Alice Cary

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Time travel—there’s an app for that

Review by Alice Cary

Twelve-year-old Mel isn’t expecting Christmas to be exciting. His family life has recently come apart, so he and two other classmates are spending the holidays at their posh boarding school, where they’re known as “the Left Behinds.” When a history teacher escorts the trio to a Christmas Day re-enactment of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, things go strangely haywire, and Mel, Bev and Brandon inexplicably find themselves thrust back in time to December 25, 1776.

The resulting nonstop historical action begins when Mel discovers a body lying on haystacks in a stable and realizes that the deceased is none other than “stone-cold dead” General George Washington. Mel determines that a rogue iPhone app, iTime, is to blame, and he and his friends must fix history and save the Revolution. The excitement never stops in this riveting tale, leading Mel to Philadelphia in search of Ben Franklin (whose electricity can recharge Mel’s iPhone) and on to Trenton to surprise the Hessian forces.

David Potter’s debut is smart, funny and the first adventure of the time-traveling Left Behinds. Readers will charge through these super-short chapters like a Revolutionary soldier on the run.

 

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

Twelve-year-old Mel isn’t expecting Christmas to be exciting. His family life has recently come apart, so he and two other classmates are spending the holidays at their posh boarding school, where they’re known as “the Left Behinds.” When a history teacher escorts the trio to a Christmas Day re-enactment of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, things go strangely haywire, and Mel, Bev and Brandon inexplicably find themselves thrust back in time to December 25, 1776.
NonfictionParentingFamily & Relationships

Discovering another side of parenthood

Review by Alice Cary

One day Claude Knobler and his wife read a newspaper article that would change their lives. Written by award-winning journalist Melissa Fay Greene, it chronicled the plight of Ethiopian children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.

The article moved Knobler so deeply that he mentioned to his wife that they should adopt an Ethiopian child. Early on in More Love, Less Panic, Knobler admits, “The absolute 100 percent real truth of the story, is that I never ever thought my wife would agree.”

She did, however, and before long Knobler found himself traveling to Ethiopia to bring home 5-year-old Nati to join the family’s two biological children. In seven humorous, touching chapters, Knobler interweaves stories about his son’s adoption with lessons he’s learned that will be helpful to all parents, such as “How Trying to Turn My Ethiopian Son into a Neurotic Jew Taught Me It’s Nature, Not Nurture.” Young Nati was hardly a “Neurotic Jew”; instead, he was a carefree, energetic boy who found joy everywhere he went. With hardly a worry in his personality, he enriched his new family in endless ways.

Knobler wisely advises parents to try to sit back and enjoy the wild ride of parenthood, even when it isn’t clear exactly where the journey may lead. Parents will find many such nuggets of good advice in this entertaining, easy-to-read combination of memoir and parenting guide.

RELATED CONTENT: Read a Q&A with Claude Knobler about More Love, Less Panic. 

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

One day Claude Knobler and his wife read a newspaper article that would change their lives. Written by award-winning journalist Melissa Fay Greene, it chronicled the plight of Ethiopian children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.
Memoir

Immigrant daughter goes back to her roots

Review by Alice Cary

Val Wang, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., wondering about her place in the world. "I didn't feel as though I belonged there," she wrote, "or anywhere yet, and I itched to travel to exotic places far away to look for what was missing in my life."

Much to her parents' dismay, Wang chose to go to the land they had fled in 1949. In 1998 she moved to Beijing and found work as a writer for a cultural magazine, hoping to film documentaries. Wang describes her decision as "an act of rebellion" against her parents and their suburban life.

Not surprisingly, Wang quickly discovers that "Starting over was not liberating or glamorous." For a while she lives with relatives in a house with an outhouse; later she moved into her own apartment in an area filled with sex shops and prostitutes.

Wang experiences a city in the midst of a great transition, as the government builds new apartment buildings while demolishing neighborhoods of "hutongs," narrow streets lined by traditional courtyard houses like the one she shares with relatives. Several of her family's courtyard homes had been taken over by the government years before and had gradually fallen into disrepair after being inhabited by squatters as well as family members.

Over the years, Wang gets to know and appreciate her family better, both those in America and in China. She struggles to find her own way as well, spending months documenting a family trained in the dying art of the Peking Opera, but eventually abandoning the project.

Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China is an intriguing memoir of transformation and discovery on a cultural as well as personal level. Eventually, Wang returns to America. However, her journey of rebellion has transformed her, helping her find the part of herself that she felt was missing. As she explains, "Living in these courtyard houses had made me feel a part of my family as nothing else had."

Val Wang, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., wondering about her place in the world. "I didn't feel as though I belonged there," she wrote, "or anywhere yet, and I itched to travel to exotic places far away to look for what was missing in my life."

Children's & YAPicture Book

These cats need your help

Review by Alice Cary

Is There a Dog in This Book? had me hooked right from the start, when three adorable, hip cats (Andre, Moonpie and Tiny) welcome readers with a warm greeting on the title page. The trio continues to chat with readers as they notice with alarm that someone has drunk their milk and played with their toy.

The cats quickly realize that a dog may be nearby. Moonpie explains, “Dogs are snappy and yappy, smelly and noisy, hairy and scary . . . and dogs HATE cats!” These wide-eyed, lively cats immediately enlist readers to help them hide, because indeed, there is a dog on the loose, who happens to be a cute purple puppy.

This is a wonderful lift-the-flap book, the perfect interactive bedtime treat for young readers, and a follow-up to Viviane Schwarz’s There Are Cats in This Book and There Are No Cats in This Book. It’s rare to find such genuine humor and gentle suspense in a flap book for this age group.

Schwarz’s cats are full of personality. Young Tiny actually wants to meet the dog, while his elders quiver and hide themselves in a suitcase labeled "Do Not Open, Very Boring."

Schwarz’s vibrant art and spot-on text are sure to engage preschoolers again and again. Dog lovers shouldn’t worry: In the end, the cats become friends with the curious pup, and more chaos (and flaps to search) ensues when this newfound friend goes briefly missing. Is There a Dog in This Book? is a nonstop delight for young readers.

Is There a Dog in This Book? had me hooked right from the start, when three adorable, hip cats (Andre, Moonpie and Tiny) welcome readers with a warm greeting on the title page. The trio continues to chat with readers as they notice with alarm that someone has drunk their milk and played with their toy.

Children's & YAPicture Book

Whimsy from A to Z

Review by Alice Cary

It’s one thing to learn your ABCs. It’s quite another when Oliver Jeffers is in charge. His new picture book, Once Upon an Alphabet, contains 26 very short stories, beginning with “An Astronaut” and ending with “Zeppelin.” Preschoolers and beginning readers will delight in these vignettes featuring everything from a lumberjack who repeatedly gets struck by lightning to, of all things, a puzzled parsnip.

Jeffers (The Day the Crayons Quit) uses comical illustrations and sophisticated humor throughout, sometimes linking several stories. “An Enigma” asks how many elephants can fit inside an envelope, and readers must go to “N” for the answer. Kids will eat up Jeffers’ wacky wickedness, such as in “Half a House,” in which poor Helen lives in the remains of a house on the edge of a seaside cliff. (The rest collapsed during a hurricane.) One day, alas, Helen rolls out of the wrong side of the bed.

Jeffers knows how to catch the attention of his young audience while challenging their imagination, intellect and vocabulary. This whimsical exploration of letters and language begs to be read over and over again.

 

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

It’s one thing to learn your ABCs. It’s quite another when Oliver Jeffers is in charge. His new picture book, Once Upon an Alphabet, contains 26 very short stories, beginning with “An Astronaut” and ending with “Zeppelin.” Preschoolers and beginning readers will delight in these vignettes featuring everything from a lumberjack who repeatedly gets struck by lightning to, of all things, a puzzled parsnip.
NonfictionEssays

Confronting a doctor’s dilemmas

Review by Alice Cary

BookPage Nonfiction Top Pick, October 2014

Let me confess: I’m a medical book junkie. That said, Terrence Holt’s Internal Medicine: A Doctor’s Stories is my new favorite, both in terms of literary merit and intriguing medical details and drama.

Holt is uniquely qualified, having earned an M.F.A. in creative writing and a Ph.D. in English before turning to the study of medicine. Early on, he decided he wanted to write about the process of becoming a doctor. He eventually concluded that the best way to capture the essence of his journey without violating patient confidentiality was to write a series of “parables” that drew on his own experiences.

Whether or not you classify this collection of nine stories as nonfiction, they ring true in both details and spirit, starting with a doctor’s evolution from the first night on call as an intern and ending with ethical questions that a physician ponders 40 months later, his residency complete.

Holt describes telling a young woman that her death was imminent: “I’d like to say that I held her, or said soothing words. But I don’t hold female patients, even when they cry, and I had no soothing words. I knelt there and I watched her, and struggled to comprehend what I saw.”

Each account is equally compelling and thought-provoking. The narrator faces a dying woman who needs oxygen but finds the mask claustrophobic; an artist whose mouth and jaw have been eaten away by cancer; a mental patient whose mysterious but horrifying self-inflicted pain needs to be identified; and a young woman who arrives in the ER but has already, as it turns out, begun the act of suicide.

How can a doctor help patients such as these? What should or shouldn’t a physician do? How do doctors feel when confronted with such daily dilemmas and myriad personalities?

Dr. Holt never settles for easy answers, and the questions he poses—reflecting the frequent uncertainties of doctors and patients alike—will leave readers thinking long after the final page is turned.

 

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

Let me confess: I’m a medical book junkie. That said, Terrence Holt’s Internal Medicine: A Doctor’s Stories is my new favorite, both in terms of literary merit and intriguing medical details and drama.
Memoir

When the world goes dark

Review by Alice Cary

Rebecca Alexander started having vision problems when she was about 10 years old. Eventually, doctors realized she was suffering from Usher syndrome, a condition that would cause her to become both deaf and blind. Not Fade Away: A Memoir of Senses Lost and Found is a compelling account of her journey, starting with childhood and ending with her fairly recent acquisition of a cochlear implant.

At about the time Alexander's troubles began, she suffered another big blow: Her parents divorced. Despite acrimony toward one another, both her mother and father quickly became huge advocates and cheerleaders for their talented, energetic daughter. Now 34, Alexander has enjoyed being a spin instructor and works as a psychotherapist in New York City, even though her condition has caused issues with both pursuits.

Along with such triumphs, Alexander has endured incredible lows, such as her own eating disorder and the debilitating mental illness of her beloved twin brother.  She writes an intimate, no-holds-barred account of the good and the bad. Perhaps her lowest moment occurred after a night of teenage drinking, when she woke up in the middle of the night in her bedroom and managed to fall backward out of her window, more than 27 feet onto a stone patio, "breaking almost everything but my head and neck." While her friends headed off to college, Alexander faced a lengthy, painful recovery, but managed to gain important insights during the process.

Alexander's vision and hearing loss accelerated during her 20s, as she navigated becoming an independent adult and professional. She lives with her service dog, Olive, and uses a cane to navigate. She has learned sign language and lip reading, but so far has resisted using Braille.

Alexander writes memorably and often humorously about her life, including her decision to have a cochlear implant―a choice that was by no means easy, because it meant giving up what natural hearing she had left in one ear. Through each and every moment, she gives thanks to her supportive family and several extraordinarily friends.

Alexander brings readers into her realm―the world of a tremendously courageous, likeable, accomplished woman.

Rebecca Alexander started having vision problems when she was about 10 years old. Eventually, doctors realized she was suffering from Usher syndrome, a condition that would cause her to become both deaf and blind. Not Fade Away: A Memoir of Senses Lost and Found is a compelling account of her journey, starting with childhood and ending with her fairly recent acquisition of a cochlear implant.

Children's & YAPicture Book

A vast and fascinating life

Review by Alice Cary

Quite appropriately, The Memory of an Elephant is a large picture book, measuring 11 by 14 inches. It’s a big, unusual book in every way, featuring not only a story about an old, distinguished elephant named Marcel, but a compendium of assorted facts about everything from musical instruments and classic modern furniture to a variety of gourmet desserts.

That's because Marcel is writing “an enormous, illustrated encyclopedia―everything he’s learned throughout his long and exceptional life.” The book’s language and Marcel’s panache are reminiscent of the old-world style of Babar, although the books themselves are quite different.

When Marcel wakes up one morning, his monumental writing task is interrupted when he finds a mountain of presents waiting in his living room. It’s Marcel’s birthday, and quite the celebration is in store.

The Memory of an Elephant can be enjoyed on several different levels. Very young children will appreciate the story of Marcel’s big birthday bash. Fact-loving kids will devour the catalog-like pages filled with intriguing nuggets about Marcel’s passions, such as the world's tallest buildings, computer history, fashion facts, sailing history, plants and birds. There are plenty of fascinating elephant facts as well.

There’s even a recipe for “La Crepe Marcelette,” and young connoisseurs will learn some delicious definitions for things like crème caramel, brioche, dôme au chocolat and floating island. French author Sophie Strady and illustrator Jean-Franςois Martin have created a distinctive treat that’s certainly ripe for feasting.

Quite appropriately, The Memory of an Elephant is a large picture book, measuring 11 by 14 inches. It’s a big, unusual book in every way, featuring not only a story about an old, distinguished elephant named Marcel, but a compendium of assorted facts about everything from musical instruments and classic modern furniture to a variety of gourmet desserts.

Children's & YAPicture Book

The dinosaur who cried wolf

Review by Alice Cary

The young dinosaur heroes of Gigantosaurus could hardly be cuter. They look like characters right out of an animated feature film―which is no surprise, as creator Jonny Duddle was a concept artist for the Hugh Grant film The Pirates! Band of Misfits. (He’s also the creator of books such as The Pirates Next Door.)

Preschoolers will love Duddle’s latest, an energetic boy-who-cried-wolf tale from many million years ago, in which a young dinosaur named Bonehead keeps shouting to his friends that the dreaded, deadly Gigantosaurus that their parents have warned them about is rapidly approaching.

Bonehead’s pals Tiny, Fin and Bill fall for these faux warnings every time, until finally they tire of the trickery, abandoning Bonehead to play by themselves. Of course, you can guess who shows up next, and you can also guess who never learns his lesson.

Duddle’s digital artwork is stellar. The artist has created a lush and humorous Cretaceous world full of giant ferns, volcanoes, lava flows, dinosaur bones and massive termite nests. Kids will love the big fold-up page showing the dreaded Gigantosaurus in his full glory, but not to worry—nothing is overly scary. There’s also a helpful spread at the end explaining the different types of dinosaurs featured in the story.

Gigantosaurus is sure to be a readaloud favorite, with its adorable dinosaur characters and its lively refrain, “His feet go STOMP! His jaws go CRUNCH! In the blink of an eye you’ll be his LUNCH!”

The young dinosaur heroes of Gigantosaurus could hardly be cuter. They look like characters right out of an animated feature film―which is no surprise, as creator Jonny Duddle was a concept artist for the Hugh Grant film The Pirates! Band of Misfits. (He’s also the creator of books such as The Pirates Next Door.)

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Twain’s secret troublemaker

Review by Alice Cary

According to author Jessica Lawson, Tom Sawyer was a tattletale and Becky Thatcher was the real rascal getting into all sorts of trouble in St. Petersburg, Missouri. That’s the inventive premise of this gem of a chapter book that stirs up all of the ingredients of the American classic to create a thoughtful, energetic new debut novel.

Lawson’s Becky is a tomboy who’s new to town. Her family is mourning the loss of Becky’s beloved older brother Jon―so much so that Becky’s mother has completely withdrawn. Meanwhile, Becky’s father, Judge Thatcher, is alarmed about a pair of outlaws on the loose.

A writer named Sam Clemens happens to be stuck in town due to a grounded steamboat. Becky befriends this “story man,” who carefully takes notes on Becky’s exploits and ideas (rafting down the river, the nickname Huckleberry, going to your own funeral and more).

Becky falls into a mess of trouble when she takes on a bet to try to steal something from inside the home of the Widow Douglas, reported to be a witch. There’s no end of excitement as Becky finds a new best friend, gets involved with grave robbers, uncovers stolen treasure and gets trapped in a cave with the outlaws.

Lawson borrows many elements from the original Tom Sawyer tale, but wisely, Becky is the star of this show, while Tom is an important but peripheral character who is “too scared to have his own adventures.”

Don’t worry, the story man assures Becky. “The name of Tom Sawyer might have some adventures in it yet.”

Young readers will race through this adventure, while teachers and adults will delight in its gold mine of creative parallels.

According to author Jessica Lawson, Tom Sawyer was a tattletale and Becky Thatcher was the real rascal getting into all sorts of trouble in St. Petersburg, Missouri. That’s the inventive premise of this gem of a chapter book that stirs up all of the ingredients of the American classic to create a thoughtful, energetic new debut novel.

NonfictionNature

The wolf who came to stay

Review by Alice Cary

Nature writer Nick Jans first spotted the large tracks of a wolf while cross-country skiing near his home in Juneau, Alaska, in December 2003. Two days later, while relaxing in his hot tub, he caught a glimpse of the animal itself. Nick raced out to see him, and soon he and his wife, Sherrie, became infatuated with the beautiful black wolf.

So did many others. The wolf was exceptionally friendly, appearing frequently and frolicking with dogs strolling with their owners in the shadow of the Mendenhall Glacier.

The Jans were so infatuated that they cancelled a Christmas vacation on a Mexican beach, preferring to stay to see this newcomer. One day Sherrie named him Romeo, and the name stuck. A Wolf Called Romeo is Jans' love letter to this wild creature who touched their lives.

Romeo wasn't part of a pack, and some wondered if he was mourning the loss of a wolf killed by a taxi earlier that year. For nearly six years, Romeo made frequent appearances on the outskirts of Juneau, disappearing each summer to hunt in the mountains.

As Jans explains, "During the black wolf's time among us, he brought wonder to thousands, filled a landscape to overflowing, taught many to see the world and his species with fresh eyes."

Jans is no stranger to human interaction with wild animals, having written The Grizzly Maze about a man named Timothy Treadwell, who lived―and died―among the grizzlies. And while many in Juneau cherished Romeo's presence, some did not. Jans rightly feared that some sort of clash, and even potential tragedy, might ultimately occur―but I will spare readers the spoiler of revealing what eventually transpired.

A Wolf Called Romeo is a thoughtful, highly detailed account of one community's poignant encounter with a truly magnificent creature

Nature writer Nick Jans first spotted the large tracks of a wolf while cross-country skiing near his home in Juneau, Alaska, in December 2003. Two days later, while relaxing in his hot tub, he caught a glimpse of the animal itself. Nick raced out to see him, and soon he and his wife, Sherrie, became infatuated with the beautiful black wolf.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Whiz kids gamble on a big payoff

Review by Alice Cary

What happens when a group of middle school geniuses trains for months to win a special contest at a Disney World-style Florida theme park called Incredo Land? That’s the premise of Bringing Down the Mouse, a page-turning caper whose hero is sixth-grader Charlie Lewis, known as “Numbers,” the nerdy son of an MIT professor dad and a mom with two Ph.D.s.

Charlie’s life is usually uneventful, until one day when two seventh-graders invite him to join the Carnival Killers, a group led by college student Miranda. Sworn to secrecy, they covertly hone their skills at mastering several seemingly impossible games in the hopes of earning a chance at spinning Incredo Land’s Wheel of Wonder and winning eight lifetime passes to the park. As one of the seventh-graders explains, “It’s not a trick. It’s math, chemistry, and a little physics.” Charlie is eager to use his knowledge to calculate exactly where the wheel will land until he realizes that Miranda isn’t who she says she is at all.

Author Ben Mezrich is best known for his adult nonfiction, the true stories of young geniuses toeing the ethical line for the sake of a big payoff—such as in Bringing Down the House (about MIT students playing blackjack in Vegas) and The Accidental Billionaires. With Bringing Down the Mouse, Mezrich has brought this theme to middle school fiction, and the result is a clever, breathtaking escapade with a likable cast.

 

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

What happens when a group of middle school geniuses trains for months to win a special contest at a Disney World-style Florida theme park called Incredo Land? That’s the premise of Bringing Down the Mouse, a page-turning caper whose hero is sixth-grader Charlie Lewis, known as “Numbers,” the nerdy son of an MIT professor dad and a mom with two Ph.D.s.
Nonfiction

Finding joie de vivre with a little elbow grease

Review by Alice Cary

It’s easy to understand why Don Wallace and his wife Mindy were captivated by a beautiful French island called Belle Île. Don, who grew up in California, and Mindy, who was from Hawaii, were living in a cramped, dark Manhattan apartment. Belle Île’s sunshine and surf spoke to their soul.

Nonetheless, their decision to buy a dilapidated house on the small island off the coast of Brittany didn’t make financial sense, as Wallace readily admits in The French House. The purchase wiped out their savings, and the structure still needed major repairs (or more accurately, rebuilding). As this pair of writers struggled to make a living, they had neither the time nor money to return to Belle Île for years. When they finally did, they were met with surf and sun, but also a battered home with “dust, dirt, mold everywhere.”

Don and Mindy feared they had made a terrible mistake, a view bolstered by Don’s mother’s observation: “This isn’t at all like A Year in Provence!”

In the end, the 30 years needed to restore the house did fill the family’s soul. Along with the dust, dirt and construction, they encountered a village full of kind (and sometimes crusty) characters. Mindy, Don and their son, Rory, spent idyllic weeks and months on the island, roaming its paths, enjoying picnics and Breton delicacies, watching shooting stars and soaking up the sun. They added their own touch to island life, teaching their friends and neighbors to surf. Despite their brief stays each year, they became part of the village.

The French House is a wonderful summer read, a spirited mixture of joy and nerve-wracking nitty gritty. No, it may not be A Year in Provence, but it’s the heartfelt story of a 30-year love affair with an unforgettable place.

 

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

It’s easy to understand why Don Wallace and his wife Mindy were captivated by a beautiful French island called Belle Île. Don, who grew up in California, and Mindy, who was from Hawaii, were living in a cramped, dark Manhattan apartment. Belle Île’s sunshine and surf spoke to their soul.

Sign Up

Stay on top of new releases: Sign up for our newsletter to receive reading recommendations in your favorite genres.

Sign up now

Trending Features

All Features