychologist and family counselor Chris Thurman, everyone enters marriage with misguided attitudes and expectations such as: My spouse is a bigger mess than me; The purpose of marriage is to be happy; My spouse should meet all my needs. "The Lies Couples Believe: How Living the Truth Transforms Your Marriage" is a practical instructional guide that dismantles and debunks the ten most common lies couples believe and will substantial aid in the renewal of the mind with God's truths for a more caring, close, and connected marriage. As informed and informative as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking, "The Lies Couples Believe: How Living the Truth Transforms Your Marriage" is thoroughly 'reader friendly' in tone, content and commentary. Inspired and inspiring, "The Lies Couples Believe" is very highly recommended and is available for personal reading lists in a Kindle edition ($9.99) as well.


The Islamic Studies Shelf

A Treasury of Sufi Wisdom: The Path of Unity
Peter Samsel, Editor
World Wisdom
1501 East Hillside Drive, Bloomington, IN 47401
www.worldwisdom.com
9781936597468, $22.95, www.worldwisdom.com

A Treasury of Sufi Wisdom: The Path of Unity includes selections form Rumi and major Sufi writers and works as it gathers a treasure trove of well over a hundred sayings from the Qur'an and Hadith, some 400 sayings from Sufi sages, and pairs them with a focus on metaphysical and philosophical organization to contrast and juxtapose some of the major works of Sufi doctrine. The texts, when viewed in this manner, offer a fine opportunity for scholars and students to understand the major Sufi writings and ideals, making for a powerful survey no new age or spiritual holding should be without.

Living Sufism in North America
William Rory Dickson
State University of New York Press
State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246-0001
www.sunypress.edu
9781438457574, $80.00, HC, 290pp, www.amazon.com

Sufism or Tasawwuf is the inner mystical dimension of Islam. Practitioners of Sufism often belong to different uruq or "orders", that is, congregations formed around a grand master referred to as a Mawla who maintains a direct chain of teachers back to the Prophet Muhammad. These orders meet for spiritual sessions (majalis) in meeting places known as zawiyahs, khanqahs, or tekke. Sufis strive for ihsan (perfection of worship). Sufis regard Prophet Muhammad as the primary perfect man who exemplifies the morality of God. Sufis regard Prophet Muhammad as their leader and prime spiritual guide. Sufis also consider themselves to be the true proponents of this pure, original form of Islam. "Living Sufism in North America: Between Tradition and Transformation" by William Rory Dickson (Assistant Professor of Islamic Religion and Culture, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) is a work of seminal scholarship deftly organized and presented in five chapters: Tracing Sufism's Relation to Islam; The Genesis of Sufism in the West; Currents of Sufi Teaching in Twentieth-Century North America; Adapting Sufism in North America; North American Sufi Teachers on Sufism and Islam. Enhanced with the inclusion of forty pages of Notes; a two page Glossary; an eighteen page list of References; and a fifteen page Index, "Living Sufism in North America" is thoroughly informed and informative. Strongly recommended reading for both academia and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in Sufism and Islam in general, and the adaptation of Sufism here in America, "Living Sufism in North America" very highly recommended for both community and academic library Islam Studies reference collections in general, and Sufism Studies supplemental reading lists in particular. For personal reading list it should be noted that "Living Sufism in North America" is also available in a Kindle edition ($76.00). One last note -- the publication of "Living Sufism in North America" is exceptionally well timed in the current demagogue demonization of Islam by certain elements of the American political systems today and will well serve to demonstrate the antipathy most Sufi Muslims have against the kind of Islamic terrorism that has so presently infected the nations of the world.


The Needlecraft Shelf

A Bit of Applique
Amy Struckmeyer
Martingale & Company
19021 - 120th Avenue NE, Suite 102, Bothell, WA 98011
www.shopmartingale.com
9781604685534, $26.99, www.shopmartingale.com

A Bit of Applique: Easy Projects with Modern Flair offers inspiring designs and techniques for beginners new to applique and uses nearly twenty projects for quilts, bags, pillows and more to teach the basics of both hand- and machine-stitched applique techniques. Chapters provide templates and also encourage creative embellishments as they show how to accent projects and use applique to best advantage, while designs utilize rich hues and different fabrics to best advantage. The result presumes no prior familiarity with needlework or stitchery and is a highly recommended pick for any newcomers who wants to get up and running quickly, with neo-professional results.

Granny Square Flowers
May Corfield
Search Press USA
1338 Ross Street, Petaluma, CA 94954-1117
www.searchpressusa.com
9781782212591, $9.95, PB, 48pp, www.amazon.com

Combining the hot topics of crochet, granny squares and flowers, "Granny Square Flowers" showcases twenty great designs for making granny squares with a flower theme. Each one is worked in four different color ways, creating endless possibilities for combining the squares. Six of the projects will be worked up into items such as cushions, bags and scarves, inspiring readers with plenty of ways to use the squares. "Granny Square Flowers" is an easily affordable and beautifully presented instructional that will give crocheters a wealth of material and ideas. Thoroughly 'user friendly' in tone, content and commentary, and very highly recommended for the novice crochet enthusiast and the experienced needlecrafter alike, it should be noted that "Granny Square Flowers" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.45).


The Fiction Shelf

My Sweet Audrina
V. C. Andrews
Pocket Books
c/o Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, 13th fl., New York, NY 10020
www.pocketbooks.com
9781501138843, $7.99, PB, 560pp, www.amazon.com

The idea of her sister hovered above them all. Audrina fiercely desired to be as good as her sister. She knew her father could not love her as he loved that other girl, for her sister was so special, so perfect -- and dead. Upstairs in a locked room awaited her sister's clothes and dolls, her animals and games, and her sacred rocking chair. Now Audrina will rock and rock and rock to reclaim all of her gone sister's special gifts. And then finally she'll learn the secrets everyone else knows but her. "My Sweet Audrina" by V. C. Andrews is a truly haunting story of love and deceit, innocence and betrayal, and the suffocating power of parental love. Andrews is a master of the genre and never fails to impress or entertain. "My Sweet Audrina" is a "must read" selection for the legions of V. C. Andrews fans. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "My Sweet Audrina" is also available in a Kindle edition ($5.99).

The Drunken Spelunker's Guide to Plato
Kathy Giuffre
John F. Blair, Publisher
1406 Plaza Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 27103
www.blairpub.com
9780895876515, $26.95, HC, 240pp, www.amazon.com

"The Drunken Spelunker s Guide to Plato" is a novel based on Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave' from "The Republic". In this deftly crafted work contemporary fiction, the Cave is a dank basement bar in the small Southern town of Waterville, overflowing with cheap beer, good blues, and local oddballs. There s Vera, the tough but tender owner; Pancho, the philosophical piano tuner; Billy Joe, the former rising star back home after a stop in Memphis; and Commie Tom, the exceedingly generous proprietor of the Hammer and Sickle Bookstore. The newest bartender is whip-smart tomboy Josie, who hopped a bus from the Appalachian backwoods on a quest to discover who she is and where she belongs. What she finds is the Cave and the love of a charming regular named Danny. Armed with lessons from mythology and Plato s philosophy, Josie navigates the ups and downs of first love and begins to understand that something much greater is waiting for her just outside the Cave. With Josie as our brave guide, we are submerged in a rarely explored subculture. Her journey into the Cave and back out is filled with trials and tragedy, but Josie is helped along by her newfound community of large-hearted hard drinkers. A compelling read from beginning to end, "The Drunken Spelunker s Guide to Plato" is a love letter to the families we build for ourselves and the unexpected ways life can answer the question, what if? Very highly recommended for both community and academic library Literary Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Drunken Spelunker's Guide to Plato" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

King of the Gypsies: Stories
Lenore Myka
BkMk Press
University of Missouri-Kansas City
University House, Room 224
5100 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110-2446
www.umkc.edu/bkmk
9781886157996, $15.95, PB, 215pp, www.amazon.com

Set against a wild and haunting landscape, the award-winning short story fiction comprising in this anthology by Lenore Myka spotlights the struggles of everyday individuals to overcome the ghosts they have inherited from Romania's communist past. The stories comprising this outstanding collection include: Lessons in Romanian; Real Family, Rol Dobos; Manna from Heaven; National Cherry Blossom Day; Palace Girls; Wood Houses; Day of Lasts; Song of Sleep; Tutors; and the title piece, King of the Gypsies. Of special note is the inclusion of a Reading Guide and an informative Foreword by Lorraine M. Lopez. "King of the Gypsies" is very highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as the Literary Fiction collections of community and academic libraries.

Court Appointed
Priscilla Audette
Sunstone Press
PO Box 2321, Santa Fe, NM 87504-2321
www.sunstonepress.com
9781632930675, $22.95, PB, 230pp, www.amazon.com

The novel "Court Appointed" by Priscilla Audette deals with the ever-present reality of death while concurrently embracing life. It celebrates the lives of the greatest generation while alerting aging baby boomers to be aware of what is waiting for them around the next corner. As the clients presented in the pages of "Court Appointed" journey through the final stages of their lives toward death and the feeling that time is running out, Hope, the protagonist, conversely journeys toward a richer and fuller life. "In "Court Appointed", Priscilla Audette deftly encourages her readers to celebrate life and to live each day as the gift it is. An imaginative, riveting, and ultimately fulfilling read, "Court Appointed" is very highly recommended and certain to be an enduringly popular addition to community library General Fiction collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Court Appointed" is also available in a Kindle edition ($4.99).

The Phantom Strikes
Walt Keene
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230, West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781444825732, $20.99, 177pp, www.amazon.com

The sequel to Walt Keene's gripping western "The Phantom Rider", Wild Bill Hickok and his two gun savvy friends, Tom Dix and Dan Shaw, are back -- and so is the last of the albino terrorists Enio Gunn. Once again the desert terrain was once haunted by the Phantom in the form of an albino man on a pale-grey horse, who struck in the night and killed without mercy. Wild Bill Hickok shot the legend down once - and twenty years later, when the Phantom's son took up the torch, he did so again. With both culprits dead, Hickok and his compadres are satisfied they have laid the ghost to rest. But when a mortally wounded man gasps that the spirit has returned, they must take up arms once more - against the Phantom's second son and end this lethal legend once and for all. "The Phantom Strikes" is another masterpiece from a master of the genre and this large print edition is especially recommended for personal reading lists and community library collections.

The Afterlife of Slim McCord
Jack Martin
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230, West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781444825374, $20.99, PB, 232pp, www.amazon.com

Aging outlaws Blackman and Tanner have seen it all, but nothing has prepared them for what they find in the town of Possum Creek: the mummified remains of their old partner in crime, the notorious outlaw Slim McCord put on show for a nickel a peep in a traveling carny show. And it seems that Slim McCord, long after his death, is now once again involved with his old partners in the most lucrative bank robbery of their outlaw career. "The Afterlife of Slim McCord" is a wonderfully entertaining read that is really two stories going on back-to-back. The first is when the two aging bandits recover their old friends body and rob a bank of more money than they've ever seen. The other is told in flash backs to how they all met and were framed for the murder they did not do by a crooked sheriff of a deputy. Once again author Jack Martin has written a terrifically entertaining action/adventure western that is very highly recommended to all western novel buffs and community library Large Print collections.

Payback
Jonnie Jacobs
Five Star Books
10 Water Street, Suite 310, Waterville, ME 04901
http://gale.cengage.com/fivestar
9781432831127, $25.95, HC, 355pp, www.amazon.com

A split-second decision sends a woman's life spiraling out of control. Wife and mother Marta Crawford is away on business when she stops at the hotel bar after a particularly difficult day. There she meets the charming Todd Wilson and, much to her dismay, wakes up the next morning in his bed. Filled with remorse and regret, she tells Todd she's made a terrible mistake and flees, hoping to put her reckless behavior behind her. But Todd isn't willing to let go. To her dismay, he worms his way into all corners of her life, befriending her husband and her business partner and seducing her teenage daughter, Jamie. "Payback" by Jonnie Jacobs is a frightening and emotionally gripping tale of deception, determination, and love. Very highly recommended for both personal reading lists and community library General Fiction collections.

Walk Me to the Distance
Percival Everett
University of South Carolina Press
718 Devine Street, Columbia, SC 29208
www.sc.edu/uscpress
9781611175400, $18.95, PB, 209pp, www.amazon.com

Vietnam veteran David Larson can't go home again. Instead the Georgia native wanders westward into the desolate landscape of Slut's Hole, Wyoming, and seeks to integrate himself amid a hardscrabble cast of memorable locals. David is taken in by Sixbury, a one-legged widow, sheep farmer, and mother to a nearly adult mentally handicapped son. This rough-hewn family unit is later augmented when David becomes the unwilling guardian to Butch, a Vietnamese girl abandoned at a highway rest stop. A tragic turn of events moves the novel into violent territory that bridges western laconic traditions with southern gothic and interrogates our notions of home, family, duty, and the always uncertain responsibilities of the individual in society. Originally published in 1985 long out of print and now brought back in a new paperback edition (includes a new introduction by the author, Percival Everett, and a contextualizing preface from series editor Robert H. Brinkmeyer, director of the University of South Carolina Institute for Southern Studies), "Walk Me to the Distance" is a hauntingly dark tragicomedy of the modern West, and a people still clinging to a mythical heritage and code of frontier justice. With spare strokes Everett paints a telling landscape of big-sky country, where the mere act of living can be hard, cruel, and heart-stopping. Deftly constructed and a compelling read from beginning to end, Percival Everett's "Walk Me to the Distance" is very highly recommended for both community and academic library Literary Fiction collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Walk Me to the Distance" is also available in a Kindle edition ($8.69).

The Wedding Chapel
Rachel Hauck
Zondervan Publishing House
5300 Patterson Avenue, S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49530
www.zondervan.com
9780310341529, $15.99, PB, 384pp, www.amazon.com

For sixty years, the wedding chapel has stood silent and empty. Retired football hall-of-famer Jimmy "Coach" Westbrook had built the chapel by hand, stone by stone, for his beautiful and beloved Collette Greer, whom he lost so many years ago. The chapel is a sanctuary for his memories, a monument to true love, and a testament to his survival of the deepest pain and loss. Photographer Taylor Branson left her hometown of Heart's Bend, Tennessee, to make a new life for herself in New York. She had lots to run away from, not least of all a family history of broken promises and broken dreams. Love catches Taylor off guard when she falls for Jack Forester, a successful advertising executive, and their whirlwind romance leads to an elopement -- then to second guesses. Jack, in spite of his very real love for Taylor, is battling his own demons and struggles to show her his true self and the depths of his love for her. Taking a photography assignment in Heart's Bend, Taylor is thrown back into a past of family secrets buried deep beneath the sands of time. When Taylor and Coach's journeys collide, they each rediscover the heartbeat of their own dreams as they learn that the love they long to hold is well worth the wait. "The Wedding Chapel" is an impressively entertaining and compelling novel from beginning to end. Another Rachel Hauck masterpiece of romantic fiction that will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to any community library collection. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "The Wedding Chapel" is also available in a Kindle edition ($1.99) and in a large print hardcover edition (Thorndike Press, 9781410485038, $30.99, 590pp).


The Biography Shelf

The Seed that Became a Garden
Louise Finn, CND
Illustrations by Francis Back
St. Pauls Publishing
2187 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10314
9780818913877 $9.95 stpauls.us

The Seed that Became a Garden is a brief yet accessible biography of Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700), a French Catholic woman who followed the "seed" God planted in her heart to travel to New France (present-day Canada) and work to support the growing community there. She educated young girls, the poor, and Native Americans, and developed one of the first uncloistered religious communities in the Catholic church. She was declared a saint by the Catholic Church in 1982. Her extraordinary life story is a tale of dedication, faith, and compassion, and a choice pick for readers of all religious backgrounds. Also highly recommended is "Forty Catholics Who Shaped the World in Which We Live" (9780818913884, $19.95 pbk / $14.95 Kindle).

String Too Short to Be Saved
Donald Hall
Nonpareil Books
c/o David R. Godine, Publisher
PO Box 450, Jaffrey, NH 03452
www.godine.com
9781567925548, $14.95, PB, 155pp, www.amazon.com

"String Too Short to Be Saved" is the personal memoir of Donald Hall, one of America's greatest living poets and essayists, and our former national Poet Laureate. This collection of personal reminiscences glows with the affection he holds for the land, the people, and the customs of rural New England, and especially for the small farm near Ragged Mountain that he visited every summer as a child. Each vignette in this poignant collection contains the telltale signs of an era's end, of a proud culture in transition, and of a land in jeopardy. Not only beautiful writing, it is also a gentle paean to a disappearing landscape and way of life. If you want to understand the Yankee character, travel with David Hall to learn about his New Hampshire through his life experiences. Extraordinarily well written and a pure pleasure to read from beginning to end, "String Too Short to Be Saved" is very highly recommended for community and academic library Contemporary American Biography collections.


The Social Issues Shelf

Weaving a Malawi Sunrise
Roberta Laurie
University of Alberta Press
Ring House 2, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2E1
9781772120868, $39.95, www.uap.ualberta.ca

Weaving a Malawi Sunrise: A Woman, A School, A People surveys the women of a developing country and one woman in particular, Memory Chazeza, who struggled to gain an education and then built a school for young women. Author Laurie was key in helping Memory achieve her goals of seeing young girls become independent and powerful women, and met several other women whose stories are woven into Memory's account. The result is a powerful blend of biography, social and political probe of Malawi and a top recommendation for any women's studies or social issues collection.

Why Hope?: The Stand Against Civilization
John Zerzan
Feral House
1234 West Sims Way Box 1240, Port Townsend, WA 98368
www.feralhouse.com
9781627310192, $13.00, PB, 140pp, www.amazon.com

The infamous eco-anarchist John Zerzan, whose books have resulted in recent interviews by Vice and Believer magazines, checks in with further provocative articles about the chaotic results of civilization and technology with the publication of "Why Hope?: The Stand Against Civilization". This 140 page study is comprised of inherently fascinating commentaries on a wide variety of topics ranging from Origins of the One Percent: The Bronze Age; Blown Away: Guns and 'Random' Mass Shootings; A Word on Civilization and Collapse; and What Does It Mean to Be Healthy?. These and other iconoclastic essays as informed and informative as they are thoughtful and thought-provoking. "Why Hope?: The Stand Against Civilization" is very highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library Social Issues collections. It should be noted that "Why Hope?: The Stand Against Civilization" is also available in a Kindle edition ($8.99).


The Fishing Shelf

Washington's Sport of Kings
Frank Haw
Frank Amato Publications
PO Box 82112, Portland, OR 97282
9781571885364 $24.95 www.amatobooks.com

Illustrated with a handful of black-and-white photographs, Washington's Sport of Kings: Views of a Fisheries Insider chronicles the history of salmon angling in Washington's marine waters, from ancient times to the present day. Chapters describe the rise of the Puget Sound resort, the boathouse era, multiple fishing-related scandals, controversies over salmon angling (including incidents of mismanagement and political dealing), the Endangered Species Act, and more. Endnotes and an index round out this thoughtful, well-researched, and thoroughly accessible chronicle sure to fascinate not only anglers, but also any reader seeking to better understand Washington's storied history. Highly recommended for both fishing and Washington state history reading lists.

Depthfinders: A Guide to Finding & Catching More Fish
Wayne Heinz
Frank Amato Publications
PO Box 82112, Portland, OR 97282
www.amatobooks.com
9781571885210, $19.95, PB, 134pp, www.amazon.com

Depthfinders are useful yet varied fishing tools. When choosing a depthfinder, once must decide between color or black & white, single or dual frequency, power and transponders, monitor size, and more. Deftly compiled and written by experienced angler Wayne Heinz, "Depthfinders: A Guide to Finding & Catching More Fish" is packed from cover to cover with color images and all the information needed to effectively buy, mount, use, read, and maintain a fish finder. "Depthfinders: A Guide to Finding & Catching More Fish" is enhanced with the inclusion of troubleshooting sections on noise, batteries, cables, power, software, and more. A depthfinder will help you find more fish, Thoroughly 'user friendly' in tone, content, and presentation, "Depthfinders: A Guide to Finding & Catching More Fish" is very highly recommended for both novice and experienced anglers alike!


The Writing/Publishing Shelf

Successful Selling Tips for Introverted Authors
Kim Staflund
Polished Publishing Group
Chinook RPO, PO Box 30364, Calgary, AB, Canada T2H 2W1
www.polishedpublishinggroup.com
9780994043511, $14.99, www.amazon.com

Writing is easy. It's selling what you've written that is hard. What they don't usually tell you in that creative writing class or workshop is that even if you manage to get your book published, as an author your job is just beginning. Now you have to promote, publicize, and market that book which in itself can be truly daunting, especially if you are inexperienced at dealing with and selling to other people. That's why "Successful Selling Tips for Introverted Authors" by Kim Staflund is such a critically important instructional reference -- especially for reluctant, bashful, or introverted authors. "Successful Selling Tips for Introverted Authors" is a 148 page compendium of practical, directly applicable, effective, real world based instructional commentaries on everything from selling online, goal setting, pricing, marketing strategies, web page creation, online traffic redirecting, book blogging, and the utilization of reviews. Of special note is the chapter on Book Publicists. Informed, informative, and thoroughly 'user friendly' from beginning to end, "Successful Selling Tips for Introverted Authors" should be considered a mandatory study for every novice author seeking to establish themselves in an economically supporting career. Indeed, it would not be amiss if every one of those aforementioned creative writing classes and workshops would add "Successful Selling Tips for Introverted Authors" to their curriculum supplemental studies reading lists.

Poet's Market 2016
Robert Lee Brewer, editor
Writer's Digest Books
c/o F+W Media
10151 Carver Road, Suite 200, Blue Ash, OH 45242
www.WritersDigest.com
9781599639413, $29.99, PB, 474pp, www.amazon.com

Writing the poetry is the easy part. Profitably publishing it is the hard part. That's why this 28th Annual Edition of the Writer's Digest Press reference and resource for poets, the "Poet's Market 2016" is such a valued addition to the reference collection of dedicated poets be they novice or professional. This 474 page compendium is comprised of more than one thousand listings for book publishers, magazines, context, conferences, featuring or otherwise dedicated to the publishing of poetry. "Poet's Market 2016" also includes a one-year access to the Writer's Digest Press poetry market database at www.WritersMarket.com An absolute "must" for poets looking to establish an audience for their work (and getting paid to do so), "Poet's Market 2016" is a very highly recommended addition to poetry workshop supplemental studies lists, as well as community and academic Writing/Publishing reference collections. For personal and professional reading lists it should be noted that "Poet's Market 2016" is also available in a Kindle edition ($16.99).

Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market 2016
Chuck Sambuchino, editor
Writer's Digest Books
c/o F+W Media
10151 Carver Road, Suite 200, Blue Ash, OH 45242
www.WritersDigest.com
9781599639437, $29.99, www.amazon.com

Now in a updated and expanded 28th edition, the "Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market 2016" is the definitive publishing guide for anyone who seeks to write or illustrate for children from preschool through young adults." Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market 2016" provides more than 500 listings for children's book markets (publishers, agents, magazines, and more) that include a point of contact, advice on how to properly submit your work, and what categories each market accepts. "Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market 2016 " includes: Interviews with creators of today's successful children's books; New Literary Agent Spotlights profiling literary reps who are currently building their client lists and are actively seeking authors of young adult, middle-grade, chapter books, and picture books; Success stories from 13 debut authors, as well as 9 successful debut illustrators, each of whom share their paths to publication so aspiring authors can learn from their success and see what they did right; Informative articles on how to make young readers laugh, how to build a career as an illustrator, how to sell your picture book, the difference between young adult and middle-grade, and so much more. Also included in this edition of "Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market 2016" is a one-year subscription to the children's publishing content on WritersMarket.com. Of special note is that "Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market 2016" provides an exclusive access to the webinar "25 Tips on How to Succeed in Children's Publishing" by Danielle Smith of Red Fox Literary. Simply stated, "Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market 2016" will prove to be an incredibly valuable and practical resource for any author seeking to successfully publish children's books for young readers preschool through YA for personal, family, schools, or community library collections. Very highly recommended for professional, community, and academic library Writing/Publishing reference collections, it should be noted that "Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market 2016" is also available in a Kindle edition ($16.99).


The Health/Medicine Shelf

Communicating to Advance the Public's Health
Institute of Medicine
http://iom.nationalacademies.org
c/o National Academies Press
500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001
www.nap.edu
9780309368674 $42.00 hc / $34.99 Kindle www.amazon.com

Communicating to Advance the Public's Health: Workshop Summary presents a succinct encapsulation of The Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Population Health Improvement, a gathering and workshop held on September of 2014 to discuss how health communication can be improved. Topics discussed include influencing public policy on the matter of obesity, promoting community engagement to lower infant mortality and homicide rates in Detroit, keys to engaging a lay audience, the value of television, film, and documentaries in promoting public health policies, adapting to the 21st-Century media environment, and much more. Education through effective communication is key to disease prevention and encouraging healthier lifestyles; Communicating to Advance the Public's Health is a "must-read" for its recommendations in tackling the challenges of the present and the future. Highly recommended, especially for college and graduate school medical and communications libraries.

The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes, third edition
Gretchen Becker
Da Capo Press
c/o Perseus Book Group
250 W. 57th St., Suite 1500, New York, NY 10107
9780738218601 $17.99 www.perseusbooksgroup.com

Now in a completely revised and updated third edition, The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes, An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed lives up to its title as a practical resource, both comprehensive and accessible to readers of all backgrounds. Chapters address how to measure one's blood glucose levels, talk to friends and colleagues, modify one's diet to help manage diabetes, basic information about diabetes drugs, how insulin can be used, the importance of exercise, tracking one's progress and much more. A glossary, a list of resources, and an index round out this "must-have" for anyone who has recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Although neither The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes nor any other book can substitute for the counsel of a trained physician, The First Year is packed with more invaluable recommendations, definitions, and management strategies than can be described in the length of a brief doctor's visit. Highly recommended.

Oh, My Body!
Luz Delia Gerber
Michael E. Gerber Companies
c/o Prodigy Living Books
PO Box 130384, Carlsbad, CA 92013
www.LuzDeliaGerber.com
9781618350459, $70.00, HC, www.amazon.com

Within our bodies are eleven divine systems that allow us to function as harmonious human beings. these eleven systems are taught in medical schools, but few outside the medical system understand how these eleven systems orchestrate our lives. In the pages of "Oh, My Body!", Luz Delia Gerber (Principal and CEO of the Michael E. Gerber Companies) covers eleven different systems of the human body including: The Nervous System; The Endocrine System; The Immune System; The Circulatory System; The Digestive System; The Respiratory System; The Lymphatic System; The Musculoskeletal System; The Urinary/Excretory System; The Integumentary System; and the Reproductive System. Informatively illustrated throughout, "Oh, My Body!" is exceptionally well written, organized and presented, as well as impressively and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in tone, content and commentary. A 262 page compendium of detailed information, "Oh, My Body!" is very highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library Health/Medicine reference collections and supplemental studies lists.

Cancer Survivorship Coping Tools
Barbara Tako
John Hunt Publishing, Ltd.
Laurel House, Station Approach, Alresford, Hants, SO24 9JH, UK
www.johnhuntpublishing.com
9781782797753, $14.95, PB, 121pp, www.amazon.com

Barbara Tako is a breast cancer survivor since 2010 and a melanoma survivor since 2014. Beginning in 1998, Barbara Tako has been a professional seminar leader, speaker, and published writer on clutter clearing and home organizing. In "Cancer Survivorship Coping Tools - We'll Get you Through This: Tools for Cancer's Emotional Pain From a Melanoma and Breast Cancer Survivor" she draws upon her personal experience and hard won expertise to create an invaluable, informative, and comforting instructional guide that should be considered a "must read" for anyone who is having to deal with cancer in themselves or with a friend or family member. Exceptionally 'reader friendly' in tone, organization, presentation, and content, "Cancer Survivorship Coping Tools" is very highly recommended for medical center, community, and academic library Health/Medicine collections in general, and Cancer Treatment supplemental studies reading lists in particular. It should be noted that "Cancer Survivorship Coping Tools" is available for interested individuals in a Kindle edition ($7.99).

The Raw Food Nutrition Handbook
Karin Dina, DC with Rick Dina, DC
Healthy Living Publications
c/o The Book Publishing Company
PO Box 99, Summertown, TN 38483
9781570673276 $14.95 www.BookPubCo.com

A "raw food diet" is a diet that consists of uncooked, unprocessed foods. Doctors of chiropractic Karin Dina and Rick Dina present The Raw Food Nutrition Handbook, an accessible, reader-friendly reference useful for either quick consultation or extended research. Designed especially to aid anyone seeking to construct a nutritious raw food diet for themselves or for their clients, The Raw Food Nutrition Handbook compares the nutrition of suggested meal plans against standards set by the World Health Organization and the US Institute of Medicine. (It should be noted, however, that The Raw Food Nutrition Handbook generally does not include cookbook recipes). A list of references and an index round out this "must-have" for anyone pursuing a raw food lifestyle for its health benefits.


The Mystery/Suspense Shelf

Bring Home the Murder
Theresa M. Jarvel
North Star Press of St. Cloud
PO Box 451, St. Cloud, MN 56302-0451
www.northstarpress.com
9780878398096, $14.95, PB, 160pp, www.amazon.com

Minnesota baby-boomer Meggie Moore sets off on another house-sitting adventure to a hobby farm in the country. But her dream job turns into a nightmare when she discovers the farm to be haunted. "Bring Home the Murder" is another terrific page-turner of a mystery/suspense novel by Theresa M. Jarvel, a writer of wit and skill who is clearly a master of the genre. Very highly recommended for personal reading lists and community library Mystery/Suspense collections, it should be noted that "Bring Home the Murder" (Book 3 of Jarvel's Tales of a Tenacious Housesitter mystery series) is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99). For those to whom "Bring Home the Murder" is their first introduction to this extraordinarily gifted author, her first two novels in her outstanding Tales of a Tenacious Housesitter' mystery series are especially recommended as well: "Home Sweet Murder" (9780878395873, $14.95 PB, $6.99 Kindle); "Home for the Murder" (9780878396603, $14.95 PB, $6.99 Kindle).


The Graphic Novel Shelf

Persia Blues: Love and War
Dara Naraghi, author
Brent Bowman, artist
NBM Publishing
160 Broadway, Ste. 700, East Wing, New York, NY 10038
9781561639779 $12.99 www.nbmpub.com

Volume 2 of the "Persia Blues" series, Persia Blues: Love and War is a black-and-white graphic novel about a woman's dual life. In one incarnation, Minoo lives in modern-day Iran; she clashes with her more traditional-minded father yet loves him deeply, and she crosses the ocean to begin her graduate studies in America. In her other incarnation, marked by enhanced shading and texture to the distinctive art, Minoo is a woman-warrior champion of ancient Persia, who strives to protect the land from the Ahriman's invading armies. The saga of ancient-Minoo, who is shocked to discover the truth of her heritage, plays alongside the trials and tragedies of modern-Minoo, who carries bitter memories of the loss of beloved family members. Modern-Minoo also awakens to a potential romance with an African-American colleague... but how will her father react to her blossoming relationship? Multilayered and nuanced, Persia Blues transcends genre-based classification and is a "must-read" work of comic book literature. Also highly recommended is the first volume of Minoo's story, "Persia Blues: Leaving Home" (9781561637065, $12.99 pbk / $8.99 Kindle).


The Audiobook Shelf

The Sound of Gravel
Ruth Wariner
Macmillan Audio
175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 315, New York, NY 10010
9781427268143 $34.99 www.macmillanaudio.com

Read by author Ruth Wariner, The Sound of Gravel is the unabridged audiobook rendition of daily life growing up in a polygamous cult. Ruth was the thirty-ninth of her father's forty-two children, and spent her early life on a rural farm in Mexico. After her father (the founder and prophet of the colony) was murdered by his own brother in a bid for church power, Ruth's mother remarried. Shuttled back and forth between Mexico and the United States, Ruth watched her mother collect welfare while her stepfather worked odd jobs. More and more, Ruth came to doubt her family's way of life - including the church teaching that women can only ascent to Heaven by giving birth to as many children as possible. At the same time, Ruth felt close to her siblings and worried greatly about them. Ruth's memoir of discovery, courage, and the will to find her own path is vivid, powerful, and captivating to the very end. Highly recommended, especially for public library audiobook collections. 7 CDs, 9.5 hours.

Dragon Marked
Jaymin Eve
Brilliance Corporation
PO Box 887, Grand Haven, MI 49417
www.brillianceaudio.com
9781511327435, $14.99, www.amazon.com

As a wolf shifter with razor-sharp senses, Jessa Lebron can perceive the slightest change in the air. And her lupine instincts go into overdrive right before her mother, who abandoned her years ago, returns to the pack bearing secrets that change everything. The biggest secret of all: Jessa is dragon marked, a designation that places her in grave danger. The dragon marked are destined to resurrect the dragon king, a fearsome ancient warmonger. And they must be eliminated. Soon Jessa is locked up in Vanguard, the notorious paranormal prison that houses criminal vampires, feys, and magic users. Thankfully, she's not alone: Braxton Compass, her best friend and a dragon shifter, has her back. Jessa and Braxton must find a way to free themselves and the rest of the dragon marked. But can her pack mates help her stop the dragon king before his deadly return? Vividly brought to life by the superb narrative skills of Dara Rosenber in a complete and unabridged performance, "Dragon Marked" by Jaymin Eve is an original and riveting fantasy novel that will be appreciated by fantasy fans, while proving to be an enduringly popular addition to community library audio book collections. 8 CDs, 9 Hours 29 Minutes.

The Mulberry Bush
Charles McCarry, author
Read by Robert Fass
Highbridge Audio Books
270 Skip Jack Road
Prince Frederick, MD 20678
9781622319435 $34.99 www.highbridgeaudio.com

Former undercover CIA operative Charles McCarry presents The Mulberry Bush, a novel of intrigue across three continents, now available as an unabridged audiobook performed by the talented Robert Fass. The story examines the incendiary consequences of a passionate, mutual infatuation between an unnamed American spy and Luz, the daughter of an Argentinean revolutionary. The American spy has an agenda hidden from even his handlers - revenge for the callous manner in which his father was once cast out of the agency. He seeks to further Luz's cost and his own, but a complex tangle of affiliations and lies spanning back to the Cold War era hangs over his efforts. Suspenseful to the very end, The Mulberry Bush is a "must" for connoisseurs of espionage fiction. 10.25 hours on 9 CDs.

Shadow's End
Thea Harrison, author
Read by Sophie Eastlake
Tantor Media, Inc.
6 Business Park Road, Old Saybrook, CT 06475
9781494501396 $39.99 www.tantor.com

The unabridged audiobook rendition of Book 9 in the "Elder Races" series, Shadow's End is a fantasy novel of dire peril, and forbidden love. Beluviel is consort to the High Elven Lord, and Graydon is First Sentinel of the Wyr; for centuries, they have suppressed their attraction to one another. But they share a debt to the cruel djinn Malphas, and if they are to have any hope of protecting their own souls, they must work together closely. Intense and descriptive, Shadow's End is a passionate saga, brought vividly to life by Sophie Eastlake's dulcet performance, and highly recommended for connoisseurs of high fantasy and romance. 9 CDs, 10.5 hours.

The Choice: Let Your Heart Decide
Nicholas Sparks, author
Read by Holter Graham
Hachette Audio
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
9781478959908 $20.00 www.HachetteAudio.com

The Choice: Let Your Heart Decide is the unabridged audiobook rendition of a love story. Travis Parker is a successful man in small-town North Carolina, who enjoys boating, swimming, barbecue, and hanging out with his buddies. He isn't interested in being tied down by a serious relationship, until the alluring redhead Gabby Holland moves in next door. Why does she seem to have a grudge against him? Yet Travis finds himself wanting to be more than a good neighbor to her. What does it take to keep the hope of love alive? A thoughtful tale about the complex affairs of the heart, The Choice is highly recommended for connoisseurs of emotional romance. 8 CDs, 9 hours.

Worship Changes Everything
Darlene Zschech, author
Read by Pamela Klein
Oasis Audio
289 Main Place, Carol Stream, IL 60188
9781613757376 $19.99 www.oasisaudio.com

Darlene Zschech (singer, songwriter, and pastor of Hope Unlimited Church) presents Worship Changes Everything: Experiencing God's Presence in Every Moment of Life, the unabridged audiobook rendition about the joy of committing oneself to Jesus Christ. Zschech shares her thoughts about the true nature of worship, and how to interweave reverence for God in each moment of daily life. True purpose and freedom exists within a life dedicated to honoring God, enacting Christ's will, and aiding the poor. Worship Changes Everything is a choice pick for devout Christians and church library audiobook collections.


The Library CD Shelf

Atma Bhakti
Manish Vyas
New Earth Records
c/o Sounds True
413 South Arthur Avenue, Louisville, CO 80027
$16.98 CD / $11.89 download www.soundstrue.com

India-born composer, musician, and singer Manish Vyas presents Atma Bhakti, a music album created especially for prayer, meditation, and mind-body devotional practices such as yoga. Manish's balanced vocals complement his talent with multiple instruments, including the swar-mandal (a harp from India), tanpura (a long-necked, plucked-string instrument from India), keyboards, gong, and bells. Manish's friend Milind Date lends lilting bamboo flute strains; Jay Dave, Krishna Jani, and Singdha Pious contribute choir vocals. The result is a beautifully flowing treasure for new age collections. The tracks are "Atma (mantra 'mangalam')" (32:16), "Bhakti (mantra 'shivaya namaha om')" (29:15), and "Vedic Chanting" (5:16). 66 min, 47 sec.

Mystical Morning
Uwe Gronau
Privately Published
$12.97 CD / $9.99 download www.cdbaby.com

German keyboardist Uwe Gronau presents Mystical Morning, an instrumental album that draws influence from new age, jazz, prog-rock and more. Gronau's choice of keyboards range from solo piano to synthesizer, organ, and sometimes a mix of multiple keyboards enhanced with guitar, bass, or percussion. Beautiful and upbeat, Mystical Morning is an album of celebration, and opening one's mind and heart to new experiences. Highly recommended! The tracks are "Turn It On!" (3:38), "A Day In Sri Lanka" (3:01), "Mystical Morning" (3:03), "Shy (1)", (1:56), "Metamorphose" (3:13), "The Day We Met" (2:34), "Letter To Emerson" (2:58), "Special Romance" (3:29), "Shy (2)" (1:56), "Mountain So High" (4:17), "Light Behind The Door" (5:40), "A Step Into Your Heart" (5:34), "Colors Of Spring" (2:30), "Over The Bridge" (4:42), and "Triumvirat" (2:22).

The Big Smoke
Gentleman's Dub Club
www.gentlemansdubclub.com
Easy Star Records
www.easystar.com
$11.99 CD / $9.49 MP3 www.amazon.com

UK-based reggae nine-piece band Gentleman's Dub Club presents The Big Smoke, an album thrumming with rhythm and verve. The gliding keyboards complement the pulse-awakening percussion and the powerful horn riffs in this vibrant album embracing reggae's deep roots. The Big Smoke is a "must-have" for connoisseurs of the genre! The tracks are "Music is the Girl I Love", "One Road", "Bad Girl", "Earthquake", "One Night Only (featuring Natty)", "Extraordinary", "Enter the Chamber", "Pressure", "Afraid of the Dark", "Nocturnal (featuring Josh Arcoleo)", and "See Them".

Keyif
Atlas Maior
Privately Published
$7.00 CD / $7.00 download, www.cdbaby.com

Named after a Turkish word that means "enchantment and delight", Keyif is a three-track EP music album featuring extraordinary instrumental soundscapes. Creators Atlas Maior are a group of talented musicians: Charlie Lockwood on the oud (a Middle Eastern string instrument similar to an acoustic guitar), Joshua Thomson on the alto saxophone and flutes; Ted Camat plays percussion; and Gary James is a contributing bass player. Keyif explores distinctively Turkish rhythms, in an inspired musical journey that enriches the senses. The tracks are "Bete Noire" (5:51), "Cynthia's Tears" (4:16), and "Raq's Laylah" (7:00).


The Library DVD Shelf

Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
Starring David Walliams and Jessica Raine
Acorn Media
c/o RLJ Entertainment
www.acornonline.com
9781621724490 $39.99 DVD / $39.99 Blu-ray

Available in both DVD and Blu-ray formats, Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime is a collection of the episodic BBC adaptations of two Agatha mystery novels. Both sagas are set in the 1950's during the start of the Cold War, and feature the sharp-minded married couple of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. The Beresfords are ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, who turn out to have a hidden talent for dangerous espionage! In "The Secret Adversary", they search for a missing woman and the key to identifying a Soviet hit man. In "N or M?" they have a limited amount of time to discern which person at a seaside guesthouse has stolen a nuclear bomb! Brought to life with superb performances by David Walliams (known for his role in "Little Britain") and Jessica Raine (known for "Call the Midwife"), as well as captivating recreations of the time period's accouterments and fashion, Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime is a "must-see" for connoisseurs of Christie's classic works. Bonus content includes two behind-the-scenes featurettes, and an interview with guest star Clarke Peters. 6 episodes on 2 DVDs (or 2 Blu-ray discs), 355 min. plus bonus content, widescreen, SDH subtitles.

Entrepreneurship: Be Your Own Boss
Learning ZoneXpress
667 East Vine Street, Owatonna, MN 55060
$49.95 www.learningzonexpress.com

Intended for viewers ranging from Grade 6 to adult, Entrepreneurship: Be Your Own Boss is an educational DVD about what it takes to own and run a business. Important aspects touched upon include motivation, time management, support systems, communication, teamwork, the risks and challenges of being one's own boss, and more. Brief interviews with entrepreneurs including a baker, videographer, children's clothing designer and a president of a charitable running event company round out this edifying and inspirational presentation, ideal for public and school DVD libraries or viewing during homeroom. Highly recommended! The website www.learningzoneexpress.com/worksheets features printable teaching materials that complement Entrepreneurship: Be Your Own Boss. 20 min., closed captioned.

Forever
Monterey Media Inc.
566 St. Charles Drive
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360-3901
$26.95 DVD www.montereymedia.com

Forever a seamless blend of thriller and psychological drama on DVD, about an investigative reporter struggling to come to terms with a life-shattering loss. Her work takes her to a mysterious commune where she must rebuild her will to survive - both in the short term and in the long term. Emotionally gripping and powerful, Forever is highly recommended. 95 min., rated R.

Cut Snake
Monterey Media Inc.
566 St. Charles Drive
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360-3901
$26.95 DVD www.montereymedia.com

Cut Snake (a title derived from the Australian idiom "mad as a cut snake", which describes furious rage to the point of insanity) is a tense crime thriller on DVD, set in Melbourne in the mid-1970s. Sparra Farrell (played by Alex Russell) is an ex-convict striving for a fresh start on his life in the city. He finds honest work, and even becomes engaged. But then the charming yet sociopathic Pommie, Sparra's former cellmate, tracks him down, and draws Sparra back in to the cruel and violent world he tried to leave behind. Edge-of-seat suspenseful to the very end, Cut Snake is a "must-see" for connoisseurs of the genre. 94 min., rated R.


The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf

Whoniverse
Lance Parkin
Barron's
250 Wireless Boulevard, Hauppauge, NY 11788
www.barronseduc.com
9780764167980, $29.99, 288pp, www.amazon.com

Lance Parkin has written many books about Doctor Who, both fiction and nonfiction. His latest addition to the Doctor Who cannon is "Whoniverse: An Unofficial Planet-by-Planet Guide to the World of the Doctor from Gallifrey to Skaro", a 288 page, profusely and beautifully illustrated, 288 page compendium that presents entire chapters on The Universe; The Solar System; Earth's Colonies in Space; Planets of Origin (Time Lord Planets, Dalek Planets, Cybermen Planets, Planets of the Monsters); Distant Planets; The Last Planets. No personal or community library Doctor Who collection would be complete without a copy of Lance Parkin's "Whoniverse"!


The Money/Finance Shelf

Paying for College Without Going Broke, 2016 Edition
Kalman A. Chany & Geoff Martz
The Princeton Review
c/o Random House Inc.
1745 Broadway, New York NY 10019
www.PrincetonReview.com
9781101881972, $21.99, 352pp, www.amazon.com

This newly updated and expanded sixteenth edition of "Paying for College Without Going Broke" will help students and their families to: Calculate the actual costs of college; Increase the chances of receiving aid; Compare aid offers and learn how to appeal if needed; Plan strategically as an independent student or a divorced or single parent; Understand long- and short-term money-saving tactics; Avoid costly mistakes when applying. This new edition of "Paying for College Without Going Broke" also includes a foreword by Bill Clinton, as well as in-depth line-by-line strategies for filling out 2016-2017 aid forms, including the required federal FAFSA form. The author of this latest edition of "Paying for College Without Going Broke" is Kal Chany who is the founder and president of Campus Consultants, an independent New York-based firm that has helped thousands of families get financial aid since 1984. His expertise and experience make him eminently qualified and his ability to present complex information in a way that makes it fully accessible and understandable to the non-specialist general reader is truly impressive. An essential addition to highschool and community library college admission guide reference collections, it should be noted for students and their families that "Paying for College Without Going Broke, 2016 Edition" is also available in a Kindle edition ($15.99).


The Civil War Shelf

A Confederate Biography
Dwight Sturtevant Hughes
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402
www.nip.org
9781612518411 $41.95 hc / $26.49 Kindle www.amazon.com

A Confederate Biography is the story of the CSS Shenandoah, a cruiser in service to the Confederate States during the American Civil War. Shenandoah engaged in commerce raiding, a contentious diplomatic visit to Melbourne, Australia, and even carried Southern gentlemen a tropical vacation on the Pacific island of Pohnpei. The Shenandoah fired the last shots of the Civil War in the Bering Sea, contesting against Yankee whalers. Seven moths after Lee's surrender, Shenandoah returned to Liverpool undefeated, and Captain Waddell lowered the last Confederate banner. A fascinating saga of the far-flung fringes of the Civil War, A Confederate Biography will captivate scholarly historians and lay readers alike, and is a choice pick for public and college library collections.

Excommunicated from the Union
William B. Kurtz
Fordham University Press
2546 Belmont Avenue, University Box L
Bronx, NY 10458-5172
9780823267538 $120.00 hc
9780823268863 $35.00 pbk www.fordhampress.com

Author William B. Kurtz (assistant editor at Documents Compass, a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities) offers a scholarly scrutiny of how American Catholics experienced the Civil War. Some leaped at the chance to prove their patriotism amid a largely-protestant nation that distrusted them; others opposed the war. Kurtz studies the roles that priests and nuns played in the army, as well as a rift in the church over the issue of slavery. Anti-Catholicism lingered after the war, despite the cost that Catholics soldiers paid to prove themselves loyal American citizens. Enhanced with extensive notes, a bibliography, and an index, Excommunicated from the Union offers an invaluable perspective of the Civil War, and is especially recommended for public and college library history shelves.


The Humor Shelf

Clean Up on Aisle Stupid!
Darby Conley
Andrews McMeel Publishing
1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, MO 64106-2109
9781449462949 $14.99 www.andrewsmcmeel.com

Published in black-and-white with color for the Sunday strips, Clean Up on Aisle Stupid! is a collection of the "Get Fuzzy" newspaper comic, featuring the scheming Siamese cat Bucky Katt, the clueless dog Satchel, and their alleged owner Rob. Bucky's snark and ever-so-slightly evil schemes are held in check by Satchel's unwitting yet faithful stupidity - or are they? "Rob: 'Why have you always called yourself a Yankee fan?' Bucky: 'I've never found anything else that bugs you so much with so little effort.'" A treasury of wacky animal hijinks and verbosely sardonic humor, Clean Up on Aisle Stupid is highly recommended.


The Sports Shelf

Developing Successful Social Media Plans in Sport Organizations
Jimmy Sanderson and Christopher Yandle
Fitness Information Technology
West Virginia University
262 Coliseum, WVU-PE, PO Box 6116
Morgantown, WV 26506-6116
9781935412977 $35.00 www.fitinfotech.com

Developing Successful Social Media Plans in Sport Organizations combines useful examples and academic research to recommend ways to integrate social media into sport organizations. Ideal for sport management and sport communication professionals, faculty, and students, Developing Successful Social Media Plans in Sport Organizations addresses far-reaching concerns; the use of social media by athletes, coaches, and administrators; tools for measuring the success of one's plan; and more. "As users become more familiar with the norms and expectations for using social media (e.g., not sharing every feeling/thought, avoiding problematic language, using social media purposefully and to achieve goals), this can help correct problematic behavior (e.g., getting into arguments with fans/other players, posting insensitive comments that may have racial and/or homophobic overtones). To be sure, there will continue to be incidents, but education (something we discuss in more detail later) can be helpful in minimizing these occurrences." Developing Successful Social Media Plans in Sport Organizations is potentially a consumable book, as it includes chapter questions with blank lines that allow the reader to fill in their answer, but it can also be used as an excellent reference text or self-teaching tool. Highly recommended, given today's increasingly social media-saturated world.

The HIIT Advantage
Irene Lewis-McCormick
Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 5076, Champaign, IL 61820-5076
9781492503064, $21.95, www.humankinetics.com

The HIIT Advantage discusses high-intensity workouts for women and is a recommendation for trainers and athletes who want specific exercises, combinations, and progressions designed to shape and strengthen the entire body. These HIIT protocols focus on very high-intensity anaerobic intervals paired with shorter, low-effort rest intervals, and provide a comprehensive guide filled with step-by-step instructions, photo sequences, discussions of variations and customization, and workouts that combine 230-, 30- and 45-minute sessions. Black and white photos throughout leave nothing to wonder, while access to an online video library completes the process. A 'must' for any serious athlete's toolbox of exercises!

Backpacking the Light Way
Richard A. Light
Menasha Ridge Press
2204 - 1st Avenue South, Suite 102, Birmingham, AL 35233
www.menasharidge.com
9781634040280 $16.95 pbk / $11.31 Kindle www.amazon.com

Illustrated with a wealth of color photography, Backpacking the Light Way is a practical-minded guide to "ultralight backpacking" - that is, traveling hiking trails with a significantly lighter load on one's back, without sacrificing comfort or necessities. Chapters discuss how to plan a modular packing system, deal with winder conditions, assess the risk in backcountry, and much more. "In winter I often use ski socks instead of summer hiking socks. Today's ski socks are taller, warmer, and made in high-tech designs that manage moisture well." Author and professional outdoor-skills instructor Richard Light has created a "must-read" resource packed with potentially lifesaving information for amateur and expert hikers alike!


The Business Shelf

Win the Customer
Flavio Martins
Amacom Books
1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
www.amacombooks.org
9780814436240 $21.95 hc / $10.99 Kindle www.amazon.com

Win the Customer: 70 Simple Rules for Sensational Service lives up to its title with seventy concise guidelines to improve one's customer service in any business, large or small. For example, "Rule 8: Stop Overthinking Customer Service" precedes a brief chapter of more detailed explanations: "customers today don't expect 'more' from you. They expect 'better'. Stop overthinking customer service. Imagine how you would like to be treated (with courtesy and respect) and treat customers the same way." Written in plain terms and thoroughly accessible to readers of all backgrounds, "Win the Customer" is a "must-read" for everyone in all levels of the service industry!


The Theatre/Cinema/TV Shelf

An Actor's Companion
Seth Barrish
Theatre Communications Group
520 Eighth Avenue, 24th floor, New York, NY 10018-4156
http://www.tcg.org/publications
9781559367967, $15.95, PB, www.amazon.com

In "An Actor's Companion: Tools for the Working Actor", Seth Barrish (Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of The Barrow Group, a New York - based theater company and school) draws upon his four decades of experience and expertise to deftly craft a thoroughly 'user friendly' instructional guide for anyone who aspires to be an actor on stage, screen, or television. Presented as a 216 page compendium comprised of "tips" covering all aspects of the acting profession, "An Actor's Companion" will prove to be of enduring value for amateurs in a community theatre project, as well as for seasoned professionals wanting to 'brush up' and present their best efforts from audition to production. Of special note is the succinct introduction by the professional film actress Anne Hathaway (herself a former student of Barrish). Informed and informative, "An Actor's Companion" is very highly recommended for community theatre, community library, and university library instructional reference collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "An Actor's Companion" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

The Existential Actor: Life and Death Onstage and Off
Jeff Zin
Smith & Kraus Publishers
177 Lyme Road, Lyme NH 03755-6610
www.smithandkraus.com
9781575259000, $17.95, PB, 232pp, www.amazon.com

In "The Existential Actor: Life and Death Onstage and Off", actor, director of more than 150 productions, and theatrical teacher to a generation of students, Jeff Zinn draws upon his more than thirty years of experience and expertise to write "The Existential Actor: Life and Death Onstage and Off", a 232 page instruction manual that begins with the informative introduction "Four Elements: A new Theory for the Theater". Deftly organized into four major sections: Life and Death (Mortality Salience - Awareness of Death); A Brief History (Why We need a System; Aristotle, Diderot, Delsarte, & Fey; The Move Toward Truth; Beyond Stanislavski - The Post-Modern); The Four Elements (Shape; Action; Transaction; Surrender; Putting It All Together); Plays (Death of a Salesman; Ibsen's Heroic Women - Hedda and Nora; Chekhov's People - A Search for Meaning; Hamlet - Gods and Ghosts; The Existential Actor). Enhanced with the inclusion of a six page Bibliography and a three page Index, "The Existential Actor: Life and Death Onstage and Off" is very highly recommended for community theatre, community library, and academic library Theatre/Cinema Studies reference collections and supplemental instructional reading list. It should be noted for those aspiring to become professional actors that "The Existential Actor: Life and Death Onstage and Off" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).

The Many Lives of Cy Endfield
Brian Neve
University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street, Third Floor, Madison, WI 53711-2059
9780299303747, $34.95, www.uwpress.wisc.edu

The Many Lives of Cy Endfield: Film Noir, The Blacklist, and Zulu tells of a filmmaker who directed several Hollywood films before he was blacklisted and refused to identify others before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and it follows his social, political and film experiences in the first book to focus on his life. Years of archival research and personal interviews succeed in documenting the changing world of a Hollywood director who was fascinated by science and magic, who produced films in the 1940s to early 1950s, and whose political statements about inequalities in class and race experiences led to a controversial career and accusations. Any collection strong in film history and social change will find the chapters in The Many Lives of Cy Endfield provide a multi-faceted read and close examination of the inner life of a public filmmaker whose choices led to both creative and controversial productions.

The Twilight Zone FAQ
Dave Thompson
Applause Books
c/o Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group
19 West 21st Street, Suite 201, New York, NY 10010
9781480396180 $19.99 www.applausebooks.com

The Twilight Zone FAQ: All That's Left to Know about the Fifth Dimension and Beyond is an in-depth guide to the pop culture phenomenon of "The Twilight Zone". A fantastic television series of distinguished by elements of mystery, science fiction (sometimes), and occasionally even outright horror, The Twilight Zone captivated the public's imagination in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Its five-season run had a monumental, legacy impact on the fantasy television series that followed. The Twilight Zone FAQ examines the individual episodes with thoughtful synopses, and is also packed with information about associated comic books, novels, other spinoffs, the movie, the later TV revamps, and even the Twilight Zone amusement park ride. Meticulously researched, and illustrated with occasional black-and-white photographs, The Twilight Zone FAQ is a superb companion reference and highly recommended to connoissuers of the series.


The Parenting Shelf

Adoption: Room for One More?
Jaymie Stuart Wolfe
Pauline Books & Media
50 St. Paul's Avenue, Boston, MA 02130
9780819808370 $16.95 www.pauline.org

Adoption: Room for One More? is a guide to the process of adoption written especially for Christian couples. Chapters aid the reader in understanding God's calling to adopt, shelter, and raise a child, as well as the steps of the journey - discerning whether adopting a child is truly the right choice for the reader, the special challenges of cross-racial and cross-cultural adoption, weighing the pros and cons of open versus closed adoption, adapting to a "blended" family of adopted and natural-born children, and much more. The theme of love is paramount, and Adoption: Room for One More? offers spiritual as well as practical guidance. Adoption: Room for One More? is an excellent choice for Christians considering adoption.


The Jobs/Careers Shelf

Your Vocational Credo
Deborah Koehn Loyd
InterVarsity Press
PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 605151426
9780830843190 $16.00 www.ivpress.com

Your Vocational Credo: Practical Steps to Discover Your Unique Purpose is a career guide written especially for Christians. Teacher and pastor Deborah Loyd asserts that every person has a voice to be expressed by their choice of vocation. Chapters take the reader on a journey to discover a profession that will fulfill, inspire, and enrich their lives. Topics discussed include "toxic skills" (a marketable skill that one may be very good at, but that sucks the joy out of one's life and overshadows one's true calling), how to confront the fear of failure, assembling the "puzzle pieces" of one's story, and more. The result is a strong resource for determining one's own creed and a life path in accordance with God's plan.


The Divorce Shelf

The Divorce Talk
Vikki Stark
Green Light Press
www.HowToTellTheKids.com
9780986472152 $17.95 www.amazon.com

The Divorce Talk: How to Tell the Kids is a straightforward guide to a serious subject - how to tell one's children about an impending divorce. Based on interviews with over one hundred children, The Divorce Talk is about breaking difficult news without inflicting unnecessary pain. Chapters discuss how to understand what divorce means for children, how honest to be when explaining why one's marriage is ending, choosing the best time and place for the telling, how to manage one's own emotions, and much more. Supplementing author Vikki Stark's step-by-step recommendations for talking to one's children are words of wisdom from young people who have lived through the divorce of their own parents. "Sixteen-year-old Tamar's advice to parents is simple and direct: 'Don't try to make it better than it actually is. Tell all the truth right away, making sure to have agreed on the living conditions of the children. The very first thought after processing THEIR divorce is: What about me?'" The Divorce Talk is a "must-read" for any parent in this difficult situation, and highly recommended.


The Art Shelf

Monet's Trees
Ralph Skea
Artwork by Claude Monet
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110-0017
9780500239407 $19.95 www.thamesandhudsonusa.com

Featuring full-color illustrations of Monet's oil, pastel, and pencil artwork on virtually every page, Monet's Trees: Paintings and Drawings by Claude Monet is a showcase of more than seventy works by Claude Monet (1840-1926), one of the principle founders of French impressionist painting. Trees and nature scenes are especially prominent in these selected artworks; the text offers both history and philosophical insight. Monet's Trees is simply beautiful to page through, as well as scholarly and edifying. Highly recommended not only for college and public library art history collections, but also as a giftbook to anyone who loves fine painting.

Young Originals
Rebecca Jumper Matheson
Texas Tech University Press
PO Box 41037, Lubbock, TX 79409-1037
9780896729247, $37.95, www.ttupress.org

Young Originals: Emily Wilkens and the Teen Sophisticate tells of 1940s American designer Emily Wilkens, who moved beyond her expertise in children's clothing to create costumes for two teen characters in a Broadway play. Based on her experience working with these teens, she launched the Emily Wilkins Young Originals line: the first designer label specializing in upscale clothing for teen girls. Her efforts made her a national name at the time, but today it's all but forgotten. Fashion historian Rebecca Matheson offers a history that takes Wilkens and her teen clients and uses that history to examine female labels, designers, and the evolution of their power over the decades. The focus on a change in perspective that allowed teens to become fashionable contributes to a lively and involving survey highly recommended for any fashion collection.


The Reference Shelf

Find It Fast
Robert I. Berkman
Information Today Inc.
143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055-8750
9781937290047, $24.95, www.infotoday.com

Find It Fast: Extracting Expert Information from Social Networks, Big Data, Tweets, and More appears in its 6th updated edition to provide key guidelines on how to locate information sources, how to reach their authors, and how to do fast research on a wide range of subjects. By 'research' this means techniques that go beyond using such search engines as Google, moving into deeper layers of databases and information systems and also using social media for research. From assessing a site for its accuracy and understanding the differences between different kinds of sources to gaining information faster, this offers many keys to better searches and information assessment practices.


The Science Shelf

Alfred Wegener
Mott T. Greene
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4363
9781421417127, $44.95, www.press.jhu.edu

Alfred Wegener: Science, Exploration, and the Theory of Continental Drift blends biography with scientific discovery as it charts the course of a scientist whose fieldwork embraced a wide range of disciplines and ultimately resulted in his authoring of the theory of continental drift. Unlike many scientists with narrowed focus, he also contributed beyond his geology focus to astronomy, physics, glaciology, and more. While he died of overexertion on a journey to Greenland to study the drift of its ice cap, his work survives him, and this in-depth biography is the only complete account of his life and work and represents some twenty years of in-depth research, making it a 'must' for any college-level science holding.

Viral Nanotechnology
Yury Khudyakov and Paul Pumpens, Editors
CRC Press
6000 NW Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487
www.crcpress.com
9781466583528, $159.95, www.crcpress.com

Viral Nanotechnology provides an updated overview of the developing field of viral nanotechnology and discusses the developing fields of immunology, physics, chemistry and more. This is no light overview but an in-depth scientific survey with articles by leading researchers and practitioners who identify nanotechnology as a science that centers on how to apply molecular models to viral technology. The focus on using viral nanotechnology to improve health documents its use in genetic therapies and drug developments and considers its diagnosis applications and host/vector system factors alike. With its extensive, in-depth reference detail, Viral Nanotechnology is a 'must' for health and science holdings at the advanced college level.


The Beer/Wine/Spirits Shelf

Spirit of Place: Scotland's Great Whiskey Distilleries
Charles Maclean
Chicago Review Press
814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610
0781613731833, $39.95, www.chicagoreviewpress.com

Spirit of Place: Scotland's Great Whiskey Distilleries is a specialty book especially recommended for whiskey aficionados who enjoy a blend of travelogue and discussion about visiting distilleries, and provides the author's experiences with some fifty of Scotland's greatest whiskey producers. Presented in an oversized format replete with color photos - over 250 specially commissioned for this book - Spirit of Place is filled with discussions that link the country's history of producing Scotch whiskey with a compelling travelogue and survey of the drink, its producers, and its history. The result is a beautiful presentation suitable for coffee table display and research which is a top recommendation for any fan of either whiskey or Scotland.


The Education Shelf

Master the Media
Julie Smith
Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.
9780986155444 $24.95 pbk / $9.97 Kindle www.amazon.com

Master the Media: How Teaching Media Literacy Can Save Our Plugged-In World is a guide created especially to help parents and educators teach children how to objectively regard the modern-day flood of information on the internet and in mass media. Topics include learning how advertising targets consumers, knowing precisely how movies are rated, understanding the pros, cons, and risks of engaging in social media, and much more. "...one of my students showed me an Instagram photo of her that had been used to advertise a 'lesbian sex party.' The photo had been downloaded from Instagram and placed in a Craigslist ad promoting the party at a particular address. It turned out the post was a practical joke played on those who lived at the address. But the photo, stolen from the Web by strangers, was definitely of my student. She has since made her Instagram account private so that only people who have permission can access her photos." Master the Media is an indispensable educational resource for the twenty-first century, highly recommended.

Probability for Kids
Scott A. Chamberlin
Lacy Compton, Senior Editor
Prufrock Press
PO Box 8813, Waco, TX 76714-8813
www.prufrock.com
978161821527, $29.95, PB, 134pp, www.amazon.com

Scott A. Chamberlin is a Professor of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at the University of Wyoming. His research interests concern how learners solve problems, their affective ratings during the activities, and creative products generated during such episodes. His main discipline interest in mathematics is statistics and probability. In the pages of "Probability for Kids: Using Model-Eliciting Activities to Investigate Probability Concepts", Professor Chamberlin draws upon his many years of experience and expertise to feature real-world probability scenarios for students in grades 4 - 6. Students will encounter problems in which they read about students their age selling magazines for a school fund raiser, concerned about their homeroom assignments, and trying to decode the combination to a safe that their grandfather abandoned, among others, all of which maximizes learning so students gain a deep understanding of concepts in probability. "Probability for Kids" will help teachers, parents, and other educators to employ best practices in implementing challenging math activities based on standards. Problem solvers who complete all six activities in "Probability for Kids" will understand the six basic principles of probability and be high school ready for discussions in probability. Thoroughly 'user friendly' in tone, content and presentation, "Probability for Kids" is an ideal and highly recommended addition to elementary school classroom curriculums and for use by home schooling parents.

Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students, second edition
Christine Fonseca
Prufrock Press
PO Box 8813, Waco, TX 76714-8813
9781618214577 $19.95 www.prufrock.com

Expert school psychologist Christine Fonseca presents Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students: Helping Kids Cope With Explosive Feelings, a resource created especially for parents and teachers now in its second edition with additional chapters discussing temperament and personality development, as well as updated resources and worksheets. Chapters discuss why gifted children often have extreme highs and lows, and offer role-plays and strategies for showing gifted children how to recognize, monitor, and adjust their own behavior. Written in an accessible, conversational style, Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students is a "must" for educators and parents of gifted children at all levels of grade school.

The New Normal
Denise Tillery and Ed Nagelhout, editors
Baywood Publishing
26 Austin Avenue, Box 337, Amityville, NY 11701
9780895039149 $79.95 hc
9780895039156 $59.95 pbk
9780895039163 $47.95 e-pub
9780895039170 $47.95 e-pdf www.baywood.com

The New Normal: Pressures on Technical Communication Programs in the Age of Austerity is an anthology of scholarly essays by learned authors discussing how the technical communication programs of colleges and universities across America have been forced to adapt to regular decreases in state funding. Pushed to "do more with less", technical communication programs have had to accept that budget cuts are their "new normal". How do these programs, especially smaller programs hid hardest by limited resources, adapt to increased student demand? Individual writings include "A Response to Austerity: Using Ecopreneurship to Build a Sustainable Writing Major", "Working Conditions, Austerity, and Faculty Development in Technical Writing Programs", "Strategic Partnerships Promote High-Demand Technical Communication Courses", and more. In the increasingly interconnected twenty-first century, the ability to communicate succinctly and effectively remains a paramount skill for professionals in virtually every field of work; The New Normal is an invaluable resource especially for program administrators seeking to meet the needs of the next generation even as they search for sustainable solutions to budgetary challenges.

Making Nonfiction from Scratch
Ralph Fletcher
Stenhouse Publishers
480 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101-3451
9781625310125, $18.50, www.stenhouse.com

Making Nonfiction from Scratch offers a thought-provoking critique of how nonfiction writing is taught in schools, and also provides teachers with new options to teaching differently to elicit passion and insights from your aspiring writers. Directed to teachers who see the lack of passion in their students, this provides a specific set of techniques directed towards nonfiction that takes devices used in other genres, from fiction to poetry and comedy, and draws them together to explore how they can apply to nonfiction efforts. Exercises, two case studies, and a chapter on nonfiction writing pros and cons rounds out the presentation, highly recommended for any teacher who wants to recharge the young nonfiction writer.

Corwin Press
2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320-2218
www.corwin.com

Three new titles are top recommendations for educators and collections catering to them. Maria C. Grant, Douglas Fisher and Diane Lapp's Reading and Writing in Science: Tools to Develop Disciplinary Literacy (9781483345680, $29.95) appears in its second updated edition to provide a discussion of how to use science to develop modern science and literary skills alike. It offers routines that incorporate using scientific texts in the classroom and provides students with all the tools needed to improve understanding, and it uses reading guidelines to anchor science understanding. Teachers also receive tips on how to develop text-based questions, how to assess inquiries and processes, and how to blend the goals of teaching reading in science. Wendy W. Nurawski and Kathy Lynn Scott edit What Really Works in Secondary Education (9781483386652, $34.95), a collection of research-based strategies for teachers that compiles the advice of experts who move beyond educational theory into how it applies (or doesn't) in a classroom setting. Chapters discuss educational innovations that work, consider new approaches to classroom management and student engagement, include forms for such goals as cooperative learning lessons, and pairs sample lessons with self-assessment questions. The fact that these approaches come from real-world tested solutions makes this a winning collection. Page Keeley's Science Formative Assessment Volume 1: 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning appears in its second updated edition to show educators how to incorporate formative assessment routines into science curriculums, and comes from an expert in science education. Here are over seventy classroom techniques that describes how formative assessment promotes instruction, creates charts that link K-12 core ideas and science practices to this process, offers expanded suggestions for applications beyond science studies, and more. From paraphrasing and using 'four corners' to solicit student ideas to frameworks for K-12 education, this is a 'must' for any educator interested in learning about and applying formative assessment techniques.

Starting with Character
Cathy Waggoner and Martha Herndon
Redleaf Press
10 Yorkton Court, St. Paul, MN 55117-1065
9781605544472, $24.95, www.redleafpress.org

Starting with Character: Activities for Infants, Toddlers, and Twos is a recommended pick for educators and parents looking at new curriculum development strategies for early learners, and outlines six key character traits in young children that can be supported by easy activities. From developing caring and honesty to cultivating self-discipline, chapters consider the emotional state of infants, toddlers and two-year-olds and provide guidelines for assessment, evaluation, and specific activities tailored to this group and these purposes. Cathy Waggoner worked in the field of education since 1989 and her job has focused on character development in early education, while Martha Herndon has worked as a researcher and ECE educator. Together they provide a solid program for success.

Specific Learning Difficulties
Diana Hudson
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Inc.
400 Market Street, Suite 400, Philadelphia, PA 19106
9781849055901, $19.95, www.jkp.com

Specific Learning Difficulties: What Teachers Need to Know is directed to both special educators and general classrooms, but it's the latter who will best employ the basic guidelines on how to recognize symptoms of specific learning disabilities and handle students who struggle with dyslexia, autism, ADHD, and more. Moving beyond identifying issues, these chapters discuss how to modify teaching materials and techniques and how to help students work within their limitations to produce more effective results on exams, tests, and in classroom interactions. From multisensory teaching to locating an adult mentor, this is filled with strategies and observations the general classroom teacher can easily apply.


The International Studies Shelf

Crouching Tiger
Peter Navarro
Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, NY 14228-2197
9781633881143, $25.00, www.prometheusbooks.com

Crouching Tiger: What China's Militarism Means for the World questions whether a war with China is inevitable - and assesses the probability of conflict between the U.S. and China, analyzing both routes to war and paths to peace along the way. More than the usual author perspective, Crouching Tiger is based on interviews with over thirty top experts who discuss various facts about the country's recent military buildup and its effects in Asia. Also surveyed are China's evolving weapons systems and delivery systems, discussions of U.S. military strength, and surveys of economic and diplomatic engagements and their pros and cons. Any interested in China's evolving prowess must have this!


The Computer Shelf

Murach's jQuery, second edition
Zak Ruvalcaba and Anne Boehm
Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.
4340 N. Knoll, Fresno, CA 93722
9781890774912, $54.50, www.murach.com

The second updated edition of Murach's jQuery blends a course in a book with a reference topic covering JavaScript skills needed for applying jQuery to real-world problem-solving, and provides insights on how to get the most from scripting and other development topics. Chapters offer an in-depth survey of using and understanding jQuery in a form that requires little prior programming language experience, and which builds the basics and proceeds to teach in-depth applications and customization routines. From using Ajax and others in working with common websites to using jQuery Mobile to develop web pages for mobile devices, this reference packs in code, sidebars of information, and plenty of real-world examples.


The Autism Shelf

Older Adults and Autism Spectrum Conditions
Wenn Lawson
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Inc.
400 Market Street, Suite 400, Philadelphia, PA 19106
9781849059619, $24.95, www.jkp.com

Older Adults and Autism Spectrum Conditions: An Introduction and Guide examines the issues facing older adults with autism spectrum conditions and offers guidance and an organized examination of issues based on a blend of research and interviews with older people diagnosed with ASC. From working with care staff to handling mental health issues, retirement, considering a trustee and exploring various personality and learning types, this survey delves into the many and changing issues affecting older adults on the spectrum and is essential for understanding their progress and special challenges.


The Nautical Shelf

Shipwrecked in Paradise
Paul F. Johnston
Texas A&M University Press
4354 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4354
www.tamupress.com
9781623492830, $39.95, www.tamupress.com

Shipwrecked in Paradise: Cleopatra's Barge in Hawai'i tells of America's first oceangoing private yacht, built in Massachusetts as a flashy cruiser for a private owner. Sold several times after his death, the ship wound up in Hawai'i and was purchased by a king for a million pounds of sandalwood, renamed, and became the royal flagship until she was lost in 1924 in Kaua'i. This offers a history of the boat from her 1816 construction to her 1995 discovery and excavation by the Smithsonian Institution. Packed with photos, documents and rich archaeological and historical detail, it's a 'must' for archaeologists and nautical history fans alike.


The Automotive Shelf

Evo Supercars
Evo Magazine
Mitchell Beazley
c/o Octopus Publishing
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
9781784720506, $29.99, www.octopuspublishing.com

Evo Supercars: Behind the Wheel of the Greatest Cars of All Time comes from the experts at Evo Magazine who provide an oversized survey of the 100 greatest supercars ever built, from Ferraris to the latest models. Reviews for each car discuss why each model is a 'supercar' in its class, but the meat of the survey lies in full-page color photos by Evo photographers that accompany the reviews and specs on engines, power, price, and other technical details. This makes for a blend of coffee table book and supercar presentations covering top models from 1968 to modern times, presenting the best of Jaguar, Ford, Aston Martin, Bugatti, and others. Auto history buffs interested in a blend of eye-popping images and precise descriptions will find this a 'must have' acquisition.


The Literary Studies Shelf

The Art of Vision
Andrew James Johnston, Ethan Knapp, and Margitta Rouse, editors
Ohio State University Press
180 Pressey Hall, 1070 Carmack Road
Columbus, OH 43210-1002
9780814212943 $72.95 www.ohiostatepress.org

Part of the "Interventions: New Studies in Medieval Culture" series of scholarly publications, The Art of Vision: Ekphrasis in Medieval Literature and Culture is an anthology of essays by learned authors discussing ekphrasis - detailed and dramatic descriptions of works of art, or other concepts - in medieval literature and society. Specific examples studied range from the eleventh through seventeenth centuries, including texts written in Medieval Latin, Medieval French, Middle English, Middle Scots, Middle High German, and Early Modern English. Individual writings include "Vision and Desire in 'Mary Magdalene' and 'The Winter's Tale'", "Ekphrasis and religious ideology in Spenser's 'Legend of Holiness'", "The Soul of Ekphrasis: Chaucer's 'Merchant's Tale' and the Marriage of the Senses", and much more. An extensive bibliography and index round out this studious collection, especially recommended for college library Literary Studies and Medieval History collections.

A Comprehensive Guide to Bhagavad-Gita with Literal Translation
H.D. Goswami
Torchlight Publishing, Inc.
50616 Hwy 245, Badger, CA 93603
www.torchlight.com
9780986240300 $9.95 pbk / $7.95 Kindle www.amazon.com

H.D. Goswami (Howard Resnick), an expert teacher of Bhagavad-gita, presents A Comprehensive Guide to Bhagavad-Gita with Literal Translation, an in-depth analysis of this sacred Hindu text. The Bhagavad-Gita (literally, "Song of the Lord") is a 700-verse scripture within the Hindu epic "Mahabharata". It chronicles a dialogue between the warrior-prince Arjuna and his guide and charioteer, Lord Krishna. Bhagavad-Gita explores life's primordial and existential questions: Why do humans exist? What is the universe? What is God? What is real? Created to be accessible to scholars and lay readers alike, A Comprehensive Guide to Bhagavad-Gita with Literal Translation explores the essence of the reasoning and conclusions within the Bhagavad-Gita. The result is a "must-have" for public and college library literary and Religious Studies shelves!

Approaches to Teaching the Works of Italo Calvino
Franco Ricci
Modern Language Association
26 Broadway, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10004-1789
www.mla.org
9781603291231, $37.50, 159pp, www.amazon.com

Italo Calvino (15 October 1923 - 19 September 1985) was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952 - 1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If on a winter's night a traveler (1979). Admired in Britain and the United States, he was the most-translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death, and a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. His works reflect the major literary and cultural trends of the second half of the twentieth century. He is known for his imagination, humor, and technical virtuosity. He explored topics such as neorealism, folktale, fantasy, and social and political allegory and experiments with narrative style and structure. Compiled and edited by Franco Ricci, "Approaches to Teaching the Works of Italo Calvino" aims to help classroom teachers develop creative and engaging classroom strategies. The twenty articles presented by the contributors are deftly organized and presented in two major sections. Part 1, "Materials," presents an overview of Calvino's writings, nearly all of which are available in English translation, as well as critical works and online resources. The essays in part 2, "Approaches," focus on general themes and cultural contexts, address theoretical issues, and provide practical classroom applications. The contributors describe strategies for teaching Calvino that are as varied as his writings, whether having students study narrative theory through If on a winter's night a traveler, explore literary genre with Cosmicomics, improve their writing using Six Memos for the Next Millennium, or read Mr. Palomar in a general education humanities course. "Approaches to Teaching the Works of Italo Calvino" is very highly recommended for professional and academic library Literary Studies collections in general, and Ialo Calvino supplemental studies reading lists in particular. It should be noted that "Approaches to Teaching the Works of Italo Calvino" is also available in a paperback edition (9781603291248, $19.75) and in a Kindle format ($18.76).


The Political Science Shelf

Run: Your Personal Guide to Winning Public Office
Senator Marian Walsh
Grand Cove Publishing
www.marianwalsh.com
9780989344005, $18.95, PB, 216pp, www.amazon.com

State Senator Marian Walsh has never lost an election. Beginning with her first run for the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1988 as a political unknown, Walsh was re-elected to a second term then went on to serve nine consecutive terms in the Massachusetts State Senate until 2011. She was the first woman to hold her House and Senate seats and also held ranking positions, including Majority Whip. In "Run: Your Personal Guide to Winning Public Office" Massachusetts State Senator Walsh draws upon her many years of experience and expertise to create an impressive and comprehensive instructional guide to successfully running for political office be it on the local, state, or federal level. Informative, exceptionally well written, organized and presented, and above all, real world practical, "Run: Your Personal Guide to Winning Public Office" should be a part of every community and academic library Political Science reference collection and supplemental studies list in the country. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Run: Your Personal Guide to Winning Public Office" is also available in a Kindle edition ($4.99).

Commentary on Filangieri's Work
Benjamin Constant
Liberty Fund, Inc.
8335 Allison Pointe Trail, Indianapolis, IN 46250
www.libertyfund.org
9780865978829, $24.05, HC, 496pp, www.amazon.com

Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (25 October 1767 - 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss-French political activist and writer on politics and religion. He was a fervent liberal of the early 19th century who influenced the Trienio Liberal movement in Spain, the Liberal Revolution of 1820 in Portugal, the Greek War of Independence, the November Uprising in Poland, the Belgian Revolution, and Liberalism in Brazil and Mexico. In "Commentary on Filangieri's Work" Constant addresses the principal political and social questions of the early 19th Century. This translation of "Commentary on Filangieri's Work" by Alan S. Kahan (Professor of British Civilization at the Universite de Versailles/St. Quentin-en-Yvelines in France) will help give the work its deserved importance in political theory. "Commentary on Filangieri's Work" is very highly recommended reading, especially for students of 19th Century political science with respect to the principle social issues of the day. A critically important addition to academic library 19th Century Political Science History reference collections and supplemental studies curriculums, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Commentary on Filangieri's Work" is also available in a paperback edition (9780865978836, $18.37).

The Meaning of Citizenship
Edited by Richard Marback and Marc W. Kruman
Wayne State University Press
The Leonard N. Simons Building
4809 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201-1309
9780814341308 $34.99 http://wsupress.wayne.edu

The Meaning of Citizenship is an anthology of fifteen scholarly essays by learned authors selected from the tenth anniversary conference of the Center for the Study of Citizenship at Wayne State University, during which the theme "The Meaning of Citizenship" was suggested as a concept to reflect upon when evaluating the past decade of research in the field. Writings discuss the four dimensions of citizenship: the divide between citizenship in theory versus practice, the limits of citizenship, the nature of connections that bond citizens, and how civic and personal obligations are resolved. Contributors draw upon ethnography, history, literary analysis and more. Specific essays include "State, Citizenship, and Health in an Age of Global Mobility: A Comparative Study of Labor Migrans' Health Rights in Germany and Israel"; "Justice for Border-Crossing Peoples"; and "French Citizens and Muslim Law: The Tensions of Citizenship in Early Twentieth-Century Senegal". Reflective, erudite, and insightful, The Meaning of Citizenship is a welcome contribution to public and college library political science collections.


The Agriculture Shelf

Compendium of Soybean Diseases, fifth edition
APS Press
3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121
9780890544730, $119.00, 201pp, www.shopapspress.org

Now in a fully updated fifth and expanded edition, the "Compendium of Soybean Diseases" combines the finest qualities of the four previous editions with new sections which continue to make it a thorough, authoritative and practical reference that will prove indispensable for academia and agriculturalists alike in diagnosing and treating the full range of major and minor insect pests, diseases, abiotic stresses and disorders. Profusely illustrated throughout, "Compendium of Soybean Diseases" is enhanced with the inclusion of an introduction providing background information about the history and growth of the soybean plant along with a contemporary discussion of the importance of soybean pathogens and presents in the world's chief soybean-producing countries. An essential and comprehensive reference for researchers and growers, "Compendium of Soybean Diseases" is very highly recommended for personal farming, professional agricultural extension, agribusiness corporate, governmental, and academic library agriculture soybean instructional reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists.

Virulence Mechanisms of Plant-Pathogenic Bacteria
Nian Wange, et al.
APS Press
3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121
www.shopapspress.org
9780890544440, $395.00, 492pp, www.amazon.com

Providing a complete course of instruction, "Virulence Mechanisms of Plant-Pathogenic Bacteria" is an ideal textbook for agricultural studies students and a deftly organized and presented reference guide for agricultural pathology researchers. "Virulence Mechanisms of Plant-Pathogenic Bacteria" reviews individual virulence traits and how each pathogen uses different traits to cause some of the most important bacterial diseases in agriculture today. Comprised of twenty-three major papers by experts in the field of plant pathology, "Virulence Mechanisms of Plant-Pathogenic Bacteria" is presented in two principle sections: Virulence Mechanisms and Important Bacterial Diseases in Agriculture. Enhanced with the inclusion of a thirty-five page Index, "Virulence Mechanisms of Plant-Pathogenic Bacteria" is a critically important and highly recommended core collection addition to country agricultural center, corporate agribusiness, and academic library Agricultural Pathology Studies reference collections and supplemental studies lists.


The Economic Studies Shelf

The Economics of Immigration
Benjamin Powell, editor
Independent Institute
c/o Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4314
9780190258795 $34.95 www.oup.com

Political rhetoric and personal temperaments run high in response to immigration issues, but do immigrants truly cost jobs, or induce an economic burden? The Economics of Immigration offers a variety of scholarly essays by expert social scientists and economists with surprising answers. Meticulous analysis of existing studies reveals immigration can slightly increase the wealth of natives born in destination countries, while doing relatively little harm to job prospects or wages. Current generations of immigrants do not appear to be resisting assimilation more than previous generations. Yet different professionals in the field present dramatically different interpretations and policy proposals. One argues to reduce current levels of immigration; one suggests an auction market model for immigration permits; and one makes a case for open borders. An index rounds out this nuanced, serious-minded effort to examine the facts behind a complex and contentious social issue. The Economics of Immigration is especially recommended for college and public library Economic Studies shelves.

The Midas Paradox
Scott Sumner
The Independent Institute
100 Swan Way, Oakland, CA 94621-1428
9781598131505 $37.95 www.independent.org

The Midas Paradox: Financial Markets, Government Policy Shocks, and the Great Depression is a sweeping, ambitious, and studious endeavor to fully explain both the monetary and non-monetary causes of the cataclysmic Great Depression. Author Scott Sumner (Professor of Economics, Bentley University) uses financial market data and news stories of the era to reveal that the Great Depression ultimately came from bad policymaking on all sides - the mistakes of central bankers, legislators, and two presidents all contributed toxins to the brewing disaster, particularly their errors with regard to monetary policy and wage rates. The title of "The Midas Paradox" refers to how the world economy was destabilized through the hoarding of gold - including both hoarding by central banks, and eventually episodes of private gold-hoarding induced by the persistent (and often justified) fears of currency devaluation. Sumner also examines wage cyclicality as a key to understanding the Great Depression, in particular the conundrum of why U.S. industrial output rose and fell more than dozen times during the Great Depression's course. The Midas Paradox is an astutely researched and presented analysis; whether one agrees or disagrees with its economic conclusions, it provides extensive grounds for examining macroeconomics from a different perspective. Highly recommended, especially for public and college library Economic Studies shelves.

Best Customers: Demographics of Consumer Demand, 11th edition
New Strategist Press, LLC
26 Austin Avenue, PO Box 635, Amityville, NY 11701
www.newstrategist.com
9781933588070 $138.00 hc
9781933588179 $103.95 pbk
9781933588216 $103.95 single-user PDF / $310.00 multi-user PDF

Corporate executives, entrepreneurs, academicians, and the general reading public can now find out how the American marketplace has been transformed by the Great Recession in the newly updated and expanded 11th edition of "Best Customers: Demographics of Consumer Demand", that includes 2013 spending data. "Best Customers" provides a unique and comprehensive overview of who the best and biggest customers are for hundreds of individual products and services. The new edition of "Best Customers" includes analyses of spending trends before (2000 to 2006) and after (2006 to 2013) the Great Recession, product by product. "Best Customers" also analyzes household spending on more than 300 products and services by age of householder, household income, household type, race and Hispanic origin of householder, region of residence, and educational attainment of householder. Based on unpublished data from the 2013 Consumer Expenditure Survey that is not available on the internet, "Best Customers" identifies which households spend the most on a product or service (the best customers) and which control the largest share of spending (the biggest customers). "Best Customers" is divided into 21 chapters, arranged alphabetically. Within each chapter, individual products and services are arranged alphabetically. The chapters are: alcoholic beverages, apparel, computers, education, entertainment, financial products and services, household furnishings, gifts to non-household members, groceries, health care, household services, housekeeping supplies, personal care products and services, reading material, restaurants and carry-outs, shelter and utilities, telephone, tobacco, transportation, travel, and utilities. Each table in "Best Customers" deftly analyzes household spending on a particular product or service and is accompanied by text identifying the best and biggest customers, analyzing spending patterns, describing spending trends before and after the Great Recession, and predicting future trends based on the nation's changing demographics. "Best Customers" is an essential and highly recommended addition to school, community, corporate, and university library Contemporary American Economics and Contemporary American Demographics reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists. It should be noted that "Best Customers" is also available in a paperback and Singler-User PDF edition ($103.00), and in a Multi-User PDF edition ($310.00).


The Architecture Shelf

Checklist of Library Building Design Considerations, sixth edition
William W. Sannwald
ALA Editions
c/o American Library Association
50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611
www.alastore.ala.org
9780838913710, $72.00, www.amazon.com

The needs and functions of library buildings have certainly changed over the last decade, but the necessity for planning intelligently and thoroughly hasn't. In fact, tighter budgets and the complex demands of both library users and staff call for careful preparation now more than ever. Whether building from the ground up or simply remodeling, the success of any library building project hinges on planning, coordination, and communication. This newly updated and expanded sixth edition of William Sannwald's "Checklist of Library Building Design Considerations" is a classic 288 page guide will help librarians and their planning boards stay prepared and organized for every phase of your undertaking from conception through the dedication ceremony. Using a popular checklist format that ensures no detail is overlooked, this planner covers crucial considerations like: the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) factors, structured to match the federal code; sustainable design features, including sensors that save energy and water; designing makerspaces, digital media labs, or leased library enterprises; disaster and recovery planning; creating quiet spaces; collaborative collections and materials-handling efficiency; and important virtual presence aspects to bear in mind during physical space decisions. Library managers, administrators, and facilities staff will find this sixth edition of "Checklist of Library Building Design Considerations" a invaluable and practical tool for any library construction project regardless of size or complexity.


The Pets/Wildlife Shelf

John Muir's Book of Animals
John Muir, author
Lisel Jane Ashlock, illustrator
Heyday Books
PO Box 9145, Berkeley, CA 94709
9781597143189 $18.00 www.heydaybooks.com

John Muir's Book of Animals combines excerpts about animals from the writings and journals of storied Scottish-American naturalist and conservationist John Muir with Lisel Jane Ashlock's striking color artwork. The result is an introduction to Muir's writings that is accessible to readers of all backgrounds. Organized by animal - each creature from "ant" to "grouse" to "woodchuck" has a captivating, full-page artwork portrait and a few pages of text associated with it - John Muir's Book of Animals is a joy to browse. Highly recommended, especially for nature lovers!

Complete Guide to a Healthy Dog
Eve Adamson
T.F.H. Publications
1 TFH Plaza, Third & Union Avenue, Neptune City, NJ 07753
www.tfh.com
9780793837373 $24.95 hc / $14.99 Kindle www.amazon.com

Part of the "Animal Planet" series of authoritative, user-friendly guidebooks, Complete Guide to a Healthy Dog lives up to its title as an all-purpose reference and resource for dog owners everywhere. Chapters discuss how to ensure that one adopts a healthy dog from breeders or shelters, grooming and hygiene recommendations, choosing a proper diet, identifying common symptoms and applying first aid, discerning when to see a veterinarian (both for routine care milestones and emergency treatment for specific problems), and much more. Illustrated with captivating full-color photography throughout, Complete Guide to a Healthy Dog is an absolute "must-read" for anyone even considering a dog of their own, and highly recommended for public library collections.


The Aviation Shelf

The Royal Air Force in American Skies
Tom Killebrew
University of North Texas Press
1155 Union Circle #311336, Denton, TX 76203-5017
9781574416152 $32.95 hc / $26.36 Kindle www.unt.edu/untpress

The Royal Air Force in American Skies: The Seven British Flight Schools in the United States during World War II chronicles how, during the desperate days of WW II, British pilots trained in the United States (in accordance with the Lend-Lease Act). British Flying Schools were created in America; these institutions were owned by American operators, staffed with American civilian instructors, supervised by British Royal Air Force officers, used aircraft supplied by the U.S. Army Air Corps, and relied on the RAF training syllabus. The Royal Air Force in American Skies is a thorough history of all seven of these schools. Training was dangerous; some students died in accidents and were buried in local cemeteries. Those who successfully finished the regimen became RAF pilots, and in the process, often formed strong friendships with individual Americans. Endnotes, a bibliography, and an index round out this studious, thoroughly researched, and highly recommended contribution to public and college library collections.


The Judicial Studies Shelf

Avenging Lincoln's Death
Thomas J. Reed
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
The Gatehouse M010C, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ 07940
9781611478273 $75.00 www.fdupress.org

Avenging Lincoln's Death: The Trial of John Wilkes Booth's Accomplices is an in-depth scrutiny of the 1865 military commission trial of eight alleged accomplices of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin who murdered President Abraham Lincoln. Chapters analyze the trial transcript and other evidence used against Booth's alleged accomplices. Author Thomas J. Reed (professor emeritus of law, Widener University School of Law) argues that the trial was inherently unconstitutional and unfair because Congress never authorized trial by military commission for the eight accused civilians; by demanding that the accused be tried in this fashion, President Andrew Johnson exceeded his legal authority, and defied the Habeas Corpus Act of 1863 which required him to turn over the accused to civilian authorities for prosecution. Furthermore, Avenging Lincoln's Death reveals that the accomplices were convicted on perjured testimony, and that the government submitted unrelated evidence of Confederate atrocities to cognitively capture the minds of the panel of officers. Exhaustively researched, and enhanced with a bibliography and an index, Avenging Lincoln's Death is a studious and welcome contribution to public and college library judicial studies shelves.


The Native American Studies Shelf

The Indian Tribes of North America
John R. Swanton
Genealogical Publishing Company
3600 Clipper Mill Road, Suite 260
Baltimore, MD 21211
9780806317304 $75.00 www.genealogical.com

Originally published in 1952, The Indian Tribes of North America is the definitive one-volume reference to North American Indian tribes, created for use by researchers, scholars, genealogists, anthropologists, and anyone else with an interest in better understanding the many native peoples of the North American continent. Organized by state (the primary focus is on Native peoples who live inside the U.S.), The Indian Tribes of North America lists nations, confederations, tribes, subtribes, and bands; known tribal groupings in each state; the origins of tribal names and their most important synonyms; tribal linguistic connections; a brief overview of each tribe's history; and much more. Multiple fold-out maps are interleaved within the text of this heavily researched, historic resource.


The Psychology Shelf

The Wisest One in the Room
Thomas Gilovich and Lee Ross
The Free Press
c/o Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
9781451677546 $26.00 www.simonsays.com

Written to be accessible to readers of all backgrounds, The Wisest One in the Room: How You Can Benefit from Social Psychology's Most Powerful Insights is a thoughtful distillation of what modern psychology tells us about why human beings act the way they do. Defining "wisdom" as insight into what makes people tick, authors Thomas Gilovich (professor of psychology, Cornell University) and Lee Ross (professor of psychology, Stanford University) explore how one nation has an astonishingly higher organ donation rate than other due to the simple difference of allowing people to "opt out" rather than "opt in"; how controlling one's food intake is best done via "mindless" methods rather than mindful eating (such as simply using smaller plates that reduce portion size, reducing the quantity and variety of high-calorie foods inside one's house, and storing junk food physically out of sight); why certain human conflicts appear to have a depressing trans-generational longevity (the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in particular is discussed at length); and much more. The Wisest One in the Room may not have the answers to all of life's questions, but it definitely helps the reader understand their own minds, cognitive biases, and fellow human beings better. Highly recommended, especially for public and college library psychology collections, and also for anyone seeking to improve their own life starting with a better grasp of the forces that drive human thoughts.


The Language Studies Shelf

Latin of New Spain
Rose Williams
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
1570 Baskin Road, Mundelein, IL 60060
9780865168336 $19.00 www.bolchazy.com

Latin of New Spain is a selection of authentic, neo-Latin works of New Spain chosen especially for the Latin classroom. The works of four prose writers (Acosta, Columbus, Cortes, and Salazar) as well as two epic poets (Landivar and Cabrera) all offer a testimony of the European's first experience with lands that would eventually become New Spain. Synopses, comprehension questions, vocabulary aids, grammar and word use questions, and more round out this excellent reference and resource for Latin instructors.


The Photography Shelf

The Spring Creek Chronicles
Dick Kettlewell
Farcountry Press
PO Box 5630, Helena, MT 59604
www.farcountrypress.com
9781560376361, $26.95, 232pp, www.amazon.com

Dick Kettlewell has been a professional, award-winning photographer for 28 years. "The Spring Creek Chronicles" is his latest anthology showcasing some 282 color photographs of wildlife taken with a true artists eye using the combined medium of a camera, patience, and talent. Enhanced with informative commentary, "The Spring Creek Chronicles" is an exceptional and absorbing browse from first page to last and very highly recommended for personal, professional, community and academic library Wildlife Photography collections.


The Wisconsin Shelf

60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Madison, second edition
Kevin Revolinski
Menasha Ridge Press
2204 - 1st Avenue South, Suite 102, Birmingham, AL 35233
www.menasharidge.com
Adventure Keen (distributor)
2204 1st Avenue South, Suite 102, Birmingham, AL 35233
9781634040006, $18.95, PB, 320pp, www.amazon.com

Wisconsin native Kevin Revolinski is an avid outdoorsman, public speaker, and author of more than a dozen books including Best Tent Camping Wisconsin (co-author), Best Easy Day Hikes Milwaukee, Paddling Wisconsin, Backroads and Byways of Wisconsin, Wisconsin's Best Beer Guide, Michigan's Best Beer Guide, and Minnesota's Best Beer Guide as well as the travel memoir The Yogurt Man Cometh: Tales of an American Teacher in Turkey. In this newly updated and expanded second edition of "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Madison: Including Dane and Surrounding Counties" Kevin draws upon his many years of experience and expertise to provide hikers with a 320 page compendium showcasing 60 different and inherently interesting hikes that anyone can enjoy within a 60 mile radius of Madison, Wisconsin. Enhanced with the inclusion of an Overview Map & Key, the hikes are organized and presented by categories: Madison Metro (18 hikes); Northwest (17 hikes); Southwest (13 hikes); Northeast (2 hikes); and Southeast (10 hikes). Enhanced with the inclusion of three appendices (Hiking Stores; Map Stores; Hiking Clubs); and an eight page Index, "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Madison: Including Dane and Surrounding Counties" is also available in a Kindle edition ($12.99), thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, and enthusiastically recommended.


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Diane C. Donovan, Editor
Midwest Book Review
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Oregon, WI 53575-1129
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