“Business book reviews - Dallas Morning News” plus 3 more

Business book reviews - Dallas Morning News
Children's Book Reviews - Publishers Weekly
Book Review: the Witching Hour by Anne Rice - Associated Content
Current Issue - Publishers Weekly

Business book reviews - Dallas Morning News

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 05:26 AM PDT

Mojo

Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Rieter (Hyperion Books, $26.99)

When you've got your mojo working, you push the boundaries of your abilities. Without mojo, you remain in your comfort zone. Before you can create mojo, you need to recognize mojo killers.

At the top of the mojo-killer list is overcommitment. Don't confuse mojo with "I can do everything." When you're the go-to person, everyone wants a piece of your time. Spreading yourself too thin diminishes the quality of your work.

Don't confuse mojo with superiority. Just because you're a go-to person doesn't mean you're right.

To develop mojo, you need a keen sense of who you are and who you could become. Staying who you are isn't an option.

Achievement factors into mojo, too. What have you done lately? Are you resting on your laurels, or are you in what's-next, what-if mode? Mojo stays motivated.

Robert's Rules

of Innovation

Robert Brands with Martin Kleinman (John Wiley & Sons, $34.95)

Innovation is a buzzword that corporate leaders use but can't translate into results. Can it be that difficult for an organization's leadership to understand that Point A thinking won't get the firm to Point B? Author Robert Brands' 10-step program provides the answer, and four of the steps set the table for the remaining six:

No risk, no innovation. "New" and "improved" only come after embracing an uncertain outcome. It's ironic that when profit nose-dives, product development budgets are among the first to be cut. Does management really believe that the past holds the key to future growth?

Ownership. Someone has to be the champion without worrying about becoming the scapegoat. A champion creates passion for the project and gets colleagues to buy into the vision.

Coaching and training. Product development is not the only way to bring innovation. Your culture must establish innovation as its driver, and managers need training to look beyond their silos.

Idea management. Encourage ideas. Pack the pipeline. Get people to talk about ideas in a group setting.

Jim Pawlak reviews business books for The Dallas Morning News.

bizbooks@hotmail.com

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Children's Book Reviews - Publishers Weekly

Posted: 29 Mar 2010 05:26 AM PDT

-- Publishers Weekly, 3/29/2010 12:00:00 AM

Picture Books

Bird & Birdie: In a Fine Day Ethan Long. Tricycle, $14.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-58246-321-6

Unlike the well-defined characters in classic children's books about friendship such as Frog and Toad, George and Martha, or even the more recent Dog and Bear, the two friends in these three stories seem like male and female clones of a single character, except for Birdie's yellow plumage, pink hair bow, and exaggerated eyelashes. The book unfolds entirely through repetitious dialogue between the birds that appears in speech bubbles: " 'Hello.' 'Oh, hello!' 'How are you?' 'I'm fine! How are you?' 'I'm GREAT! Isn't it a beautiful morning?' 'Yes, it IS a beautiful morning!' " The plot is largely moved forward in nearly wordless scenes with sound effects (like the "crack!" of lightning) or words added to indicate emotion (the birds "sniff" sadly when they're apart). The stories are upbeat and simple, as the birds find each other after being separated in a storm, have some misadventures while hunting worms, and share the lettuce-like leaves of their nests. The dialogue is appropriate for beginners, but the bland stories and characters offer little to grab readers' attention or imagination. Ages 3–5. (Apr.)

Mirror Suzy Lee. Seven Footer Kids (PGW, dist.), $15.95 (48p) ISBN 978-1-934734-39-1

The creator of the joyful Wave returns with a provocative wordless book that is tall and thin like its namesake. First seen sitting alone and anguished in a corner, a dark-haired girl notices her reflection on the opposite page (the book's gutter stands in for the invisible mirror). As she interacts with her reflection, each sparse page shows the girl in a different emotional state: she's frightened at first, then coy, then playful. Dancing together, the girls get so close that they become distorted and drawn into each other, as Rorschach-like splashes of orange and yellow burst around them. The girls actually disappear into the mirror, and when they re-emerge, the girl's reflection no longer mirrors her movements, leading to anger. She appears to shove the mirror, which—now visible for the first time—topples with the reflected girl inside and shatters, leaving the girl alone again and giving the book a haunting symmetry. The unsettling imagery and lack of resolution won't be for everyone, but Lee again demonstrates her ability to capture the essence of childhood emotions—even the dark ones. Ages 3–up. (May)

The Pirate Cruncher Jonny Duddle. Candlewick/Templar, $15.99 (38p) ISBN 978-0-7636-4876-3

Duddle's debut launches a boatload of silliness, as Captain Purplebeard and his crew of babbling, bumbling pirates set sail in search of treasure. Galvanized by a skeletal fiddler's chantey about "an island of gold," the pirates ignore his warning that "none who've tried to set foot on its sands/ have ever returned to pirate lands." Most have second thoughts when the fiddler adds that they're apt to encounter a pirate-eating beast, but the greedy captain is undeterred: "Any cowardly landlubbers will be tossed in the sea./ The only thing you should be scared of is me!" Boisterous, flashy digital illustrations (the entire book could be a storyboard for an animated short film) are paired with b&w line drawings (in thought balloons), which present the apprehensive crew members' outlandish imaginings of the bloodthirsty creature. The page showing the pirates' landing folds down to reveal that the island is actually the very top of a sharp-toothed, octopus-like monster, who gobbles the pirates with a loud "crunch!" Though the verse's rhythm is occasionally rocky, the pirates' humorous chatter and the art's exuberance more than compensate. Ages 3–up. (Apr.)

Wolf Wanted Ana Maria Machado, trans. from the Portuguese by Elisa Amado, illus. by Laurent Cardon. Groundwood (PGW, dist.), $18.95 (40p) ISBN 978-0-88899-880-4

Combining the wildly disparate themes of job hunting and wolves, Hans Christian Andersen Medalist Machado (From Another World) and Cardon, in his U.S. debut, follow Manny Wolf (a human with the last name Wolf) as he responds to a pile of applications for a job opening for a wolf. In sly, postmodern scenes that recall the work of Emily Gravett, Cardon creates cover letters (as well as Manny's rejection letters) using notebook paper, unsteady handwriting, and human resources stationery. "I am a very famous wolf," the first application starts. "I have lots of experience convincing people to do what I want, especially small girls walking through the woods by themselves who have sick people waiting for them at home." Beside the letter, a dozen Red Riding Hoods mob a wolf rock star, who croons into a mike. Letters follow from numerous literary wolves, from "The Three Little Pigs" to The Jungle Book to the fables of Jean de La Fontaine. Children won't recognize them all—some will stump adults—which may make for a frustrating reading experience. An environmentally conscious conclusion, while informative, strikes a disconcertingly serious note. Ages 4–7. (Apr.)

Orange Peel's Pocket Rose Lewis, illus. by Grace Zong. Abrams, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8109-8394-6

Lewis's (Every Year on Your Birthday) affectionately written offering stars an adopted Chinese child whose classmates catch her off guard with questions about China that she can't answer. With her mother, she visits Chinese members of the community and comes away with new knowledge: Mr. Fan the tailor tells her about silk; Ma Sang the antique dealer reads her a poem; Mrs. Liu tells her about Chinese flowers; and Mr. Yu invites Orange Peel and her mom in "for what Orange Peel called Mr. Yu's 'best there ever was' noodle soup." Each of them slips a secret gift into Orange Peel's pocket, which give her the courage to present her findings to her classmates. Newcomer Zong's folksy acrylics show Orange Peel as a shiny, wooden doll–like figure with a button nose, and the story feels similarly stilted; the encounters Orange Peel has with her neighbors are rushed to keep the story moving, and present a curiously anachronistic view of China. Still, teachers and family members will welcome the book as a jumping-off point for discussions about children from faraway places. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Todd's TV James Proimos. HarperCollins/Tegen, $15.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-170985-2

Convincing kids to turn off the TV isn't easy, but with droll humor as his spoonful of sugar, Proimos (Paulie Pastrami Achieves World Peace) might win them over. Like Jonathan Swift, Proimos carries the book's absurd plot to the extreme: Todd's busy parents often dump him in front of the TV, and one night when they're debating who will take Todd to a parent-teacher conference, the TV booms, "I'LL DO IT." As Todd's parents relinquish their responsibilities, the TV ends up making Todd pancakes, giving him "heart-to-heart advice," taking him on vacation, and finally offering to adopt him. Proimos's witty three-color cartoons are especially delightful, portraying Todd's parents' inept attempts to take back control (even dressing up as a TV). But it's Todd who simply (and somewhat inexplicably) suggests turning off the TV, leading to better reading, listening, and grades, as well as Todd feeling "more loved than he ever had in his life." There's some serious parental guilt-tripping in the text ("Parents are busy people. They can't spend every minute with their child"), but Proimos's humor should charm adults as well as kids. Ages 4–8. (May)

Sylvia Long's Thumbelina Sylvia Long. Chronicle, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-8118-5522-8

In Long's faithful retelling of Ander-sen's tale, the tiny Thumbelina is courted by a succession of appalling suitors—a toad, a beetle, and a pompous mole—but escapes a life of misery with the help of a swallow whose life she saved. Working in meticulously drafted ink and watercolor, Long (Because You Are My Baby) lingers over Thumbelina's flower-petal and dried-leaf wardrobe, paints careful closeups of the swallow she cares for, and gives the spiders who help Thumbelina spin the flax for her wedding trousseau little knit sweaters. (Thumbelina herself is blonde and freckled; her California freshness is perhaps the book's only off note.) The prospect of a suffocating life underground—"Don't be stubborn or I shall bite you with my sharp teeth!" scolds the field mouse who acts as Thumbelina's guardian, irritated at her rejection of a secure marriage—is redeemed by Ander-sen's uncharacteristically happy ending, and Long celebrates it with a spectacular foldout of the wedding. Elsewhere, vertical spreads emphasize Thumbelina's tininess relative to gigantic, nodding poppies and gargantuan cattails. A jewel box of a work whose pages invite lingering. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Bear in Underwear Todd H. Doodler. Blue Apple (Chronicle, dist.), $12.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-60905-016-0

In a forest composed of flat geometric shapes, Doodler creates a cast of cartoon animals who talk in speech balloons and sport friendly, if slightly crazed, expressions. Bear, who's pictured on the cover wearing soft fabric tighty-whiteys (a fun, if slightly creepy touch), finds a backpack on his way home after a game of hide-and-seek. His overzealous friends demand he open it, which he does after overcoming his initial nervousness, and discovers that it's full of underwear of every shape and style. At the encouragement of his friends, he tries on several pairs, attempting—à la Goldilocks—to find a perfect fit (one is "too silly," another "too itchy"). After he finds it, his friends join in the fun, showing off their undies with shouts of "Totally rad!" and "Super cool." Doodler (The Zoo I Drew) offers candidly silly details on every page—from the panoply of underwear options to the outline of Bear's rear end when he's not wearing any—all but ensuring that despite the fact that there's not much story in this meandering book, kids just might adore it anyway. Ages 4–up. (Apr.)

The Can Man Laura E. Williams, illus. by Craig Orback. Lee & Low, $18.95 (40p) ISBN 978-1-60060-266-5

In Williams's (The Best Winds) poignant story, Tim wants a skateboard badly, but money is tight. Watching a homeless man everyone calls the Can Man (except Tim's parents, who remember when he used to live in their building and still call him by name) collect cans to redeem for cash, Tim decides to do the same to bankroll his skateboard. As he encroaches on the man's turf, Tim suppresses flashes of guilt—especially when the man says he hopes to buy a new coat "before the snow starts flying." After the Can Man offers his shopping cart to help Tim transport his cans to the redemption center, the boy hands him the money he's made. In an emotional final scene, Tim receives a skateboard that the Can Man has refurbished and personalized for him. Orback's (Hot Pursuit: Murder in Mississippi) realistic oil paintings on canvas bring the tale's urban setting into clear focus in warmly lit scenes that illuminate the characters' feelings—notably Tim's unease and his beneficiary's gratitude—and readily transmit the weighty themes at work. Ages 5–10. (Apr.)

Garmann's Street Stian Hole. Eerdmans, $16.99 (42p) ISBN 978-0-8028-5357-8

This sequel to Garmann's Summer traverses equally inventive, if unsettling, territory. A bully named Roy, who is "Congress, God, the basketball team's top scorer, and first in everything" pressures Garmann to light a match, which starts a fire in the yard of a scary, eccentric neighbor, known as the "Stamp Man." The fire is put out, and an odd friendship grows between Garmann and the man, who shares with the boy his stamp collection and unconventional trains of thought. "If you stretch out your intestines, they will be over twenty-five feet long," he says, to which Garmann replies, "There are 440 steps to school, 230 days until summer vacation... and I am always last to be picked when we make teams at recess time." Such revealing, unexpected connections also occur in the wild juxtaposition of illustrations and photos, including oversize heads, stamp cancellations, and a rainstorm comprising people in parachutes. With its dark undercurrents and startlingly original style, this book may not have broad appeal. But for children aware that "Life is never completely safe," as Garmann's father says, it will be reassuring to see the help a like-minded companion can offer. Ages 6–10. (Apr.)

Fiction

The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon David Almond, illus. by Polly Dunbar. Candlewick, $15.99 (128p) ISBN 978-0-7636-4217-4

Almond (Raven Summer) shows his playful side in this story of an urban boy with a large imagination and unconventional neighbors. Paul, who lives in the basement apartment of a high-rise, yearns to touch the sky. He goes on an adventure to the top floor of his building, and on his way up he runs into some unusual residents. One of them, who is pretending (or is she?) to be the identical twin sister of an artist living on the top floor ("I will say that Mabel is on holiday in Barbados, and I have come to look after her apartment while she is away"), proves invaluable in helping Paul fulfill his wish. Then she goes a step further, finding someone who can aid Paul in testing his theory that "the moon is not the moon, but is a hole in the sky." Adorned with Dunbar's whimsical pencil and ink illustrations, this book is a pleasing mix of silliness and creative thinking. Readers will take delight in meeting offbeat characters and in sharing the young hero's discovery of what lies beyond familiar territory. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)

Nuts Kacy Cook. Marshall Cavendish, $16.99 (160p) ISBN 978-0-7614-5652-0

This heartfelt debut novel stars 11-year-old Nell, who finds two orphaned squirrels in her backyard and decides to care for them. Nell and her younger brothers are homeschooled, and her parents approve of the project, so long as she adheres to the guidelines proposed by Libby, a squirrel expert Nell locates online. Though Libby immediately advises Nell to contact a wildlife specialist, Nell resists because she doesn't want to give up the squirrels, which she has named Mantha and Sam: "The squirrels were special. They made me feel special." Consumed by her new project, Nell deceives her parents regarding the guidance she is receiving from Libby, and continues to raise the creatures. Curiously, Nell's otherwise attentive parents never seem to do their own research or contact Libby themselves. Characters sometimes speak out of turn for their age—particularly Nell's crush, Russ, a nature lover and hunter who seems a bit too wise for a middle-schooler. However, Cook effectively demonstrates the lessons of nature—birth, growth, and death—and Nell's need to let go. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)

Griff Carver, Hallway Patrol Jim Krieg. Razorbill, $15.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-59514-276-4

In what reads like a deliberately clichéd police procedural, first-time novelist Krieg takes readers inside the squeaky-clean hallways of Rampart Middle School, where new student Griff Carver immediately smells something fishy. Griff, a seasoned safety patrol officer whose reputation for razor-sharp instincts and tough-guy attitude has preceded him, is forced to team up with chatterbox Tommy, a by-the-books Boy Scout, to weed out a counterfeit hall pass gang. With comically over-the-top cop lingo—"I'd had enough commanding officers over the years to know that that's what they were. Politicians. Kids looking to score a few points on their magnate high school application"—Griff and Tommy tell their stories through incident reports and interviews, adding drama and humor to the most mundane aspects of school. Krieg cleverly depicts Rampart as a microcosm of society, complete with smarmy "student govie types," a gutsy school reporter (who contributes diary-style chapters), and dedicated but underappreciated hallway patrol officers ("A hero's just a sandwich the cafeteria served us every Wednesday," Griff quips). Krieg will keep readers chuckling through the hilarious but action-packed showdown, which leaves the door open for a sequel. Ages 9–11. (Apr.)

Alchemy and Meggy Swann Karen Cushman. Clarion, $16 (176p) ISBN 978-0-547-23184-6

Cushman's (Catherine, Called Birdy) newest novel has all the elements that have made her earlier books so beloved. With flawless historical prose, Cushman introduces Meggy Swann, a feisty, sharp-tongued girl just arrived in gritty Elizabethan London, who has had more than her share of hard knocks. Unwanted by both her parents, she describes herself as "the ugglesome crookleg, the four-featured cripple, the fearful, misshapen creature," dependent on two "sticks" to hobble about. When Meggy is sent to live with her father, he is horrified to have to house and care for her—he wanted a son and an assistant. Meggy is equally unhappy until she tries her hand at her father's work: alchemy. While Cushman's story revolves around the potential magic and disappointing fraud of alchemy (and Meggy's father) as well as a murder plot, at its heart are relationships. Meggy must learn to open up to others to turn her life from loneliness and anger toward friendship and even joy. There is no unequivocally happy ending for Meggy, but a better life awaits her, and readers will gladly accompany her on the journey. Ages 10–14. (Apr.)

The Private Thoughts of Amelia E. Rye Bonnie Shimko. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-374-36131-0

Shimko's engaging novel, set in the 1960s in a small town in northeastern New York, is narrated by 13-year-old Amelia Earhart Rye. Named by her beloved Grandpa Thomas after the famous pilot, friendless Amelia has an incredibly mean mother; Amelia was a surprise baby, and her mother jumped out a window when she discovered she was pregnant ("...she was pure furious that I kept on kicking. And she blamed me for the scars on her face, too"). When Fancy Nelson, the first black child Amelia has ever seen, moves to town and befriends her, Amelia is inspired by Fancy's courage and confidence, and begins to enjoy an enlarged and enriched life. The book is peopled with believable, multilayered characters, except for Amelia's mother, who is so broadly drawn as to approach caricature. But as Amelia matures and changes her own behavior, her mother grows more sympathetic. Shimko's (Kat's Promise) story is original, and Amelia's distinctive voice and likable nature will have readers rooting for her in times of trouble and cheering her ultimate good fortune. The happy ending is immensely satisfying. Ages 10–14. (Apr.)

The Cinderella Society Kay Cassidy. Egmont USA, $16.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-60684-017-7

Sixteen-year-old Jess Parker is a good girl—not that that's gotten her anywhere socially. She's low on status at her new school, until she's plucked from oblivion by the Cindys, a secret society of girls who right social wrongs committed by the popular crowd. Unconfident Jess is shocked by this unexpected attention, but thrilled, too. This debut novel's resemblance to the Cinderella fairy tale ends with Jess's style makeover. It's mostly about an ongoing war between good and evil, mounted by the Cindys against the Wickeds, who "gain power by manipulating and dominating other kids," as each group "battl[es] for the souls of the Reggies" (the Regular kids). With a largely black-and-white world view and rituals that sound like Sunday mass (talk of commandments, saving, and sacrifice is commonplace), the Cindys and their conflict with the Wickeds come across as a thinly disguised version of Christian spiritual warfare. Cassidy's novel reads like a mashup of a self-help manual for building girls' self-esteem and a conversion tool for a particular set of moral behaviors, with some nods to goddess spirituality. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

She Thief Daniel Finn. Feiwel and Friends, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-56330-1

British author Finn's awkwardly titled U.S. debut is an exciting, if often bleak, update of the classic trope of orphans making a living as thieves. In the downtrodden Barrio in an unnamed contemporary city, the titular thief, Baz, lives with the wiry Demi, assorted other young boys, and their Dickensian den mother, Fay. Demi and Baz steal a ring from a rich woman, but trouble erupts when it turns out that their victim was the police chief's wife. Things get even more complicated when they learn that Fay's son, given up for adoption years earlier, has been raised by the police chief, and now wants the help of Fay (as well as her charges) to steal from his corrupt father. The chain of events set off by these actions leads to misery for many characters, and Finn's strong writing (filtered through Baz's tough, unsentimental worldview) keeps the sense of tension and danger prominent. There's little that's romantic in the poverty or thievery in this tale, but there is an engaging story with solid characters, intense action, and a strong narrative voice. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

Living Hell Catherine Jinks. Harcourt, $17 (272p) ISBN 978-0-15-206193-7

Science fiction has a long tradition of doomed "generation ships," spacecraft whose leisurely journeys are interrupted by some calamity, either internal or external. Early on, 17-year-old Cheney's after-the-fact narrative reveals that the same is true of Plexus, the starship on which he's been born and raised, which is en route to finding a habitable planet for its 1,500 residents. During its voyage, Plexus encounters a mysterious wave of energy that rapidly transforms the ship's mechanical elements into living organisms, many analogous to ones inside our bodies, and the crew is subjected to repeated attacks from a ship whose immune system identifies them as alien infections ("For the first time my whole world was shifting on its axis. All my life I'd been traveling in one direction, at a constant speed"). Jinks (The Reformed Vampire Support Group) remains adept at action sequences and creating a pervasively tense environment, though her characters are perhaps less memorable than in previous books. With plenty of gruesome creatures (and demises) that owe a thing or two to films like Aliens, this is science fiction for horror fans. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

A Golden Web Barbara Quick. HarperTeen, $16.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-144887-4

In this historical novel about anatomist Allessandra Giliani, Alessandra dreams of investigating the inner workings of the human body and studying medicine in 14th-century Bologna. The problem, of course, is that Alessandra is a girl. In her first book for teens, adult author Quick (Vivaldi's Virgins) highlights the many obstacles that stand between Alessandra and her dreams—parental desire to marry her well, disapproval of women studying, being cloistered to protect one's virtue, the physical danger of clandestinely entering the world of men. Quick is perhaps too thorough in establishing the many walls Alessandra faces, but once Alessandra contrives to study in Bologna, the story flows quickly. Alessandra's intellectual curiosity is wonderfully depicted, her philosophical musings are entertaining, and her commitment to the pursuit of biological knowledge enlivens the plot. Quick's prose is fluid and authentic, bright and engaging. At times, this novel is predictable (there is an evil stepmother, and Alessandra dresses as a boy in Bologna), but as Alessandra's reputation builds as one of the city's most gifted students, and she gets the guy, it is ultimately satisfying. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

Three Rivers Rising: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood Jame Richards. Knopf, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-375-85885-7

Threads of romance and class run through this striking novel in verse, set against the 1889 Johnstown flood in Pennsylvania. Debut author Richards alternates among several teenagers and adults whose lives intersect before, during, and after the disaster. In the most prominent story line, 16-year-old Celestia ("if I am not the fun-loving beauty,/ then I must be the serious one") and her family enjoy peaceful summers at the Lake Conemaugh resort until her spirited older sister becomes pregnant and Celestia falls in love with a hired hand, enraging their parents. Maura's narrative focuses on her home life—she has three children by age 17 ("How can a house full of babies feel empty?")—and her determination as the flood hits. And Kate's story follows her arduous journey to become a nurse after the death of her first love, as well as her role in the rescue when typhoid breaks out. Richards builds strong characters with few words and artfully interweaves the lives of these independent thinkers. Celestia's taboo relationship feels dramatic and sweeping, while the various minute-by-minute accounts during the flood are painful and immediate. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

Guardian of the Dead Karen Healey. Little, Brown, $17.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-316-04430-1

There's a lot of promise but too much ground covered and too delayed a reward in this boarding school drama turned eerie fantasy. Set in debut author Healey's native New Zealand, the narrative follows snarky 17-year-old Ellie Spencer as she works on a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with her asexual best friend, while stalking Mark, an enigmatic crush, and worrying about a string of recent murders. What starts out as a simple whodunit soon morphs into a surprising blend of magical realism and ancient Maori mythology involving a magic mask, Mark's mind-controlling charm bracelet, and beings of "weird ageless beauty" who live in the mist, shaking up Ellie's view of the world. While Healey's prose is skilled and her characters well-formed (Ellie is an especially charismatic heroine), minor plot threads drop off—such as Ellie's mother's cancer—and the process through which the deeper story is revealed (a battle for survival between a small group of human warriors and the "fairy people," also called "patupaiarehe") feels frustratingly drawn out. By contrast, the thrilling last third of the novel, dedicated to the climactic battle, seems underdeveloped. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys Scott William Carter. Simon & Schuster, $16.99 (208p) ISBN 978-1-4169-7156-6

In his touching and impressive debut novel, Carter tells the story of two teenagers coping with the fallout of broken families. Charlie, a good student and artist who is shy around girls, has just found out that his mother is getting remarried. His former best friend Jake, now in foster care, has become a tough kid who regularly gets suspended from school. When a school bully threatens Charlie, Jake literally rides to the rescue, driving up in a stolen Mustang and dragging Charlie on a road trip to Denver to find the latter's father and give him a drawing. On the way they meet a group of stoners, run from the police, and console a depressed woman at a motel. There are a few missteps—believable as a virgin 16-year-old boy might be, one who has never masturbated is pushing it—but for the most part, Carter's storytelling is on target. Some early foreshadowing tempers what might otherwise have been a jarring ending to this road trip story, and both Jake and Charlie come across as believable characters with interesting stories to tell. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

The Knife That Killed Me Anthony McGowan. Delacorte, $16.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-385-73822-4

McGowan's third novel is a dramatic page-turner and gripping meditation on power and violence. Narrating from "a gray place," teenager Paul Vardeman takes readers back to his rigid Catholic high school, where the teachers can be as cruel as the students ("It was a place where you always felt like there was a belt around your chest, tightening, squeezing, and another weight on your head, keeping you bowed down, eyes to the ground"). When a manipulative bully forces Paul to deliver a gruesome package to a rival school's gang leader, it reignites longstanding hostilities, which rapidly escalate. Insecure and conflicted, Paul is pushed further down a dark road, which McGowan (Jack Tumor) counterbalances with Paul's growing friendship with a group of outsider students, "the freaks," including his crush. A sense of dread never really dissipates as the story hurtles toward an epic, primal battle, but McGowan has twists in store, making the final scenes as surprising as they are inevitable. The language often borders on mythic, giving the novel an unsettling, ancient quality, not unlike that of violence itself. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)

Nonfiction

Short: Walking Tall When You're Not Tall at All John Schwartz. Roaring Brook/Flash Point, $16.99 (144p) ISBN 978-1-59643-323-6

Schwartz, a reporter for the New York Times, debuts with an investigation of the relationship between height, wealth, and happiness, that's rich with examples from his own life. At 5'3" as an adult, Schwartz has been considered short all his life, which has affected him in ways both obvious and invisible. With an accessibly informal and even cheeky tone, he mixes personal anecdotes with information from scientific papers, news articles, and interviews as he explores hormones and surgeries marketed to children and parents, breaks down the biases that can be found in scientific studies, and even covers the embarrassment (but also bargains!) to be had shopping in the boys' department. Schwartz also discusses ways to physically and mentally deal with shortness (and how it can be an advantage), encouraging healthy eating, exercise, and breaking the habit of blaming one's problems on height: "[L]earning to tell what's real from what's hype can save you from a lot of unhappiness." Charts and statistics complement this down-to-earth and hopeful account, which demonstrates that being different doesn't have to forecast what Schwartz calls a "second-rate life." Ages 11–14. (Apr.)

Under a Red Sky: Memoir of a Childhood in Communist Romania Haya Leah Molnar. FSG/Foster, $17.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-374-31840-6

In the unsentimental, present-tense narrative voice of her childhood self, Molnar chronicles both her family's experience in rampantly anti-Semitic Communist Romania following WWII, and her personal awakening to her Jewish identity: "All I know is that yesterday I wasn't Jewish and today I am." The adored only child in a multigenerational, cramped household full of combative, artistic personalities, Eva observes and reflects on conflict wrought by her family's forced downward mobility, hiding knives when tensions rise, and learning the art of secret keeping, both within the familial and public spheres. Comic books and novels provide escape for Eva, while stories quietly told to her by various family members reveal fragments of tragic recent history that prove enlightening as she seeks to understand adult behavior, particularly that of her distant, moody father. Finely wrought moments poignantly render the political and religious complexity of Eva's childhood: her best friend, a Christian, searches Eva's head for horns; her Jewish aunt delivers a Christmas tree; she learns that two Nazis saved her family's lives years earlier. Haunting images and humorous anecdotes combine to powerful effect in this impressive debut. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

Dinomania!

Dinosaurs roam once more—in a selection of spring children's books.

Dinosaurs?! Lila Prap. North-South, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7358-2284-9

The wisecracking chickens in this Slovenian import are initially skeptical that they're descended from dinosaurs ("Why didn't they call them terrible chickens if they were our ancestors?"), but gradually warm to the idea. Prap's stylized dinosaurs appear with rough outlines against grainy backgrounds beside accessible descriptions of their attributes. The chickens' goofy running commentary further lightens the mood ("This one looks like a snake that has swallowed a turtle," says a hen about the aquatic Elasmosaurus). The irreverent tone should keep kids entertained as they learn about dinosaurs and their descendants. Ages 3–up. (Apr.)

Rumble, Roar, Dinosaur! Tony Mitton, illus. by Lynne Chapman. Kingfisher, $12.99 (24p) ISBN 978-0-7534-1932-8

With its expressive cartoon dinosaurs, this lift-the-flap poetry book (following Gnash, Gnaw, Dinosaur!) emphasizes fun over science. The rhymes have plenty of bounce, though they can feel forced. A Stegosaurus with hot-pink spines boasts, "I am stegosaurus. Steadily I go,/ searching for the place where the best plants grow./ My nut-size brain in my tiny little head/ somehow finds a way to get my heavy body fed." A large flap reveals him swiping his spiked tail at three taunting dinos. Readers will likely overlook the occasional awkwardness of the text given the zippy illustrations and interactive format. Ages 3–6. (Apr.)

Born to Be Giants: How Baby Dinosaurs Grew to Rule the World Lita Judge. Roaring Brook/Flash Point, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-59643-443-1

"Every giant was once a baby," asserts this insightful book, filled with fascinating details about the rearing habits of less familiar dinosaurs. Using fossil evidence and comparisons to modern species, Judge speculates about how dinosaur mothers might have cared for their young, and her expressive paintings make artful use of dimension and scale while bringing the compelling creatures to life. So while "A bad-tempered Tyrannosaurus rex mother probably ate anyone who tried stealing her eggs," a baby Argentinosaurus would have had to watch out for mom and dad. "A herd of Argentinosaurus was an earth-shaking, bone-crushing stampede of feet. Their tiny babies probably hid under forest cover." Ages 6–9. (May)

Dinosaurs Eye to Eye John Woodward, illus. by Peter Minister. DK, $19.99 (96p) ISBN 978-0-7566-5760-4

Designed in the vein of Animals Up Close, this oversize reference book features striking digital images of dinosaurs, along with abundant information about them and the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods in which they thrived. Readers can get up close and personal with a variety of species: a web-footed Nothosaurus's dimpled skin looks real enough to touch, and the blue and red feathers of a Deinonychus seem as though they could ripple in the wind. Action scenes like that of Cryolophosaurus looming over the splayed corpse of a plant-eating dinosaur, offer visual excitement, while diagrams, sidebars with dino-stats, and photographs of fossils emphasize the educational. Ages 8–up. (Apr.)

Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age Deborah Kogan Ray. FSG/Foster, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-374-31789-8

This dynamic book brings readers into the "Bone Wars" of the late 19th and early 20th century, focusing on Earl Douglass, a fossil expert whose search for "something big" made him one of the era's most successful "bone hunters." Ray's sweeping scenes of the dry Utah landscape capture the excitement of the hunt, while drawings of the paleontologists' presumed fossil finds, hand tools, and graphs and charts offer insight into the meticulous nature of the work. Clear, rich prose documents Douglass's quest—"His heart pounded with anticipation as he began to chip into the sandstone. Slowly, one tailbone after another was revealed"—and his own field notes are integrated throughout. Ages 8–up. (Apr.)

The Kingfisher Dinosaur Encyclopedia Mike Benton. Kingfisher, $19.99 (160p) ISBN 978-0-7534-6440-3

This thorough, fact-filled dinosaur encyclopedia contains full-color digital images of dinosaurs, in order of their appearance through geological time, from the "first animal to have most of the characteristics of a dinosaur" (Herrerasaurus) through some of the last species to roam the earth, including Triceratops and Ankylosaurus. Profiles offer descriptions of various species' anatomy and speculations on issues like mobility, diet, and predation. Easy-to-read time lines and charts discuss the origins of and extinctions of species, while abundant photographs of skeletons, dig sites, and paleontologists at work integrate relevance and texture. The book's expansive scope and visually stimulating format should spark readers' curiosity while engaging imaginations. Ages 8–up. (Apr.)

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Book Reviews

Monday, March 29, 2010