Publishers Weekly articles from June 2005, page 4

Publishers Weekly archives from June 2005

Ice Haven.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * Ice Haven DANIEL CLOWES. Pantheon, $18.95 (92p) ISBN 0-375-43232-X Clowes (Ghost World) casts a harsh spotlight on the misfit dreamers who inhabit the small town of Ice Haven in this riveting graphic novel. Originally published in a...

Arcana, Volume 1.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Arcana, Volume 1 So-YOUNG LEE. Tokyopop, $9.99 paper (216p) ISBN 1-59532-481-X This fantasy manga follows the adventures of Inez, a young adolescent who wanders with her ancient grandfather through a lushly illustrated world of castles,...

War of the Worlds.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... War of the Worlds STEPHEN STERN AND ARNE STARR. Best Sellers Illustrated (4804 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Suite 544, Valley Village, Calif. 91607), $13.99 paper (185p) ISBN 0-9764755-0-2 Just in time for the release of Spielberg's movie...

The Young Widow.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... The Young Widow CASSANDRA CHAN. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 0-312-33748-5 Chan's sprightly debut, a contemporary homage to Dorothy L. Sayers's classic Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, introduces an appealing pair of sleuths....

The Blood-Dimmed Tide.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * The Blood-Dimmed Tide RENNIE AIRTH. Viking, $24.95 (340p) ISBN 0-670-89996-8 The many admirers of Airth's impressive debut, River of Darkness (1999), which was an Edgar finalist, will relish his gripping second police procedural, set...

The Malevolent Comedy.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... The Malevolent Comedy EDWARD MARSTON. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0-312-34283-7 In this lively and entertaining caper, the 15th in Marston's Elizabethan Theater Mystery series (after 2004's The Counterfeit Crank), the...

Stranger on a Train.(PW TALKS WITH J.A. JANCE)(Interview)
June 20, 2005... You were a single mother selling life insurance when you created J.P. Beaumont in Until Proven Guilty, which was published in 1985. Where did he come from? I usually say I met him on a train. I'd spent about six months trying to write a...

Long Time Gone.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Long Time Gone J.A. JANCE. Morrow, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-688-13824-1 Two family tragedies 50 years apart challenge J.P. Beaumont, Seattle investigator for the Washington Special Homicide Investigation Team, in bestseller Jance's taut,...

Blood Ties: a Father Dowling Mystery.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Blood Ties: A Father Dowling Mystery RALPH MCINERNY. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-312-33690-X The engaging 24th Father Dowling mystery (after 2004's Requiem for a Realtor) explores the moral ambiguities of the choices...

Easy Streets: a Harpur and Iles Mystery.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * Easy Streets: A Harpur and Iles Mystery BILL JAMES. Norton, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 0-393-06042-X An ongoing gentleman's war between cops and local drug dealers takes a deadly turn when someone firebombs the house of a smalltime dealer in...

The Enemy of God.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... The Enemy of God ROBERT DALEY. Harcourt/Penzler, $23 (400p) ISBN 0-15-101244-X Former NYPD deputy commissioner Daley, perhaps best known for his nonfiction account of police corruption, Prince of the City, is unlikely to win many new...

Three Can Keep a Secret.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Three Can Keep a Secret JUDY CLEMENS. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (254p) ISBN 1-59058-184-9 Stella Crown is trying to hold body, soul and Pennsylvania dairy farm together when help comes in the form of a young Mennonite widow, Lucy Lapp. Stella...

Effendi: The Second Arabesque.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Effendi: The Second Arabesque JON COURTENAY GRIMWOOD. Bantam Spectra, $12 paper (432p) ISBN 0-553-58744-7 In the entertaining second entry in Grimwood's Arabesk trilogy (after Pashazade), Ashraf Bey is now the chief of detectives in the...

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-second Annual Collection.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-second Annual Collection EDITED BY GARDNER DOZOIS. St. Martin's Griffin, $35 (704p) ISBN 0-312-33659-4; $19.95 paper ISBN 0-312-33660-8 The latest in Dozois's definitive, must-read short story...

Lady of Mazes.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Lady of Mazes KaRL SCHROEDER. Tor, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-765-31219-0 Set in the same future universe as Ventus (2000), Canadian author Schroeder's challenging hard SF novel explores the vast potential of artificial intelligence for...

Spotted Lily.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... ANNA TAMBOUR. Prime (www.primebooks.net), $29.95 (274p) ISBN 0-8095-4482-2; $17.95 paper ISBN 0-8095-4483-0 This shocker from Australian author Tambour (Monterra's Deliciosa & Other Tales &) about a 20ish down under Faustess who sells...

Agent to the Stars.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Agent to the Stars JOHN SCALZI. Subterranean (www.subterraneanpress.com), $30 (286p) ISBN 1-59606-020-4 In this slick, lightweight SF yarn from Scalzi (Old Man's War), Thomas Stein, a hot young Hollywood agent, has just negotiated a...

Gone with the Nerd.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Gone with the Nerd VICKI LEWIS THOMPSON. St. Martin's, $6.99 (400p) ISBN 0-312-99858-9 Ever wonder what might transpire if a nerdy entertainment attorney and one of Hollywood's hottest stars holed up incognito in a remote cabin in...

Blaze.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Blaze JOANN ROSS. Pocket, $7.50 (400p) ISBN 1-4165-0164-9 In bestseller Ross's intense, seamlessly plotted novel of romantic suspense, Tess Gannon, who's been a fire investigator in Somersett, S.C., since her firefighter fiance, Danny,...

Sandwiched.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Sandwiched JENNIFER ARCHER. Harlequin/Next, $5.50 (304p) ISBN 0-373-23034-6 Told through a clever mix of narrative, letters, e-mails and instant messages, this multigenerational tale covers all-too-familiar ground as it charts the trials...

The Book of the Seven Delights.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... The Book of the Seven Delights BETINA KRAHN. Jove, $7.99 (336p) ISBN 0-515-13972-6 From the Viking era to Industrial America, Krahn's novels have explored numerous periods and places, though her recent medieval-era romances (The Marriage...

White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America FINTAN O'TOOLE. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (336p) ISBN 0-374-28128-9 At the center of drama critic O'Toole's new book is an Irishman who migrated to New York in the 1730s....

Going Sane: Maps of Happiness.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Going Sane: Maps of Happiness ADAM PHILLIPS. Fourth Estate, $24.95 (224p) ISBN 0-00-715539-5 In classic psychoanalytic style, Phillips strips our lives down to the fundamentals to illustrate the delicate balance between sanity and...

Mencken: the American Iconoclast.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * Mencken: The American Iconoclast MARION ELIZABETH RODGERS. Oxford Univ., $40 (672p) ISBN 0-19-507238-3 For much of the early 20th century, H.L. Mencken (1880-1956), aka the Baron of Baltimore, was the country's most famous pundit,...

Petain.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Petain CHARLES WILLIAMS. Palgrave, $29.95 (320p) ISBN 1-4038-7011-4 The deputy leader of the opposition in Britain's House of Lords, Williams is also the author of a well-regarded biography of Charles de Gaulle, the rival and polar...

The Solitude of Self: Thinking About Elizabeth Cady Stanton.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * The Solitude of Self: Thinking About Elizabeth Cady Stanton VIVIAN GORNICK. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $17 (144p) ISBN 0-374-29954-4 Without the inimitable Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the voice of 19th-cenrury feminists would have been much...

PW talks with Vivian Gornick: having her say.(Q&A)(Interview)
June 20, 2005... What drew you to Elizabeth Cady Stanton as a subject [see review of The Solitude of Self, at right]? I've loved her all my life. However, I always wanted to write a biography, and I knew that I would never write the standard...

Steal This Vote: Dirty Elections and the Rotten History of Democracy in America.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Steal This Vote: Dirty Elections and the Rotten History of Democracy in America ANDREW GUMBEL. Nation, $15.95 paper (362p) ISBN 1-56025-676-1 In a riveting and frightening account, Gumbel, U.S. correspondent for Britain's Independent,...

Tiny Dancer: the Incredible True Story of a Young Burn Victim's Journey from Afghanistan.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Tiny Dancer: The Incredible True Story of a Young Burn Victim's Journey from Afghanistan ANTHONY FLACCO. St. Marrin's/Dunne, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 0-312-34333-7 One fateful day in July 2001, Zubaida, a nine-year-old Afghan girl, slipped...

Lovesick Blues: the Life of Hank Williams.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams PAUL HEMPHILL. Viking, $23.95 (207p) ISBN 0-670-03414-2 This concise, startling biography starts not with its subject, Hank Williams, but with its author sitting in the cab of his father's...

Pornified: How Pornography is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families.(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families PAMELA PAUL. Times Books, $25 (320p) ISBN 0-8050-7745-6 Having already carved out a major niche among 20-to-30-somethings with The Starter...

The Hungry Years: Confessions of a Food Addict.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... The Hungry Years: Confessions of a Food Addict WILLIAM LEITH. Gotham, $25 (304p) ISBN 1-592-40155-4 Leith is a binger: when he starts eating, he can't stop--and he wants to know why. This question, and an interview with Dr. Atkins, leads...

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her MELANIE REHAK. Harcourt, $25 (384p) ISBN 0-15-101041-2 The intrepid Nancy Drew has given girls a sense of their own power since she was born, Athena-like, from the mind of Edward...

America's Constitution: A Biography.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * America's Constitution: A Biography AKHIL REED AMAR. Random, $29.95 (672p) ISBN 1-4000-6262-4 You can read the U.S. Constitution, including its 27 amendments, in about a half-hour, but it takes decades of study to understand how this...

To Save the Wild Bison: Life on the Edge in Yellowstone.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... To Save the Wild Bison: Life on the Edge in Yellowstone MARY ANN FRANKE. Univ. of Oklahoma, $29.95 (368p) ISBN 0-8061-3683-9 Wild bison, better known as buffalo, are closely associated with this country's natural heritage, yet little...

A Disease Apart: Leprosy in the Modern World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... A Disease Apart: Leprosy in the Modern World TONY GOURD. St. Martin's, $29.95 (432p) ISBN 0-312-30502-4 This meticulously researched and fascinating medical history recounts the lives of patients who have suffered from a dreaded disease...

Basic Instinct: the Genesis of Behavior.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Basic Instinct: The Genesis of Behavior MARK S. BLUMBERG, Thunder's Mouth, $24 (288p) ISBN 1-56025-659-1 This is a passionate (and at times polemical) survey of what contemporary neuroscience has to say about the nature of instinct....

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus CHARLES C. MANN. Knopf, $30 (480p) ISBN 1-4000-4006-X In a riveting and fast-paced history, massing archeological, anthropological, scientific and literary evidence, Mann debunks...

Indivisible by Two: Lives of Extraordinary Twins.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Indivisible by Two: Lives of Extraordinary Twins NANCY L. SEGAL. Harvard Univ., $24.95 (314p) ISBN 0-674-01933-4 Segal, has devoted her professional career as a psychologist to the study of identical and fraternal twins. This anecdotal...

Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground ROBERT D. KAPLAN. Random, $27.95 (432p) ISBN 1-4000-6132-6 America is no less an imperial power than Britain and Rome in their times, claims veteran journalist Kaplan (Balkan Ghosts,...

My American Life: From Rage to Entitlement.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... My American Life: From Rage to Entitlement PRICE COBBS. Atria, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 0-7434-9619-1 Coauthor of Black Rage, the seminal 1968 work that identified the syndrome and coined the phrase, psychiatrist Cobbs here sketches the...

The Mysterious Private Thompson: The Double Life of Sarah Emma Edmonds, Civil War Soldier.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... The Mysterious Private Thompson: The Double Life of Sarah Emma Edmonds, Civil War Soldier LAURA LEEDY GANSLER. Free Press, $25 (320p) ISBN 0-7432-4290-7 This modest but solid biography presents the energetic life of Sarah Edmonds...

What Happened Here: Bush Chronicles.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... What Happened Here: Bush Chronicles ELIOT WEINBERGER. New Directions, $13.95 paper (224p) ISBN 0-8112-1638-1 American readers admire Weinberger (Words on Paper; Karmic Traces) as a literary essayist and for his indefatigable, influential...

Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar ADA NICHOLSON. HarperCollins, $26.95 (400p) ISBN 0-06-075361-7 Not widely known as a naval historian, Nicholson (God's Secretaries) is a highly proficient and readable one. This...

Nelson's Trafalgar: The Battle That Changed the World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * Nelson's Trafalgar: The Battle That Changed the World ROY ADKINS. Viking, $27.95 (436p) ISBN 0-670-03448-7 This illustrious introduction to the Battle of Trafalgar from an archeologist and historian is one of the best in generations for...

"Shakespeare" by Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man Who Was Shakespeare.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... "Shakespeare" by Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere, the Man Who Was Shakespeare MARK ANDERSON. Gotham, $30 (576p) ISBN 1-592-40103-4 Anderson, a contributor to Wired and Harper's, is only the latest to champion Edward de Vere, the...

The Shaolin Way: Ten Modern Secrets of Survival from a Shaolin Grand Master.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... The Shaolin Way: Ten Modern Secrets of Survival from a Shaolin Grand Master STEVE DEMASCO WITH ALIA JOSEPH. Harper Entertainment, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 0-06-057456-9 A child of poverty and abuse in New York's Spanish Harlem, DeMasco had...

A Necessary Spectacle: Billie Jean King, Bobby Riggs & the Tennis Match That Leveled the Game.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... A Necessary Spectacle: Billie Jean King, Bobby Riggs & the Tennis Match That Leveled the Game SELENA ROBERTS. Crown, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 1-4000-5146-0 The legendary 1973 battle of the sexes tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby...

Belle & Sebastian: Just a Modern Rock Story.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Belle & Sebastian: Just a Modern Rock Story PAUL WHITELAW. St. Martin's/Griffin, $15.95 (256p) ISBN 0-312-34137-7 Scottish music journalist Whitelaw delivers the first account of idiosyncratic, media-shy Glaswegian indie-rock darlings...

James Dean: Fifty Years Ago.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... James Dean: Fifty Years Ago DENNIS STOCK, INTRO. BY JOE HYAMS. Abrams, $29.95 (128p) ISBN 0-8109-5903-8 Although Stock has been associated with Magnum Photos since 1951 and his work has been collected in numerous books (California Trip;...

Center Square: the Paul Lynde Story.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Center Square: The Paul Lynde Story STEVE WILSON AND JOE FLORENSKI. Advocate, $16.95 paper (248p) ISBN 1-55583-793-X The sarcastic, wise-cracking Lynde, primarily remembered for his quick (and scripted) double-entendres on the TV game...

Mommies, Daddies, Donors, Surrogates: Answering Tough Questions and Building Strong Families.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Mommies, Daddies, Donors, Surrogates: Answering Tough Questions and Building Strong Families DIANE EHRENSAFT. Guilford, $35 (304p) ISBN 1-59385-179-0; paper $16.95 ISBN 1-59385-133-2 With the spread of nontraditional families and the rise...

In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN AND LOREN SCHWENINGER. Oxford Univ., $23 (288p) ISBN 0-19-516087-8 Tracing the Thomas-Rapier family through three antebellum generations--from about...

War Reporting for Cowards.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... War Reporting for Cowards CHRIS AYRES. Atlantic Monthly, $24 (288p) ISBN 0-87113-895-6 Ayres asserts from his opening sentences that he is a coward. But this sometimes amusing, often harrowing but poorly organized account of war life...

Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals SARA MOULTON. Broadway, $29.95 (352p) ISBN 0-7679-1659-X Moulton, a Food Network and Gourmet chef, wants to help home cooks produce elegant meals without excessive fuss. For each dish in this...

Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration: New Approaches to Chinese Cuisine.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration: New Approaches to Chinese Cuisine SUSANNA FOO WITH HERMIE KRANZDORF. Houghton Mifflin, $35 (352p) ISBN 0-618-39330-7 Fusion has earned a bad reputation, mostly due to silly combinations that, while...

Chef, Interrupted: Delicious Chefs' Recipes That You Can Actually Make at Home.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Chef, Interrupted: Delicious Chefs' Recipes That You Can Actually Make at Home MELISSA CLARK. Clarkson Potter, $32.50 (272p) ISBN 1-4000-5440-0 A Prolific cookbook coauthor and food writer, Clark revises the innovative recipes of top...

Cooking Rice with an Italian Accent! The Grain at Home in Every Course of Italy's Meals.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Cooking Rice with an Italian Accent! The Grain at Home in Every Course of Italy's Meals FATHER GIUSEPPE ORSINI. St. Martin's/Dunne, $24.95 (176p) ISBN 0-312-33902-X From Radicchio Risotto to Almond and Rice Pudding, the retired...

A Field Guide to Buying Organic.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * A Field Guide to Buying Organic LUDDENE PERRY AND DAN SCHULTZ. Bantam, $14 paper (352p) ISBN 0-553-38293-4 Perry, a teacher and consultant to the organic food industry, and freelance writer Schultz skillfully guide readers through the...

Winter's Tale: An Original Pop-Up Journey.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Winter's Tale: An Original Pop-Up Journey ROBERT SABUDA. S&S/Little Simon, $26.95 (12p) ISBN 0-689-85363-7 Iridescent glitter suggests powdery snowfall in this seasonal book by Sabuda, whose Christmas pop-ups and America the Beautiful...

Terrific.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * Terrific JOE AGEE. Hyperion/di Capua, $15.95 (32p) ISBN 0-7868-5184-8 Eugene Crumb, the balding and paunchy protagonist of this desert-island send-up, views every lucky break with pessimism. When he wins a cruise to Bermuda, he sighs,...

One Magical Morning.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... One Magical Morning CLAIRE FREEDMAN, ILLUS. BY LOUISE HO. Good Books, $16 (28p) ISBN 1-56148-472-5 A bluish mist still hangs over the forest when Mommy Bear takes her cub for a morning walk. "The bears walked together/ through grass...

If I Built a Car.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... If I Built a Car CHRIS VAN DUSEN. Dutton, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 0-525-47400-5 Rhyming couplets and illustrations in colors as shiny and sleek as the four wheels they celebrate present the musings of a boy growing up in the placid 1950s...

Badly Drawn Dog.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Badly Drawn Dog EMMA DODSON. Barron's, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 0-7641-5814-7 The title character is a jumble of smudged black crayon lines, with a triangle for a head and a scribbled nose. On his way to see his friend Doodle the Poodle, the...

Lizette's Green Sock.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Lizette's Green Sock CATHARINA VALCKX. Clarion, $15 (40p) ISBN 0-618-45298-2 Charming watercolors highlight this sweet if overlong picture book, first published in France. Dutch author/illustrator Valckx outlines her characters with...

Yes, Please! No, Thank You!(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Yes, Please! No, Thank You! VALERIE WHEELER, ILLUS. BY GLIN DIBLEY. Sterling, $14.95 (32p) ISBN 1-4027-1746-6 Designed to tickle the funny bone land teach manners at the same time, Wheeler's debut concept book models a "game" for young...

The Witch's Walking Stick.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * The Witch's Walking Stick SUSAN MEDDAUGH. Houghton/Lorraine, $16 (32p) ISBN 0-618-52948-9 In this comic fairy tale, a Cinderellaesque orphan flees her mean older siblings and happens upon a witch's magic walking stick. The witch...

Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs ROBERT SABUDA AND MATTHEW REINHART. Candlewick, $26.99 (12p) ISBN 0-7636-2228-1 Paper engineers Sabuda (Winter's Tale, reviewed above) and Reinhart, who teamed up for The Movable Mother Goose, have a...

Mercy Watson to the Rescue.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * Mercy Watson to the Rescue KATE DICAMILLO, ILLUS. BY CHRIS VAN DUSEN. Candlewick, $12.99 (80p) ISBN 0-7636-2270-2 Newbery Medalist DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux) once again displays her versatility with this jaunty debut to an early...

Lunch Money.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Lunch Money ANDREW CLEMENTS, ILLUS. BY BRIAN SELZNICK. S&S, $15.95 (224p) ISBN 0-689-86683-6 Clements's (Frindle) offers an uncharacteristically thin novel introducing a boy who excels at athletics and academics--and is a whiz at...

I Am the Wallpaper.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... I Am the Wallpaper MARK PETER HUGHES. Delacorte, $15.95 (240p) ISBN 0-385-90265-4 Hughes's energetic first novel recounts the onslaught of disasters occurring to Floey Packer the summer after her seventh grade year. Tired of feeling like...

Under the Persimmon Tree.(Brief Article)(Young Adult Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * Under the Persimmon Tree SUZANNE FISHER STAPLES. FSG/Foster, $17 (288p) ISBN 0-374-38025-2 Having already shown a profound understanding of Middle-Eastern culture in books such as Shabanu and Shiva's Fire, Staples offers readers a new...

Raven's Gate.(Brief Article)(Young Adult Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Raven's Gate ANTHONY HOROWITZ. Scholastic, $17.95 (256p) ISBN 0-439-67995-8 Horowitz (the Alex Rider series) unveils a thoroughly creepy new tale with this first entry in the Gatekeepers series. The novel opens as 14-year-old Matt...

Black and White.(Brief Article)(Young Adult Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... * Black and White PAUL VOLPONI. Viking, $15.99 (192p) ISBN 0-670-06006-2 Volponi's (Rikers) excellent novel has it all: authentic characters, a thought-provoking plot and heartbreaking drama. Marcus Brown and Eddie Russo are best friends...

Naughts and Crosses.(Brief Article)(Young Adult Review)(Book Review)
June 20, 2005... Naughts & Crosses MALORIE BLACKMAN. S&S, $15.95 (400p) ISBN 1-4169-0016-0 What if Romeo and Juliet had different shades of skin? Sephy (short for Persephone), nearly 14 at the start of the novel, is dark-skinned, a member of the ruling...

Welcome back!(Children's NOTES)(Bibliography)
June 20, 2005... Old favorites return to print this summer. The New York Review Children's Collection continues their elegant paper-over-board reissues of Esther Averill's classic Jenny the cat titles with Jenny's Birthday Book (1954) and Jenny Goes to Sea...

Fiction reprints.(Brief Article)(Bibliography)
June 20, 2005... Varjak Paw SF SAID, ILLUS. BY DAVE MCKEAN. Dell/Yearling, $5.99 ISBN 0-440-42076-8. "The author follows mythic archetypes in this densely plotted cat Story, illustrated in chilling, sinuous pen-and-ink images by McKean," said PW's starred...

These are the good old days: U.S. book publishing has become the world's greatest enabler of reading.(Soapbox)
June 20, 2005... We are approaching the one-year anniversary of the release of Reading at Risk, the NEA's warning that literary reading was "fading as a meaningful activity" and on the verge of extinction within a couple of generations. Well, guess what?...

Jon, we hardly knew ye: a wunderkind's tale.(Foreword)(Jonathan Karp)
June 13, 2005... Of all the stories told about Jonathan Karp, perhaps the one that stands out most is this: in a meeting a few years ago, the editor stood, held up a record from musician/author Rupert Holmes and said, essentially: "This man changed my life,...

Harvey to leave Putnam.(Dan Harvey)(Putman Publishing Co.)(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Dan Harvey, longtime Putnam marketing vet, will leave the company June 30. Harvey was most recently senior v-p and publishing director for the Putnam Publishing Group and part of the newly constituted Putnam publishing board. Ivan Held, who...

Booth Corwin rises at Rodale.(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Tami Booth Corwin has been promoted to president of Rodale Books, a newly created post. Corwin joined Rodale in 2000 as executive editor of the women's group and, in April, was named editor-in-chief. As president, Corwin will add oversight of...

Fainting with damn praise.(Foreword)(book promotion)
June 13, 2005... At a publishing event not long ago, I was seated next to an author I very much admire--and over the course of the evening, I let that admiration show. I told him, several times, how much I loved his work. I asked him specific questions that...

S&S buys Strebor line.(Simon & Schuster)(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Simon & Schuster has strengthened its ties to popular erotic novelist Zane, acquiring all the titles of Strebor Books, the publishing house founded by Zane and distributed by S&S that focuses on African-American books. Strebor, which has a...

New owner for Interweave.(Interweave Press)(Aspire Media)(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Aspire Media has acquired Loveland, Colo.-based Interweave Press. The deal is Aspire's first step in building a multimedia company built around book and magazine hobby publications. Aspire CEO Clay Hall has raised $40 million from private...