bookpagedev

YA FictionYA

One girl’s brutal fight to the finish

Review by bookpagedev

Sometime in the future, a 16-year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen lives with her little sister and mother in North America in a place called District 12. People in District 12 are poor, and since her father's death in a coal-mining accident, Katniss has had to hunt game with a bow and arrow to supplement her family's meager supplies. District 12 is far from the Capitol city, Panem, a place Katniss never expects to visit. But then comes the day of "reaping," when her beloved sister Prim is randomly chosen to represent District 12 in the annual Hunger Games. Immediately Katniss steps forward and volunteers to take her sister's place in the Games, which are held each year in the Capitol. The Hunger Games have elements in common with the Olympics (coaches, training and a spectacular opening ceremony) and with reality TV shows (constant cameras, obstacles, a manipulated environment in the arena). But the purpose of these games is far more gruesome and terrifying. Of the 24 young people who compete, only one will survive. To win at the Hunger Games you must kill all your opponents, even if they have become your friends.

Suzanne Collins notes that the roots of her book date back to an early fascination with the myth of Theseus, when as punishment for past deeds, Athens had to send seven maidens and seven young men to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur. The message, she said, was clear to her even as a child: "Mess with us and we'll do something worse than kill you. We'll kill your children." But the story finally came to her with the experience of "channel surfing between reality TV programming and actual war coverage."

Young adults will be riveted by Collins' novel. (It kept this reviewer up until two a.m.) The Hunger Games combines elements of an intense survival adventure with a story of friendship and love. But the book is more than a page-turner with a strong, appealing heroine. The Hunger Games is a powerful and often disturbing story that is sure to spark intense discussion not just about Katniss Everdeen's world—but about our own.

Deborah Hopkinson imagines the world of cowboys in her forthcoming picture book, Home on the Range.

Sometime in the future, a 16-year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen lives with her little sister and mother in North America in a place called District 12. People in District 12 are poor, and since her father's death in a coal-mining accident, Katniss has had to…

Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Now that your team of explorers feels comfortable with cities and maps, and knows the rules of safe travel, let them tour the country . . . without you. In the meantime, grab some iced tea, put your feet up, and enjoy their trip as they send you postcards from every state. This is what young Emily does in Wish You Were Here: Emily’s Guide to the 50 States. Kathleen Krull’s witty text and illustrations by award-winning Amy Schwartz celebrate the fascinating idiosyncrasies of each state in our nation. Schwartz’s illustrations accurately accent Emily’s observations. In a tone that a teen would respect and a little one could understand, Emily and her grandmother wind their way around the country and entice readers with their findings: “Pennsylvania is the world’s mushroom capital, the place where crayons come from, and the state where I learned why the Fourth of July is so important.” Emily’s frequent allusions to relevant literature and a thorough index of resources offer curious readers a way to pursue their interests as well as valuable information for reports in school. Reviewed by Anna Claire Straughan.

Now that your team of explorers feels comfortable with cities and maps, and knows the rules of safe travel, let them tour the country . . . without you. In the meantime, grab some iced tea, put your feet up, and enjoy their trip as…

Technology

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Reading Machine Beauty: Elegance and the Heart of Technology by David Gelernter is like sneaking into the back of a college classroom and being treated to a free-wheeling, provocative lecture. Gelernter, a noted computer technologist and professor at Yale University, takes the reader on an exciting romp through the connections (too often ignored) between artistic beauty and excellent technology. From a broad discussion of the unexpected links between science and math and aesthetics, to an idiosyncratic history of computing (the section on Apple versus Microsoft is top-notch), Gelernter’s writing often achieves his stated goal in his technology work: elegance. He is erudite without being stiff, expert without being condescending. He can also be quite funny. He explains complex computing issues to those of us with no educational grounding in the subject and keep us with him (most of the time). This book is part of the MasterMinds Series, a collection of accessible and concise books that aim to present “cutting-edge ideas by leading thinkers.” That noble goal is fully achieved between these hard covers.

Reviewed by Neal Lipschutz.

Reading Machine Beauty: Elegance and the Heart of Technology by David Gelernter is like sneaking into the back of a college classroom and being treated to a free-wheeling, provocative lecture. Gelernter, a noted computer technologist and professor at Yale University, takes the reader on an…

Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Ready for the rest of the world? Explorers will love searching for the world’s largest flower, a mouse that sings, or a tomb guarded by 6,000 warriors in The Reader’s Digest Children’s Atlas of the World. Created to captivate today’s multimedia-cultured kids, this atlas is a hands-on, brains-in-gear experience, electric with vivid colors and information. Before traversing the exquisite maps in this atlas, kids can see how a map is made, how it is read, and how to complete one of their own. Then they blast off into space to consider the planet and all that affects it: climate, natural resources, world population, and environmental perils. Or they can zoom in closer and find maps illustrated with thresher sharks and Matreshka dolls, Aztec snake carvings and Giza pyramids. They’ll want to stop and tour the boxes labeled “Amazing Facts” and “Look Again.” Special project sections invite the traveler further into the world beyond the page. When the young and tireless explorers reach home again, they will have plenty of evidence of their worldly travels: boomerangs to remind them of Australia, Sami tents from their stay in Northern Europe, Taj Mahal tiles from tours of India, and many other souvenirs. Word is out that geography is cool, summer is hot, and that the two go together like ice cream and cake. Bon Voyage! Tanoshinde itte irasshai! Reviewed by Anna Claire Straughan.

Ready for the rest of the world? Explorers will love searching for the world's largest flower, a mouse that sings, or a tomb guarded by 6,000 warriors in The Reader's Digest Children's Atlas of the World. Created to captivate today's multimedia-cultured kids, this atlas is…

Nonfiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Much of the fuel for conspiracy theorists comes from the U.

S. government’s childish refusal to tell the truth until spanked. Again and again, military officials claimed that reconnaissance balloons were weather balloons and denied the existence of secret aircraft. Of course, that doesn’t mean aliens are visiting us, but somehow many people think it does. Phil Patton addresses these issues, and many others, in his new book, Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51. You may be familiar with Patton’s popular book, Made in the USA: The Secret History of Things That Made America. Nothing like the word “secret” to perk up a subtitle.

Although officially it doesn’t exist, Area 51, in the dry lakes of Nevada and California, is a top-secret test site. Patton argues that a great many of the reported flying saucer sightings were actually glimpses of secret Air Force vehicles, from the U-2 through current UAVs unmanned aerial vehicles, or robot planes. Dreamland is also a tour of the alien subculture, from Area 51 to Roswell to the rest of the country. Along the way, Patton tells many fascinating stories, from how Gary Powers of U-2 fame wound up a traffic helicopter pilot in L.

A., to the fad for airship sightings in the mid-1890s, when balloons were becoming common and flight experiments were rampant.

Reviewed by Michael Sims.

Much of the fuel for conspiracy theorists comes from the U.

S. government's childish refusal to tell the truth until spanked. Again and again, military officials claimed that reconnaissance balloons were weather balloons and denied the existence of secret aircraft. Of course,…

Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Things are looking mighty grim for a gold miner in the Arizona desert one Tuesday morning. His troubles come in many forms, not the least of which is a clever pack rat doing what pack rats do best. In this delightful picture book, Tuesday in Arizona, young readers can follow the trials and tribulations of a gold prospector for a full week, during which the prospector is plagued by a stubborn mule, heat, hunger, thieves, and a noticeable lack of the very thing he’s looking for gold. Marian Harris uses wonderful vocabulary and word play to bring alive the story of this old curmudgeon miner. “It was no picnic draggin’ them beans ‘cross the wrinkles in the road.” With witty understatement like this, we know exactly what kind of person the miner is tough, crusty, and determined not to give up.

The illustrations by Jim Harris, the other half of this talented husband/wife team, are bright and colorful, capturing the isolation of the southwest. His illustrations in caricature style add lots of additional content to the understated text, making the book worth several look-throughs just to pick up all the details.

Marian, who also writes biology and chemistry textbooks, and Jim have each won recent children’s book awards for their work, but this is their first joint effort. You may recognize Jim’s big-headed characters from his current bestseller, Ten Little Dinosaurs.

Tuesday in Arizona is a book that adults and kids alike will enjoy reading, not only for the humor, but for its message of hope as well. The miner comes close to chucking it all, but he perseveres through many hardships, proving that even the worst of times can eventually turn around. One warning: this book is best read aloud. So brush up on your drawl, spit polish your boots, grab your cowboy hat and a child and enjoy! Reviewed by Elizabeth Hanley.

Things are looking mighty grim for a gold miner in the Arizona desert one Tuesday morning. His troubles come in many forms, not the least of which is a clever pack rat doing what pack rats do best. In this delightful picture book, Tuesday in…
Sports

Review

Review by bookpagedev

For a fun look at the more recent past, there’s Phil Pepe’s Talkin’ Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s. Through interviews with more than 60 former players, managers, and others associated with the game, Pepe recounts the events of a decade which saw some of the most enormous changes in the history of the game, including the advent of free agency and the designated hitter, a new home run king, and George Steinbrenner.

Reviewed by Ron Kaplan.

For a fun look at the more recent past, there's Phil Pepe's Talkin' Baseball: An Oral History of Baseball in the 1970s. Through interviews with more than 60 former players, managers, and others associated with the game, Pepe recounts the events of a decade which…
FictionHistorical Fiction

A Balkan Scheherazade

Review by bookpagedev

Louis de Bernières is the go-to guy if you like richly told "big" books such as Corelli’s Mandolin and Birds Without Wings—sweeping stories, filled with colorful characters and told from multiple points of view. His new book is not big—in fact, it is little more than a novella—and the multiplicity of voices with which the narrative unwinds has been reduced to just two. Still, A Partisan’s Daughter is vintage de Bernières: a story of impossible love, ethnic conflict and the whims of history, played out through the inevitable fates of ordinary, if compelling characters.

These characters are Chris and Roza. He’s a 40-year-old English pharmaceuticals salesman, locked in a loveless suburban marriage; she’s an undocumented Yugoslav girl, scraping out an existence amid the economic hardship of pre-Thatcher 1970s London. They meet when, on an impulse—and for the first time in his life—Chris approaches a girl he believes to be a streetwalker. Roza protests she is not a "working girl," but she accepts a ride from him because she judges him, rightly, to be safe and kind. Before they part, she admits that she was once a prostitute, and charged 500 pounds for her services. Obsessed with the idea of sleeping with her, Chris begins to squirrel away money, but in the meantime he regularly visits Roza as friend rather than client, enjoying her company and listening to her stories.

They are vibrant, sometimes disturbing stories of her childhood near Belgrade, as well as her misadventures after she escaped to England. Roza shocks Chris with the revelation that she once seduced her father, who was a comrade of Tito, and details her rape at the hands of a British thug. But Chris, like readers of the novel, is never quite sure when Roza is telling the truth or when she is weaving a tale to make herself more fascinating—to this humdrum man who so obviously adores her, and to herself.

De Bernières, like Roza, knows how to construct a captivating narrative, and A Partisan’s Daughter is a graceful, persuasive exploration of boundless storytelling and the limits of love.

Louis de Bernières is the go-to guy if you like richly told "big" books such as Corelli's Mandolin and Birds Without Wings—sweeping stories, filled with colorful characters and told from multiple points of view. His new book is not big—in fact, it is little more…

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Turn to The Handy Space Answer Book, by Phillis Engelbert and Diane L. Dupuis. It’s a sequel to similar volumes on weather and science. As in most such books, now and then the question-and-answer format seems forced, but it lends a conversational friendliness. The authors assume no prior knowledge of the subject, and hold forth enthusiastically. This is a wonderful introduction for anyone over the age of, say, 12.

Reviewed by Michael Sims.

Turn to The Handy Space Answer Book, by Phillis Engelbert and Diane L. Dupuis. It's a sequel to similar volumes on weather and science. As in most such books, now and then the question-and-answer format seems forced, but it lends a conversational friendliness. The authors…

Sports

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Once you’re done dealing with the present, it’s time to take a look at the game’s glorious past. It has often been said that, more than any other sport, the history and tradition of baseball lends itself to the written word. And perhaps no one exemplifies those attributes more than Babe Ruth. Lawrence Ritter, author of the classic oral history The Glory of Their Times, and Mark Rucker, considered one of the games’ greatest pictorial archivists, have assembled The Babe: The Game That Ruth Built. Through prose and pictures, this handsome volume marks the 50th anniversary of the Babe’s passing. It’s a sentimental look at the man who some say saved baseball in the wake of the 1919 world series gambling scandal and the dark days of the Depression. The photographs some rare, others familiar offer a glimpse of the Babe not only as the most legendary figure in sports, but also as a father, husband and friend. Beloved by millions all over the world, the snapshots of Ruth in Japan, surrounded by adoring children, are evidence of this global homage.

Reviewed by Ron Kaplan.

Once you're done dealing with the present, it's time to take a look at the game's glorious past. It has often been said that, more than any other sport, the history and tradition of baseball lends itself to the written word. And perhaps no one…

Review

Review by bookpagedev

The most specialized volume in our roundup is also the most beautiful. The celestial neighbor closest to the size of Earth is the subject of a gorgeous gift book coming in August from National Geographic, Mars: Uncovering the Secrets of the Red Planet. “The Mariner 9 photographic results from Mars,” Carl Sagan observed, “correspond roughly to 10,000 times the previous photographic knowledge of Mars obtained over the history of mankind.” Practically the whole feast is here in this book. Next to the Moon, Mars has always been the most intriguing object in the night sky and, a century ago, the first home of invading aliens. Recent discoveries have made the planet more interesting than ever before, and this lovely new volume sums up the knowledge, with sparkling writing and fabulous photos. Soon Mars may be the first planet in the solar system to be visited by aliens ourselves.

Reviewed by Michael Sims.

The most specialized volume in our roundup is also the most beautiful. The celestial neighbor closest to the size of Earth is the subject of a gorgeous gift book coming in August from National Geographic, Mars: Uncovering the Secrets of the Red Planet. "The Mariner…

Sports

Review

Review by bookpagedev

At the other end of fandom, there’s Tim McCarver’s Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans: Understanding and Interpreting the Game So You Can Watch it Like a Pro, (written with Danny Peary). McCarver, who appears on New York Mets and FOX telecasts, is another former star who has become one of the game’s foremost commentators and analysts. Where Dummies spends more time on the rudiments of the game, McCarver and Peary delve deeper into strategy and nuance. This is perhaps the best book I’ve ever encountered to understand how a pitcher decides what to throw; what goes through a hitter’s mind as he steps into the batter’s box with the game on the line; how an outfielder positions himself; or how a speedy runner uses his savvy to know when not to steal a base. Readers will be nodding their heads and saying “Ahhh. So that’s how (and why) they do that.” McCarver offers plenty of examples and anecdotes drawn from nearly 40 years of experience. Those who prefer watching the game from the comfort of their living rooms will find a new appreciation for television broadcasts as McCarver explains how the director puts the action together, what he looks for, and what is not seen on the screen.

Reviewed by Ron Kaplan.

At the other end of fandom, there's Tim McCarver's Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans: Understanding and Interpreting the Game So You Can Watch it Like a Pro, (written with Danny Peary). McCarver, who appears on New York Mets and FOX telecasts, is another…

Mystery & SuspenseSuspense

Neighbors to the mob

Review by bookpagedev

Nelson DeMille hit a home run with readers in 1990, when he released the mob novel The Gold Coast. Starring an attorney, John Sutter, whose life – and marriage – changes forever when a Mafia don moves into the house next door, the novel was an unusual blend of action and midlife crisis story. On October 28, DeMille continues the story of wry, capable everyman Sutter with The Gate House. Ten years after the events of The Gold Coast, John and his ex – wife, Susan, have both returned to that same Long Island enclave. Their former neighbor is long gone, but his son has unfinished business with both Sutters – and there just might be some unfinished business between the exes, too. The Gate House promises trademark DeMille suspense and excitement.

Nelson DeMille hit a home run with readers in 1990, when he released the mob novel The Gold Coast. Starring an attorney, John Sutter, whose life - and marriage - changes forever when a Mafia don moves into the house next door, the novel was…

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