Alice Cary

NonfictionParentingMemoir

What does it mean to be a mom?

Feature by Alice Cary

These four books add unique insights to this essential question, with subjects including an irrepressible immigrant mother, birth mothers and adoptive mothers, and a crusading mom who wants to liberate others from their guilt.

One can only imagine what Elaine Lui’s mother wants for Mother’s Day.

Lui, creator of the popular blog LaineyGossip.com, details her relationship with her uniquely irrepressible mother in a sparkling new memoir, Listen to the Squawking Chicken: When Mother Knows Best, What’s a Daughter To Do?

Lui explains that her mother loves to be honored on any occasion, even when it’s her daughter’s birthday: “There is no better way to demonstrate gratitude for Ma giving birth to me than to give her money. If it’s not the first thing she says when she sees me, it’s definitely the second thing out of my ma’s mouth when she sees me: ‘Where’s my money?’”

In this hilarious account, readers learn that Lui’s mother grew up in Hong Kong, loves rhinestone-studded clothes that her daughter describes as “China Woman Elvis,” and, most notably, has a grating voice that has earned her the nickname “the Squawking Chicken.” Despite a trauma-filled, poverty-stricken childhood, her mom persevered, remaining strong, even in later life when faced with a rare blood disorder. And she is certainly a woman who continues to be heard.

The Squawking Chicken has always been an in-your-face, controlling mom, and Lui describes numerous incidents when her and her mother’s wills have clashed. The details are fascinating, and the many cultural differences between China and the West are particularly intriguing.

Her mom usually ends up being right, Lui says. She’s also gotten used to the texts her mom sends after Lui appears on TV, such as “STOP MAKE UGLY FACE WHEN YOU TALKS.” Lui has made her peace with her mother’s intrusions; in fact, she would almost certainly be lost without them.

As she explains: “I am the Squawking Chicken’s only daughter and her only true friend. It can be a burden, sure. But mostly, it is my life’s honor.”

ADOPTIONS AND REUNIONS
When Caroline Clarke, an award-winning journalist, faced some health issues, she contacted the agency that had handled her adoption in 1964. She ended up discovering that her birth mother was Caroline “Cookie” Cole, the adopted daughter of Nat King Cole.

Clarke writes beautifully about this unexpected discovery in Postcards from Cookie: A Memoir of Motherhood, Miracles, and a Whole Lot of Mail.

Cookie had led a life of privilege, but when she became pregnant, she was sent away to a home in New York for unwed mothers. She wanted to keep her baby and, after her birth, delayed signing adoption papers. However, when she heard on the radio that her beloved father was hospitalized with end-stage lung cancer, she felt that she had no choice but to obey her domineering mother, sign the papers and head back to California to his deathbed.

When Clarke contacts her newly discovered birth mother decades later, their lives are forever changed. “This means everything to me,” Cookie says.

As a psychotherapist tells Clarke, “In every way, you got the fantasy.” Not only does she suddenly belong to a well-known, highly accomplished birth family, she has a wonderful, supportive adoptive family who nurtured her every step of the way. Still, the connection becomes at times overwhelming for both mother and daughter, and there are problems as everyone gets used to this new reality.

In a parallel but very different story, at age 18, Diane Burke got pregnant during a summer fling with a co-worker, a Muslim on a work visa from Jordan. Burke writes about how this event transformed her life in One Perfect Day: A Mother and Son’s Story of Adoption and Reunion. The young lovers quickly decided not to marry, and Burke’s horrified parents sent her off to secretly give birth in a home for unwed mothers. Burke wanted to keep her baby, but with no immediate way to support herself and the child, she gave him up for adoption.

Burke continued to mourn the loss of her son as she later married, had two more sons, divorced, remarried and became a writer of romantic mysteries. During turbulent times, she turned to religion for strength.

Years later, a stranger on the telephone asks, “Mrs. Burke, did you give up a child for adoption in 1971?” It was a question that would lead to Burke’s reunion with her son, Steve Orlandi. This riveting account describes the multitude of conflicting emotions that both mother and son share as they meet and get to know each other. (Steve also wrote parts of the book, explaining the emotional impact of reuniting with his birth family).

As Burke explains: “All reunions are intense, emotional, and complicated. It is the past colliding with the present and being faced with an uncertain future. It is joy and pain and hope and disappointment. But it can become a relationship founded on love and blessed with commitment and happiness.”

GUILT BE GONE
Daisy Waugh is a busy, accomplished mother of three. She’s also a British novelist and journalist, and the granddaughter of literary lion Evelyn Waugh. In The Kids Will Be Fine: Guilt-Free Motherhood for Thoroughly Modern Women, Waugh makes it clear that she loves being a mother, but adds that “there have been many moments when I felt bewildered and alienated by society’s inflexible expectations of me as a mother.” As a result, she offers “some potentially liberating observations for mothers” who’ve been led to believe they should focus solely on their child’s every need.

Her blunt and amusing advice is divided into sections on Pregnancy and Birth, Baby Care, Child Care, School, and Charm School. After three kids, Waugh has learned which battles aren’t worth fighting, such as the harangues parents make about kids wearing coats in cold weather. She advises a live-and-learn policy: “As often as not, the children are only taking eight short but breezy steps from hallway to the back of a heated car. . . . It shouldn’t matter much, even in a snowstorm, if they made the journey in their underpants.”

Waugh’s views on parenting without guilt are bound to be controversial, such as her thoughts on organic food, which she describes as “a waste of money.” I myself disagree with a number of her notions, such as her dislike of having children write thank-you notes.

Whatever your thoughts on motherhood, Waugh’s eye-opening approach offers a new perspective on what makes a “good” mother.

 

This article was originally published in the May 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

These four books add unique insights to this essential question, with subjects including an irrepressible immigrant mother, birth mothers and adoptive mothers, and a crusading mom who wants to liberate others from their guilt.

PhotographyArt

Expand your visual frontiers

Feature by Alice Cary

Whether you prefer classic design, historic photography, performance art or up-and-coming modern artists, you’ll find something in these five books to whet your appetite.

THE ART OF THE BOOK
Books represent one of my favorite forms of artistic expression, and The Thing The Book: A Monument to the Book as Object takes a truly novel approach to the subject. Creators Jonn Herschend and Will Rogan (publishers of THE THING Quarterly) decided to make a book into what they call an “exhibition space.” They invited a variety of artists and illustrators to celebrate the physical nature of books, and the result is certainly an unusual conglomeration of creativity. Sam Green, for example, writes a colophon describing, in pictures and words, the phone book entries of a San Francisco man named Zachary Zzzzzzzzzra from 1963 through 1986. Mark Dion presents a wonderful photo essay called “Cover Life,” which simply depicts the covers of more than 50 well-worn books, ranging from the classic children’s book A Hole Is to Dig to a tattered Ulysses paperback. His montage is a thoughtful way to examine how books influence a life. With varied entries like this, the result is pure fun and oddly compelling. Everything is worth examining (there’s even a naughty errata slip), including the bookplate, bookmark ribbon and index.

IN FOCUS
More typical in layout and structure is the massive Photography: The Definitive Visual History. Photography expert Tom Ang has compiled this comprehensive look at the subject, beginning with inventions such as the camera obscura and continuing through today’s digital age.

This well-organized volume contains sections that examine historical trends, such as “Diversity and Conflict” from 1960 to 1979. There’s also an A-to-Z list of photographers, along with short profiles. You’ll see much that is familiar, but you’re also bound to discover new treats, such as Dutch photographer Frans Lanting’s “Dead Camelthorn Trees.” This striking image, taken in a national park in Namibia, is otherworldly, reminiscent of an exceptional illustration from a children’s book. Each historical discussion examines a variety of topics, such as the Polaroid camera, photography in space and the advent of the iPhone 3GS. Certain photographers are profiled in detail, such as Walker Evans and Cindy Sherman. Noteworthy photos are explored as well, including Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother.”

Even if you’re not a camera buff, this book is nothing short of fascinating.

DISAPPEARING ACT
Chinese artist Liu Bolin is known as “The Invisible Man,” and Liu Bolin presents a captivating retrospective of his politically charged work, complete with 200 color photographs. Bolin’s well-known Hiding in the City series began in 2005, after the Chinese police destroyed the artists’ village where he had been working. His signature style then emerged when he painted his entire body to blend into the background of the demolished village. Bolin went on to photograph himself in painted camouflage all over Beijing, and later in places like New York and Venice.

In the book’s introduction, Sorbonne art professor Philippe Dagen writes that Bolin “composes images that at first attract, then surprise and disturb, and finally imprint themselves on the memory. He uses a unique artistic form with a rare effectiveness that is perfectly in sync with the modern times.” Bolin’s images are indeed mesmerizing, managing to be compelling to everyone from a preschooler to the most sophisticated art critic. Watch him appear and disappear in front of a tropical fruit stand, a locomotive, racks of magazines, a toy shop or in the midst of a Venice street scene. This volume is a worthy tribute to this artist’s singular accomplishments.

DESIGN LEGENDS
Eames: Beautiful Details is just the visually arresting package one would expect from two of the greatest designers of the 20th century. Encased in a bold, colorful slipcase, this hefty compendium is a very personal look at the work of husband-and-wife team Charles and Ray Eames, renowned for their work in architecture, furniture, textile, film, photography and graphic design. After marrying in 1941, the couple was commissioned by the U.S. Navy during World War II to produce molded plywood splints, stretchers and more. One art critic called their molded plywood chair “the chair of the century.” Another creation, the Eames lounge chair, is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The fact that this couple was creative on so many different fronts means that this book is a particularly rich edition, full of family photos and personal memories, as well as reminisces describing the designers’ process and design philosophies. Charles summed up his and Ray’s life perfectly by saying, “At all times love and discipline have led to a beautiful environment and a good life.”

MODERN ART SAMPLER
What’s happening in modern art? The 21st-Century Art Book will bring you up to speed. This alphabetical overview takes a look at contemporary art since 2000, including paintings, photography, sculpture, performance art, video and digital art and more. The pleasing layout makes for easy browsing, with each page containing a photograph and a short write-up about an artist. Some entries will likely be familiar, such as the 110-ton Chicago “Bean” sculpture, more properly known as Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate.” Many entries document the ever-expanding criteria of what defines modern art, such as a video and sound installation by Iranian artist Shirin Neshat that depicts a funeral procession on a beach. British artist Michael Landy catalogued everything he owned (7,277 items) and then placed them on a conveyor belt to be destroyed by a machine. Regardless of your opinions about such works, all are thought provoking and likely to lead art lovers to new discoveries.

 

This article was originally published in the December 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Whether you prefer classic design, historic photography, performance art or up-and-coming modern artists, you’ll find something in these five books to whet your appetite.
Children's & YAPicture BookCrafts, Hobbies & Home

Books to be cherished by curious, creative minds

Feature by Alice Cary

When I was in third grade, my parents gave me a bright red book that still sits on my bookshelf today: Great Stories for Young Readers. Here are some of our favorite new gift books geared toward all sorts of young readers. With luck, your present to a special someone will become a cherished favorite for decades to come.

CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL
Young readers always get a kick out of animals—old and new—and the amusing things they do. Leave Animal Antics on a coffee table, and readers of all ages will dive in. The book combines superb photography with short write-ups about why each animal is behaving so comically. A baby orangutan gazes mischievously from underneath a “hat” of leaves; a koala snoozes while hanging slumped in a tree; and a bobcat sits atop a tall cactus in a prickly attempt to avoid the wrath of a cougar. The cover photo sets the tone as a chimp sticks out its tongue, and images inside explain that chimps’ facial expressions have different meanings from those of humans. The tidbits in Animal Antics are meant to educate and entertain.

If you know a young reader who can’t get enough of dinosaurs, The Great Big Dinosaur Treasury is the perfect choice. This is my favorite sort of storybook collection, containing eight stories from different authors and illustrators, giving kids a chance to sample a variety of tales and styles. It features favorites like Curious George’s Dinosaur Discovery and Bernard Most’s If the Dinosaurs Came Back—always popular in our house. Carol and Donald Carrick’s Patrick’s Dinosaurs is a timeless story about two brothers and the amazing power of imagination. Kids will relish Howard Fine’s dramatic illustrations for Deb Lund’s Dinosailors, about a “dinotough” group of sailing dinosaurs who encounter a nasty squall. A “Meet the Authors and Illustrators” section will no doubt lead readers to more books. And if all that good reading isn’t quite enough, the book contains an access code so fans can download free dinosaur-themed party accessories. ’Tis the season for celebrations, after all!

GATHER 'ROUND
Well-done editions of fairy tales sometimes shine like newly discovered jewels, and several recent offerings do just that.

Chief among them is Little Red Riding Hood. The Brothers Grimm tale is retold in its original form, accompanied by remarkable laser die-cut illustrations by German-born artist Sybille Schenker. Her delicate, colorful pages have transparent layers that look like lace. Colors pop against dramatic black backgrounds as these truly exquisite cutouts transform scenes from the beloved tale into striking silhouettes. The wolf threatens to eat Little Red Cap; through a window we see Grandmother sleeping peacefully in her bed as the wolf approaches; then the wolf lies menacingly underneath Grandmother’s lavender flowered quilt. Everyone knows this fairy tale, but believe me, you’ve never seen it quite so strikingly illustrated.

Robert Sabuda is the king of pop-up, and The Dragon & the Knight: A Pop-up Misadventure is another of his marvels. This collection of nine two-page fairy tales includes favorites such as “The Three Pigs,” “Goldilocks” and “Rapunzel.” Of course, pop-ups are the star here; the short fairy tales simply set the stage for the 3-D action. In the very first story, a mischievous dragon declares that he can’t stop his fire-breathing ways, and from that point on, he and a kindly knight face off on each of the book’s spreads. Sabuda’s paper sculptures rise magically, bursting out of the book’s text-filled pages. As Hansel and Gretel stand in front of the witch and her house, the dragon wisecracks, “You don’t want to know what kind of a sweet tooth SHE has.” By the end, the dragon has begun to burn holes in the pages, throwing stories into increasing disarray. Happily, all concludes in a friendly way, and there’s a fun surprise regarding the knight’s identity.

Classic Bedtime Stories reminds me of the story-books I loved as a child. This large-format book contains 50 vibrant illustrations—influenced by masters like N.C. Wyeth and Arthur Rackham—that took artist Scott Gustafson nearly two years to complete. Tales such as “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” jump to life in Gustafson’s detailed scenes. In “The Lion and the Mouse,” a trapped, scared lion’s head dominates the spread as he gazes apprehensively at a lively, furry mouse. In “Jack and the Beanstalk,” the furious giant glows in candlelight as he angrily tries to grab Jack. Particularly beautiful is “Little Sambha and the Tigers,” based on the enduring, though controversial, tale written by Scottish author Helen Bannerman in 1899 about her experiences living in India. Gustafson injects much-needed cultural context and humanity here, resulting in an updated tale worth telling.

Fans of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, take note. In Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods, author Rick Riordan offers insight into the mythology behind his best-selling series. Written in the voice of Percy, Riordan’s half-god, half-mortal hero, this is a fun yet informative take on mythology, with selections such as “Hermes Goes to Juvie” and “Persephone Marries Her Stalker.” Percy explains in the introduction: “There’s like forty bajillion different versions of the myths, so don’t be all Well, I heard it a different way, so you’re WRONG! I’m going to tell you the versions that make the most sense to me.” This is a fun, breezy take on the gods that many will enjoy, whether or not they’re familiar with Percy Jackson. What’s more, Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator John Rocco adds his signature style to this collection with dramatic, engaging art.

BIG INTERACTIVE FUN
These jam-packed volumes offer a fresh spin on several favorite activities.

The Children’s Book of Magic presents a compelling look at the history of magic along with step-by-step instructions that teach young magicians 20 magic tricks. It’s easy to lose yourself in this book, which is teeming with tidbits, photos and illustrations. Did you know that sword swallowing is rarely faked? And have you heard of William Robinson, who pretended to be a Chinese magician named Chung Ling Soo? Students will love learning the tricks within these pages, such as the Rising Aces, Coin Through a Bottle and the Magic String. All require everyday household items such as rope, thread, a ping-pong ball, a deck of cards, a water bottle and so on—no giant saws needed! There’s also a timeline of magic history, a glossary and a list of skills that every magician needs.

Airplane books are another perennial favorite, and kids will flock to Nick Arnold’s Flying Machines. The book includes a brief explanation of how planes fly, along with a timeline of the history of flight, all accompanied by cheery illustrations by Brendan Kearney. The real fun starts with tear-out sheets that allow readers to build two paper planes. There’s also a box containing the materials to build three balsa wood and propeller aircraft, along with suggestions for flight experiments and a log to record notes about various flights. The models are colorful and easy to build, with names like Whirlybird Helicopter, Galactic Glider and Twin-Prop Superstar. There’s a reason why airplane books are so popular: Appealing to both boys and girls, they’re educational and offer hours of fun.

Artsy kids will be inspired by You Call That Art?!: Learn About Modern Sculpture and Make Your Own. The book’s engineers are pop-up creators James Diaz and David A. Carter, the latter known for The 12 Bugs of Christmas and other pop-up bug titles. This collaboration takes a serious look at the history of modern sculpture and includes brief profiles of 10 influential sculptors such as Rodin, Picasso, Duchamp and Calder. Students can dig deeper with the help of a bibliography and a list of websites in the end pages. The entertainment factor is a large envelope containing more than 100 colorful punch-out pieces that can be used to create six different sculptures modeled after those of the masters. These cardboard pieces are easy to maneuver, are numbered and come with instructional diagrams. Of course, kids are encouraged to forget the numbers and make their own creations.

 

This article was originally published in the December 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

When I was in third grade, my parents gave me a bright red book that still sits on my bookshelf today: Great Stories for Young Readers. Here are some of our favorite new gift books geared toward all sorts of young readers. With luck, your present to a special someone will become a cherished favorite for decades to come.
NonfictionMemoir

A mother lode of treasured advice

Feature by Alice Cary

The lessons we learn from our mothers shape who we are, even the lessons we don’t particularly appreciate. Those lessons keep coming year after year,  and their most valuable messages stay with us forever.

NPR journalist Scott Simon’s mother was a character in every way, a funny, gorgeous, gracious woman whose last days inspired her son to write Unforgettable: A Son, a Mother, and the Lessons of a Lifetime. Simon’s memoir expands upon tweets he sent to his 1.25 million Twitter followers as his mother lay dying of lung cancer in a Chicago hospital in the summer of 2013.

Her devoted son found his mother so funny and interesting that he decided to share her final moments with the world. As he explains, “She was an old showgirl who gave a great last performance.” And tweets such as this one helped him process what his family was going through: “I just realized: she once had to let me go into the big wide world. Now I have to let her go the same way.”

Patricia Lyons Simon Newman married three times, and over the years, her many jobs included being a model, secretary, typist and an ad agency receptionist. She had worked in nightclubs and dated mobsters, and Simon’s father was an alcoholic comedian.

Simon interweaves memories of their colorful life together with descriptions of their time in the ICU. He recalls frustrating moments when needed medicine was delayed and moments of supreme grace as his mom rallies for a final visit with Simon’s wife. No doubt Patricia Newman would be proud of her son and his extraordinarily compelling, heartfelt tribute.

THERE IN SPIRIT
Alice Eve Cohen certainly has a complicated relationship with motherhood, and it smacked her in the face during a daunting period she chronicles vividly in The Year My Mother Came Back. Strangely, the ghost of her mother suddenly appeared, 31 years after her death, just when Cohen faced seemingly overwhelming personal challenges.

In a previous book, What I Thought I Knew, the divorced mother of an adopted daughter wrote about finding out at age 44 that she was six months pregnant, after years of infertility and months of strange symptoms.

In her latest book, her beloved surprise daughter, Eliana, is an active fourth-grader in need of painful surgery. At the same time, Cohen (now happily married) is diagnosed with breast cancer, just as her mother was years ago. Meanwhile, as Cohen’s older daughter, Julia, is about to leave for college, she gets in touch with her birth mother.

This collision of events results in a maelstrom of emotional upheaval for Cohen, who finds much-needed comfort in the presence of her mother’s spirit: “We revisit events from our past together. Sometimes we just talk. Always, my mother is there and she is not there.”

This thoughtful memoir shows how our past and present remain constantly intertwined, and how being a mother is a complex journey that’s often full of stunning surprises.

THE FAMILY TABLE
Cookbook author Pam Anderson and daughters Maggy Keet and Sharon Damelio, the trio behind the food blog Three Many Cooks, have always centered their lives on food, family and faith. When they began to collaborate on a cookbook, they realized they had much more to share than recipes. The result is a delectable biography of their family’s food history, Three Many Cooks.

They chronicle their “incredible, messy, hilarious, powerful, screwed-up, delicious, and life-changing love affair with food, with one another, and with the people we have come to cherish.” The book is told in alternating chapters by each of the three, with every reflection accompanied by a relevant recipe.

Anderson begins with memories of learning to cook comfort food like chicken and dumplings in the Southern kitchens of her mother, aunt and grandmother. In subsequent chapters she tells how as a young mother and wife of an Episcopal minister, she mastered the styles of Child, Beard and Claiborne.

These well-written, captivating accounts describe such things as Keet’s most memorable meal (at the home of a colleague in Malawi, Africa); the three women’s weight struggles; and an unforgettable dinner to celebrate Anderson’s mother’s 89th birthday.

This book will make readers hungry, not only for the wonderful meals, but for the camaraderie that accompanies each feast. As Pam says of a lunch shared with a dying friend: “I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the moment I started caring less about perfection and more about connection.”

MANY TYPES OF MOMS
Want to broaden your Mother’s Day experience beyond the greeting-card-and-box-of-candy routine? Dip into the wildly varied essays in Listen to Your Mother: What She Said Then, What We’re Saying Now.

In 2010, blogger Ann Imig (Ann Rants) organized a live reading called “Listen to Your Mother” to celebrate the holiday. It was such a success that more readings have been staged. This collection of the readings is refreshingly diverse, touching and funny. It’s a book that’s easy to dip into and likely to bring immediate rewards.

In “More Than an Aunt, Less Than a Mom,” Jerry Mahoney writes about his husband’s sister’s decision to become an egg donor for their unborn child. This was tricky business for everyone involved, he acknowledges, adding: “But that didn’t mean we shouldn’t proceed. It just meant we’d have to educate people, to show them what a functional family we had and demonstrate that our family, like any other, was built on love.”

No matter what the makeup of a family might be, isn’t that what Mother’s Day is all about?

 

This article was originally published in the May 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The lessons we learn from our mothers shape who we are, even the lessons we don’t particularly appreciate. Those lessons keep coming year after year, and their most valuable messages stay with us forever.
NonfictionMemoir

Stirring modern-day quests

Feature by Alice Cary

2015 BookPage Summer Reads

Don’t miss these superbly written books that combine intriguing history with memorable real-life escapades.

Discovering a Golden Age pirate ship is “the hardest and rarest and most exciting thing an explorer could find underwater, or maybe in all the world.” That’s exactly the mesmerizing story that unfolds in Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship. Robert Kurson, author of the best-selling Shadow Divers, makes readers feel as though they’re aboard these search vessels.

John Chatterton of Shadow Divers is now part of a trio trying to find a 17th-century pirate shipwreck in the Dominican Republic. Joseph Bannister was a respected English sea captain who went rogue, stealing his ship, the Golden Fleece, which the British Navy nearly sank in a fierce battle in 1686.

Chatterton, partner John Mattera and financier Tracy Bowden are determined to locate the wreck, but they clash over where to look. Meanwhile, other treasure hunters are breathing down their necks, and changing government policies threaten to shut down their mission.

Their elaborate hunt involves historical detective work on multiple continents and a powerful magnetometer that detects the presence of metals used in cannonballs. Kurson’s page-turning account reads like a novel as the search threatens to implode, with exhaustion creeping in, tempers flaring and even a few guns firing. 

The hunters finally succeed when they begin to think like pirates, treating readers to ringside seats on a modern Treasure Island. 

HITTING THE DUSTY TRAIL
For another contemporary adventurer, wanderlust was bred into his bones. When Rinker Buck was young, his father took the whole family on a covered-wagon trip from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. At age 17, Buck and his 15-year-old brother rebuilt a Piper Cub and became the youngest aviators to fly coast to coast.

In 2011, Buck decided to travel the 2,000-mile Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon in a restored covered wagon pulled by three mules. He chronicles his “completely lunatic notion” in the wonderfully engaging The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey. 

He’s accompanied by his brother, Nick, an expert horseman and mechanic. Nick is seemingly the ideal partner, except that he and Buck are the quintessential Odd Couple, with Buck being fastidious Felix and Nick sloppy Oscar .

Throughout, Buck skillfully weaves historical anecdotes into their misadventures, such as the story of Narcissa Whitman, the first white woman to cross the Rockies, whom Buck regards as his “guardian angel of the trail.”

Buck definitely needs an angel, sheepishly admitting after the first night that the wagon is overloaded, forcing him to leave behind cherished items like his Brooks Brothers bathrobe, bocce balls and shoeshine kit. 

Buck set out “to learn to live with uncertainty,” and in the end he and his brother fully embrace the experience, beautifully navigating a pioneer expedition on 21st-century terms.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Don’t miss these superbly written books that combine intriguing history with memorable real-life escapades.
NonfictionBiography

Supporting roles in history

Feature by Alice Cary

It’s been said that behind every great man, there’s a great woman, and that’s certainly the case with these three political wives and their well-known husbands. In fact, history might have turned out quite differently without them.

THE ORIGINAL FIRST LADY
Flora Fraser’s new biography, The Washingtons: George and Martha, “Join’d by Friendship, Crown’d by Love”, is a dense but fascinating account of the nation’s first “first couple.” Using letters, journals, dispatches and a variety of authoritative texts, the British author documents George and Martha’s comings and goings as they managed his Mount Vernon estate and dealt with a host of relatives, friends and politicians. Both were in their 20s when they wed—she a wealthy, widowed mother of four. 

Before Martha, George loved but didn’t marry the wealthy Sally Cary Fairfax, and also remained close to Philadelphia socialite Elizabeth Willing Powel. Fraser wonders about one encounter with Powel late in George’s life: “Had she or Washington or both declared or acted on a feeling for the other that was forbidden, given his marriage to Martha?”

Regardless of what may or may not have happened, it’s clear that everyone adored Martha. Abigail Adams described her as “one of those unassuming characters which creates Love & Esteem.” During the Revolution, Martha endured winter encampments with Washington and was welcomed by officers who found that she brightened the general’s mood. Fraser concludes that the marriage was “the making” of George Washington, boosting not only his wealth but his confidence. 

When he died, Martha said, “All is now over, I shall soon follow him!” She never entered their bedroom again, sleeping instead in the attic.

LBJ’S SECRET DEPENDENCY
Betty Boyd Caroli uses a wealth of primary sources to explore the marriage of Lady Bird and Lyndon. She shapes the Johnsons’ story nimbly, beginning with a telling scene from their daughter Lynda’s White House wedding, explaining why Lady Bird remained so devoted to her brash, womanizing husband.

The glue that kept this presidential couple together, Caroli writes, is that LBJ was “insecure and needy” from the start, and when “faced with a huge problem or disappointment, he would go to bed and pull the covers over his head.” His wife was the only one who knew how to draw him out of these funks, so in that sense she was his savior, time and time again. Lady Bird was also a savvy businesswoman and a highly successful campaigner throughout her life.

Caroli skillfully weaves the couple’s personal lives together with the tumultuous political situations they faced. Her narrative is a soulful account that details the pair’s widely divergent family backgrounds and acknowledges that LBJ was indeed the “human puzzle” that one journalist called him, but also “head over heels” in love with his wife.

The feeling was mutual. Caroli shows that repeatedly, when deciding between her husband’s needs and those of her daughters, Lady Bird chose her husband. One secretary described Lynda and Lucy as “almost orphans in a sense.” 

Lady Bird acknowledged that LBJ humiliated her at times, but said, “he made me someone bigger and better than I would have been.”

CHURCHILL'S ADVISOR
Might the Allies have lost World War II if Winston Churchill hadn’t married his wife, Clementine? Winston himself claimed victory would have been “impossible without her.” The story of this behind-the-scenes pillar of strength is absorbingly told by British biographer Sonia Purnell in Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill.

Clementine was Winston’s closest and most influential political advisor, Purnell argues, and her role has been largely overlooked—not even discussed in Churchill’s own six-volume account of the war.

Purnell describes this tall, stunning, athletic woman as a fashionable trendsetter, “a precursor to Jackie Onassis.” She built a close friendship with another political wife of her day, Eleanor Roosevelt. Their relationship lasted for years, although, interestingly, neither liked the other’s husband.

Winston and Clementine’s relationship was not without its trials. Heated arguments weren’t uncommon, and Winston sometimes called his wife “She-whose-commands-must-be-obeyed.” The couple was devastated when daughter Marigold died of septicemia at age 2, sending Clementine into a deep depression. And in what Purnell calls Clementine’s most courageous act of the war, in 1943 she refused to tell Winston how serious his heart condition was, fearing the knowledge would impede his ability to conduct the war.

Purnell recounts a mesmerizing period from a never-before-seen vantage point, and readers will be spellbound from start to finish.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

It’s been said that behind every great man, there’s a great woman, and that’s certainly the case with these three political wives and their well-known husbands. In fact, history might have turned out quite differently without them.
PhotographyArt

Capturing moments in time

Feature by Alice Cary

Discover the glorious Renaissance days of Florence, peek at Picasso’s paintbrushes or catch Mick Jagger poised between boyhood and manhood. Whether you’re a serious art scholar or a casual admirer, these books offer something for everyone.

ITALY'S GOLDEN AGE OF ART
Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes, 1250-1743 is an art lover’s dream come true—a collection of nearly 2,000 images that includes every painting and fresco on display in the Uffizi, the Galleria Palatina of the Pitti Palace, the Accademia and the Duomo, and works from 28 additional museums and churches. Arranged chronologically, the masterpieces are accompanied by seven comprehensive essays by art historian Ross King, as well as shorter discussions by art history professor Anja Grebe of the University of Freiburg in Germany.

It’s fascinating to see these treasures of the Western world collected in one volume, with page after page of magnificence, including the works of Uccello, da Vinci, Correggio, Titian, Michelangelo and more. You won’t have a better tour unless you visit the city itself—and even then, reading this book first would be worthwhile. 

PORTRAITS OF A CENTURY
Near the end of photographer Cecil Beaton’s life, Sotheby’s acquired 100,000 of his photographs and negatives. Editor Mark Holborn sifted through this vast studio archive to create the truly monumental Beaton Photographs. The deservedly weighty volume is not only an amazing record of a brilliant career, it’s a history lesson as well, beginning with 1920s portraits of Beaton’s sisters at the beach and stretching into the ’60s and ’70s, with mesmerizing photos of Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol and Tom Wolfe. In between, this photographer of remarkable range captured the royal family, Fred Astaire, Truman Capote, Grace Kelly, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor and more. Particularly fascinating are his shots of London ruins during World War II (sometimes with a model in their midst) and portraits of Pablo Picasso in his studio. 

As Annie Leibovitz writes in her introduction, Beaton “was a journalist, an artist, a set and costume designer, a memoirist, a historian, an actor. All of this went into his portraits. How can one not be impressed with what he accomplished?”

EVERYDAY DRAMAS
When Brandon Stanton started photographing strangers on the streets of New York City in 2010, he was certainly onto something. He follows up his best-selling first book with the similarly titled Humans of New York: Stories. It follows the same format, with a variety of anonymous photographs accompanied by the subjects’ own words, offering intriguing glimpses into the worlds of strangers: young, old, parents, children, rich, homeless. These “stories” never stray from Stanton’s winning format of anonymity and brevity. For instance, one woman discusses the stark contrast between her sister’s manic and depressive episodes, admitting that she envies her sister’s freedom during the mania: “I’d almost like to join her and run around the city if only she could keep it from spinning out of control.” These longer stories contrast nicely with one-liners, such as the photo of a man’s wrist encircled by a hospital bracelet. “They told me I was fine,” the man says.

This is people-watching at its best, without the guilt of being discovered. 


Copyright © 2015 Brandon Stanton. From Humans of New York: Stories, reprinted with permission from St. Martin's.

WORDS ABOUT PICTURES
British novelist Julian Barnes didn’t start out as an art lover, but over the years he evolved into one, as revealed in Keeping an Eye Open: Essays on Art. Each of the 17 essays in this collection explores an individual artist, ranging from Géricault and Delacroix to Magritte and Barnes’ personal friend, British abstract painter Howard Hodgkin. 

Barnes often muses on the relationship between viewing art and discussing it: “Braque thought the ideal state would be reached when we said nothing at all in front of a painting. But we are very far from reaching that ideal state. . . . Put us in front of a picture and we chatter, each in our different way.” He writes about art in a perceptive and often humorous way. He contrasts how Manet told his models to be natural, talk, laugh and move, while Cezanne demanded “guardsmanlike” stillness. As a result, Cezanne’s portraits are like still lifes, unintended “to catch a mood, a passing glance, a fugitive moment which releases the sitter’s personality out towards the spectator.”

Art enthusiasts will find Barnes’ artistic journey edifying and enjoyable.

CRASH COURSE IN ART
Art historian Robert Cumming acts as an efficient museum guide in Art: A Visual History, an updated version of the previously released Eyewitness Companion: Art. While working in London’s Tate Gallery, Cumming learned that museumgoers want answers to three questions: “What should I look for?”; “What is going on?”; and “How was it made?” This handy compendium concisely answers these questions about more than 650 artists, arranged chronologically and interspersed with short discussions of Western art periods and movements. Key works are listed for each artist, which is uniquely helpful for those wanting to investigate further. As with all DK books, the visuals are striking; the volume’s sturdy slipcase, shaped like an artist’s palette, adds to the appeal. Art can be used as a refresher course for rusty art lovers, as well as a comprehensive starting point for serious beginners.

Discover the glorious Renaissance days of Florence, peek at Picasso’s paintbrushes or catch Mick Jagger poised between boyhood and manhood. Whether you’re a serious art scholar or a casual admirer, these books offer something for everyone.
PhotographyNatureLiterature

The peace of wild things

Feature by Alice Cary

There might be water on Mars, but we still only have one home, and it’s constantly surprising us. These imaginative books offer a lively look at our world—and beyond.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER
Thunder & Lightning: Weather Past, Present, Future brims with information so intriguing that it begs to be read in one lengthy sitting. It’s a visual treat, featuring Lauren Redniss’ arresting, atmospheric artwork, plus an original typeface she calls Qaneq LR, after the Inuktitut word for “falling snow.” Every aspect of this creation has been carefully considered by Redniss, a Guggenheim fellow and finalist for the National Book Award for her vivid biography of Marie and Pierre Curie, Radioactive. 

Redniss reports extensively, beginning with a mind-boggling stop at a Vermont cemetery where coffins, bodies and bones were washed away by Hurricane Irene’s floods. She discusses weather staples such as rain, fog, wind and cold, finding unexpected treats for each topic and weaving together seemingly disparate strands, such as a conversation with endurance swimmer Diana Nyad and a visit with a wind engineer at Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mosque.

This is hardly an ordinary weather book. Like a tornado, Thunder & Lighting will blow you away.

HUNDRED ACRE WOOD
A.A. Milne would have been pleased as punch with The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh: A Walk Through the Forest That Inspired the Hundred Acre Wood. Landscape designer and historian Kathryn Aalto combines historical photographs with biography to explore the places that inspired Milne and his artistic partner, E.H. Shepard. 

Throughout his books, Milne recreated many of the wonders he experienced as a boy, “hunting butterflies along the coast, bicycling across many shires, and climbing peaks in Wales.” The Hundred Acre Wood is based on Ashdown Forest, “a landscape of sweeping heathland and atmospheric woodlands thirty miles south of London.” In 1925, Milne and his wife bought Cotchford Farm as a country haven on the edge of the forest. (The property was later bought by Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones, who eventually drowned in its pool.) Every March, people gather at a nearby bridge for the World Poohsticks Championship, a game from The House at Pooh Corner that involves racing twigs downstream.

You’ll yearn for a real walking tour of this enchanted forest.  

PROTECTING THE SEA
When oceanographer Enric Sala sees swarms of sharks, he happily jumps in, knowing they’re a sign of healthy seas. In 2007 he left academia to actively help protect the ocean, founding an organization that shares its name with his book, Pristine Seas: Journeys to the Ocean’s Last Wild Places. It’s a gorgeous pictorial tour of 10 diverse ocean spots that remain untouched by human activity, ranging from Arctic waters to coral reefs, where vibrant colors abound in seemingly ethereal ways.

On an atoll south of Hawaii, Sala encounters a twinspot grouper with fangs “like an underwater vampire” who surprised him by tugging at his ponytail. Sala and his team discover that pristine seas feature an inverted food chain, with an abundance of predators like sharks, polar bears, seals and crocodiles, which thrive when safe from fishermen and hunters. 

Sala’s writing is snappy and informative, while the photos offer glorious, magical glimpses into underwater worlds seen by so few.


Young blacktip reef sharks of Millennium Atoll. Copyright © 2015 Enric Sala.
From Pristine Seas, reprinted with permission from National Geographic.

SNAPS FROM SPACE
You won’t see photographs like the ones in Earth and Space: Photographs from the Archives of NASA anywhere else. Photographing space, known as stellar astrophotography, is the result of collaboration among NASA’s many engineers, scientists and artists. Tour the universe with more than 100 brilliantly colored photos, starting with scenes of Earth, such as a satellite view of the massive debris field created by the 2011 Japanese tsunami. Venture farther into space and see stars being born amid Milky Way dust, an intergalactic “dance” performed by two faraway galaxies and a taffy-like strip that’s the supernova remnants from an exploded star. Detailed captions explain the science behind these unimaginable sights.

As Bill Nye remarks in the book’s preface, “The views amaze and astonish us; the images themselves are artwork.”

OVER HERE, BIRDWATCHER
Nextinction is a colorful, zany follow-up to Extinct Boids, a collaboration between filmmaker and bird lover Ceri Levy and gonzo artist Ralph Steadman. Dubbing themselves “Gonzovationists,” Steadman and Levy focus on the 192 critically endangered birds on the IUCN Red List, all of which can be saved. As with their first book, this one features both the aforementioned real as well as some imagined species.

All of Steadman’s avian caricatures ooze personality and attitude, while Levy’s descriptions are similarly lively. Accompanying the large illustrations are side panels filled with their emails, diary entries and phone conversations about the birds and the making of the book. Nextinction is a memorable, unique book that manages to infuse fun and fancy into a very serious subject.

 

This article was originally published in the December 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

There might be water on Mars, but we still only have one home, and it’s constantly surprising us. These imaginative books offer a lively look at our world—and beyond.
Children's & YAPicture BookMiddle Grade

Treasured books to wrap in brightly colored paper

Feature by Alice Cary

Take a fresh look at some age-old classics, or stash away some ideas for family fun. It’s a bumper year for children’s gift books, and the stars of this year’s crop include something new for Harry Potter fans, a Star Wars extravaganza and an ingenious offering from David Macaulay for budding engineers.

There’s something extra special about passing along your favorite books to a new generation of young readers. Classic children’s tales really are gifts that keep on giving.

Whether you’re a longtime Harry Potter fan or are introducing a new reader to the series, check out the superbly illustrated edition of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Award-winning British illustrator Jim Kay has created more than 100 illustrations for this gorgeous book, full of colorful visualizations of Harry’s first adventure. Kay didn’t have an easy task, as so many fans already have fully formed images of these beloved characters and scenes. Never fear: His art glimmers with all the excitement, joy, mystery and thrills of this magical tale. Rowling has given her approval, saying she loves “his interpretation of Harry Potter’s world,” which “moved me profoundly.” This special edition features an attractive layout with text that’s easy on the eyes, a bonus for young and old alike, making it perfect for reading aloud. Avid Potter fans will want—no, need—to add this book to their collections.

Another classic tale gets a redo with Gillian Cross’ retelling of Homer’s The Iliad, with striking illustrations by Neil Packer. The duo previously collaborated on The Odyssey, and both books make an excellent introduction for middle schoolers discovering these ancient tales for the first time. Cross’ text is riveting, elegant and accessible, bringing epic battle scenes to life: “The Greeks threw huge rocks down onto them, but the Trojans replied by hurling bigger stones at the wall. They flew like snow in blizzard, clanging against helmets and shields and covering the ground.” Packer’s artwork is contemporary, colorful, dramatic and just right for luring in a preteen audience. A helpful introduction, an informative afterword and a reference spread showing the names and faces of major characters and their allegiances are also included.

Tales from the Brothers Grimm features the artwork of famed Swiss poster designer Herbert Leupin. After taking the advertising world by storm in the 1940s, the late graphic artist began illustrating fairy tales. Leupin’s legacy is given new life here, and his illustrations are indeed poster-worthy. These nine fairy tales include classics like “Hansel and Gretel” and “Snow White,” along with less familiar choices such as “Hans in Luck” and “The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids.” As noted in the book’s epilogue, Leupin infused his illustrations with humor and a magical glow, and most importantly, he made sure that when “danger threatens . . . children are not just afraid but also have something to laugh at.” Leupin’s creations burst with personality and color, and children as well as adults will delight in these offerings.

MOVIE NIGHT MADNESS
Star Wars fans eagerly awaiting the release of The Force Awakens will want to get their hands on Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know. This is a book made for perusing and quizzing fellow enthusiasts, with graphics galore and numerous statistics, quotes, questions and trivia. Do you know what a nerf herder is, or the name of Hondo’s favorite ship? My favorites are the “Peek behind the scenes” tidbits, such as the fact that Han Solo was a big green alien in the original rough draft. Who knew that a termite infestation in George Lucas’ house inspired the buzzing swarm of Geonosians, and that he brought in specimens for his art designers? An index helps readers keep track of all of these facts and figures.

Planning a family movie night can be challenging, but things just got easier with 101 Movies to See Before You Grow Up: Be Your Own Movie Critic—The Must-See Movie List for Kids. Instead of trying to strong-arm your kids into watching an old favorite of yours, just hand them this book and let them decide. Suzette Valle’s interactive guide is aimed at third- to seventh-graders, but there’s something for everyone in a wide range of categories that includes everything from classics like It’s a Wonderful Life and Toy Story  to discussion-provoking choices like Life Is Beautiful and Super Size Me. Each page-long entry contains a synopsis, rating and run time, a variety of fun facts and space for viewers to make notes about their own reactions to the film. (A few classics, like The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music, get two-page spreads.) Natasha Hellegouarch’s illustrations and graphics add just the right touch of color and fun.

LESSONS THEY’LL LOVE
David Macaulay, celebrated for his best-selling The Way Things Work, has created a unique exploratory adventure in How Machines Work: Zoo Break!. First, it’s a story about two animals, Sloth and Sengi (a little elephant shrew), trying to break out of the zoo. More than that, however, it’s an interactive pop-up book that brings six simple machines to life in a wonderful way: wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw and pulley. Sloth and Sengi try to put these simple machines to work, and the book succeeds grandly as both a fun story and an educational experience just right for the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curriculum. Macaulay is a Caldecott Medal winner and a MacArthur Fellow, and his trademark humorous illustrations hold everything together with spreads that are equally intriguing and enlightening. A glossary at the end helps solidify the scientific concepts, while the madcap ending is perfectly pulled off.

Kids of all ages will enjoy SENSEational Illusions, an engaging book filled with quick and quirky activities to test your senses, as well as simple scientific explanations for each. Readers will find a variety of optical illusions, including a large pop-up sculpture with three hidden animals waiting to be found. There are scratch-and-sniff quizzes and directions for easy taste tests that require only simple ingredients. Experiments involving touch and balance include two mazes to be completed with one finger at the ready and both eyes closed, as well as a maze full of booby traps to be navigated by three small ball bearings (included). Chock-full of fun, it can be enjoyed solo or with buddies. Either way, it’s sure to be a hit.

ON-THE-GO FUN
Planning a road trip? Bring along The 50 States, a large book of fact-filled maps that allows young geographers to get lost in the many details. A two-page spread for each state includes the map, an introductory overview, a chart of key facts (capital, largest city, etc.) and a timetable of memorable moments in history. Also included are brief mentions of famous people from each state, from familiar faces to contemporary notables. Alabama’s pages spotlight Rosa Parks and Helen Keller, as well as track-and-field athlete Carl Lewis and actress Octavia Spencer. Author Gabrielle Balkan’s research and writing draws readers in with a fun mash-up of history, geography and pop culture, while Sol Linero’s illustrations make every spread a delight. I even learned a few new tidbits about my beloved West Virginia.

If you need to occupy a preschooler or an early-elementary student, grab a copy of Making Faces!: Star in Your Own Works of Art by Jacky Bahbout and illustrated by Momoko Kudo. This large, placemat-sized drawing pad has a simple, silly concept: Each page has a hole in the middle and contains drawings and a theme (party time, clown, soccer player, dragon, etc.) to which young artists can add their own details. The page titled “Moose on the loose!!!” encourages youngsters to draw their own antlers and add extra trees to the forest. Once complete, kids can tear out the page, put their face in the hole and pose for a photo. This is a great choice when waiting for restaurant meals and appointments, a creative alternative to video and phone distractions. Send the photo to Grandma and everybody’s happy!

 

This article was originally published in the December 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Take a fresh look at some age-old classics, or stash away some ideas for family fun. It’s a bumper year for children’s gift books, and the stars of this year’s crop include something new for Harry Potter fans, a Star Wars extravaganza and an ingenious offering from David Macaulay for budding engineers.
Children's & YA

Never bored with board books

Feature by Alice Cary

Since the arrival of our twin girls on Easter, board books are once again in vogue at our house. On this rainy day while the babies are napping, I've been perusing the latest crop. Here's what we'll be reading—not to mention chewing—in months to come.

Babies love to look at other babies, which means Copycat Faces is sure to be a hit. Those familiar with DK's publishing style know what to expect: vivid, enticing photographs set against a white background. There's also a fold-out mirror in which babies can imitate the eye-catching expressions of the children photographed within boys and girls costumed as a king, burglar, jester, explorer, pirate and, at the very end, a sleeping boy.

Dav Pilkey's Big Dog and Little Dog: Making a Mistake is one in a series of board books about two dogs and their adventures. Both text and illustrations are simple and cheery, showing the duo as they follow an animal they believe to be a kitty, but which turns out to be a skunk. As an adult reader, I greatly appreciate board books that manage to have a plot, simple though it may be.

Miss Spider's New Car is a superb example of a picture book that translates well to board format. The text is a short verse, describing Miss Spider's shopping expedition with her ant buddy to buy a new car. Kirk's outstanding illustrations are luminous, even in board book format.

Pooh's Pitter Patter Splash! is double fun. Not only is there a rhyming tale about rain, but attached to the book is a clear plastic case containing colorful beads. Shake the book or turn it upside down, and the beads become a rattle imitating the sound of raindrops. This is one of the cleverest board books I've seen, one bound to entertain.

More fun is waiting in Bow Wow: A Pop-up Book of Shapes. Each page contains a black and white flap showing a different shape. Lift the flap to discover a colorful pop-up illustration incorporating that shape amidst a menagerie of canines. Save this whimsical book for older, gentle toddlers who won't destroy the flaps and pop-ups.

Fill your child's day with sunshine with the Portable Universe series from Abrams. Sun, for instance, is a bright sun-shaped book containing a cheerful rhyme and illustrations about our great star.

Other easy-travel books are Fisher-Price's Move-Along Bead Book series, board books with attached carrying handles and big, colorful beads which slide along the handle. For example, Rise and Shine, Busy Bugs features bug-shaped beads in purple, yellow, blue, and pink, and the stories of bug behavior is told in clever rhyming couplets. Wonderful books to develop color recognition and eye-hand coordination, and to carry along on vacation! Yet another novelty can be found in Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around: A Spin-Me-Around Book About Opposites. Each page contains a cut-out oval that spins to reveal pictures on each side good for developing manual dexterity, not to mention just plain intriguing for little tikes. Kathy Couri's illustrations of a frolicking teddy in sailor suit garb are sweetly executed in pastel tones.

What do you call a pig's nose? A snout, of course. These and other Funfax are included in a novel series of Fold Out Floor Books from DK, one of which is Pig. A page asks a question, the next answers it, and meanwhile the book unfolds to form a large square picture of a pig surrounded by related photos. And the pigs are pink, cuddly, and cute, I might add, undoubtedly related to Babe. Finally, those with fond memories of Pat the Bunny will enjoy The Happy Book, a touch-and-feel book with such things as scratch-and-sniff flowers, a kitty's fur, a pig's tail, a boo-boo to kiss, and sandpaper to rub. My goodness, even board books are interactive these days! With luck, they'll keep my little duo happy and busy.

 

Alice Cary writes from her home in Groton, Massachusetts.

Since the arrival of our twin girls on Easter, board books are once again in vogue at our house. On this rainy day while the babies are napping, I've been perusing the latest crop. Here's what we'll be reading—not to mention chewing—in months to come.

NonfictionPhotographyNature

A window into the great beyond

Feature by Alice Cary

Five new books showcase the stunning natural beauty that surrounds us from below and above, whether it’s a delicate feather of a spotted owl or an ethereal vision of an ancient tree basking in the light of the Milky Way.

AMERICA'S MAJESTIC MONUMENTS
As the National Park Service celebrates 100 years, the time is right to enjoy the spectacular Treasured Lands: A Photographic Odyssey Through America’s National Parks. It’s a unique treat, as photographer Q.T. Luong—who is featured in Ken Burns’ recent documentary about the parks—is the only photographer to have taken large-format images in each of the 59 parks. 

Born in France to Vietnamese parents, this outdoor adventurer fell so in love with the national parks that he left his job as a computer scientist in order to pursue his 20-year quest to photograph each of them. After enduring flash floods, summit overnights without a sleeping bag and a nerve-wracking encounter with a bear in Alaska that forced him to abandon his equipment, the results compiled in this large volume are simply magnificent. Calling the parks our nation’s “greatest treasures,” Luong writes that each “represents a unique environment, yet collectively they are all interrelated, interconnected like a giant jigsaw puzzle.”

Because one of Luong’s goals is to inspire readers to see the parks themselves, he includes helpful travel tips and notes on his photographic techniques along with the images of each and every park. Whether it’s a Rocky Mountain sunrise or a glimpse of glowing lava dripping into the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Luong’s shots are so luminous that you’ll likely be booking a trip soon. 

EYES ON THE UNIVERSE
Otherworldly is the best word to describe Beth Moon’s latest offering, Ancient Skies, Ancient Trees. Previously, in her bestselling Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time, Moon spent 14 years photographing the tangled trunks of some of the world’s oldest trees. In this sequel, she continues her journey to even more remote corners of the world, still photographing her beloved trees, but this time under night skies. During what she terms “celestial safaris,” she uses long exposures to capture the night skies and highlight the age of the trees. Her first such journey, to southern Africa, left her speechless—“I don’t think I was prepared to see the enormity of the universe laid out so starkly above me, the Milky Way stretching from one end of the horizon to the other.”

Moon focuses on specific species in this collection, including baobabs, bristlecone pines, junipers, Joshua trees, oaks and more. Not only do the stars beckon, but these trees become pieces of sculpture in their own right as their gnarled trunks and branches reach upward. 

Her images of quiver trees in Namibia are simply breathtaking, while the massive trunk of a sequoia seems like a ladder climbing to heaven. Ancient Skies, Ancient Trees allows readers to see the world in a new light. 

FASCINATING FEATHERS
While birds and their feathers surround us, most people rarely give their plumage a thought. “That’s a shame, because there’s no better way to confront evolution’s riot of invention and beauty,” notes science writer Carl Zimmer in his preface to Feathers: Displays of Brilliant Plumage. National Geographic photographer Robert Clark’s gorgeous homage to these overlooked gems captures both their brilliance and texture in photos worthy of a gallery. Many—like the golden, brown and white tail feather of a superb lyrebird—resemble exquisitely crafted pieces of jewelry, while feathers of a Victoria Crown Pigeon are reminiscent of flowers from an ornamental garden. Another intriguing shot shows all of the feathers (so many!) of a Bohemian Waxwing, best known for getting drunk on rowan berries—sometimes fatally so. 

Bird lovers and art lovers alike will find Feathers, along with Clark’s brief explanatory notes, to be an illuminating, iridescent delight. 

FLIGHT AND FABLES
It’s easy to lose yourself in Birds: Myth, Lore and Legend, an attractive and hugely informative book. Here you’ll learn that people in 70 countries found ducks to be the world’s funniest animals, prompting psychologist Richard Wiseman to advise, “If you’re going to tell a joke involving an animal, make it a duck.”

Discussing a variety of species one by one, Marianne Taylor and Rachel Warren-Chadd’s text blends fact and fable surrounding each. In Babylon, for instance, ostriches were associated with the goddess Tiamat, while Harry Potter’s owl Hedwig is a Snowy Owl, widely considered in northern countries as an icon of bravery and a revealer of truths. And there isn’t actually a species called a seagull, although many (I’m guilty!) mistakenly call the entire family of birds by that name. 

The discussions are wide-ranging: The mockingbird entry discusses everything from Harper Lee and Charles Darwin to Hopi and Zuni traditions. Numerous illustrations and photographs add to the browsing fun. 

A SHEPHERD'S WORLD
“When English people dream of rural arcadia, they usually dream of our landscape,” writes James Rebanks. 

In 2015 Rebanks shared his life as a shepherd in the Lake District of Northern England in his glowingly reviewed The Shepherd’s Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape. Rebanks now offers a visual look into his world with The Shepherd’s View: Modern Photographs from an Ancient Landscape, which includes intriguing short chapters and 80 color photographs he took of the pasturelands, animals and people that surround him.

These images are a wonderful addition to his story, and the new book is filled with soulful observations as well as fun. “Truth be told, I don’t like shepherd’s pie,” he admits. “I know this is a bit like Kim Kardashian saying she doesn’t like shopping, but it’s true.”

Truth be told, Rebanks’ two books are an unusually satisfying treat. 

 

This article was originally published in the December 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Five new books showcase the stunning natural beauty that surrounds us from below and above, whether it’s a delicate feather of a spotted owl or an ethereal vision of an ancient tree basking in the light of the Milky Way.
NonfictionPhotographyLiteratureArts & CultureArt

Capturing the universal

Feature by Alice Cary

Past, present and future collide in glorious ways in these art and photography books, whether it’s a modern photographer witnessing history come alive on Civil War battlefields or a discussion of why the Yellow Brick Road was yellow in The Wizard of Oz.

LIFE LESSONS
When photographer Paul Mobley was working on his book American Farmer, he noticed that many of his subjects were age 100 or more, and was inspired to begin his next project: traveling to all 50 states and photographing at least one centenarian in each. After crisscrossing the country with his wife in an Airstream trailer, Mobley created a lively look at their lives in If I Live to Be 100: The Wisdom of Centenarians. 

His black-and-white portraits reveal plenty of spunk, personality and spirit, while Allison Milionis writes an accompanying profile of each subject. We meet Irving Olson of Tucson, Arizona, who was profiled in Smithsonian magazine at age 98 for his unbelievable photographs of colliding drops of water. Meet Margaret Wachs of Stratford, Connecticut, who swam 10 laps to raise money for her church on her 100th birthday. 

“Along the way,” Mobley notes, “I discovered a treasure trove of ideas and lessons on how we can all live gracefully and with meaning as we travel toward our final sunset.”

MODERN EYEWITNESS
A Civil War enthusiast since his childhood, photographer Michael Falco set out on a four-year, battlefield-to-battlefield odyssey coinciding with the war’s 150th anniversary. The result is the wonderfully haunting Echoes of the Civil War: Capturing Battlefields through a Pinhole Camera. “Soldiers’ journals and memoirs describe the battlefields as dreamlike,” Falco writes, “and that is how they appear through the patient eye of the pinhole camera.”

While exploring major battle sites from Bull Run to Appomattox, Falco became not just a chronicler but a re-enactor himself, dressing in period clothing as he set up his primitive wooden box camera, using modern film but no lens, viewfinder or shutter. Along with these evocative photos, Falco interweaves past and present through his narrative as he “tumbled down the rabbit hole of Civil War history.” Echoes of the Civil War will hold great appeal for history and photography buffs alike. 

DANCERS ON DISPLAY
One day, 12-year-old Sarah asked her photographer parents, Ken Browar and Deborah Ory, for pictures of her favorite dancers for her bedroom walls. They could find images of famous dancers of the past, but few, if any, of current stars. The couple rectified the situation through the NYC Dance Project, photographing a variety of dancers in the loft studio space of their Brooklyn home.

The Art of Movement is the spectacular result, a large book filled with arresting images of more than 70 dancers from companies that include the American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Royal Danish Ballet and London’s Royal Ballet.

As Ohry writes: “The images focus on capturing emotion through movement, which at the core is what I feel dance is about: it’s a language that is spoken through movement.” And what movements they are, as dancers soar through the air, draped in colorful costumes or couture clothing. Browar and Ory capture the rare blend of athleticism and grace in dancers like Misty Copeland, Bill T. Jones, Xin Ying and Robert Fairchild as they transform their bodies into art.

WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
In A History of Pictures, renowned British artist David Hockney and art critic Martin Gayford explore a sweeping variety of pictures, including those on canvas, paper, cinema screens and even smartphones, showing how our ongoing artistic narrative “is still unfolding.” The result is a lively, dynamic conversation between Hockney and Gayford, written in alternating commentary. Pages juxtapose, for example, a Titian portrait of Mary Magdalene with a film still of Ingrid Berman in Casablanca, or Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe images with a Manet painting. In a chapter on “Movies and Stills,” they show how the Bates Motel in Psycho was based on Edward Hopper’s painting “House by the Railroad.” (As for the aforementioned Yellow Brick Road, it’s because early Technicolor was good with yellow.)

This book is an unexpected delight.

BRING ON THE BUNNIES
Brimming with over 200 photographs, paintings and sketches, The Art of Beatrix Potter provides an in-depth look at the creative process of one of the world’s enduringly beloved storytellers, published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of her birth. Organized geographically by writer and image researcher Emily Zach, this volume explores how different places Potter lived affected not only her life but also her art, beginning with a London schoolroom filled with rabbits, mice, bats, guinea pigs and hedgehogs. A natural scientist at heart as well as a gifted observer, Potter became fascinated by a variety of things she encountered, such as fungi and their colors. Readers see examples of the “picture letters” that Potter wrote to friends that inspired The Tale of Peter Rabbit and the many books that followed. 

Lovers of art and children’s literature will get lost in this intriguing compilation of a lifetime of art.

 

This article was originally published in the December 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Past, present and future collide in glorious ways in these art and photography books, whether it’s a modern photographer witnessing history come alive on Civil War battlefields or a discussion of why the Yellow Brick Road was yellow in The Wizard of Oz.
Children's & YAPicture BookMiddle Grade

Magic at young readers’ fingertips

Feature by Alice Cary

All I want for Christmas this year is a box full of kids’ gift books. That’s exactly how I feel after perusing these inspiring selections, which include visual, musical and artistic treasures, plus boatloads of fun and games.

ALL ABOARD THIS BOOK
Preschoolers will eagerly hop aboard Train: A Journey Through the Pages Book, Mike Vago and Matt Rockefeller’s sure-to-be-a-hit creation. Young engineers can steer a small plastic steam engine across “tracks” built into the book’s pages, starting early in the morning in a train yard and traveling through a city full of skyscrapers, hillside towns, snow-capped mountains, wide-open prairies, a parched desert and a cheerful seaside bay. Colorful illustrations in this changing American landscape offer the feel of a cross-country journey as the train travels over rivers and navigates mountainous curves.

Clever construction allows the train to stay on its “tracks,” moving seamlessly from page to page. Finally, at the end, a tunnel built into the book allows train lovers to start their journey all over again. 

A YEAR OF LEGO FUN
Does your LEGO lover need inspiration? From the creative team that developed the bestselling The LEGO Ideas Book and LEGO Awesome Ideas comes 365 Things to Do with LEGO Bricks. It’s packed with a variety of activities, games, challenges and pranks that will appeal to everyone from elementary students to young-at-heart grown-ups. A small timer allows builders to race against the clock during select challenges, or use its random number generator to decide which project to pursue.

This is not a book for beginners, nor does it offer step-by-step instructions, but the projects are incredibly varied, colorful and appealing. Build an animated bear’s head or a model of your bedroom. Put on a magic show, or film your own LEGO movie. Construct a small pinball machine, a shark that bites or a carnival shooting gallery. This is creativity at its best, and it’ll keep your builder busy all year long.

MUSIC TO YOUR EARS
Kids tend to love “sound books,” but endless pushing of those buttons can quickly drive parents over the brink. Not so with Katie Cotton’s The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons in One Day, the story of a girl and her dog set to the sounds of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” the first in a series of books to bring classical music to life for kids. 

As readers follow young Isabelle and her dog, Pickle, through the year, beginning with a Spring Festival and ending on a snowy winter’s eve, buttons on each spread play snippets of movements from Vivaldi’s opus. Artwork by Jessica Courtney-Tickle is a gorgeous riot of color and detail, guaranteed to hold readers’ interest as they listen to the music. 

An informative spread at the end contains a capsule biography of the composer, a short glossary and brief explanations of the music featured on each spread. The Story Orchestra is an innovative little master class for young listeners.

BRINGING ART TO LIFE
What might Vincent van Gogh have been thinking about when he was about to paint one of his most famous masterpieces? Elementary school students will be in the know after reading Vincent’s Starry Night and Other Stories: A Children’s History of Art, a creative and comprehensive look at masterworks from cave paintings to Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei.

Art historian Michael Bird brings 68 stories to life using fact-filled creative nonfiction. For instance, Bird describes Jackson Pollock’s creative process through the eyes of the artist’s wife: “He dips a wooden stick into another pot, and flicks and drips the paint—here, there, too quick for thinking. All the time, he strides and kind of dances around the canvas, bent over it, a magician casting a spell.”

Each chapter offers an intriguing and informative tale and is accompanied by a photograph of the artwork being discussed, as well as Kate Evans’ evocative illustrations of the artist at work. This lovely book is rounded out by a map, timeline, glossary and list of artworks.

ABRACADABRA
There is no end of children’s magic kits and books, but The Magic Show Book has everything young illusionists need, including props, pop-up tricks and materials to make your own special “shrinking” magic wand—a trick in itself. (Parents will particularly appreciate this self-contained aspect.)

Each colorful page includes a flap with hidden instructions showing how to practice and perfect tricks such as “Tricky Chicken,” “The Astonishing Slicer” and “Eyes on the Ace.” Additional pages explain a variety of rope (shoelace), coin and card sleights of hand. There’s even a pop-up magic hat. 

The Magic Show Book is bound to appeal to a broad spectrum of elementary students; just prepare to watch and be amazed.

TRULY MAGICAL NATURE
Kids and adults alike may fight over Illuminature: Discover Hidden Animals with Your Magic Three Color Lens. The Italian artistic duo known as Carnovsky (Silvia Quintanilla and Francesco Rugi) bring their RGB Project (red, green and blue) to the world of children’s books, providing a unique journey through 10 of the world’s habitats, from the Andes Mountains to the Ganges River Basin.

Something amazing happens when you view Carnovsky’s artwork through the provided viewing lens. See daytime animals through the red lens, plant life abounds with the green lens, and nocturnal and crepuscular animals appear through the blue lens. A total of 180 are hidden within, waiting to be discovered.

While observers are busy staring at the wonderful transformations on these oversize pages, they’ll be soaking in plenty of data as well. Rachel Williams’ well-organized text provides facts about each destination as well as the varieties of species seen on each page. Leaping lizards, don’t miss this book!

 

This article was originally published in the December 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

All I want for Christmas this year is a box full of kids’ gift books. That’s exactly how I feel after perusing these inspiring selections, which include visual, musical and artistic treasures, plus boatloads of fun and games.

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