Alice Cary

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

The tragic tales of the presidents’ slaves

Review by Alice Cary

How exactly does slavery fit into our nation’s history? Middle and high school students will have a much better understanding after reading In the Shadow of Liberty by Kenneth C. Davis, bestselling author of the Don’t Know Much About series. 

After introductory chapters describe how slavery became part of the country’s economy, Davis provides detailed stories of the slaves of four presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Andrew Jackson. And what fascinating, ultimately tragic tales they are. Billy Lee was the valet who accompanied Washington across the Delaware and at Valley Forge, and he can be seen in the background of several famous paintings. Ona Judge was Martha Washington’s personal servant who ran away to New Hampshire. Isaac Granger was captured by the British as a young boy to become one of “Master Jefferson’s people” and was a witness to Cornwallis’ defeat at Yorktown. Paul Jennings was James Madison’s personal servant and later wrote what is considered to be the first White House memoir. Alfred Jackson, who died a free man, told tales to museum visitors of his life as Andrew Jackson’s slave.

Davis addresses head-on the irony that these presidential defenders of liberty and equality kept slaves. He backs up his discussion with a variety of photos, illustrations and helpful timelines. In the Shadow of Liberty provides an informative read about a subject that’s not always fully addressed in the classroom.

 

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

How exactly does slavery fit into our nation’s history? Middle and high school students will have a much better understanding after reading In the Shadow of Liberty by Kenneth C. Davis, bestselling author of the Don’t Know Much About series.
NonfictionBusiness & Finance

Closing the digital deal

Review by Alice Cary

Tracy Kidder has guided a legion of readers along many a wondrous journey, and they’ll be eager to join his latest trip in A Truck Full of Money, a portrait of entrepreneur Paul English, who in 2012 sold Kayak—the online travel company he cofounded—to Priceline for $1.8 billion. It’s a timely, fascinating successor to Kidder’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize winner, The Soul of a New Machine, about an engineering team at Data General racing to create a 32-bit supercomputer.

The digitial world has changed dramatically in the three decades since, and Kidder has chosen a compelling, enigmatic subject to examine this new era. A Truck Full of Money is not only an intriguing account of one computer whiz’s rise (and occasional falls), but an in-depth look at the inner workings of the tech startup world.

Born in 1963, English was the sixth of seven children in a Boston-area working-class family. After becoming fascinated with computers at Boston Latin School, English successfully wrote a program to steal his teacher’s password and used it to access more programming commands. After graduating near the bottom of his class, his high SAT scores entitled him to free tuition at University of Massachusetts Boston, where he enrolled with thoughts of becoming a jazz musician. Programming provided his pathway to success, however, and along the way he discovered an innate talent for recruiting and managing the cream of the coding crop, ultimately creating a fiercely loyal inner circle that has followed him from venture to venture. 

Just like the dot-com world, English’s life has included precipitous peaks and valleys, sometimes ignited by bipolar disorder. At one point in the mid-1990s, after leaving a company, he spent months in his attic creating a website for Xiangqi (Chinese Chess), programming “his way out of depression.” Never one to sit on his laurels, English is his own constantly churning idea factory, whether he’s creating a company, seeking ways to help the homeless in Boston or to further education in Haiti. (Kidder first met English when he was writing Mountains Beyond Mountains, an account of Dr. Paul Farmer’s charitable work in Haiti and elsewhere.)

Kidder’s highly readable account is as mesmerizing as the generous genius he depicts. English is both beguiling and passionately creative—planning an office space that transforms into a cutting-edge night club or showing up in his Tesla as an Uber driver while conducting research for his new travel company, Lola. 

A Truck Full of Money is a wild, ultimately fulfilling ride from a master storyteller.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our interview with Paul English about A Truck Full of Money.

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

Tracy Kidder has guided a legion of readers along many a wondrous journey, and they’ll be eager to join his latest trip in A Truck Full of Money, a portrait of entrepreneur Paul English, who in 2012 sold Kayak—the online travel company he cofounded—to Priceline for $1.8 billion.
Children's & YAPicture Book

Early days of a civil rights leader

Review by Alice Cary

While new generations are reading the graphic novel trilogy March and being inspired by the life of civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis, Preaching to the Chickens gives younger readers their own introduction to this living legend.

Growing up in the 1940s on an Alabama farm, Lewis watched his sharecropper father plow behind a mule and his mother boil the family’s clothes clean in a big iron pot. Inspired by Lewis’ memoir Walking with the Wind, Jabari Asim describes how Lewis used his love of God and church to create his own spiritual kingdom in the family chicken yard as he watched over a flock of Rhode Island Reds, bantams and Dominiques: “John stretched his arms above his flock and let the words pour fourth. The chickens nodded and dipped their beaks as if they agreed. They swayed to the rhythm of his voice.”

Lewis learns many invaluable lessons while saving a favorite hen from being sold, rescuing another from a well and watching a seemingly drowned chick come back to life. Meanwhile, his brothers and sisters hear his “henhouse sermons” so often that they start calling him “Preacher.”

E.B. Lewis’ watercolors beautifully capture the dusty world of this poor Southern farm, young Lewis’ ebullience in both the church pew and chicken yard, and the unusual way he discovers the voice and moral compass he’ll put to such astounding use as an adult. Asim’s author’s note briefly describes Lewis’ achievements and how he became inspired to write this picture book.

This small tale of a very big life is a winner.

While new generations are reading the graphic novel trilogy March and being inspired by the life of civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis, Preaching to the Chickens gives younger readers their own introduction to this living legend.

Children's & YAPicture Book

One small step, one giant leap

Review by Alice Cary

A clever little mouse in New York City spends hours gazing through a telescope at the moon, carefully noting his observations. Fellow mice ignore his conclusions―that the moon is made of stone―and cling to their own beliefs that the moon is made of cheese. Thus begins one mouse’s quest to prove his comrades wrong.

Early on in Armstrong: The Adventurous Journey of a Mouse to the Moon, the little mouse is summoned to the bowels of the Smithsonian, where he’s encouraged by a wise old mouse, who readers may recognize as the hero of Torben Kulmann’s similarly inspired Lindbergh: The Tale of a Flying Mouse.

His latest book is a visual and literary feast, the story of how a savvy rodent designs and builds his own tiny spacecraft, beating humans in the space race by more than a decade. With a large format and at 128 pages, it’s a creative cross between a picture and a chapter book, perfect for read-alouds.

Kuhlmann’s illustrations are exquisite, filled with sepia tones and bright splashes of color, impeccable technical detail, dramatic land- and moonscapes, and plenty of excitement―a raging fire, federal agents with snarling dogs on the verge of devouring the furry hero and, of course, a glorious moonwalk. There’s a wealth of humor, too―the mouse secretly taking notes atop the light fixture in a university classroom, a spacesuit test in a goldfish bowl and an alarm clock fashioned into a space capsule.

There’s also a “Top Secret” conclusion about what the first human astronauts found on the moon, as well as a concluding short history of space travel. Kuhlmann has created a tale so wonderfully imagined tale that it practically seems true. 

A clever little mouse in New York City spends hours gazing through a telescope at the moon, carefully noting his observations. Fellow mice ignore his conclusions―that the moon is made of stone―and cling to their own beliefs that the moon is made of cheese. Thus begins one mouse’s quest to prove his comrades wrong.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Growing up as Florida recovers

Review by Alice Cary

BookPage Children's Top Pick, September 2016

After Jennifer L. Holm’s son read her Newbery Honor-winning novel Turtle in Paradise, he asked his mom to write about Turtle’s cousin Beans. The result is a fast-paced prequel, Full of Beans, set in Key West, Florida. It’s hard to believe, but during the Great Depression, the bankrupt, stinking city was too poor to pay for garbage collection.

Enterprising, observant Beans Curry is sifting through rubbish, collecting condensed-milk cans for a seedy cafe owner, when he spots a newcomer who seems to be walking around in his underwear (actually Bermuda shorts, which Beans has never seen before). In a novel overflowing with historical details, this man is the real-life Julius Stone, sent from Roosevelt’s Federal Emergency Relief Administration to spruce up the island city and turn it into a tourist destination.

At first Beans doubts both the man’s sanity and mission. What’s more, he’s preoccupied with his own worries as his unemployed father heads to New Jersey in search of work. Beans’ ongoing moneymaking efforts end up backfiring, and his angst intensifies when Stone confesses that the federal government may find it cheaper to simply abandon Key West and relocate its residents than try to save it. 

Inspired by her ancestors (Holm’s great-grandmother moved to Key West in the late 1800s), the author seamlessly weaves Beans’ story with local color (sea turtles caught for stew meat, Cuban cooking, wooden houses threatened by fire) and Depression-era history.

Full of Beans’ extensive cast features Beans’ brothers and lively pals, who eventually find their calling as the Diaper Gang, as well as brief appearances by Ernest Hemingway and Robert Frost. Like Turtle, Beans is a spunky character with a feisty voice. A movie lover who dreams of Hollywood fame, he is a memorable tour guide who offers a fascinating glimpse into how Key West became a vibrant vacation and cultural mecca.

 

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

After Jennifer L. Holm’s son read her Newbery Honor-winning novel Turtle in Paradise, he asked his mom to write about Turtle’s cousin Beans. The result is a fast-paced prequel, Full of Beans, set in Key West, Florida. It’s hard to believe, but during the Great Depression, the bankrupt, stinking city was too poor to pay for garbage collection.
Children's & YAPicture Book

There and back again

Review by Alice Cary

Young and old readers alike will rejoice in the publication of Return, the final volume of Aaron Becker’s trilogy of award-winning wordless picture books. As with Journey and Quest, the series’ ongoing premise continues, as a lonely, bored young heroine draws a door on her bedroom wall with her magic red crayon, escaping into a realm of immense castles populated by a familiar friendly king, a boy with a magic purple crayon and, alas, ominous soldiers giving chase.

What’s new is that this time the girl’s father follows his daughter through her magic door. An artist or architect, he’s been holed up in his upstairs home studio, seemingly frustrated at his drafting table and ignoring his child. A small rounded door rests near a bookcase―likely an entry into imaginary realms that he’s unable to access.

By the time this bearded, booted dad chases after his daughter, she’s not exactly thrilled to see him. All that changes, however, when soldiers attack the king, leading the girl and father to narrowly escape aboard a magical flying creature and then a magic submarine, eventually landing in a cave filled with prehistoric paintings. These paintings provide clues for dad and daughter to collaborate to defeat their attackers in an epic, colorful battle.

Becker’s watercolor, pen and ink illustrations highlight the importance of color, contrasting beige scenes in the family home with bold, brilliant bursts of gold, blue, purple and red in the otherworldly realm. As always, Becker’s imaginary worlds are visual feasts, intricate enough to invite repeated visits from fans of all ages. In contrast, his characters’ faces are purposely plain, inviting readers to assign their own interpretations.

The final illustration is lovely, showing a return to reality, but a reality suggesting that dad and daughter continue to enjoy their newfound magic. Similarly, Return is a crowning capstone to a special trilogy that parents and children will want to share time and time again. It is a marvelous yet beautifully quiet commentary on so many important things: relationships, imagination, ingenuity and creativity.

Young and old readers alike will rejoice in the publication of Return, the final volume of Aaron Becker’s trilogy of award-winning wordless picture books. As with Journey and Quest, the series’ ongoing premise continues, as a lonely, bored young heroine draws a door on her bedroom wall with her magic red crayon, escaping into a realm of immense castles populated by a familiar friendly king, a boy with a magic purple crayon and, alas, ominous soldiers giving chase.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Native life on the prairie

Review by Alice Cary

For readers unfamiliar with Louise Erdrich’s Birchbark House series, Makoons, the fifth book, is a fine place to start, standing well on its own while continuing the narrative.

Think Little House on the Prairie from a Native-American point of view. Like Laura Ingalls Wilder, Erdrich seamlessly blends fascinating details of everyday life and historical facts about an Ojibwe tribe living in the Great Plains of Dakota Territory in 1866.

While the series’ first three books center on a girl named Omakayas, books four and five follow her twin sons, Chickadee and Makoons. In book five, Makoons has largely recovered from a serious illness that developed while his brother was kidnapped, and now these two reunited halves of one soul are learning to be buffalo hunters. The book starts with Makoons’ ominous vision that he and his brother will become strong hunters, but will never be able to return to their beloved homeland back east and will be able to help save some, but not all, of their family. Despite these forebodings, Makoons is never bleak or harsh. Its twin heroes are playful young men who love a good prank, which means there’s plenty of fun in their saga.

After the big hunt, while everyone is turning 30 killed buffalo into food, hides and more, Makoons and Chickadee adopt an orphaned buffalo calf. The brothers name him Fly, and his ultimate fate adds to the novel’s many tightly woven threads.

It’s no wonder Erdrich’s writing is so authentic; her maternal great-grandfather was part of some of the last buffalo hunts along the Milk River in Montana. Erdrich also includes her own illustrations and a glossary and pronunciation guide of Ojibwe words.

 

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

For readers unfamiliar with Louise Erdrich’s Birchbark House series, Makoons, the fifth book, is a fine place to start, standing well on its own while continuing the narrative. Think Little House on the Prairie from a Native-American point of view.
Nonfiction

A breakthrough in the study of the brain

Review by Alice Cary

If you liked The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, you’ll love Patient H.M.: Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets. Not only is this new book an endlessly fascinating account of medical history, but the author, Esquire contributing editor Luke Dittrich, has a deeply personal connection to the story.

In the early 1930s in Hartford, Connecticut, a bicyclist zoomed down a hill and hit a boy who had just stepped into the road. That collision was the likely cause of severely debilitating epileptic seizures that began to plague young Henry Molaison. They were so crippling—and uncontrollable by drugs—that in 1953, his parents agreed to brain surgery for their then 27-year-old son.

Neurosurgeon William Beecher Scoville removed most of Molaison’s medial temporal lobe, including his hippocampus. The patient’s seizures improved, but those “devastating and enlightening cuts” into his brain created a new problem: permanent amnesia. Unknowingly, Dr. Scoville had created “Patient H.M.,” who became one of the most important research subjects in neuroscience history. Though he died in 2008, his brain is still being studied, even sparking a custody battle between MIT and the University of California at San Diego.

Dittrich’s personal connection turns this already remarkable story into an extraordinary one: Dr. Scoville was his grandfather. Dittrich spent six years researching a saga fraught with family pitfalls. Scoville was a brilliant Yale professor with myriad accomplishments, but he was also a risk-taker whose love of cars and speed ultimately killed him. A man with a penchant for “fast results,” this gifted surgeon performed numerous lobotomies into the 1970s, well after they had largely gone out of fashion.

In riveting prose, Dittrich takes readers on an informative tour of everything from early mental illness treatments to neuroscience and neurosurgery. The result is a story filled with heartbreak and sweeping historical perspective.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read a Q&A with author Luke Dittrich.

 

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

If you liked The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, you’ll love Patient H.M.: Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets. Not only is this new book an endlessly fascinating account of medical history, but the author, Esquire contributing editor Luke Dittrich, has a deeply personal connection to the story.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Growing up and getting brave

Review by Alice Cary

Twelve-year-old Wren Baker longs to be brave, and she certainly needs all the courage she can muster. Her mother has been hospitalized for depression, and her father has left to tend to her in Ohio. This means that Wren is suddenly living with an aunt and a cousin named Silver whom she’s only just met. Wren also feels responsible for her younger brother, Russell, who has Asperger’s and who needs her now more than ever.

In Cecilia Galante’s adept hands, these relationships are admirably and deeply explored. Not only are these characters wonderfully authentic, The World from Up Here is full of multiple adventures, including a ride in a glider plane and a runaway horse—experiences that anxious Wren never dreamed she could handle. There’s also mystery, in the form of Witch Weatherly, a hermit who lives on the top of Creeper Mountain—whom Silver is determined to meet, and who ends up playing a pivotal role in Wren’s ongoing family drama.

Wren learns that she can reach unimaginable heights, heeding the glider pilot’s advice: “Take a look. . . . It’s not every day you get to see the world from up here.”

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Cecilia Galante for The World from Up Here.

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

Twelve-year-old Wren Baker longs to be brave, and she certainly needs all the courage she can muster. Her mother has been hospitalized for depression, and her father has left to tend to her in Ohio. This means that Wren is suddenly living with an aunt and a cousin named Silver whom she’s only just met. Wren also feels responsible for her younger brother, Russell, who has Asperger’s and who needs her now more than ever.
NonfictionBiography

The King of Pop’s last days

Review by Alice Cary

On June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson was preparing for 50 sold-out “This Is It” concerts when he stopped breathing at the Los Angeles mansion he was renting. His personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who was administering medication intravenously to help him sleep, noticed that something was wrong at 11:51 a.m., and 83 minutes later, 50-year-old Jackson was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center. 

Drawing on court documents and other materials, 83 Minutes examines what happened during that time, along with the tragic factors that brought Jackson and Murray together, resulting in Jackson’s death and Murray’s imprisonment.

Despite his immense earnings and accomplishments, Jackson was facing financial ruin and was addicted to prescription drugs. He relied on the anesthetic Propofol, which he called “milk,” to help ease the rush of adrenaline after rehearsals and shows and allow him to sleep. Murray was in financial trouble as well, and all too happy to enable Jackson’s dependencies. 

Instead of carefully monitoring his patient, Murray likely had stepped out of Jackson’s bedroom/“medication room” to answer emails and make phone calls, likely not noticing when Jackson stopped breathing. He was on the phone with his mistress, in fact, when he abruptly ended the call, and the final chaos ensued.

Meanwhile, Jackson’s three children were playing in the den, under the care of their nanny, and his chef was preparing a Cobb salad for the family’s lunch.

Although 83 Minutes doesn’t deliver any bombshells, Jackson fans will find the book a sadly fascinating minute-by-minute account of the singer’s last days and hours.

 

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

On June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson was preparing for 50 sold-out “This Is It” concerts when he stopped breathing at the Los Angeles mansion he was renting. His personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who was administering medication intravenously to help him sleep, noticed that something was wrong at 11:51 a.m., and 83 minutes later, 50-year-old Jackson was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center.
Children's & YAPicture Book

Glasses for a doggie Magoo

Review by Alice Cary

What happens when you mistake a beehive for a soccer ball? Nancy and her dog, Douglas, enjoy all sorts of adventures until a disastrous game of fetch makes it obvious that Douglas, You Need Glasses! With this picture book that’s a glorious romp from start to finish, kids and parents alike will enjoy sharing a lighthearted look at Douglas’ serious vision problem, which gets him into pickles galore.

Douglas is a good-natured, grinning canine who gleefully chases leaves instead of squirrels, walks right through barriers and signs warning of wet cement, and even ends up at the neighbor’s house, woefully unaware that anything is amiss. Nancy, his take-charge young owner, eventually hauls her pooch into the optician’s office, which will prompt many more readers’ chuckles as Douglas miserably fails the vision test and tries on a creative array of glasses frames.

Ged Adamson’s pencil-and-watercolor illustrations are bursting with colorful energy and personality; he is a master at simply conveying a myriad of facial expressions, bringing his cartoon-like characters to life. Look carefully at his attention to details, such as the cement on Douglas’ paws that leave footprints on page after page.

Adamson cleverly includes an ending spread featuring photos of children wearing glasses, and encourages readers to post photos of themselves wearing glasses on his Twitter page. Whether young readers need glasses or not, this optical celebration will leave them yearning for a pair of their own.

What happens when you mistake a beehive for a soccer ball? Nancy and her dog, Douglas, enjoy all sorts of adventures until a disastrous game of fetch makes it obvious that Douglas, You Need Glasses! With this picture book that’s a glorious romp from start to finish, kids and parents alike will enjoy sharing a lighthearted look at Douglas’ serious vision problem, which gets him into pickles galore.

NonfictionMemoir

Table for two

Review by Alice Cary

BookPage Nonfiction Top Pick, June 2016

When Isabel Vincent’s friend suggested that she have dinner with her recently widowed, 93-year-old father, Vincent was in need of a lift. She had just moved to New York City to take a job as an investigative reporter with the New York Post, and her marriage was falling apart.

“I don’t know if the temptation of a good meal did it for me, or if I was just so lonely that even the prospect of spending time with a depressed nonagenarian seemed appealing,” she writes, adding, “Whatever it was, I could never have imagined that meeting Edward would change my life.” 

She chronicles their time together in the touching Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship, in which she not only rediscovers herself, but also realizes that this lonely geriatric is a charming poet at heart, full of wisdom about love and marriage.

A refined, self-taught intellectual and old-fashioned gentleman, Edward can also cook—as in really cook. Vincent begins each chapter with a menu, full of dishes like herb-roasted chicken in a paper bag (one of Edward’s many specialties), pan-fried potatoes with gruyère and his signature dessert, apple and pear galette (the secret to which is using crushed ice and lard, he insists). Two warnings: Don’t read this book on an empty stomach because the mouth-watering food descriptions will drive you mad, and don’t expect to find recipes.

As this unexpected friendship deepens, Edward becomes Vincent’s much-needed “fairy godfather,” cheerleader, sounding board and shoulder to cry on. He advises her to wear lots of lipstick and takes her to Saks to buy a pricey dress. He tells wonderful tales of his past, while Vincent confides her marriage woes, and later, after her divorce, shares stories of her new beaus.

Soon Vincent realizes, “Joy, happiness—it snuck up on me every time I saw Edward.” Readers will savor their every encounter and turn each page wishing they could have been there.

 

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

When Isabel Vincent’s friend suggested that she have dinner with her recently widowed, 93-year-old father, Vincent was in need of a lift. She had just moved to New York City to take a job as an investigative reporter with the New York Post, and her marriage was falling apart.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Standing up for what’s right

Review by Alice Cary

Things aren’t at all simple in Wolf Hollow, and that’s the great strength of Lauren Wolk’s first novel for middle school readers. Wolk has created a fascinating world in the mountains of Pennsylvania in 1943, where heroine Annabelle announces in the opening line, “The year I turned twelve, I learned how to lie.”

Throughout this novel, Annabelle is learning how to see the world, especially after she wins a camera and a lifetime supply of film and processing. Before long, the camera is borrowed by Toby, a hobo-like World War I veteran who forever transforms Annabelle’s vision, and whose photographs play a pivotal role in the unfolding drama.

Annabelle is being tormented by a new classmate in the one-room schoolhouse she attends. Betty Glengarry, a “dark-hearted girl who came to our hills and changed everything,” not only threatens Annabelle and her younger brothers, but her bullying spirals so completely out of control that a girl named Ruth suffers a horrifying accident.

Betty points a finger of blame squarely at Toby, prompting a tragic cascade of events in which only Annabelle is left to expose the truth. As Annabelle soon realizes, “The truth was so tightly braided with secrets that I could not easily say anything without saying too much.”

Wolf Hollow is fascinating and fast-paced, driven by Wolk’s exquisite plotting and thoughtful, fine-tuned writing. Reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird, this isn't a book full of happy endings; instead, it gives young readers a ringside seat at real-life moral complexities. As Annabelle explains, “The year I turned twelve, I learned that what I said and what I did mattered.”

Things aren’t at all simple in Wolf Hollow, and that’s the great strength of Lauren Wolk’s first novel for middle school readers. Wolk has created a fascinating world in the mountains of Pennsylvania in 1943, where heroine Annabelle announces in the opening line, “The year I turned twelve, I learned how to lie.”

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