Publishers Weekly articles from July 2008, page 4

Publishers Weekly archives from July 2008

The Professors' Wives' Club.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Professors' Wives' Club Joanne Rendell. NAL Accent, $14 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-451-22491-0 This tepid debut novel follows four women as they band together to save a garden from being gobbled up by an expanding college campus....

Beneath the Pines.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Beneath the Pines Janet Beard. Two Dollar Radio (Consortium, dist.), $15.50 paper(267p) ISBN 978-0-9763895-4-5 An aging spinster biology teacher and her 20-something niece spend a summer getting to know one another in this careful...

Voices in a Mask.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Voices in a Mask Geoffrey Green. Northwestern Univ., $16.95 paper (210p) ISBN 978-0-8101-5209-0 Green's knowledge of and passion for all things operatic shines through this debut short story collection, based in part on "inspiring...

In the Land of No Right Angles.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * In the Land of No Right Angles Daphne Beal. Anchor, $13.95 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-307-38806-3 It starts with a standard conceit: "What I saw on my semester abroad." Alex Larson, a "wholesome-bordering-on-nerdy" Des Moines girl,...

Without Saying.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Without Saying Richard Howard. Turtle Point (Consortium, dist.), $16.95 paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-933527-14-7 In this 14th collection of his own verse, the much-honored Howard (The Silent Treatment) returns to the kinds of poems that...

Beasts for the Chase.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Beasts for the Chase Monica Ferrell. Sarabande (Consortium, dist.), $14.95 paper (104p) ISBN 978-1-932511-65-9 In her debut poetry collection, published on the heels of her debut novel, The Answer Is Always Yes, Ferrell fills richly...

The Shadow of Sirius.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * The Shadow of Sirius W.S. Merwin. Copper Canyon (Consortium, dist.), $22 (136p) ISBN 978-1-55859-284-3 In his best book in a decade--and one of the best outright--Merwin points his oracular, unpunctuated poems toward his own past,...

Tyrannosaurus Rex versus the Corduroy Kid.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid Simon Armitage. Knopf, $22 (80p) ISBN 978-0-307-26841-9 Armitage is one of the U.K.'s most popular, important and prolific poets--as well as a writer for TV and radio, a translator, a...

Dear Darkness.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Dear Darkness Kevin Young, Knopf, $26 (208p) ISBN 978-0-307-26434-3 Perhaps the most prominent African-American poet of his generation, the prolific Young (For the Confederate Dead) begins his sixth book, which gathers sets of...

The Cosmopolitan.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Cosmopolitan Donna Stonecipher. Coffee House (Consortium, dist.), $16 (88p) ISBN 978-1-56689-221-6 "These poems were written while I was thinking about my generation's relationship to quotation and collage," writes Stonecipher...

Q&A: PW talks with Simon Armitage: West meets east.(Interview)
July 21, 2008... Simon Armitage is one of the U.K's most popular poets, but his new book, Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid, is the first individual collection of his poems to be published in the U.S. Is it true that in the U.K. poets are somewhat...

One Secret Thing.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... One Secret Thing Sharon Olds. Knopf, $25 (120p) ISBN 978-0-307-26992-8, $18 paper ISBN 978-0-375-71177-0 The ninth outing from Olds (Blood, Tin, Straw) should again please the many admirers of her raw, vivid and often explicit poems,...

Red Rover.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Red Rover Susan Stewart. Univ. of Chicago (CDC, dist.), $22 (105p) ISBN 978-0-226-77454-1 In this follow-up to her National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Columbarium, critic and poet Stewart offers sequences and serial poems...

Ballistics.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Ballistics Billy Collins. Random, $24 (128p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6491-5 The latest from former U.S. laureate Collins (The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems) again shows the deft, often self-mocking touch that has made him one of...

Same Life.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Same Life Maureen N. McLane. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $22 (126p) ISBN 978-0-374-16533-8 McLane (who teaches at Harvard) has built up a national reputation as a critic and reviewer, and this debut showcases a poet who is always clear...

The Border Kingdom.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Border Kingdom D. Nurkse. Knopf, $25 (112p) ISBN 978-0-307-26802-0 Nurkse's ninth book takes its title from the Latin origin of limbo (limbus, hem or border). As the "second kingdom" (after Heaven), it edges on paradise; in...

Letters to a Stranger.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Letters to a Stranger Thomas James, Graywolf, $15 (140p) ISBN 978-1-55597-502-9 James took his own life in January 1974. He was 27, gay and the author of one poetry book published in 1973 by Houghton Mifflin; it received little...

Bean There, Done That: A Maggy Thorsen Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Bean There, Done That: A Maggy Thorsen Mystery Sandra Balzo. Severn, $27.95 (224p) ISBN 978-07278-6653-0 At the start of Balzo's spirited third Maggy Thorsen mystery (after 2007's Grounds for Murder), Rachel Thorsen, the wife of...

The Butcher of Smithfield.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * The Butcher of Smithfield Susanna Gregory. Sphere (IPG, dist.), $24.95 (512p) ISBN 978-1-847-4406-2-4 Gregory brilliantly evokes 1663 London in her brisk third mystery to feature spy Thomas Chaloner (after 2007's Blood on the...

Green Monster.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Green Monster Rick Shefchik. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (306p) ISBN 978-1-59058-524-5 Baseball fans will welcome Shefchik's second mystery to feature sports sleuth Sam Skarda (after 2007's Amen Corner). A claim that the Boston Red Sox'...

Death Swatch.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Death Swatch Laura Childs. Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-425-22478-6 A murder in the midst of Mardi Gras propels Childs's enjoyable sixth Scrap-booking mystery (after 2007's Frill Kill). Carmela Bertrand, the owner...

Buffalo Bill's Defunct: A Latouche County Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Buffalo Bill's Defunct: A Latouche County Mystery Sheila Simonson. Perseverance (SCB, dist.), $14.95 paper (280p) ISBN 978-1-880284-96-4 This middling first of a new series from Simonson (Larkspur) features a familiar mystery-solving...

Blood Memory.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Blood Memory Margaret Coel. Berkley Prime Crime, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-425-22345-1 Coel introduces a tenacious heroine, Denver investigative reporter Catherine McLeod, in this stellar first in a new series. After an attempt on...

Killing the Beasts.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Killing the Beasts Chris Simms. Orion (IPG, dist.), $12.95 paper (274p) ISBN 978-0-7528-7799-2 In this solid British police procedural from Simms (Pecking Order), Manchester Det. Insp. Jon Spicer looks into a bizarre series of...

The Boreal Owl Murder: A Bob White Birder Murder Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Boreal Owl Murder: A Bob White Birder Murder Mystery Jan Dunlap: North Star (www.northstarpress.com), $14.95 paper (282p) ISBN 978-0-87839-277-3 A pedestrian plot and a garrulous narrator given to less than compelling interior...

Pythagorean Crimes.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Pythagorean Crimes Tefcros Michaelides, trans, from the Greek by Lena Cavanagh. Parmenides (www.parmenides.com), $24.95 (280p) ISBN 978-1- 930972-26-1; $14.95 paper ISBN 978-1-930972-27-8 When Stefanos Kantartzis is found dead in...

Icarus.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Icarus Roger Levy. Gollancz, $14.95 paper (432p) ISBN 978-0-575-07981-6 Initially, this impressive novel by British SF rising star Levy will fascinate but also puzzle readers. The characters are immediately intriguing, the writing...

Too Many Curses.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Too Many Curses A. Lee Martinez. Tor, $14.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1835-0 Martinez (The Automatic Detective) staffs this whimsical fantasy with his trademark weird beings and sets it in the mysterious castle of powerful, cruel...

The Gone-Away World.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Gone-Away World Nick Harkaway. Knopf, $24.95 (498p) ISBN 978-0-307-26886-0 This unclassifiable debut from the son of legendary thriller author John le Carre is simultaneously a cautionary tale about the absurdity of war; a...

Going Under.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Going Under Justina Robson. Pyr, $15 paper (384p) ISBN 978-1-59102-650-1 Uneven pacing and an overcrowded cast try the reader's patience in Robson's third Quantum Gravity novel (after 2007's Selling Out). Though the part Goth, part...

Dark Vengeance.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Dark Vengeance Ed Greenwood. Tor, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1766-7 This insubstantial sequel to Dark Warrior Rising (2007) is concerned mainly with skullduggery in the-labyrinth of caverns where various groups of dark elves, the...

The Book of Scandal.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Book of Scandal Julia London. Pocket, $6.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-4165-4711-2 London (Highlander Unbound) sets this convincing tale of romance and intrigue in the early 1800s, an obscure period of strife in the English monarchy....

Wicked Weaves.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Wicked Weaves Joyce and Jim Lavene. Berkley Prime Crime, $6.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-425-22330-7 This jolly series debut from the husband-and-wife Lavene team serves up medieval murder and mayhem. USC doctoral candidate Jessie Morton...

Tempt Me with Darkness.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Tempt Me with Darkness Shayla Black. Pocket, $6.99 (384p) ISBN 9781-4165-5858-3 More Spamalot than Camelot, the debut of Black's Doomsday Brotherhood series introduces Marrok of Cadbury, who was a brave warrior in King Arthur's army...

The Ten Thousand.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Ten Thousand Paul Kearney. Solaris, $7.99 (496p) ISBN 978-1-84416-573-5 Kearney (This Forsaken Earth) retells Xenophon's Anabasis with great attention to detail but little novelty. The Macht, a race of mercenaries, are hired to...

The Shiniest Jewel: A Family Love Story.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Shiniest Jewel: A Family Love Story Marian Henley. Springboard, $21.99 (178p) ISBN 978-0-446-19931-1 Nationally published comic strip artist Henley offers a warm, funny memoir of adopting her son, William, which will make you cry....

Flight.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Flight, Volume 5 Edited by Kazu Kibuishi. Villard, $25 paper (368p) ISBN 978-0-345-50589-7 The Flight anthology series has often been accused of being uneven, and this fifth installment will do nothing to change that--there are a...

Tokko: Devil's Awaken.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Tokko: Devil's Awaken Toru Fujisawa. Tokyopop, $10.99 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-4278-0974-2 Ranmaru Shindo wants to solve the mystery of his parents' death. Along with his younger sister, Saya, he joins the police force intending to...

Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit?: Insanely Annoying Modern Things.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit?: Insanely Annoying Modern Things Steve Lowe and Alan McArthur with Brendan Hay. Grand Central, $22.99 (220p) ISBN 9780-446-19788-5 Lowe and McArthur filled two books for the U.K. market with...

Tomorrow You Go Home: One Man's Harrowing Imprisonment in a Modern-Day Russian Gulag.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Tomorrow You Go Home: One Man's Harrowing Imprisonment in a Modern-Day Russian Gulag Tig Hague, Gotham, $26 (320p) ISBN 978-1592-40375-2 An English junior stock broker visiting Russia for a series of business meetings in 2003 is...

Scorsese by Ebert.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Scorsese by Ebert Roger Ebert. Univ. of Chicago, $25 (256p) ISBN 978-0-226-18202-5 Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, is an unabashed fan of Scorsese, whom he considers "the most gifted director of his generation." To...

Reinventing Gravity: A Physicist Goes beyond Einstein.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Reinventing Gravity: A Physicist Goes Beyond Einstein John W. Moffat. Collins/Smithsonian, $27.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-117088-1 Gravity has long been the problem child of physics, creating difficulties in finding a Theory of...

The Crime of Reason and the Closing of the Scientific Mind.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Crime of Reason and the Closing of the Scientific Mind Robert B. Laughlin. Basic, $25.95 (192p) ISBN 978-0-465-00507-9 The provocative premise of this short book is that even as we appear to be awash in information, governments...

Leathernecks: An Illustrated History of the United States Marine Corps.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Leathernecks: An Illustrated History of the United States Marine Corps Merrill L. Bartlett and Jack Sweetman, foreword by Col. (Net) John W. Ripley, USMC. Naval Institute, $60 (352p) ISBN 978-1-59114-020-7 Bartlett and Sweetman,...

Q&A: PW talks with Julian Barnes: appointment in Samarra.(Interview)
July 21, 2008... In Nothing to Be Frightened of (reviews, July 14), Julian Barnes offers philosophical musings on mortality. Why did you choose to address questions about faith and mortality in this particular form? This book came out of the period...

The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran Hooman Majd. Doubleday, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-385-52334-9 In this critical but affectionate portrait of Iranian politics and culture, Majd, the Western-educated grandson of...

Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes Robert Kull. New World Library, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-1-57731-632-9 For his Ph.D. dissertation, Kull built a cabin in the Patagonian wilderness with the intention of studying "the effect of deep...

Green Goes with Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Green Goes with Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet Sloan Barnett. Atria, $19.99 paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-4165-7845-1 According to Barnett, the Green Editor for KNTV in San Francisco, human beings are...

Finding the Sweet Spot: The Natural Entrepreneur's Guide to Responsible, Sustainable, Joyful Work.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Finding the Sweet Spot: The Natural Entrepreneur's Guide to Responsible, Sustainable, Joyful Work Dave Pollard, foreword by Dave Smith. Chelsea Green, $17.95 paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-933392-90-5 Pollard, a longtime entrepreneurial...

The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics Philip Seib. Potomac (www.potomacbooksinc.com), $24.95 (224p) ISBN 978-1-59797-200-0 Mapping the first large-scale shift away from Western media dominance...

Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein Michael A. Newton and Michael R Scharf. St. Martin's, $28.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-38556-9 Law professors Newton and Scharf recount their involvement in the trial of...

The Great Wall Revisited: From the Jade Gate to Old Dragon's Head.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * The Great Wall Revisited: From the Jade Gate to Old Dragon's Head William Lindesay. Harvard Univ., $39.95 (292p) ISBN 978-0-674-03149-4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The mystery and magnificence of the Great Wall of China have...

Finding Merlin: The Truth behind the Legend of the Great Arthurian Mage.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Finding Merlin: The Truth Behind the Legend of the Great Arthurian Mage Adam Ardrey. Overlook, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-1-59020-098-8 Drawing on what he claims has been a history of suppression by England's political and religious...

The Ruin of the Roman Empire: A New History.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Ruin of the Roman Empire: A New History James O'Donnell. Ecco, $35 (448p) ISBN 9780-06-078737-0 The Roman empire was not invaded by barbarians in the fifth century, says classical historian O'Donnell. Rather, these tribes...

Fighting for the Cross: Crusading to the Holy Land.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Fighting for the Cross: Crusading to the Holy Land Norman Housley. Yale Univ., $38 (356) ISBN 978-0-300-11888-9 Narrative histories of the Crusades tend toward bloody accounts of a particular Crusade. This imaginative thematic...

Old World, New World: Great Britain and America from the Beginning.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Old World, New World: Great Britain and America from the Beginning Kathleen Burk. Atlantic Monthly, $35 (848p) ISBN 978-0-87113-971-8 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Burk, a historian at University College, London, provides a sweeping,...

Sniper One: On Scope and under Siege with a Sniper Team in Iraq.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Sniper One: On Scope and Under Siege with a Sniper Team in Iraq Sgt. Dan Mills. St. Martin's, $25.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-312-53126-3 When the 1st Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, under Mills's command, was told they'd be heading...

The Dictator's Shadow: Life under Augusto Pinochet.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Dictator's Shadow: Life Under Augusto Pinochet Heraldo Munoz. Basic, $26.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-465-00250-4 Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's reign (1973-1990) still resonates for its brutality and its role in pioneering...

Samuel Johnson: A Biography.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Samuel Johnson: A Biography Peter Martin. Harvard Univ. $35 (544p) ISBN 978-0-674-03160-9 Famed for his dictionary, "Rambler" essays and The Lives of the English Poets, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) remains one of the most-quoted and...

Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men Michael Kimmel. Harper, $25.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-083134-9 To a growing list of books about the myths and mysteries of American boys and young males, Kimmel, a sociologist and author...

Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate Kelly Alexander and Cynthia Hands, foreword by Coleman Andrews. Gotham, $27.50 (352p) ISBN 978-1-592-40389-9 At long...

Science on the Air: Popularizers and Personalities on Radio and Early Television.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Science on the Air: Popularizers and Personalities on Radio and Early Television Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette. Univ. of Chicago, $27.50 (288p) ISBN 978-0-226-46759-7 One of the reasons Orson Welles's dramatization of The War of the...

Creating Myself: How I Learned That Beauty Comes in All Shapes, Sizes, and Packages, Including Me.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Creating Myself: How I Learned that Beauty Comes in All Shapes, Sizes, and Packages, Including Me Mia Tyler. Atria, $25 (336p) ISBN 978-1-4165-5860-6 Tyler, daughter of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and sister to actress Liv, feels she's...

The Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * The Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook Barbara Fairchild. Wiley, $34.95 (816p) ISBN 978-0-470-22630-8 Culled from Bon Appetit magazine's "Fast, Fresh, Easy" column, this recipe compendium is one of the largest available for those...

The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Making Perfect Drinks.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Making Perfect Drinks Dale Degroff. Clarkson Potter, $35 (272p) ISBN 978-0-307-40573-9 Degroff (The Craft of the Cocktail) likes to be referred to as the "King of Cocktails," and it is hard to argue...

Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin Kenny Shopsin and Carolynn Carreno. Knopf, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-307-26493-0 Kenny Shopsin hates publicity the way a magnet must hate metal filings. With a documentary, a New...

Recently reviewed online.(Brief article)
July 21, 2008... www.publishersweekly.com ** Nonfiction American Dreamers: what Dreams Tell Us About the Political Psychology of Conservatives, Liberals, and Everyone Else Kelly Bulkeley. Beacon, July * Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages...

Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex--What Parents Don't Know and What Teens Aren't Telling.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex--What Parents Don't Know and What Teens Aren't Telling Stephen Wallace. Union Square (Sterling, dist.), $19.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-4027-5304-6 Former head of SADD (renamed Students Against...

Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven: A Gutsy Guide to Becoming One Hot and Healthy Mother!(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven: A Gutsy Guide to Becoming One Hot and Healthy Mother! Rory Freedman and Kim Bamouin. Running Press, $14.95 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-7624-3105-2 Vegan Skinny Bitch authors Freedman and Barnouin are back,...

South.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * South Patrick McDonnell. Little, Brown, $14.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-316-00509-8 McDonnell (The Gift of Nothing) continues a winning run of books about friendship starring the clown-nosed cat Mooch. Abandoning dialogue and...

Doctor Meow's Big Emergency.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Doctor Meow's Big Emergency Sam Lloyd. Holt, $14.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8050-8819-9 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Lloyd (Mr. Pusskins) gets in touch with her inner Richard Scarry for a book that's busy-as-a-bee chipper. Doctor Meow, a...

Bear Feels Scared.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Bear Feels Scared Karma Wilson, illus, by Jane Chapman. S&S/McElderry, $i6.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-68985986-1 Beloved Bear gets another emotional workout, this time a frightening episode in the dark and stormy woods. While Bear is on the...

Madeline and the Cats of Rome.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Madeline and the Cats of Rome John Bemelmans Marciano. Viking, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-670-06297-3 Piggybacking onto the original Madeline books by his grandfather, Marciano sends the "twelve little girls in two straight lines" to...

President Pennybaker.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... President Pennybaker Kate Feiffer, illus, by Diane Goode. S&S/Wiseman, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-41691354-2 Adding to the slate of presidential-election titles, Feiffer's (Henry the Dog with No Tail) spirited picture book introduces a...

A Is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... A Is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet Stephen T. Johnson. S&S/Wiseman, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-689-86301-1 Baby Einstein grads seeking their first coffee-table book might savor this abecedary, which pays homage to abstract expressionism...

Chalice.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Chalice Robin McKinley. Putnam, $18.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-399-24676-0 Fans and new readers alike will greedily devour McKinley's latest, a high fantasy as perfectly shaped and eloquently told as Beauty and The Hero and the Crown....

Lazy Little Loafers.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Lazy Little Loafers Susan Orlean, illus, by G. Brian Karas. Abrams, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8109-7027-4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "You don't have to be a genius to realize that babies are just lazy," complains the peeved,...

Sovay.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Sovay Celia Rees. Bloomsbury, $16.99 (416p) ISBN 978-1-59990-203-6 Rees's (Witch Child) evocative writing will once again sweep readers back in time to meet another of her iron-willed protagonists, Sovay, who is fashioned after the...

The Possibilities of Sainthood.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * The Possibilities of Sainthood Donna Freitas. FSG/Foster, $16.95 (280p) ISBN 978-0-374-36087-0 Fresh and funny, this debut novel introduces a 15-year-old Catholic schoolgirl who experiences typical adolescent angst but has her own...

Graceling.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Graceling Kristin Cashore. Harcourt, $17 (480p)ISBN 978-0-15-206396-2 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In a land of seven kingdoms, people with special talents, called Gracelings, are identified by their eyes--Katsa's are green and...

Black Rabbit Summer.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... * Black Rabbit Summer Kevin Brooks. Scholastic/Chicken House, $17.99 (496p) ISBN 978-0-545-05752-3 Sinister yet seductive, this brooding thriller bears all the Brooks (Lucas) hallmarks, chiefly the British author's painful awareness...

Dream Girl.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... Dream Girl Lauren Mechling. Delacorte, $15.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-385-73521-6 The coauthor of the 10th-Grade Social Climbers series, Mechling brings a lively awareness of girl-on-girl dynamics to this light mystery. There's also an...

The Ghosts of Kerfol.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 21, 2008... The Ghosts of Kerfol Deborah Noyes. Candlewick, $16.99 (176p) ISBN 978-0-7636-3000-3 In five wonderfully chilling short stories, Noyes (Red Butterfly; Gothic/) pays homage to Edith Wharton's ghost story "Kerfol," about the wealthy...

About the author: self-description is the ultimate writing challenge.(Soapbox)
July 21, 2008... Writing short is hard enough. Add the oddness of writing in the third person, and the shameless bragging.... Elisha Cooper is writing this piece. He's writing it in New York, where he lives with his wife and daughters. He's the author of...