Books by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Complete Book Reviews

Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illus. by Michael Slack. Holt/Ottaviano, $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-62779-009-3
Ten brightly colored race cars—Formula One racers, a windup toy lookalike, even a souped-up minivan—vie for first place on their way to the finish line. Neither Dotlich (All Aboard!) nor Slack (Elecopter) is a stranger to vehicle-themed stories, and
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illus. by Mike Lowery. Knopf, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-375-86726-2
All hail the crane! It may be a simple machine, but its answer to every question that Dotlich (Bella & Bean) asks—channeling readers’ wide-eyed inquisitiveness—is yes. “Can a crane pick up a crane? It could!/ And billions of bundles of builders’...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illus by Mike Lowery. Knopf, $12.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-385-75420-0
Dotlich and Lowery sang the praises of an oft-overlooked piece of machinery in What Can a Crane Pick Up? There’s significantly more competition out there for this companion title about train travel, but Dotlich’s buoyant rhymes and Lowery’s loose...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illus. by Fred Koehler. Boyds Mills, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-62091-451-9
“For every story there is a beginning and an end,” Dotlich (All Aboard!) writes, “but what happens in between makes all the difference.” She and Koehler (How to Cheer Up Dad) prove this premise nine different ways in ultra-brief stories that begin...
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"Realistic oil paintings are flanked by poems about jump rope, dandelions, balloons and fireworks—made appealing by the author's great enthusiasm," noted PW. Ages 4-8. (Feb.)
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Fans of the surprisingly insightful documentary Wrestling with Shadows will attest that the tawdry and manic world of professional wrestling affords a certain intellectual stimulus. Readers hoping that WWF foot soldier DeVito (now president of the
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . St. Martin's Griffin $13.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-312-28061-1
The title story of this collection—a 1969 vignette about a boy-robot who wants to be real—captured the imagination of Stanley Kubrick, though the acclaimed director never managed to expand it into a feature-length motion picture. Two...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . St. Martin's $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-312-26227-3
The first few chapters of self-styled guru Osho's spiritual insights on love, sex and meditation are infused with an idiosyncratic but reasonably mainstream flavor. As the book progresses, however, Osho's teachings veer sharply away from...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . O Books $12 (80p) ISBN 978-1-882022-42-7
Speaking in a mode best known as the abstract lyric, Grinnell's voice limns "friendless parakeeting," "remnant rug-burn" and other empty social gestures, while searching memory and childhood for a sensate sublime. Hitting "Ogd
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator Pat Shannan, foreword by Peter Fleming HarperCollins, $26 (352p) () ISBN 978-0066210834
Saussy, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and author (Miracle on Main Street) turned conspiracy theorist, makes a case here that will strike most readers as awash in bigotry (of the anti-Catholic variety): "[T]he papacy really does run United States
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Japphire $25 (393p) ISBN 978-0-9679963-1-8
Originally published last year in a paperback edition, which quickly became the favorite book of pilots and air traffic controllers (although probably not of nervous airplane travelers), McElroy's fascinating, frightening saga of the events...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . HarperCollins/Regan $20 (208p) ISBN 978-0-06-039393-9
Lennon started a computer-game business while still in college. Was he a success? Not really, he admits, because he made some of the dumbest mistakes possible. Over his nearly 20 years as an entrepreneur, he kept a journal of his experiences that...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Clarkson Potter $40 (480p) ISBN 978-0-517-70148-5
The idea of preserving the material past is not a new one—the Emperor Majorian (the Jane Jacobs of 458 C.E. Rome) issued an edict to protect old buildings—but in modern times, it has often been in sharp conflict with the contemporary...
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Several Lovecraft poetry volumes have appeared over the years, notably Arkham House's Collected Poems (1963), but here at last is an attractive, scholarly edition that collects every known scrap of verse from the cosmic Yankee's pen. Joshi,
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Welcome Rain $30 (416p) ISBN 978-1-56649-157-0
Entering show business in medicine shows, speakeasies and tent shows of the 1920s, Lord Richard Buckley (1906–1960) became an emcee for 1930s walkathons and dance marathons, toured in USO shows, and made early 1950s appearances on Ed Sullivan&
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Globalstage $27 (888) ISBN 978-1-892045-11-9
Globalstage's ninth live-theater production features the vast prairie and rocky hills of Montana as the setting for an Americanized adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's short story about a man's consumption by greed. Honest, hardworking...
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Stanford economics professor Hall makes economics fun where hundreds of his colleagues have failed. Focusing on buying and selling via the World Wide Web—everywhere from eBay to business-to-business marketplace exchanges—Hall explains...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Putnam/BlueHen $23.95 (240p) ISBN 9780399148057
This European-flavored novel—Dressler's second, after The Medusa Tree—tells, in a taut and occasionally elliptical first-person voice, the story of entomologist Tristan Martens, who has devoted his adult life to the study of...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Picador USA $25 (400p) ISBN 978-0-312-30609-0
The connoisseur of the bizarre (Cocaine Nights, The Atrocity Exhibition, etc.) turns his attentions to the globalized corporate elite in his 26th book. Crippled aviator Paul Sinclair ("I counted the titanium claws that held the kneecap together&#
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Barcourt $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-9674490-3-6
Trying to convey new management ideas in a novel is a daunting task, though Eliyahu Goldratt and Jeff Cox's The Goal (1992) proved it could be done. Nemeth sets this tale inside a company much like General Motors (where he used to work in the...
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This title, which explores all forms of flatulence, is "both informative and blunt," said PW. "The book provides young readers with solid facts as well as plenty to snicker about." All ages. (Oct.)
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Wiley $16.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-471-41045-4
Authored by two physicians who work in the field along with a biochemist, Loebl (The Columbia Presbyterian Osteoarthritis Handbook), this authoritative guide will be useful to health professionals, people afflicted with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA),...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Scholastic/Signature $4.99 (, $4.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-0-439-24219-6
"Taut and suspenseful, this vivid mystery set in an imaginary kingdom of Renaissance Italy is vintage Avi," said PW in a starred review. "With snappy dialogue, nonstop action and lavishly embroidered period backdrops, this will please...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Oxford $19.95 (174p) ISBN 978-0-19-514288-4
In this slender collection of four essays, Leeming brings myth out of the past and smartly into the present. One chapter each is devoted to the themes of religion, creation, deity and heroes. Like Joseph Campbell before him, Leeming aims not to...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , foreword by Roger Ebert. Broadway $14 (272p) ISBN 978-0-7679-0674-6
Young NYU film school graduate Jarecki began this project as a "selfish" endeavor (he wanted to know how he could get his own start), but it evolved into an expansive collection of interviews with three generations of directors about how...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Free Press $26 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7432-0501-6
Purdue University physics professor Nolte charts the future of computing in an excellent book designed to appeal to the specialist as well as the general reader. Someday, Nolte writes, "luminous machines of light made from threads of glass and...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Ten Speed $24.95 (208p) ISBN 978-1-58008-269-3
Morse, author of eight cookbooks, teams up with Mamane, a resident of Morocco's "cultural capital" Fez, to bring the unique cuisine of Moroccan Sephardic Jews to the American table. When Spanish Jews fleeing the Inquisition settled in...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Coach House $16.95 (112p) ISBN 978-1-55245-092-5
"Writing is inhibiting. Sighing, I sit, scribbling in ink this pidgin script. I sing with nihilistic witticism, disciplining signs with trifling gimmicks—impish hijinks which highlight stick sigils. Isn't it glib? Isn't it chic?
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Schocken $15.95 (432p) ISBN 978-0-8052-1129-0
A husband and wife astrology team takes a truly worldly view of the concept of soul mates and love at first sight in this guide to finding love by examining astrological traditions. Miller and Brown's book looks daunting to the unknowing reader&#
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Pantheon $25 (320p) ISBN 978-0-375-42266-9
This elegantly written story of the partnered lives of botanist Rupert Barneby and aesthete Dwight Ripley is steeped in enjoyable anecdotal detail. Poet and critic Crase (nominated for an NBCC award for The Revisionist ) draws on his own long...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Harvard Univ. $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-674-01342-1
Albert Einstein's objections to the theoretical underpinnings of quantum physics are usually summed up in his famous quote, "God doesn't play dice." Unfortunately for Einstein, experimental evidence over the past 75 years has...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Random $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-375-50502-7
A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred or boxed review. SEMIAUTOMATIC Robert Reuland . Random , $24.95 (
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Central Park Media $19.99 (800-833-7456, x214) ISBN 978-1-58664-399-7
No, it's not a typo: this adaptation of a bestselling Korean picture book does indeed star a doggy poo. When said poo is deposited along a dirt village road by a stray pooch, the brown protagonist quickly learns that the world can be a confusing
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Wiley $29.95 (464p) ISBN 978-0-471-27251-9
DeMane (Pasta Improvvisata ) hones her flavor-combining philosophy and skills in this volume that successfully—and wonderfully—improvises on traditional recipes of southern Italian cuisine. She bases her dishes on the cooking of her...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , trans. from the Spanish by Andrew Hurley. Putnam $25.95 (448p) ISBN 978-0-399-15185-9
Readers of Pérez-Reverte's sixth thriller won't be able to turn the pages fast enough: the author of The Club Dumas , The Seville Communion and other literary adventure novels now tackles the gritty world of drug trafficking in...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Smithsonian $32.50 (480p) ISBN 978-1-58834-177-8
Eminent historian Devine follows up his acclaimed The Scottish Nation, 1700–2000 with a masterful study of the role of Scotland in the making of the British Empire and the development of colonial America, and empire's impact on Scotland....
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Random House Reference $16.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-375-72093-2
Recently, the media and book authors have focused on the dangers to our privacy posed by the growing electronic network connecting all aspects of our lives, from medical records to online shopping. But Gertler offers more—practical ways to...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Warner $24.95 (245p) ISBN 978-0-446-52770-5
Fans of mob turncoat Henry Hill based on Nicholas Pileggi's Wiseguy (an account of Hill's life) and the popular film adaptation Goodfellas will be forced to dramatically re-evaluate him after reading this gripping memoir by his childrenR
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , illus. by Dean Gorissen. Tricycle $12.95 (28p) ISBN 978-1-58246-124-3
Adult Elvis Presley aficionados more than pint-size readers may most appreciate this bluesy countdown. In the authors' first picture book (as well as the American debut for Australian illustrator Gorissen), they depict 10 Elvis impersonators in...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Puffin $5.99 (
, $5.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-0-14-240308-2
According to PW , "This hard-hitting novel portrays the struggle of a smalltown 11-year-old to find self-respect and a sense of purpose after the recent death of his violent, alcoholic father." Ages 10-up. (Jan.)
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . WaterBrook $11.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-57856-948-9
When confronted with an interesting person, we often wonder, "What's his or her story?" Allender, a professor of counseling from Mars Hill Graduate School near Seattle, urges us to ask that question of ourselves and then pay close...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , foreword by Lewis Lapham, intro. by Stephen Davis. Hazelden $21.95 (334p) ISBN 978-1-59285-156-0
The celebrities interviewed here—from Ann Lamott to Alice Cooper—are all in recovery from addictions to alcohol or drugs that originated in the 1960s and '70s. Among them are athletes, musicians, actors and even a member of Congress,
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator with Daniel Paisner. Harper Entertainment $22.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-06-076001-4
Moneymaker's improbable 2003 victory at the World Series of Poker (where he was an untested amateur player) has been seen on ESPN's WSOP series as many times as a Seinfeld rerun. Here, with veteran coauthor Paisner, Moneymaker (the...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , illus. by Sylvia Long. Chronicle $14.95 (
, $14.95 ISBN ) ISBN 978-0-8118-4342-3
Debut author Skalak teams with veteran artist Long (Sylvia Long's Mother Goose ) for a wayward duckling tale—but the book feels as wobbly as the newly hatched hero himself. The predictable, literal text (two rhyming couplets per spread) is
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Bethany House $12.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-7642-8077-1
CBA readers will recognize the essential plot contours of this offering from Blackwell (the Gresham Chronicles series): a single young woman, through circumstances beyond her control, leaves her life and job in the big city to find herself, her...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Forge $23.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-7653-0894-8
The conflict at the heart of this intense, powerfully told story is almost Shakespearean: to protect the woman he loves, retired killer Peter Macklin must go back to his old life, knowing that in so doing he risks losing her. Peter and his much...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Multnomah $32 (224p) ISBN 978-1-59052-140-3
If Good Day for a Picnic (reviewed above) suggests yuppified fare fit for blue state latte drinkers, Cronkhite's follow-up to A Return to Sunday Dinner is its red state doppelgänger, with recipes like Heavenly Deviled Eggs and Country...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Health Communications $21.95 (280p) ISBN 978-0-7573-0235-0
Ivy Larson's story of reversing the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis at age 22 (she's now 30) without medication is alone worthy of serious consideration, but it may be the enticing recipes included here—traditional (Mint-Infu
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Max Tell Productions $17.95 (www.maxtell.biz
) ISBN 978-0-9692300-6-9
Silly lyrics, sunny vocals and jaunty accompaniment on guitar, banjo, mandolin and jaw harp make this a well-rounded recording for the whole family. Tell (aka Robert Stelmach) has a versatile voice that easily slips between folk-rock stylings and...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator and various artists. Music for Little People $9.98 (
(800-346-4445, CD $9.98 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-56628-386-1
Sue, the T. Rex now on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, is clearly the star of this musical show that traces her discovery (by fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota) and eventual trip to her resting place in the museum. Singer Al...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , illus. by Cheryl Tuck-Bernstein. Modern $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7666-1986-9
In this bare-bones etiquette manual delivered in flat rhyming couplets, a girl and her little brother serve as examples of do's and don'ts as they dine in a fancy restaurant (albeit one that serves chicken fingers and mac and cheese)....
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . St. Martin's Press $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-32719-4
Capt. James Skoyles marches back into the Hudson Valley, led by Gen. John Burgoyne, and prepares for round two of the Revolutionary War, as this first book in a series from the pseudonymous Garland begins. Garland has done his homework when it comes
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Poisoned Pen $24.95 (260p) ISBN 978-1-59058-203-9
When an old college friend is murdered, shot in the head at a landfill, 68-year-old librarian Maddy Sprowls is willing to work overtime to help the police discover the culprit in Corwin's winning second cozy to feature the head of the Hannawa (Oh
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Workman $17.95 (
, hardcover book and CD, $17.95 ISBN ) ISBN 978-0-7611-3966-9
The creative team that so cleverly presented musical theater for kids with the star-studded recording Philadelphia Chickens is back—this time with a mostly rock-and-roll romp, and another stellar cast of musical talent. Blues Traveler,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Memory Lane Syndication $17.98 (www.memorylanesyndication.com
) ISBN 978-1-932806-43-4
As children and fans of all ages know, the late Fred Rogers's legacy lives on, most recognizably in repeats of his beloved PBS children's program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood . Now comes this recording on which a number of country and pop
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Soft Skull $19.95 (100p) ISBN 978-1-933368-03-0
The backstory of this graphic novel may be as compelling as the book itself. Maslov, a Muscovite night watchman, handed a visiting French editor some pages from what became this book. Impressed, the editor offered Maslov an advance, enabling the...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . powerHouse $35 (156p) ISBN 978-1-57687-271-0
As Holborn points out in his brief editorial note, this "is not a book about college football." This is a curious claim, given that photographer Payson has produced a book entirely composed of shots of his television screen during college...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Walker $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8027-8984-6
In this homage to the feline way of life, young Posy asks of the eponymous feline anti-hero, "Rufus, fat cat, what are you good for?" This is a patently silly question, as any cat knows, but Rufus goes through a typical day, proving his or...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Viz $8.99 (208p) ISBN 978-1-4215-0269-4
This charming example of shojo (manga for adolescent girls) adapts a popular novel/movie and adds two original stories dealing with the same characters and/or set in the same commercial milieu. Momoko is ultra-sensitive and feminine, picturing...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , trans. from the Spanish by Kristina Cordero. Believer Books $18 (256p) ISBN 978-1-932416-40-4
Marías's second novel was written in the early '70s when he was 21, and it has all of the stylistic grace and wry invention that has put Marías on the Nobel shortlist. An unnamed narrator ruminates on the intentions of a man (va
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Upstream Records $15 (828-258-9713) ISBN 0-9665740
North Carolina artist Abell has created a master blend of timeless music from the American tradition (Appalachian mountain songs, sea chanteys, folk music, etc.) and a touch of modern sensibility. His acoustic style and baritone voice are on the...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator with Marc Jaffe. Knopf $25 (240p) ISBN 978-1-4000-4267-8
From perspectives as diverse as the tribes whose lands Meriwether Lewis and William Clark traversed, these nine essays offer an other-side-of-the-coin view of that historic 1803 mission. "What impact, good or bad, immediate or long-range, did...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Netcomics $9.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-60009-039-4
The Prince and the Pauper (or Dave , for the new generation) gets a 21st-century soap-opera twist in this new Korean series. Yooi Kang is a flat-broke freshman who's just moved into a new school where she's met Lida Yoo, her spoiled, rich...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , trans. by Shaun Whiteside. Grove Atlantic/Black Cat $12 (130p) ISBN 978-0-8021-7022-4
A breathless autobiographical second novel by this bright young Sicilian writer (100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed ) explores a young woman's riveting, cataclysmic conflict between maternity and romantic passion. The 19-year-old protagonist,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . CPM Manga $9.99 (344p) ISBN 978-1-57800-713-4
Four linked manga short stories follow four women: a successful artist, an office worker, a prostitute, and a girl in search of Mr. Right. They suffer bad luck in love and a sort of depression that implies that women can't hack it emotionally in
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Bantam $27 (416p) ISBN 978-0-553-80479-9
Koontz (Forever Odd ) is likely to have himself another bestseller in this pulse-pounding thriller with echoes of Hitchcock and Cornell Woolrich. One morning, Southern California gardener Mitchell Rafferty gets a call on his cellphone from a...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Oxford Univ. $29.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-19-518967-4
Few countries today appear so erratic and unknowable as Iran, where Islamist president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's increasingly militant pronouncements keep leaders awake at night from Washington to Paris. Despite President Bush's assertion that...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Knopf $27.50 (464p) ISBN 978-0-307-26496-1
The author of A Sport and a Pastime teams with his wife, his 30-year cooking companion, to produce a "dinner book," a quirky cornucopia of recipes, historical notes, household hints, brief surveys of foodstuffs (eggs, salt, avocados,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Pocket $6.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4165-2185-3
Former DEA agent Max Roper finds love again in this well-balanced romantic suspense novel, the second installment of St. Claire's Bullet Catcher series. Max is a member of the Bullet Catchers, an elite team of bodyguards made up of former...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Oxford Univ. $22 (260p) ISBN 978-0-19-517446-5
Until recently, one could be forgiven for thinking that the present Congress is essentially an arm of the Bush administration, according to Mann and Ornstein, nationally renowned congressional scholars from the Brookings Institution and the American
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , illus. by Mike Ploog. Hyperion $9.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-4231-0062-1
An appealing blend of Spirited Away and The Wizard of Oz , this comics adaptation expertly blends art and text in the launch of the Abadazad series. The story unfolds through Kate's "enchanted journal." The belligerent 14-year-old is...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Subterranean $40 (160p) ISBN 978-1-59606-072-2
If most of the nine short stories and one novella in this slim volume read like episodes from the Twilight Zone , this isn't coincidence, as Klein edited Twilight Zone magazine from 1981 to 1985. Like the typical episode from the TV show, the...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Gauntlet $50 (476p) ISBN 978-1-887368-85-8
When Williamson (Frights of Fancy ) died in 2005, he left behind a treat for horror fans, the fifth volume of his beloved Masques anthology series, a gathering of 28 original tales and one reprint that run the gamut from scary to humorous. Among the
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Covenant Communications $29.95 (144p) ISBN 978-1-59811-172-9
While the story of the Mormon trek from Illinois to Salt Lake City in the late 1840s is well-known, most people today are unfamiliar with two ill-fated 1856 journeys by Mormon immigrants from Europe. In this coffee-table book, screenwriter Swinton...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Metropolitan $30 (448p) ISBN 978-0-8050-7932-6
The story of the Ottoman Empire's slaughter of one million Armenians in 1915—a genocide still officially denied by the 83-year-old modern Turkish state—has been dominated by two historiographical traditions. One pictures an embattled
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Fantagraphics $16.95 (160p) ISBN 978-1-56097-796-4
Art d'Ecco, who has the square jaw that only comics can provide, and his triangular and singularly unintelligent roommate, Gump, stumble through misadventures shaped more by the clichés of comics and fine art than by any logic. In this...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Random/Golden $14.95 (40p) ISBN 978-0-375-83593-3
A perfectly rotund farmer sings the praises of his latest lemon crop: "There's nothing like lemons./ This fruit isn't mellow./ They're tangy!/ They're tasty!/ They're tart—/ and soooooo/ yellow!" In these pages,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , trans. from the German by Jefferson Chase. Metropolitan $32.50 (496p) ISBN 9780805079265
The publication of this book in Germany inspired a huge controversy. In an important, original contribution, Aly, the author of a number of major works on the Third Reich and the Holocaust, argues that the Nazi regime plundered the rest of Europe...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Rounder Records $11.99 (800-768-6337) ISBN 978-1-57940-154-2
The perfect blend of top-notch musicianship, silliness and kid-centric concepts, SteveSongs hits all the right notes on this kicky, standout recording. Inviting vocals, a talented kid chorus and a pop-rock vibe that sometimes suggests the band...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Firm Ground $13 (52p) ISBN 978-0-9700382-8-9
Politics, activism and haunting memories of a childhood illness are the recurrent topics in Gates's confidently individual, if rather short, fourth volume. Gates (In the Open , 1998) leads off with a passionate four-part lament for Matthew...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Kensington $22 (336p) ISBN 978-0-7582-1289-1
What if Carol Burnett had starred in Murder \t\t She Wrote? Jordan answers that question with a wink and a giggle in \t\t his debut mystery starring Polly Pepper, an aging, Emmy-winning TV actress. \t\t Polly, unfortunately, hasn't worked in...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Zebra $6.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-7394-7917-9
Ashley falls short in her attempt to transcend old-fashioned vampire \t\t romance in her jumbled new near-future romp. On the trail of a murderer whose \t\t victims include mortals and the undead, ex-vampire huntress Regan Delaney is \t\t forced...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Zenith $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7603-2770-8
Author Olson managed to interview 44 veterans of the World War II \t\t destroyer U.S.S. Dale (despite their average \t\t age of 88), producing the first oral history of one ship's adventures over the \t\t entire Pacific theater. Their tales...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Hyperion $22.95 (288p) ISBN 978-1-4013-8605-4
Somewhere between a Cosmo sex-column and a sorority party tell-all, this book offers a recipe that cannot fail: girls telling boys how to get in, get lucky and even how to get out before it gets ugly. "Desperate housewife" Huffman and...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Drawn & Quarterly $19.95 (112p) ISBN 978-1-894937-90-2
Abouet could have just wanted to tell a sweet, simple story of the Ivory Coast of her childhood as a counterpoint to the grim tide of catastrophic news, which is all most Westerners know of Africa. But in Aya , Abouet, along with Parisian artist...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Little Monster Records $13.98 (exclusive to Barnes & Noble until May 2007; www.littlemonsterrec) ISBN 978-1-4243-1410-2
New kids' music label Little Monster Records marks its debut with this nifty board book–CD package that features a tribute recording of fun (yet faithfully covered) Beatles hits. A chorus of kids appears on nearly every track, which makes...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Tokyopop $9.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-59816-770-2
K is a hot-headed and determined pilot of a mech, a large robot commonly referred to as a mobile unit, in the Neo Seoul police. Fighting against terrorism with unfaltering dedication, K never questions the megacorporations in control of his worldR
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Thames & Hudson $34.95 (440p) ISBN 978-0-500-97321-9
The authors of this hefty volume present several hundred illustrations selected from the thousands of drawings and watercolors by Rodin (1840–1917) housed in Paris's Musée Rodin. In the brief but incisive text, Le Normand-Romain,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Pantheon $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-375-42505-9
Much of this newly translated political manifesto by France's Gaullist presidential front-runner won't come across clearly to Americans—especially the author's cryptic allusions to his marital difficulties, his murky feuds with...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Princeton Architectural $55 (224p) ISBN 978-1-56898-590-9
A careful hybrid of art monograph and anecdotal autobiography, this compilation places the recollections of Guerrero, who was Frank Lloyd Wright's on-call photographer for 20 years, in direct relation to his body of work. As a result, the book...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Doubleday $26 (464p) ISBN 978-0-385-51039-4
Harline, an acclaimed historian and author of A Bishop's Tale , adopts a brilliant day-in-the-life strategy to explore the history of the Christian Sabbath in various cultures and times. Rather than attempting a sweeping and methodically...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . NBM Comics Lit $17.95 (64p) ISBN 978-1-56163-492-7
An attractive expanded and color-enhanced version of the Depression era story that was nominated for an Eisner award as Best Single Issue/One Shot in 2002. Afraid that he's just a burden on his family, 13-year-old Tucker Freeman lets himself be...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Fantagraphics $9.95 (48p) ISBN 978-1-56097-794-0
With the plethora of zombie comics and films out there, the idea of one more hardly sounds appetizing. But no matter what genre Norwegian cartoonist Jason touches, he owns it. His style is too inventive and distinctive to be overpowered by any of...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , illus. by Petra Rappo. NorthSouth $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7358-2124-8
The thing that may distinguish this perky little story for older readers from a Swiss team is the remarkable resemblance of its alligators to the protagonists of Alligators All Around . It's as if Maurice Sendak's alligator family, with...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Broadway $22.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-7679-2677-5
Divorce is the elephant in the room for Singer's second novel, following Horseplay . When social worker turned horse trainer Cornelia "Neelie" Sterling finds out her vet husband, Matt, is cheating on her, she throws him out, but can't
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Tokyopop $9.99 (96p) ISBN 978-0-06-124020-1
B ased on Erin Hunter's popular novel series, Warriors is the story of a wild cat—a real one, as opposed to manga's usual teenaged human wearing a short skirt and kitty-cat ears—who's separated from his family and friends.
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Crippen & Landru $29 (230p) ISBN 978-1-932009-56-9
C rippen and Landru's Lost Classics series continues to live up to its name. This 23rd volume in the series presents 14 endearing tales of smalltown detection from the pen of prolific science fiction author Biggle (1923–2002). As with his
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . S&S $14.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4169-3958-0
Troy CLE's debut novel, originally self-published, has its heart is in the right place, but unfortunately often gets bogged down by an overwrought narrative. Seventh-grader Louis Proof receives an invitation to an exclusive, hidden playground...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator Lobrau $14.95 (168p) ISBN 978-0-9792908-1-7
Is it any surprise that a young, male comic artist has envisioned a world in which comic artists are the nation’s biggest celebrities and all of Hollywood revolves around who’s starring in the latest superhero epic? Perhaps not, but...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . AdHouse $8.95 (166p) ISBN 978-0-9770304-4-6
A little story about a gnome named Nodo who's lost his house, which, in this case, is a van. In the course of the story, Nodo's van drives off, and he goes in search of the only home he's ever known. On the way, he meets Ferdinand,...
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Laura Solorzano, Author, Jen Hofer, Translator Action Books $14 (120p) ISBN 978-0-9765692-7-5
In her first collection available to English-language readers, rising Mexican poet Laura Solórzano explores the risks and obstacles of communication through startling juxtapositions of images, dizzying word play and a masterful command of direct...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Wings $29.95 (608p) ISBN 978-0-916727-39-0
For more than 40 years, a small band of self-anointed investigators have made a cottage industry out of critiquing the Warren Commission Report on the assassination of JFK and postulating elaborate theories associated with that tragedy. Kelin—o
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Scholastic/Blue Sky $16.99 (
, $16.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-0-590-47893-9
Two-time winners of the Caldecott Medal, the Dillons (The People Could Fly ) here take readers to what might be termed the king of all jam sessions. The venue: an imaginary Saturday night concert featuring seven of the genre's greats, from...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Gestalt $8.95 (88p) ISBN 978-0-9775628-1-7
The first graphic novel by Australian cartoonist Ogden is actually a set of five short, wordless fables involving small, bug-eyed, long-armed creatures (who look a bit like one of the late Vaughn Bodé’s inventions). The first two are...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Houghton $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-618-80909-7
Johnson, whose Henry picture books encapsulate Thoreau’s philosophy, grazes the surface of Animal Farm in this barnyard tale. Here, a bipedal pig called Farmer Orvie, undoubtedly in tribute to Orwell, presides over a dilapidated, tin-roof...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . VCE $39.95 (142p) ISBN 978-1-889054-11-7
Documentary filmmaker Kuran challenges the mushroom cloud as the prevailing image of a nuclear explosion in this fascinating, if uneven new photographic compilation. Accumulated over the course of a decade, Kuran's collection ranges from...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Dorling Kindersly $40 (360p) ISBN 978-0-7566-3122-2
This brilliant photographic compilation by small Malaysian-based diving collective ScubaZoo introduces the ecology of oceanic reefs, both temperate and tropical. Though technological advances and the devastation of global reefs have spurred many...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , read by Gabriel Baron. Listen & Live House Audio $29.95 (
, unabridged, five CDs, 6 hrs., $29.95 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-59316-100-2
Nobody notices that God is dead until a pack of wild dogs begins speaking in tongues after eating the carcass of a Dinka woman in Darfur whom God inhabited. However, life continues after his confirmed death. Youth still suffer through teenage angst;
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , read by Hillary Huber. Blackstone Audio $32.95 (
, unabridged, 12 CDs, 15 hrs., $32.95 ISBN ) ISBN 978-0-7861-5784-6
Hillhouse ranks high among the new female thriller writers who have virtually taken over the once male-dominated genre, and this excellent audio shows why. A former high-level U.S. security official, Hillhouse displays his expertise on virtually...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . St. Martin's/Dunne $24.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-312-36912-5
Guilty until proven innocent” was a concept expressed by Duke University's president Richard Brodhead, among others, betraying a stunning misapprehension of America's justice system in the case of the Duke lacrosse players wrongfully
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Avon A $13.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-144369-5
James speculates in her easy-reading debut on a romance between Austen and a landed British gentleman. The prologue presents the narrative as a long-lost journal Austen kept between 1815 and 1817, recently discovered during a renovation at Chawton...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , foreword by Martin Scorsese. Little, Brown $45 (320p) ISBN 978-0-316-11791-3
For decades, silent films have been disintegrating in warehouses or lost to indifference. Director Martin Scorsese, who wrote the foreword to this book, has spearheaded the preservation movement, warning “with every foot of film that is lost,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , illus. by Scott Magoon. Houghton $16 (40p) ISBN 978-0-618-55644-1
Mark Twain would have approved of this tall tale, which posits that the Loch Ness monster began life as a “tiny sea worm... no longer than your thumbnail.” Luckily for the worm, an American girl named Katerina-Elizabeth travels to...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . DC/Vertigo $29.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-4012-1140-0
A lush and energetic drawing style makes for a beautiful book, but the plot of this ambitious graphic novel falls short. Wilson, a journalist who has spent many years in the city of the book's title, gamely attempts to construct a gripping...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Del Rey $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-345-48030-9
As a terrible plague sweeps Pern, a brave Harper apprentice emerges as a true hero in this satisfying third collaboration between McCaffrey mère and fils (after 2006’s Dragon’s Fire ). The danger this time is not the deadly...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , read by Jane Curtin, Kate Burton and others. Symphony Space $28 (
, unabridged selections, three CDs, 3 hrs., $28 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-934033-01-2
This audio collection takes in a range of creatures and wry twists that form a timely antidote to the current trend of putting pets on pedestals. The most notable tale is Gail Godwin’s “St. George,” in which Curtin captures both...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , read by Norman Dietz. Tantor Audio $37.99 (
, unabridged, 12 CDs, 15.5 hrs., $37.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-4001-0506-9
Grass’s memoir of his wartime activity, including the scandalous revelation that he had served in the notorious Waffen SS as a teenager, is shocking enough. Given the heated division between Grass partisans who passionately defend the Nobel...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator DC/Vertigo $19.99 (136p) ISBN 978-1-4012-1097-7
The brows are furrowed and teeth mightily clenched in Pleece’s noirish artwork for Johnson’s pulpy tale of a black journalist who goes undercover in the 1930s South to investigate a possible trumped-up murder charge against his brother
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator Fantagraphics $29.95 (175p) ISBN 978-1-56097-874-9
Looking back to an era when “comics” were mainly about being funny, this lovingly produced coffee-table volume in the Complete Popeye series reprints Thimble Theatre strips from 1930 to 1932, in both color and black and white. By this...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Jewish Lights $24.99 (300p) ISBN 978-1-58023-336-1
Seeking to provide “a set of intellectual and spiritual resources to encourage a sophisticated conversation about Judaism, social justice and environmental responsibility,” this book more than meets its mark. The contributors, who are...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . St. Martin's $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-36278-2
Of the making of Jesus books there appears to be no end. Although Wilson, professor of religious studies at Toronto's York University, treads familiar ground already covered by Geza Vermes in Jesus the Jew and Amy-Jill Levine in The...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator Dennis McMillan $35 (254p) ISBN 978-0-939767-58-8
Fans of noir master Woolrich (1903–1968) will welcome the inaugural volume in a projected series to collect all his short stories and novellas, though these 15 romance tales, which were published in magazines like College Humor and Breezy ,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator Public Affairs $30 (608p) ISBN 978-1-58648-553-5
There is probably no one who knows more about aging than Butler, who coined the term “ageism,” and founded the federal National Institute on Aging and the first medical school department of geriatrics. Winner of a Pulitzer for Why...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Cemetery Dance $40 (368p) ISBN 978-1-58767-161-6
Wright (A Manhattan Ghost Story ) unravels all the old conventions of ghost stories with this rich collection of new and reprinted writing and artwork. Other than “Rainy Day People,” a gently unnerving study of cabin fever complicated by
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Boom! $14.99 (128p) ISBN 978-1-934506-35-6
Apparently there’s always an audience for a formulaic secret agent yarn. No reader will be surprised that retired spy Eric Westfall takes on one more assignment from the CIA, this time to track down the rogue agent who’s plotting to sell
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Jewish Lights $14.99 (176p) ISBN 978-1-58023-318-7
Informative, factual and, sadly, as dry as the land it depicts, this newest installment of the Brief Introduction for Christians series has some fine qualities. It is filled with interesting tidbits and opinions of which even Jewish readers may not...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Broadway $23.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-7679-2403-0
Marano, editor-at-large at Psychology Today and author (Why Doesn't Anybody Like Me? A Guide to Raising Socially Confident Kids ), takes a penetrating look at the growing trend of invasive parenting. Marano likens many parents to hovering...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Gestalt $19.95 (164p) ISBN 978-0-9775628-2-4
Based on a script that never got filmed, Cox’s long-overdue sequel to his cult classic film Repo Man is every bit as fractured and uneven as its predecessor, but it too has its own kind of loopy charm. Protagonist Otto (who now believes his...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Highway 62 Press $13.95 (144p) ISBN 978-0-9796957-0-4
Seth Collins, a bitter Civil War veteran, is drawn to the small Western town of Silver Branch by a letter from his estranged sister. But as his coach approaches the town, it is attacked by a giant wolf that slaughters the other passengers, leaving...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Abrams $14.95 (128p) ISBN 978-0-8109-9542-0
This selection of advice-comics published in the British journal, Girl, in the early 1950s is a sweet mix of nostalgia and helpful advice. There's a quaint segment on how to decorate for the coronation (of Elizabeth II): “why not... a...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Crossroad $16.95 (76p) ISBN 978-0-8245-2435-7
“Comics” don't get much odder that this conservative Catholic tract in the form of a graphic novel. When a priest from Sudan is invited to Rome during the Vatican conclave to select a new pope, he finds himself instead kidnapped to...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Amacom $21.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-8144-0993-0
Mortensen (Maximum Influence ) draws on Howard Gardner’s research on multiple forms of intelligence and Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence to introduce his concept of “PQ”—the specialized intelligence required for
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . New Press $23.95 (176p) ISBN 978-1-59558-336-9
Pursuit of tzedek (justice) takes many forms, and Alpert, among the first women to be ordained as a rabbi and current chairperson of the religion department at Temple University, addresses everything from sexuality, gender and race to war, peace,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Basic $26 (256p) ISBN 978-0-465-09166-9
Winters's provocative foray into the Democratic Party's estrangement from Catholics—their erstwhile stable constituency—contends that Democrats made a fatal mistake by embracing the New Left in the late 1960s and 1970s,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator with David Fisher. St. Martin's/Dunne $25.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-312-36644-5
Wexler, a six-term Democratic congressman, opens his memoir–cum–civics lesson by saying, “I want to proclaim on every page of this book that I am a liberal Democrat and proud of it.” Fortunately for the reader, he is able to...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . AdHouse $19.95 (284p) ISBN 978-0-9770304-7-7
The collection of Cotter's serial comic book is a meditation on the pains and anxieties of childhood and the way the fantasy lives of kids bleed over into their day-to-day existence, and it's played anything but straight: every image and...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Midnight Ink $13.95 (312p) ISBN 978-0-7387-1248-2
Fans of stylish English detective work will welcome Malliet's droll debut, the first in a new series. When Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk, a pompous cozy author, invites his four grown children to his Yuletide wedding to Violet Winthrop at his 18th-c
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Kensington $22 (272p) ISBN 978-0-7582-1645-8
The pseudonymous Dunnett’s enjoyable second Scottish-themed mystery (after 2007’s Kilt Dead ) finds ex-dancer Liss MacCrimmon, co-owner of a Scottish gift shop in her hometown of Moosetookalook, Maine, eagerly awaiting a visit from her...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Holt $26 (304p) ISBN 978-0-8050-8325-5
Haynes, who was a captain at Iwo Jima, and military historian Warren (American Spartans ) revisit familiar ground in this account of the 1945 Pacific battle, relying heavily on Haynes's own memories of serving with the 28th Marine Combat Team....
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Real Girl Gone Studios $18 (150p) ISBN 978-0-9784277-0-2
In this unusual but important autobiographical graphic novel, author/artist Libicki goes to Israel and joins the army to find herself. Although Orthodox, she had lacked the expected modesty, was one of those girls who was “technically” a
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Grand Central $13.99 (94p) ISBN 978-0-446-69972-3
Rapper Method Man's attempt to reinvent his creative horizons has yielded this graphic novel. But instead of a memoir, à la Percy Carey (Sentences ), it's a full-on horror adventure. Peerless Paine, a direct descendent of the...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Bluewater Productions $11.95 (96p) ISBN 978-0-9792751-9-7
This continuation of Clash of the Titans does justice to the 1981 film that showcased Ray Harryhausen's much-loved stop-motion special effects. This story begins with the movie's leads, Perseus and Andromeda, about to become parents....
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . St. Martin's/Dunne $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-35824-2
In the latest installment to the rollicking Jack Absolute series (after The Blooding of Jack Absolute ), Humphreys borrows from Sheridan's The Rivals to tell a highly successful adventure story with a large dose of romance. After surviving the
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Permanent $26 (240p) ISBN 978-1-57962-171-1
Bloxam delivers fine Sicilian literary horror in the vein of Tom Piccirilli and Sara Gran. When Joan Severance finds her career as an anthropology professor on the rocks, she returns to Sicily, her childhood home, and finds work as an archivist,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Harvard Business $16.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-4221-2060-6
Although Erickson admits that her own Generation Y son informed her that he would prefer to consult a blog for career advice rather than dead-tree technology, her effort—chock-full of demographic data and a portrait of the generation's...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , trans. from the French and with intro. and afterword by David Bellos, afterwor Weinstein $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-1-60286-064-3
“Iwas abruptly assailed by the feeling that I had to describe reality,” writes Berr midway through this urgent firsthand account of the devastation of Paris's Jewish community during WWII. This journal, which begins in 1942 as the...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Brazos $21.99 (208p) ISBN 978-1-58743-195-1
Writer, farmer and cultural critic Wendell Berry is a man whose time has arrived. It only took more than 40 years for his critique of rootless and restless modernity to gather enough steam to help fuel the movement toward a greener way of life....
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Roaring Brook/First Second $16.95 (176p) ISBN 978-1-59643-170-6
What is it about the French and their interest in the western genre? Generally, it's a good mix, and often a great mix. This book is the latter. Cowboy Gus and his gang rollick through 13 interconnected stories, serial reels of sorts. Gus and...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , read by Kate Forbes. Recorded Books $34.99 (
, unabridged, six CDs, 6.5 hrs., $34.99 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-4361-7236-3
Brown is perhaps the only known novelist who collaborates with her cat, Sneaky Pie, but if their writing is any indication of their inherent talent, then the relationship should be celebrated. The pair's 17th novel finds Harry and friends Mrs....
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , read by Nicolas Coster. Phoenix Audio $25.95 (
, unabridged, seven CDs, 7.5 hrs., $25.95 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-59777-190-0
Like a comic novelist Nostradamus, Wodehouse seems to have aimed his prologue at an audiobook audience 74 years after this first full-length Bertie-and-Jeeves novel was written. He begins by enumerating the pitfalls of “writing” the book
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , Big Head Press $19.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-9743814-6-6
This raucous comedy of divine intervention tells the story of two sisters, Susan and Libby La Muse, two 20-somethings whose parents are noncorporeal aliens from whom Susan—a hard-living, polyamorous, chain-smoking political activist—has...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Avon $13.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-168643-6
Historian and author Lebra (Women Against the Raj ) makes her fiction debut with this historical novel concerning one of Japan's most ancient practices, sake brewing. Rie Omura, the daughter of a brewing merchant in 19th-century Kobe, decides...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator AdHouse $12.50 (52p) ISBN 978-1-59582-465-3
Brazilian cartoonist Grampá has been the subject of considerable buzz on the strength of a few anthology appearances, but this is his first full-length comics project of his own. The story (with English dialogue by Ivan Brandon) is relatively
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Alliance for Young Artists and Writers $10 (272p) ISBN 978-0-545-13360-9
Entries from 41 of the nearly 400 winners of the 2008 national Scholastic Writing Awards, open to students aged 12 to 18, fill this anthology, impressive for its range and of special interest to other teens who like to write. Genres cover poetry,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Del Rey $10.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-345-50893-5
In the first chapter of this dark parody of the “teacher” genre, schoolgirl Kafuka Fura encounters her teacher on the way to the first day of school. Nozomu, whose name can be interpreted as “Mr. Despair,” is in the midst of...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . HarperCollins/Angry Robot $7.99 (512p) ISBN 978-0-00-732946-5
Warren’s debut is a promising launch for HarperCollins’s new Angry Robot imprint. Eighteen-year-old Stephanie “Stevie” Searle is more the center of consciousness than the protagonist, narrating as people and moments swirl...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , with Jackie MacMullan. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt $26 (352p) ISBN 978-0-547-30501-1
It's been one of the most well-documented and popular rivalries in sports history. Perhaps no book has examined the countless battles between Bird and Johnson like this one, which tells that nearly 15-year war mostly in their own words, with...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Permanent $29 (304p) ISBN 978-1-57962-177-3
An autobiographical novel that looks at changes in Iran between the late 1960s and the early 1980s through the eyes of a 12-year-old Iranian boy and the boy as a man some 14 years later. Having immigrated to California, Shahed returns to Tehran...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Simon Pulse $9.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-4169-7873-2
The conflict between man and machine gets a graphic novel examination in this YA adventure by painter/designer/cartoonist d'Errico. Burn is just a fun-loving, normal kid before he's caught up in a rebellion by giant robots created to serve
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , trans. from the German by David Dollenmayer. Other Press $24.95 (448p) ISBN 978-1-59501-297-5
In 2003, a large packet of letters was discovered accidentally in a steamer trunk in a Paris basement: they were written to Georges Canetti from his brother, Elias (1981 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature), and Elias’s wife, Veza, along...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Knopf $28.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-307-27344-4
In this book on Twain’s last decade and his complicated relationship with his secretary, Isabel Lyon, Trombley is often too much the professor—quoting overlong passages when summary and interpretation would be better. An otherwise...
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Rebecca Boschee. Avalon, $23.95 (218p) ISBN 978-0803499928
Making a snappy hole-in-one romantic comedy debut, Boschee tracks the mischief a little white lie creates for an Arizona single when she falls in love with a sexy golf instructor. As a customer experience assessor for Affluence Index, Inc., Alizarin
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Permanent $26 (200p) ISBN 978-1-57962-196-4
Mackin's bleak debut traces six disastrous days in the life of Dr. Richard Gallin, a plastic surgeon living in post-9/11 New York City. Gallin is besieged on all fronts: his practice is hemorrhaging money, his personal life is in shambles, he...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Permanent $28 (240p) ISBN 978-1-57962-197-1
Roberts (Beyond Sara ) ventures into religious thriller territory with mixed results. On a whim professor Ethan Storey, an expert on California history, and his younger girlfriend, Kay O’Toole, visit the Williams Institute, located in “a
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Avalon $23.95 (192p) ISBN 978-0-8034-7752-0
Benjamin returns with this second entry to her Love by Chocolate series (Chocolate Secrets ) with a run of the mill romance. Since accomplished chocolatier Chloe Brandeau inherited her aunt's ancient apartment building and its misfit tenants,...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . S&S/Threshold $26 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4391-9041-8
Bestseller Corsi (The Obama Nation ) makes his fiction debut with this tedious work of religious speculation. After his mother's death, brilliant physicist Paul Bartholomew decides to devote his life to finding God and becomes a Catholic priest.
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator with Brandon Branch. Simon & Schuster $29.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-4165-5224-6
The Food Network queen of buttery Southern fare departs from publishing cookbooks to present—with help from Branch, her personal assistant and creative director—a photo-laden guide (photos by Deborah Whitlaw Llewelyn) to her style of...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator , read by Tom Baker, Richard Franklin, and full cast. BBC Audio $14 (
, unabridged, one CD, 1 hr., $14 ISBN ) ISBN 978-1-408-42673-9
Responding to a rather quirky advertisement, Capt. Mike Yates inexplicably finds himself in the service of his old partner and friend, Dr. Who, who's naturally on another crazy adventure. An alien race of hornets are possessing stuffed and...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Moody $13.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-8024-3749-5
Prolific author Chaikin (For Whom the Stars Shine ) begins the Dawn of Hawaii trilogy with this novel, set in 1880s Hawaii, when the island group still had a queen and talk of annexation to the United States was a hot political potato. Leprosy is...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . S&S/Atheneum $16.99 (128p) ISBN 978-1-4424-0454-0
This slow-paced and melancholic graphic novel for children opens to kids goofing around with musical video games and ends with them actually making a difference with music. This is in part thanks to Vita, a girl who dyes her hair and wants to have a
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Illustrator . Hendrickson $14.99 (144p) ISBN 978-1-59856-433-4
Howe and Foetisch offer a unique blend of inspiration and practicality in their first book collaboration. Howe, a women’s lifestyle writer (Still Going It Alone ) and PW reviewer, provides the inspirational flavor as she taps into the many...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illus. by Matthew Cordell. Boyds Mills, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-59078-926-1
“The sky has always been above you, is above you now, and will always be above you. Count on it. It is what you will always know.” Dotlich (Race Car Count) urges readers to take risks (“explore those trails not drawn on paper”) and develop...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Kathryn Brown, Illustrator , illus. by Kathryn Brown. HarperCollins $14.99 (0p) ISBN 978-0-06-029407-6
In the eyes of her six piglets, what makes Mama wonderful is that she loves so many things—and loves sharing them with each of her offspring in turn. As Brown (Tough Boris ) shows Mama and a daughter admiring a pink hat in a shop window (reader
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Melanie W. Hall, Illustrator Boyds Mills Press $15.95 (0p) ISBN 978-1-59078-027-5
Readers can hop, skip and jump their way through a trove of poems in Over in the Pink House: New Jump Rope Rhymes by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illus. by Melanie Hall, each of which is rhythmically suited to the schoolyard. ""Jumping Spell,"" for ...
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Author, Aileen Leijten, Illustrator , illus. by Aileen Leijten. S&S/Atheneum $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-689-85616-7
Bella is a moody, obsessed poet: “Bonnets, daisies, windows, toes—/ Secrets hide in sky, in rose,” she writes. Her best friend (and fellow mouse), Bean, is an impulsive bundle of energy, eager to show off her new striped stocking...
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Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illus. by Matt Mahurin. Boyds Mills/Wordsong, $16.95 (40p) ISBN 978-1-59078-867-7
Yolen and Dotlich refashion 15 classic fairy tales into incisive poems told from dual perspectives. Cinderella laments wearing glass shoes when other choices were more sensible (“I could have put on/ moccasins./ Those would have been real stunners”).
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Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illus. by Josée Masse. Boyds Mills, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-62979-337-5
A father helps his restive, cape-wearing, wand-wielding child get ready for bed, reminding him that “even... wizards need to sleep.” Celestial and soporific illustrations echo Oliver’s flights of fancy and anxieties about the “scary things” in his...
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