bookpagedev

Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

y to sweet: Mother’s Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.

Snuggle up Little ones will snuggle up on mommy’s lap for Bunny My Honey, written and illustrated by Anita Jeram and now available in a board book edition. Bunny loves to stay close to Mommy Rabbit, playing with his friends, Little Duckling and Miss Mouse. But one day he gets lost and finds the forest a scary place until mother rabbit finds him. A comforting story by the illustrator of Guess How Much I Love You.

Strong or soft, she’s my mom Moms are amazingly alike, whether they’re human or animal. In full color illustrations by Peter Elwell and Marion Dane Bauer’s simple, lyrical text, My Mother Is Mine celebrates the qualities that make mothers special. “My mother is soft,” shows a lamb and ewe, while a tiger mother carrying her cub reminds us that “My mother is strong.” The book comes with a free greeting card, just in time for Mother’s Day.

Supermoms are everywhere If you are looking for a book with genuine kid appeal, Supermom is it. Written by Mick Manning and illustrated by Brita Granstrom, the book compares human moms to animal moms as they nurse, cuddle and play games with their kids. Originally published in Britain, Supermom features a multiethnic group of mothers, including African, Indian and Asian. There’s even a punk mom. (“She might look scary, but she always treats her babies very carefully.”) Illustrations and facts about animal moms are scattered throughout the text, and the book includes an index with more facts about the animals that appear.

Simply silly Mothers can do just about anything. Or can they? Find out in What Moms Can’t Do. Douglas Wood and illustrator Doug Cushman, the creators of What Dads Can’t Do, take a silly swipe at mothers everywhere. The mom here is a large green creature a dinosaur with hair perhaps? and it’s clear she needs lots of help from her kid to do even the simplest things. For instance, she can’t watch the scary parts of movies alone. (Not without that kid in her lap for protection.) And she can’t ever let go of a hug without a kiss. But in the end, of course, moms can do one thing better than anyone: love you.

A special book for grandmothers Written by Anne Bowen and illustrated by Greg Shed, a loving grandmother welcomes her new grandchild in I Loved You Before You Were Born. In simple, reassuring words, a grandmother shares how much she dreamed and waited for this child to arrive and remembers how she felt when her grandchild’s father was a baby. A perfect Mother’s Day gift for that new grandma.

Deborah Hopkinson, a Supermom herself, reads tons of children’s books and writes them, too.

y to sweet: Mother's Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.

Snuggle up Little ones will snuggle up on mommy's lap for Bunny…
Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

y to sweet: Mother’s Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.

Snuggle up Little ones will snuggle up on mommy’s lap for Bunny My Honey, written and illustrated by Anita Jeram and now available in a board book edition. Bunny loves to stay close to Mommy Rabbit, playing with his friends, Little Duckling and Miss Mouse. But one day he gets lost and finds the forest a scary place until mother rabbit finds him. A comforting story by the illustrator of Guess How Much I Love You.

Strong or soft, she’s my mom Moms are amazingly alike, whether they’re human or animal. In full color illustrations by Peter Elwell and Marion Dane Bauer’s simple, lyrical text, My Mother Is Mine celebrates the qualities that make mothers special. “My mother is soft,” shows a lamb and ewe, while a tiger mother carrying her cub reminds us that “My mother is strong.” The book comes with a free greeting card, just in time for Mother’s Day.

Supermoms are everywhere If you are looking for a book with genuine kid appeal, Supermom is it. Written by Mick Manning and illustrated by Brita Granstrom, the book compares human moms to animal moms as they nurse, cuddle and play games with their kids. Originally published in Britain, Supermom features a multiethnic group of mothers, including African, Indian and Asian. There’s even a punk mom. (“She might look scary, but she always treats her babies very carefully.”) Illustrations and facts about animal moms are scattered throughout the text, and the book includes an index with more facts about the animals that appear.

Simply silly Mothers can do just about anything. Or can they? Find out in What Moms Can’t Do. Douglas Wood and illustrator Doug Cushman, the creators of What Dads Can’t Do, take a silly swipe at mothers everywhere. The mom here is a large green creature a dinosaur with hair perhaps? and it’s clear she needs lots of help from her kid to do even the simplest things. For instance, she can’t watch the scary parts of movies alone. (Not without that kid in her lap for protection.) And she can’t ever let go of a hug without a kiss. But in the end, of course, moms can do one thing better than anyone: love you.

A special book for grandmothers Written by Anne Bowen and illustrated by Greg Shed, a loving grandmother welcomes her new grandchild in I Loved You Before You Were Born. In simple, reassuring words, a grandmother shares how much she dreamed and waited for this child to arrive and remembers how she felt when her grandchild’s father was a baby. A perfect Mother’s Day gift for that new grandma.

Deborah Hopkinson, a Supermom herself, reads tons of children’s books and writes them, too.

y to sweet: Mother's Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.

Snuggle up Little ones will snuggle up on mommy's lap for Bunny…
Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

y to sweet: Mother’s Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.

Snuggle up Little ones will snuggle up on mommy’s lap for Bunny My Honey, written and illustrated by Anita Jeram and now available in a board book edition. Bunny loves to stay close to Mommy Rabbit, playing with his friends, Little Duckling and Miss Mouse. But one day he gets lost and finds the forest a scary place until mother rabbit finds him. A comforting story by the illustrator of Guess How Much I Love You.

Strong or soft, she’s my mom Moms are amazingly alike, whether they’re human or animal. In full color illustrations by Peter Elwell and Marion Dane Bauer’s simple, lyrical text, My Mother Is Mine celebrates the qualities that make mothers special. “My mother is soft,” shows a lamb and ewe, while a tiger mother carrying her cub reminds us that “My mother is strong.” The book comes with a free greeting card, just in time for Mother’s Day.

Supermoms are everywhere If you are looking for a book with genuine kid appeal, Supermom is it. Written by Mick Manning and illustrated by Brita Granstrom, the book compares human moms to animal moms as they nurse, cuddle and play games with their kids. Originally published in Britain, Supermom features a multiethnic group of mothers, including African, Indian and Asian. There’s even a punk mom. (“She might look scary, but she always treats her babies very carefully.”) Illustrations and facts about animal moms are scattered throughout the text, and the book includes an index with more facts about the animals that appear.

Simply silly Mothers can do just about anything. Or can they? Find out in What Moms Can’t Do. Douglas Wood and illustrator Doug Cushman, the creators of What Dads Can’t Do, take a silly swipe at mothers everywhere. The mom here is a large green creature a dinosaur with hair perhaps? and it’s clear she needs lots of help from her kid to do even the simplest things. For instance, she can’t watch the scary parts of movies alone. (Not without that kid in her lap for protection.) And she can’t ever let go of a hug without a kiss. But in the end, of course, moms can do one thing better than anyone: love you.

A special book for grandmothers Written by Anne Bowen and illustrated by Greg Shed, a loving grandmother welcomes her new grandchild in I Loved You Before You Were Born. In simple, reassuring words, a grandmother shares how much she dreamed and waited for this child to arrive and remembers how she felt when her grandchild’s father was a baby. A perfect Mother’s Day gift for that new grandma.

Deborah Hopkinson, a Supermom herself, reads tons of children’s books and writes them, too.

y to sweet: Mother's Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.

Snuggle up Little ones will snuggle up on mommy's lap for Bunny…
Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

y to sweet: Mother’s Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.

Snuggle up Little ones will snuggle up on mommy’s lap for Bunny My Honey, written and illustrated by Anita Jeram and now available in a board book edition. Bunny loves to stay close to Mommy Rabbit, playing with his friends, Little Duckling and Miss Mouse. But one day he gets lost and finds the forest a scary place until mother rabbit finds him. A comforting story by the illustrator of Guess How Much I Love You.

Strong or soft, she’s my mom Moms are amazingly alike, whether they’re human or animal. In full color illustrations by Peter Elwell and Marion Dane Bauer’s simple, lyrical text, My Mother Is Mine celebrates the qualities that make mothers special. “My mother is soft,” shows a lamb and ewe, while a tiger mother carrying her cub reminds us that “My mother is strong.” The book comes with a free greeting card, just in time for Mother’s Day.

Supermoms are everywhere If you are looking for a book with genuine kid appeal, Supermom is it. Written by Mick Manning and illustrated by Brita Granstrom, the book compares human moms to animal moms as they nurse, cuddle and play games with their kids. Originally published in Britain, Supermom features a multiethnic group of mothers, including African, Indian and Asian. There’s even a punk mom. (“She might look scary, but she always treats her babies very carefully.”) Illustrations and facts about animal moms are scattered throughout the text, and the book includes an index with more facts about the animals that appear.

Simply silly Mothers can do just about anything. Or can they? Find out in What Moms Can’t Do. Douglas Wood and illustrator Doug Cushman, the creators of What Dads Can’t Do, take a silly swipe at mothers everywhere. The mom here is a large green creature a dinosaur with hair perhaps? and it’s clear she needs lots of help from her kid to do even the simplest things. For instance, she can’t watch the scary parts of movies alone. (Not without that kid in her lap for protection.) And she can’t ever let go of a hug without a kiss. But in the end, of course, moms can do one thing better than anyone: love you.

A special book for grandmothers Written by Anne Bowen and illustrated by Greg Shed, a loving grandmother welcomes her new grandchild in I Loved You Before You Were Born. In simple, reassuring words, a grandmother shares how much she dreamed and waited for this child to arrive and remembers how she felt when her grandchild’s father was a baby. A perfect Mother’s Day gift for that new grandma.

Deborah Hopkinson, a Supermom herself, reads tons of children’s books and writes them, too.

y to sweet: Mother's Day treats May and mothers go hand-in-hand this month with something for every kind of mom. Whether young, old, new, human or non, everyone loves a mom.

Snuggle up Little ones will snuggle up on mommy's lap for Bunny…
Lifestyles

Review

Review by bookpagedev

s a mother can love There’s no better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than with a gift book that immortalizes the maternal role. Joyce Ostin’s Hollywood Moms, a volume of radiant photographs, does just that. In Ostin’s touching tribute to womanhood, some of Tinseltown’s biggest names shed their glamorous facades, and the results are simple, stripped-down pictures that reveal the buoyancy, serenity and joy inherent in the mother-daughter relationship.

Much in the limelight, these mothers have daughters named Coco and Collette, Stella and Chelsea, girls with above-average genes who are, in the end, just regular girls. More than 50 black and white photos feature the likes of dynamic duo Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson; Madonna and a saucer-eyed Lourdes Leon; Melanie Griffith and Stella Banderas (inheritor of Antonio’s brooding stare). Anecdotes and poems from the moms themselves and Carrie Fisher’s introduction to the book offer fresh insights into the mother-daughter connection. With an intuitive eye, Ostin has captured this classic bond, revealing the reality behind the fantasy the private sides of these very public women. Ostin, a two-time breast cancer survivor, will donate all of the proceeds from Hollywood Moms to cancer research.

“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces,” wrote George Santayana, and his statement is proven true by a volume of stunning pictures called Family: A Celebration of Humanity. Photographers from around the world some of them Pulitzer Prize winners have captured the unit in its many configurations (a family, after all, can be as small as two or as large as two dozen). There are brothers and sisters, fathers and sons, children and pets; there are families in poverty and families who flourish. Spanning the globe, the book touches down in Russia, Mexico, South Africa, Australia and the United States, and the multiplicity of cultures makes for some wonderful visual juxtapositions. Artful, honest and at times, graphic (the photo of a baby, fresh from the womb, its umbilical unwound like a telephone cord, is not a sight for the weak-eyed), Family, the first volume in a series by M.I.

L.

K. Publishing, Ltd., offers timeless images of humanity at its best. M.I.

L.

K., an acronym for Moments of Intimacy, Laughter and Kinship, hopes to develop a collection of photographs showcasing diversity in family, friendship and love, and will publish two more books in September.

Two new titles celebrate one of the world’s most famous moms, that icon of family and fashion, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The woman who founded a modern-day dynasty and helped set style standards throughout the ’60s and ’70s is the inspiration behind Jay Mulvaney’s Jackie: The Clothes of Camelot. Filled with fabulous, Camelot-era photographs, Mulvaney’s book features Jackie’s dreamy dresses, frocks like confections from Oleg Cassini and other designers done in sugary pink, pastel blue and vivid tangerine, clothes fit for a queen or a First Lady. Those classic suits boxy, modest and perfectly chic are included, too. With over 300 photos and sections on Jackie’s fashion influences, her casual wear and her style during the post-Camelot years, this volume presents a well-rounded fashion portrait of one of the White House’s most regal matriarchs. Mulvaney, author of Kennedy Weddings: A Family Album, contributes lucid captions that set the context for the costumes. Dominick Dunne provides the book’s introduction.

Jackie Style by Pamela Clarke Keogh is part biography, part beauty book. Covering the former First Lady’s childhood in New York, her years at Vassar, her time in the White House and her work as an editor at Doubleday, this volume offers a behind-the-scenes look at Jackie’s life while providing advice on how to make her style your style. Jackie’s makeup and fashion ideas are included, along with never-before-seen photos and sketches, and exclusive interviews. Keogh, author of the bestselling Audrey Style, has created a loving tribute, which has an introduction by fashion designer Valentino.

Both Jackie titles are being published to coincide with a May retrospective of Kennedy’s White House wardrobe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, an exhibit that will commemorate the 40th anniversary of Camelot.

s a mother can love There's no better way to celebrate Mother's Day than with a gift book that immortalizes the maternal role. Joyce Ostin's Hollywood Moms, a volume of radiant photographs, does just that. In Ostin's touching tribute to womanhood, some of Tinseltown's biggest…
Lifestyles

Review

Review by bookpagedev

ooks a mother can love There’s no better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than with a gift book that immortalizes the maternal role. Joyce Ostin’s, a volume of radiant photographs, does just that. In Ostin’s touching tribute to womanhood, some of Tinseltown’s biggest names shed their glamorous facades, and the results are simple, stripped-down pictures that reveal the buoyancy, serenity and joy inherent in the mother-daughter relationship.

Much in the limelight, these mothers have daughters named Coco and Collette, Stella and Chelsea, girls with above-average genes who are, in the end, just regular girls. More than 50 black and white photos feature the likes of dynamic duo Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson; Madonna and a saucer-eyed Lourdes Leon; Melanie Griffith and Stella Banderas (inheritor of Antonio’s brooding stare). Anecdotes and poems from the moms themselves and Carrie Fisher’s introduction to the book offer fresh insights into the mother-daughter connection. With an intuitive eye, Ostin has captured this classic bond, revealing the reality behind the fantasy the private sides of these very public women. Ostin, a two-time breast cancer survivor, will donate all of the proceeds from Hollywood Moms to cancer research.

“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces,” wrote George Santayana, and his statement is proven true by a volume of stunning pictures called Family: A Celebration of Humanity. Photographers from around the world some of them Pulitzer Prize winners have captured the unit in its many configurations (a family, after all, can be as small as two or as large as two dozen). There are brothers and sisters, fathers and sons, children and pets; there are families in poverty and families who flourish. Spanning the globe, the book touches down in Russia, Mexico, South Africa, Australia and the United States, and the multiplicity of cultures makes for some wonderful visual juxtapositions. Artful, honest and at times, graphic (the photo of a baby, fresh from the womb, its umbilical unwound like a telephone cord, is not a sight for the weak-eyed), Family, the first volume in a series by M.

I.

L.

K. Publishing, Ltd., offers timeless images of humanity at its best. M.

I.

L.

K., an acronym for Moments of Intimacy, Laughter and Kinship, hopes to develop a collection of photographs showcasing diversity in family, friendship and love, and will publish two more books in September.

Two new titles celebrate one of the world’s most famous moms, that icon of family and fashion, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The woman who founded a modern-day dynasty and helped set style standards throughout the ’60s and ’70s is the inspiration behind Jay Mulvaney’s Jackie: The Clothes of Camelot. Filled with fabulous, Camelot-era photographs, Mulvaney’s book features Jackie’s dreamy dresses, frocks like confections from Oleg Cassini and other designers done in sugary pink, pastel blue and vivid tangerine, clothes fit for a queen or a First Lady. Those classic suits boxy, modest and perfectly chic are included, too. With over 300 photos and sections on Jackie’s fashion influences, her casual wear and her style during the post-Camelot years, this volume presents a well-rounded fashion portrait of one of the White House’s most regal matriarchs. Mulvaney, author of Kennedy Weddings: A Family Album, contributes lucid captions that set the context for the costumes. Dominick Dunne provides the book’s introduction.

Jackie Style by Pamela Clarke Keogh is part biography, part beauty book. Covering the former First Lady’s childhood in New York, her years at Vassar, her time in the White House and her work as an editor at Doubleday, this volume offers a behind-the-scenes look at Jackie’s life while providing advice on how to make her style your style. Jackie’s makeup and fashion ideas are included, along with never-before-seen photos and sketches, and exclusive interviews. Keogh, author of the bestselling Audrey Style, has created a loving tribute, which has an introduction by fashion designer Valentino.

Both Jackie titles are being published to coincide with a May retrospective of Kennedy’s White House wardrobe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, an exhibit that will commemorate the 40th anniversary of Camelot.

ooks a mother can love There's no better way to celebrate Mother's Day than with a gift book that immortalizes the maternal role. Joyce Ostin's, a volume of radiant photographs, does just that. In Ostin's touching tribute to womanhood, some of Tinseltown's biggest names shed…
PhotographyArts & Culture

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Books a mother can love There’s no better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than with a gift book that immortalizes the maternal role. Joyce Ostin’s Hollywood Moms, a volume of radiant photographs, does just that. In Ostin’s touching tribute to womanhood, some of Tinseltown’s biggest names shed their glamorous facades, and the results are simple, stripped-down pictures that reveal the buoyancy, serenity and joy inherent in the mother-daughter relationship.

Much in the limelight, these mothers have daughters named Coco and Collette, Stella and Chelsea, girls with above-average genes who are, in the end, just regular girls. More than 50 black and white photos feature the likes of dynamic duo Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson; Madonna and a saucer-eyed Lourdes Leon; Melanie Griffith and Stella Banderas (inheritor of Antonio’s brooding stare). Anecdotes and poems from the moms themselves and Carrie Fisher’s introduction to the book offer fresh insights into the mother-daughter connection. With an intuitive eye, Ostin has captured this classic bond, revealing the reality behind the fantasy the private sides of these very public women. Ostin, a two-time breast cancer survivor, will donate all of the proceeds from Hollywood Moms to cancer research.

“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces,” wrote George Santayana, and his statement is proven true by a volume of stunning pictures called Family: A Celebration of Humanity. Photographers from around the world some of them Pulitzer Prize winners have captured the unit in its many configurations (a family, after all, can be as small as two or as large as two dozen). There are brothers and sisters, fathers and sons, children and pets; there are families in poverty and families who flourish. Spanning the globe, the book touches down in Russia, Mexico, South Africa, Australia and the United States, and the multiplicity of cultures makes for some wonderful visual juxtapositions. Artful, honest and at times, graphic (the photo of a baby, fresh from the womb, its umbilical unwound like a telephone cord, is not a sight for the weak-eyed), Family, the first volume in a series by M.I.L.K. Publishing, Ltd., offers timeless images of humanity at its best. M.I.L.K., an acronym for Moments of Intimacy, Laughter and Kinship, hopes to develop a collection of photographs showcasing diversity in family, friendship and love, and will publish two more books in September.

Two new titles celebrate one of the world’s most famous moms, that icon of family and fashion, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The woman who founded a modern-day dynasty and helped set style standards throughout the ’60s and ’70s is the inspiration behind Jay Mulvaney’s Jackie: The Clothes of Camelot. Filled with fabulous, Camelot-era photographs, Mulvaney’s book features Jackie’s dreamy dresses, frocks like confections from Oleg Cassini and other designers done in sugary pink, pastel blue and vivid tangerine, clothes fit for a queen or a First Lady. Those classic suits boxy, modest and perfectly chic are included, too. With over 300 photos and sections on Jackie’s fashion influences, her casual wear and her style during the post-Camelot years, this volume presents a well-rounded fashion portrait of one of the White House’s most regal matriarchs. Mulvaney, author of Kennedy Weddings: A Family Album, contributes lucid captions that set the context for the costumes. Dominick Dunne provides the book’s introduction.

Jackie Style by Pamela Clarke Keogh is part biography, part beauty book. Covering the former First Lady’s childhood in New York, her years at Vassar, her time in the White House and her work as an editor at Doubleday, this volume offers a behind-the-scenes look at Jackie’s life while providing advice on how to make her style your style. Jackie’s makeup and fashion ideas are included, along with never-before-seen photos and sketches, and exclusive interviews. Keogh, author of the bestselling Audrey Style, has created a loving tribute, which has an introduction by fashion designer Valentino.

Both Jackie titles are being published to coincide with a May retrospective of Kennedy’s White House wardrobe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, an exhibit that will commemorate the 40th anniversary of Camelot.

Books a mother can love There's no better way to celebrate Mother's Day than with a gift book that immortalizes the maternal role. Joyce Ostin's Hollywood Moms, a volume of radiant photographs, does just that. In Ostin's touching tribute to womanhood, some of Tinseltown's biggest…

Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

ETWEEN THE WINES Theroux’s strangers in paradise “Nothing to me is so erotic as a hotel room, and therefore so penetrated with life and death.” Thus begins Paul Theroux’s latest volume of autobiography-as-novel, Hotel Honolulu. The first sentence should serve as either appetizer or warning. This is a brilliantly written book, beautifully imagined, a detached and sometimes chilling exercise in which the first-person narrator, an author who says he has lost his will to write, tries to regain that will by retreating to a seedy hotel in Waikiki. But the salvation he claims to have found at book’s end comes with no emotional expenditure on his part.

That the book’s title echoes Grand Hotel is no accident, of course; the “plot” is primarily a series of character vignettes that only occasionally intersect, though they often shine a cold glitter of inference on one another. Most are keenly observed portraits of the tourists, natives, exiles, escapees and cons the narrator meets through his job as the motel manager. The narrator himself is just such an exile, a man in his 50s who, after “thirty years of moving around the world, and thirty years of books,” is again on the run from failed relationships of various types. (This may sound familiar to those aware of Theroux’s own acrimonious tendencies.) “I needed a rest from everything imaginary,” the narrator says, “and I felt that in settling in Hawaii, and not writing, I was returning to the world.” Yet this prodigal admirer of Somerset Maugham cannot help but flee to a place of bloated fecundity and constant decay. It’s that over-ripeness of the tropics, the heavy scent of flowers, the quick frailty, the vast and pervasive corruption of the motel and its cast that the narrator settles into. Through his job, he meets people who sell themselves and one another, commit murder and mayhem, lie about their ages and sexual proclivities, drink, stink and commit suicide. Theroux is fascinated with these characters, and he makes them fascinating to the reader.

Accustomed to tossing off accounts of people in faraway places, the narrator finds that, this time around, he is the curiosity, “hired because I was a white man, a haole.” Nevertheless, his underlying self-assurance comes through; his precocious and acute daughter is not only his great pride, but seems to have emerged Athena-like from his mind alone, with no help from his native-born and somewhat simple wife. (The narrator’s mother-in-law is a prostitute, a profession Theroux never tires of; and in one of the oddest macho fantasies in the book, the narrator’s wife is the result of a tryst with JFK.) You might say the narrator takes Noel Coward’s way out of the situation, opening every snapshot with an epigrammatic sleight of hand. “One morning at first light, quite by chance, she entered the hotel’s coffee shop in a tight tube dress that rode up her thighs from the heel-and-toe motion of her wicked shoes.” (This being the former novice nun whose ecstatic visions had been not of God but of her incestuous father.) Again, Theroux’s opening remarks in the book serve as both lure and warning. The happenings at the hotel are by turns raunchy, grisly and hilarious. While the narrator makes lots of allowances for himself, pretending that his passivity is a sort of free pass, he trains an unyielding eye on the other inhabitants of this tawdry part of paradise. As Theroux has demonstrated before, in more than 30 books, there are few writers who can lure the reader into more unlovely compliance with his view of the world.

The ideal pairing: tropical setting and a fine Sauterne Such baroque and floral ruination does bring one unadulterated pleasure to mind: the honeyed, rose-gold and pear-scented Barosssa Botrytis Semillon Sauternes from Peter Lehmann. Like Theroux’s Hawaii (and the decaying honey plantation he lives on), these wines are made from late-harvested grapes intentionally gone to high sugar and the “noble rot” that produces true Sauternes. With a clean, cidery nose, a whisper of almond and the slimmest, most elegant chiffon of citrus, these wines are perfect at the outset with foie gras or fine olives (not the bland martini ones, the real things) or at the end with cheese. It’s sold in half bottles; the 1997 goes for about $17.

Eve Zibart is the restaurant critic for The Washington Post’s weekend section. This column reflects her dual interests in wine and travel.

ETWEEN THE WINES Theroux's strangers in paradise "Nothing to me is so erotic as a hotel room, and therefore so penetrated with life and death." Thus begins Paul Theroux's latest volume of autobiography-as-novel, Hotel Honolulu. The first sentence should serve as either appetizer or warning.…
Sports

Review

Review by bookpagedev

ball legend’s daughter pitches father’s fundamental ideals to kids In baseball, the ideal number is nine. There are nine innings, nine players and 90 feet between bases. It should be no surprise that Sharon Robinson, daughter of legendary baseball hero and American icon Jackie Robinson, chooses that special number to celebrate the values her father exemplified in his daily life in her new book, Jackie’s Nine.

Raised in suburban Connecticut, Robinson was only six years old when her father retired from baseball and just 12 when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Growing up, she never fully realized the importance of having a father who was known worldwide for breaking the color barrier in baseball. Instead, she saw him for what he was to her, a soft-spoken giant who practiced courage, determination, commitment, persistence, integrity, justice, teamwork, citizenship and excellence every day of his life. Robinson attributes her father’s success to these nine values and believes that by sharing these fundamental ideals with the young people of the world, she can help them overcome obstacles.

And share she does. Robinson, director of educational programming for Major League Baseball, has spent the last four years creating and managing MLB’s national character education initiative, Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life, a program designed to empower students with strategies to help them deal with the challenges they face, day in and day out. A former nurse-midwife and educator who has taught at such prestigious universities as Yale, Columbia and Georgetown, Robinson has created an entire curriculum that allows teachers to apply baseball concepts to the academics and social skills they teach. “It gives us a chance to show that learning can be fun and not torturous,” says Robinson. “If we can get them to enjoy what they’re doing, then they will want to learn.” But school curriculum building is not the only aspect of Breaking Barriers. Each year, Robinson heads up an essay contest. The winning students are not only honored during a Major League Baseball game (a once-in-a-lifetime event in itself!), but Robinson also brings the real-life baseball greats to their schools. From April to June, Robinson visits 22 schools throughout the nation, baseball stars in tow. Players such as Jose Cruz and Ken Griffey, Jr., are not on hand just to sign autographs, they are there to share their tales of triumph over adversity. Whether it’s facing down the league’s toughest pitcher, overcoming injuries and physical deformities, working together with their teammates or striving for excellence in their own game, each player highlights the values that Jackie Robinson, the hero himself, exemplified.

The program targets students 9-14 years old. “Kids are going from junior high where parents have a lot of control to high school where peers have the majority of control,” Robinson explains. She firmly believes that this is the age group where buying into fundamental values will make a positive, significant impact on a child’s future. In Jackie’s Nine, Robinson shows that even the mightiest, successful men and women in history have had to overcome obstacles. Each chapter highlights one of the nine values with stories about heroes, sheroes and icons like Michael Jordan, Christopher Reeve and Oprah Winfrey. A book packed with big names and classic photos, this is not a “celebrity book.” Robinson writes comfortably on the preteen/teen level, demonstrating that throughout a person’s challenges and adversities, it is the values they maintain that matters the most.

One of the most important values to Robinson herself is citizenship. “I use the term citizenship, instead of sportsmanship or respect,” she explains, “because I want them to understand that they are part of a larger world. It’s not just an idea of treating your mother and father with respect, but of understanding that you have some responsibility in the world.” Robinson understands this concept wholeheartedly. Her Breaking Barriers program has reached over one million children across the United States and Canada, and Jackie’s Nine will, no doubt, reach many more.

Heidi Henneman claims to be a Yankees fan these days, but her first love is still the Chicago Cubs, the team she grew up watching with her Grandma in Illinois.

ball legend's daughter pitches father's fundamental ideals to kids In baseball, the ideal number is nine. There are nine innings, nine players and 90 feet between bases. It should be no surprise that Sharon Robinson, daughter of legendary baseball hero and American icon Jackie Robinson,…
Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

things we take for granted. To watch our children playing together nowadays, it’s difficult to conceive of a time when it was taboo for blacks and whites to join in a game of baseball. Yet 50 years ago (and, sadly, even more recently) such was the case.

The Journal of Biddy Owens is a fictional story of a 17-year-old African American who serves as batboy for the Birmingham Black Barons, one of the legendary teams in the defunct Negro Leagues. These athletes, denied the chance to play in the Major Leagues (until Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947), included some of the greatest players of all time, regardless of color, like Satchel Paige, Buck Leonard and Willie Mays. Owens keeps track of the excitement of the season, the fans, the personalities. Although his team is bound for the championship, it’s not all fun and games. For one thing, there is the pervasive racism he and his teammates must endure as they travel from town to town for the next game: separate drinking fountains, separate cars on trains. The humiliation and danger they faced on a regular basis is a shock to today’s modern sensibilities. The Journal of Biddy Owens is also a story of the difficulties in the Owens’ household. When World War II ended, blacks faced the brunt of layoffs at work as those who had been in the service returned to reclaim their former jobs. As a young man, Owens is caught between the end of childhood and the beginnings of being a man.

The target age group for The Journal of Biddy Owens is 9-14, hopefully old enough to understand the degradations of racism, as it applies to any group. The book is part of the My Name Is America fiction series, which “journals” history from the perspective of a Japanese boy in an internment camp during World War II, a Chinese miner and a Native American, as well as immigrants from Ireland and Finland. As if to show the price of keeping America free, stories are also offered by soldiers in the Revolutionary, Civil and Second World Wars. All in all, the series proves that what makes this country great is its ability to recognize and work toward solving these difficulties.

Ron Kaplan is a freelance writer who hopes his daughter will play baseball someday . . . but that’s her choice.

things we take for granted. To watch our children playing together nowadays, it's difficult to conceive of a time when it was taboo for blacks and whites to join in a game of baseball. Yet 50 years ago (and, sadly, even more recently) such was…
Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

b>Jubela, Cristina Kessler addresses an unusually dark subject for a children’s picture book. Her accomplishment is that she has made of this sad story a triumphant fable. Shortly after we meet the baby rhinoceros who is the book’s protagonist, his mother is killed by poachers. Alone, terrified, the infant must find his way in the world without his mother’s guidance. Naturally, because this is a children’s book rather than a TV documentary, we know that this particular animal will triumph over adversity. He does,of course. But not effortlessly.

Surprisingly, Jubela is a true story. Although he is never named in the text, the baby rhinoceros is a real animal who was found orphaned in Swaziland. Jubela is a Siswati word for “a fighter.” Park rangers at the Mkhaya Game Reserve named Jubela after observing his determined will to survive. Usually baby rhinos do not survive the deaths of their mothers. This baby spends a whole day and night beside his mother’s body, making noises in her ear and nudging her horn. It is sunset of the next day before he smells the terrifying scent that presaged his mother’s death the scent of human beings. In terror he flees his mother’s body and finds himself alone on the savanna. The illustrations seem both lyrical and frightening. With dry pastels on paper, JoEllen McAllister Stammen nicely portrays the confusing world of a baby animal. Elephants loom huge, their heads impossibly high overhead, out of our field of vision, their enormous legs dangerously near. A herd of zebras race by in a blur. Eventually, the young rhino finds another female rhinoceros who, slowly, skeptically, adopts him. She is unable to nurse, but in time she teaches him to graze on the available grasses. “He slept, knowing tomorrow he would eat and drink again. And live.” Jubela is not a protest book about poaching. It is a touching story of survival against all odds. However, no child will miss the point that the rhino’s enemies are human beings. But so, later on, were his rescuers and so were the talented pair who created this memorial to Jubela’s will to live.

Michael Sims writes about science and nature for adults and children.

b>Jubela, Cristina Kessler addresses an unusually dark subject for a children's picture book. Her accomplishment is that she has made of this sad story a triumphant fable. Shortly after we meet the baby rhinoceros who is the book's protagonist, his mother is killed by poachers.…
Memoir

At home in the country

Review by bookpagedev

Miichael Korda’s Country Matters belongs to a genre of books chronicling the lives of urbanites who forsake the luxuries of the city for the unpredictable joys and frustrations of rural life. Some of these books, such as Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun and Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence, have an international flair. Others, such as Frank Levering and Wanda Urbanska’s Simple Living: One Couple’s Search for a Better Life, bring the tale a bit closer to home. Wherever they’re set, such books are appealing most obviously, perhaps, to those who have made the plunge into country life and those who dream of doing so, but also, truth be told, to just about anyone anywhere who has ever owned and maintained a home.

Korda’s manifestation of this tale begins with the day over 20 years ago when he and his wife bought an 18th century farmhouse in Dutchess County, 90 miles north of New York City. Up to that point, Korda, editor-in-chief at Simon & Schuster and a best-selling author, had been accustomed to living a cosmopolitan life, having been born in England and spending time in Europe and Beverly Hills before finally settling in New York City. He met his wife Margaret, who had been born into a farming family in England, while riding a horse through Central Park. Within a short time the two were married and searching for a place in the country where they could put down roots. Eventually, they found the house of their dreams and increasingly came to think of their country farmhouse as their home.

On one level, Korda’s book is a humorous look at what it takes to restore, repair and maintain an old house. The narrative’s real charm, however, lies in its depiction of the clash between Korda’s original notions of genteel country living and the realities of modern rural life. Dutchess County, the Kordas find, is no rural idyll. Yet, despite all of the differences between these urbanites and the rural culture that surrounds them, they gradually come to feel at home, and it is their transformation from outsiders to community members that lies at the story’s heart.

Vivian A. Wagner, Ph.D., writes from New Concord, Ohio.

 

Miichael Korda's Country Matters belongs to a genre of books chronicling the lives of urbanites who forsake the luxuries of the city for the unpredictable joys and frustrations of rural life. Some of these books, such as Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun and Peter…

Memoir

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Washington, Meg Greenfield’s posthumously published memoir, offers a behind-the-scenes look at life inside the Beltway. Though styled as a memoir, Washington is organized thematically rather than chronologically and except for a brief discussion of Greenfield’s childhood in Seattle (the other Washington) and her early 20s spent as a self-described "bohemian" in New York the book is almost entirely set in the nation’s capital. Greenfield, a reporter in Washington from 1971 until her death in 1999 and editor of the Washington Post op-ed page from 1979 onward, managed to live and work in the insular world of politicians and pundits without loosing her sense of proportion or her notorious sense of humor. She was known inside and outside the Beltway for her unique ability to identify the absurdities of politics and to laugh at them a skill repeatedly on display in this book.

Washington opens with a quotation from the British poet William Blake: "Princes appear to me to be fools. Houses of Commons and Houses of Lords Appear to me to be fools; they seem to me to be something Else besides Human Life." Greenfield’s view of Washington insiders more often than not accords with Blake’s view of English aristocrats. In fact, she begins her memoir by drawing a parallel between old England and contemporary Washington where "better-bred, country-house English remains the stylistic model, the affectation of choice." Greenfield directs her sharp-edged wit at the foibles, phoniness and hypocrisy of those around her with hilarious results. She describes her home city as overrun with men and women (mostly men) "who were extremely successful children . . . that whole range of smiling but empty-faced youth leaders who were universally admired, though no one could have told you for exactly what." The implication is that Washington insiders are somehow inhuman, too perfect to be real, or at least exceptionally skilled at feigning perfection. In his afterword, Green- field’s literary executor Michael Beschloss writes that the author left behind notes for a final chapter that would have focused more on her life as a child and on her time spent at her summer home in Maine. While the completed manuscript would probably have painted a more well-rounded picture of Greenfield, the finely honed skewering of Beltway life that she did complete is in itself well worth the read.

Laura Beers is a publicity assistant at Oxford University Press.

 

Washington, Meg Greenfield's posthumously published memoir, offers a behind-the-scenes look at life inside the Beltway. Though styled as a memoir, Washington is organized thematically rather than chronologically and except for a brief discussion of Greenfield's childhood in Seattle (the other Washington) and her early 20s…

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