The Gnome Project: One Woman’s Wild and Woolly Adventure

Photos of adorable gnomes lurk on nearly every small page of this book, but don’t be fooled. Those little creatures are indeed sweet—and debut author Peill-Meninghaus includes adequate instructions for needle-felting them—but they can’t save this dull slog. Peill-Meninghaus decided to make a gnome a day for a year in order to develop her “ability to achieve anything.” The book explains how making gnomes steadied her during a difficult time when she and her family moved from the West Coast to Maine. Nothing much happens, though she finds “doing the single-mom thing” hard, and the author doesn’t adequately explain why the gnomes kept her going. “My diligence in the making of these small creatures was steadfast” is the kind of insight she settles for, repeatedly. And the gnomes look so much alike that, cute as they are, if you’ve seen one gnome, you’ve seen ’em all. Agent: Laurie Abkemeier, DeFiore and Company Author Services. (May)