IRVING BERLIN, THE IMMIGRANT BOY WHO MADE AMERICA SING – Nancy Churnin

Posted by Daniel on April 20, 2018
Posted in: MEMOIR, CHILDREN'S, NON-FICTION. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

This children’s picture book about one of America’s greatest songwriters – who wasn’t actually born in the United States of America – is an absolutely marvelous biographical tribute. Author Nancy Churnin somehow manages to tell the entire Irving Berlin life story in thirty-two gorgeously illustrated pages, hitting the highlights, catching the struggles and the passions of the young man who gave us songs such as “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” “Easter Parade”  “White Christmas” and “God Bless America.”

Although I had heard it before, I had forgotten that Irving Berlin never took any money, personally, for “God Bless America” but instead donated the proceeds to Girl and Boy Scouts.

Churnin captures the spirit of the American Dream – that America is a land of infinite possibilities and that you can do or be anything or anyone if you want it badly enough and work for it.  Who would have guessed that a Russian immigrant child would become one of America’s greatest song-writers?

James Rey Sanchez is the artist for the book and his work is a tremendous complement to the book.  The art reminds me of the stylistic animation from the United Productions of America and Warner Brothers studios of the 1950’s.  It is very eye-catching and children will have a lot to look at and not be bored while parents read the book out loud.

Looking for a good book? Irving Berlin, the Immigrant Boy Who Made America Sing by Nancy Churnin and James Rey Sanchez is an all-around wonderful book and should be in every library in the country and on as many family bookshelves as possible.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Irving Berlin, the Immigrant Boy Who Made America Sing

author: Nancy Churnin

artist: James Rey Sanchez

publisher: Creston Books

ISBN: 193954744X

hardcover, 32 pages

Advertisements

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS – Lewis Carroll

Posted by Daniel on April 19, 2018
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE

How many people think that they know a number of classic books when what they really know is the popular movie (or television) version of said books.  For instance, who thinks that they know The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, or Peter Pan?  And who thinks that they know Alice in Wonderland, when what they really know is the Disney animated or the Johnny Depp (or, my god, the Carol Channing) filmed versions? For those who don’t already know, what we often refer to as “Alice in Wonderland” is actually two different books: The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

When asked what my favorite book is, I have a difficult time answering.  Often it’s whatever great book I’m currently reading or have just finished.  But when pressed for a different answer I usually say “The Alice in Wonderland books” because they were one of my earliest favorites and they are two of the very few books that I still re-read every few years.

Dover Thrift Editions is a publisher that specializes in reprinting books and like the publishing title suggests, there isn’t anything new or special going on here.  There’s no new editor’s notes or annotations here.  This is a ‘thrift’ edition.  It’s the original book, reprinted, and for something as glorious and creative as this Alice in Wonderland sequel, that’s more than enough.

In many ways this entire book is a metaphor for the game of chess.  The savvy reader will note a number of chess references all throughout and in fact the Preface notes a chess game that is laid out before the reader – but take heart…it’s a little difficult to play if you follow the rules of chess strictly.

The book features Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee (and you thought they were in the first book!), and the poem “The Jabberwocky” appears here, and even Humpty Dumpty shows up in this book (though Humpty is not a Lewis Carroll creation).

The book is just as absurd as the first in the series, but Alice actually seems to have a little more spirit and the story seems to have just a bit more of a plot, rather than simply having absurd things happening to the little girl, which for me, makes this just slightly more enjoyable.

I’m not sure when it was that I last read this, but I did not remember the sequence on the train, early in the book.  I hope I don’t say that again after the next time I read this.

If for some reason you don’t enjoy the story, this book is worth having on your shelf just for the beautiful drawings by Sir John Tenniel.

You really can’t beat this book (or these two books) by Lewis Carroll for their absurd, whimsical nature and pure, child-like manner of addressing absurd situations.  How absurd does an adult world appear to a child – our social and moral mores that we dance around, and the way we often talk around an issue, rather than straight on.  This book simply magnifies the strange world we live in, and does so in such a kind way.

Looking for a good book?  Thank Dover for reprinting Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, and for keeping this wonderful classic in front of the reading public.  It continues to deserve an audience.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Through the Looking-Glass

author: Lewis Carroll

publisher: Dover Publications

ISBN: 0486819248

paperback, 160 pages

RUSTY THE SQUEAKY ROBOT – Neil Clark

Posted by Daniel on April 17, 2018
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Robots, friendship, music, uniqueness, and eye-catching art.  This little thirty-two page book by Neil Clark, Rusty the Squeaky Robot, has everything you need to capture a child’s attention and imagination and to help it soar.

Rusty doesn’t like that he squeaks all the time. ALL the time. And his squeaking has him feeling down.  But then his friend Belle comes along to say that everything is fine and he just needs a friend.  Together they go off and they meet Honk, and then Twango, and finally Boom-bot, and together they made a unique music.

Each robot looks very different – which emphasizes the diversity.  They are supportive of one another, even when one comes on a little strong. And they find that the sounds they make together are even better than the sounds they make by themselves, and they enjoy their uniqueness and their ability to play together.

It’s a very simple story with an appropriate underlying message that kids will pick up on.

But this is a picture book, and the art is as important as the story.  Fortunately for ll the children for whom this book might be read, the art is glorious.  It is bold, it is colorful, it is eye-catching.  This is precisely the sort of book that children will want to thumb through on their own, just to see the pictures, and I can easily imagine my children, when at the appropriate age, asking for a little longer look at each page just because the beauty of it would inspire.

For a child, most likely listening to an adult read this, this is everything it needs to be to become a favorite, often-requested book.

I do have one small problem with this, though.  The book is written in rhyme.  Every children’s book writing workshop I ever went to (I’ve been to and spoken at a few of them), the first thing that they say is, “Unless you’re Dr. Seuss, don’t put your book in rhyme.”  Even so, the rhyme itself didn’t bother me.  But I tried to read this aloud, the way it would be read to most children, and I stumbled, more than once.  The rhythm of the rhyme is awkward and it doesn’t flow the way a reader wants to make it, when reading out loud.  This is not a read-it-to-yourself book.  This is a book you read to your children, and unfortunately (because it’s so beautiful in every other way) it will often be difficult to read it aloud.

Looking for a good book? Rusty the squeaky Robot by Neil Clark is a beautiful children’s picture book with a simple, strong story with an underlying message, and gorgeous art, but reading it out loud will be just a little bit awkward.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Rusty the Squeaky Robot

author: Neil Clark

artist: Neil Clark

publisher: words & pictures

ISBN: 1910277525

hardcover, 32 pages

THE PROMETHEUS MAN – Scott Readon

Posted by Daniel on April 16, 2018
Posted in: MYSTERY, SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

CIA agent Tom Blake hustles in on the French police when a pile of bodies are discovered in Paris.  Blake has a lot of inside knowledge and works swiftly and deliberately, impressing the French.  But there is just one problem.  CIA Agent Blake is actually on assignment in Africa and the man in Paris using that identity is really Tom Reese … an American searching for the men who killed his brother.  At least one of the men behind the murder is a genetically modified man – a Prometheus.  But Reese has a few secrets up his sleeve.

Along the way, Reese, in between stealing cars to make a getaway and pursuit, picks up a woman who was in trouble.  And she happens to be the daughter of one of the men Reese is searching for.

The opening sequence – in fact the opening few chapters – really brings the reader in to the story.  Both the action and the intrigue are high and this looks to be a really exciting book.

And then Reese picks up Silvana.

Author Scott Reardon tries to keep the pace high, adding a little chase with the complication of Reese trying to protect the woman as well as continue with his goal, but the book gets bogged down with silly tête-à-tête between the two.  Though Silvana has no reason to confide or trust Reese, other than the fact that he rescued her from another situation, she does just that – trusts him.  In fact, the two have a goofy little teasing conversation about this:

“Of course I can’t really trust you, can I?”
“No, but think of it this way. I just saved you from two men trying to drug you and stick you in their van. How much worse could I really be?”
“No, see, what you were supposed to say was ‘You can’t really trust me’ and leave it at that. Then I’d at least know you were somewhat honest. Instead you were clever. And a woman should never trust a clever man.”
“So she should trust one who’s not clever? Who’s, what, some kind of refreshing simpleton?”
She didn’t say anything.
“You know, anyone who’s motivated enough to do what those men almost did is motivated enough to keep trying.”
“Berlin,” she said softly. “Would you take me that far?”

And much later, after they’ve been through quite a bit, she says:

“I don’t know what it is, but something about you keeps telling me you’re a good person even though I hardly know you and”—she laughed sadly—“I really have no reason to trust you.”
He went to walk past her. She shifted her bodyweight, leaning in his way.

Wow…do you think these two strangers will end up in bed together (written sarcastically)…

From the moment Silvana enters the book, we go from an action thriller that showed a lot of promise to a wannabe Bourne or Bond, but this clearly isn’t Reardon’s strength.  Reese has motivation to find his brother’s killers, and Silvana is not an obstacle that he needs to overcome to get to his goal – instead she’s a distraction and a distraction is not just a distraction for Reese, but for the reader as well.  A romance – even an unlikely romance – can certainly be exciting in a thriller, but this goes on too long to just be a little sideline action.

The ‘Prometheus’ aspect is interesting (though not a particularly new idea), but it gets lost behind the addition of the girl – though she does serve as a catalyst for Reese to dump a lot of info – which is an annoying way for the reader to suddenly get a lot of information.

I wanted to like this book, and I did at the beginning, but I grew bored once the initial action came to a halt.

Looking for a good book?  The Prometheus Man by Scott Reardon, starts out an exciting thriller with some secrets, but turns into something much less interesting the deeper we get into the book.

Quotes are from an Advanced Reading Copy of this book and may not reflect the final, printed version.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

The Prometheus Man

author: Scott Reardon

series: Prometheus Man #1

publisher: Mulholland Books

ISBN: 0316310921

hardcover, 352 pages

SOUTH POLE STATION – Ashley Shelby

Posted by Daniel on April 13, 2018
Posted in: HUMOR. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Who, in their right mind, would want to spend significant time in a place that has an average temperature of -54°F and where there is no sunlight for half the year?  No one … in their right mind. That’s the basic premise behind Ashley Shelby’s comic novel (comic in the way Catch-22 or M*A*S*H is comic) South Pole Station.

Cooper Gosling is an artist and she’s had a few set-backs recently.  Enough to have her question what she’s doing and where she’s going in life.  And with that, she applies for the National Science Foundation’s Artists & Writers Program, and after completing a lengthy form, she is accepted to be one of a few people to live and work at the South Pole for the next year.

What Cooper discovers is that everyone working there has their own, not too dissimilar reasons for getting away from most of humanity and hiding out at the Pole. Whether it’s as cook, scientist, or event he station manager, everyone seems to harbor a secret reason for being there.

Cooper goes through the motions, learning the unusual ropes for living as a ‘Polie’ – such as learning to pee in a bucket and emptying the bucket later (but being careful not to spill the contents of the bucket on fellow Polies), and the annual ‘pairing-up’ mixer when everyone chooses the Pole Mate … followed by the women’s meeting to discuss the pairings and to make sure that no one is moving in on someone else’s Pole Mate (and to rate the men and their availability). But when a ‘scientist’ who is an affirmed climate-change denier comes to the Pole, he receives a cold welcome from everyone except Cooper.

Author Shelby has put together a comic novel full of interesting, quirky characters.  In the tradition of the best of the comic novels, it is the characters who drive the story and the location becomes as much a character as the individuals.  And of course each is as scarred and outcast as Cooper (including the climate change denier).

But Shelby walks a fine line here, giving us oddball characters who don’t fit in ‘normal’ society, but at the same time we find something likable and something relate-able about these people, and it is this that pulls us in to the story in the early pages and has us eagerly reading through the chapters.  As the book nears the end, the circumstances and politics that descend on South Pole Station come to a head and the comic aspects of who, what, where, and why all come together, making this truly a delightful read.

Looking for a good book? South Pole Station, by Ashley Shelby, is a truly enjoyable read and should forever be among comic novels such as A Confederacy of Dunces, Catch-22, and Breakfast of Champions.

PS Ashley Shelby – as a Minnesota taxpayer … you’re welcome.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

South Pole Station

author: Ashley Shelby

publisher: Picador

ISBN: 1250112826

hardcover, 368 pages

LEAR – Harold Bloom

Posted by Daniel on April 11, 2018
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Anyone who’s read much Shakespeare apologia has certainly encountered the works of Harold Bloom.  Lear: The Great Image of Authority is the third book in Bloom’s “Shakespeare’s Personalities” series.  I had quite enjoyed the second volume on Cleopatra and looked forward to this volume.

Unfortunately this one did not work quite so well for me.

This felt like a director’s notes on a play’s character – which could be really fascinating if it revealed something new or had some insight that hasn’t already been presented by many other writers and directors.  And the writing examines Edgar, Goneril, and Regan as much as it does Lear.  At one point I actually flipped back to the beginning to make sure I had the correct subtitle and that it wasn’t something more along the lines of “The Effects of Edgar on the great King.”

I’m not sure, but half this book might just be dialog pulled from Shakespeare’s play.  I can read (or watch) the play myself – more analysis of the dialog, and how it defines a character would have been welcomed.  Yes, there was some, but it was rather pedantic.

Bloom has written some wonderfully introspective works. but regretfully, this isn’t one of them.  I’ll look forward to the next volume in the series, but with hopes that it will be more of a “Personality” retrospective rather than a director’s moderate character analysis.

Looking for a good book? Harold Bloom’s Lear does not live up to the “Shakespeare’s Personalities” series, but might be a fine book for anyone directing the play but doesn’t want to do their own research.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Lear: The Great Image of Authority

author: Harold Bloom

publisher: Scribner

ISBN: 1501164198

hardcover, 176 pages

JIM BUTCHER’S THE DRESDEN FILES: DOG MEN – graphic novel

Posted by Daniel on April 9, 2018
Posted in: GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

I’ve only read a handful of the original Dresden Files books/stories, and a slightly larger handful of these Dresden Files graphic novels, but I’m really enjoying this graphic novel series much more than I would have expected to like them.

In this latest edition, Harry Dresden … wizard detective … has been called to rural Mississippi by one of the leaders of the White Council of Wizards to help investigate recent murders. The culprit(s) would appear to be rather obvious – a clan of giant Dog Men have made the nearby woods their home – and Harry Dresden, sore, tired, and cranky, reacts on his short fuse instead of listening to the patience of the elder wizard, which results in a near-disastrous battle.

And though the council wizard winds up in the local hospital, he has his doubts as to whether the violent, reactive Dog Men are responsible for the spate of human murders in the community, and Harry, coming to his senses, meets an old foe and discovers who might really be at the heart of the evil in this rural community.

I’ve come to really look forward to reading these graphic novels and it may be one of the only on-going graphic novel series that I continue to enjoy. Writer Mark Powers captures the spirit of Harry Dresden that I have imagined from the books that I have read, and he gives the character heart and soul and a lot edge.

The art here, by Diego Galindo, blends beautifully with Powers’ script and this is one of the few times that I don’t feel like I’m reading/looking at a graphic novel because it’s all integrated so well.

I liked seeing Harry struggle – not so much with other magical creatures, but with his own personality.  And nice to see some council wizards who aren’t just out to ‘get’ him, but perhaps try to help him for a change.

Though there was nice rising action and a late ‘cavalry to the rescue’ finale, and the fact that Harry had to control his instincts in order to lead that cavalry (which really helped my enjoyment of the story), I felt as though the end came too abruptly.  Harry’s discovery of the true villains here was handed to him and was, I felt, too easily overcome.  Still, I enjoyed this story immensely and I really look forward to these graphic novels.

Looking for a good book? Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files: Dog Men is another story in the graphic novel series that really engages the reader and should be appreciated by all fans of Harry Dresden.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files: Dog Men

author: Mark Powers

artist: Diego Galindo

series: The Dresden Files Graphic Novels #7

publisher: Dynamite Entertainment

ISBN: 1524105449

hardcover, 146 pages