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Dec 18, 2013

Christmas (CD) - Michael Bublé

Christmas (CD) - Michael Bublé

Summary: Michael Bublé has a special holiday gift for his naughty and nice fans. The multi Grammy Award winning Canadian presents Christmas. Commented Bublé, "Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year for me and my family so naturally it's been a dream of mine to make the "ultimate" Christmas record."

Christmas, produced by David Foster, Bob Rock and Humberto Gatica, was recorded primarily at Capitol Recording Studios in Hollywood and The Warehouse Studios in Vancouver. The album includes guest performances by Shania Twain on "White Christmas" and The Puppini Sisters on "Jingle Bells." Bublé also put his unique take on such classics as "Silent Night," "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." In addition, a Bublé original "Cold December Night" will be included on Christmas.

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Dec 2, 2013

Who asked you? - Terri McMillan


Who asked you? - McMillan, Terri

Summary: Already burdened with the dramas of her other adult children, BJ finds herself caring for her grandchildren when one of her daughters disappears in this new novel from the New York Times' best-selling author of Waiting to Exhale. - (Baker & Taylor)


Kirkus Reviews
The years pass, and McMillan's (Waiting to Exhale, 1992, etc.) characters have moved from buppiedom to grandmotherhood. Betty Jean is not having a good day when we first meet her. She's in the kitchen, frying chicken, when her wayward 27-year-old daughter, Trinetta, calls, begging for money and adding, "the good news is I might have a job and I was wondering if I could bring the boys over for a couple of days." Trinetta admits to taking a pull or a snort every now and again, but to nothing stronger. The problem is, drugs have swept across Trinetta's generation ("all drugs, not just some...will fuck you up every time and make you do a lot of stupid shit and you won't get nowhere in life except maybe prison"), leaving it to the elders to pick up the pieces--and when it's not drugs, then it's some other form of culture destroyer, for Betty Jean's eldest child is a chiropractor in Oregon, "where hardly any black people live, which has made it very easy for him to forget he's black." Betty Jean's sisters, Arlene and Venetia, are formidable, too, and with troubles of their own--though in Venetia's case, there's an attractive young man, white at that, who's constantly making goo-goo eyes at her, making her forget that she's married and of a certain age. Naturally, complications ensue at every turn. Moving from character to character and their many points of view, McMillan writes jauntily and with customary good humor, though the sensitive ground on which she's treading is not likely to please all readers; even so, her story affirms the value of love and family, to say nothing of the strength of resolute women in the absence of much strength on the part of those few men who happen to be in the vicinity. McMillan turns in a solid, well-told story. Copyright Kirkus 2013 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

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Castles of steel Britain, Germany, and the winning of the Great War at sea - Robert K Massie

Castles of steel Britain, Germany, and the winning of the Great War at sea - Massie, Robert K

Summary: The author continues his study of early twentieth-century military and naval history in an analysis of the confrontation between the two most powerful navies in the world as the British and Germans clashed at sea during World War I. - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews
Massie has distinguished himself as a writer who pens enormous narrative histories so engaging that readers, losing themselves in the romance-novel story style, forget that they're reading nearly 1,000 pages of nonfiction. Dovetailing nicely with Dreadnaught (1991), which covers 40 years of British-German politics leading up to the Great War, his latest selection delves into politics by other means as the world's then two most powerful navies attempt to sink each other in the cold North Sea. While our cultural memory of World War I has largely been muddily entrenched in France and Belgium, this book shows that the sea was the war's most vital battleground, at a formative moment, adrift between Admiral Nelson-style high-seas adventure and modern aircraft-dominated naval combat. Yet while clearly well researched regarding technical specifications (gun apertures, water displacement, hull composition), Massie's tome is less a tale of technology and more of what he writes best: biographies of great men and complicated events. In this instance, it's the patient, thoughtful Admiral John Jellicoe, the man Winston Churchill said was "the only man on either side who could lose the war in an afternoon," and his foil, the flamboyant Admiral David Beatty, at sea against the wishes of his clingy aristocratic wife. The key German officers are also covered, and the war's climax at Jutland is as much their story. Unlike the British attempt to eliminate the German High Seas Fleet, this book is a decisive success. ((Reviewed September 15, 2003)) Copyright 2003 Booklist Reviews

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Batman detective comics - Tony S. Daniel

Batman detective comics - Daniel, Tony S.
Series: New 52

Summary: As a part of the acclaimed DC Comics—The New 52 event of September 2011, Detective Comics is relaunched for the first time ever with an all-new number #1! Bruce Wayne returns as Batman, and sets his sights on new villain the Gotham Ripper, who in turn has his sights on Batman. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne explores a budding romance with television journalist Charlotte Rivers, who's visiting Gotham City to cover the gruesome slayings–while also trying to uncover Bruce's own mystery. But time is running out as both Commissioner Gordon and Batman work to uncover the true identity of this new serial killer.

This volume collects issues 1-7 of Detective Comics, part of the DC Comics—The New 52 event.

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Life after life - Kate Atkinson

Life after life - Atkinson, Kate

Summary: "What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war. Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can -- will she? Darkly comic, startlingly poignant, and utterly original -- this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best"-- Provided by publisher.

Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* In a radical departure from her Jackson Brodie mystery series, Atkinson delivers a wildly inventive novel about Ursula Todd, born in 1910 and doomed to die and be reborn over and over again. She drowns, falls off a roof, and is beaten to death by an abusive husband but is always reborn back into the same loving family, sometimes with the knowledge that allows her to escape past poor decisions, sometimes not. As Atkinson subtly delineates all the pathways a life or a country might take, she also delivers a harrowing set piece on the Blitz as Ursula, working as a warden on a rescue team, encounters horrifying tableaux encompassing mangled bodies and whole families covered in ash, preserved just like the victims of Pompeii. Alternately mournful and celebratory, deeply empathic and scathingly funny, Atkinson shows what it is like to face the horrors of war and yet still find the determination to go on, with her wholly British characters often reducing the Third Reich to "a fuss." From her deeply human characters to her comical dialogue to her meticulous plotting, Atkinson is working at the very top of her game. An audacious, thought-provoking novel from one of our most talented writers. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Atkinson's publisher is pulling out all the stops in marketing her latest, which will no doubt draw in many new readers in addition to her Jackson Brodie fans. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

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Shogun - James Clavell


Shogun - Clavell, James

Summary: A narrative of conflicting cultures, loyalties, motivations, and traditions in early-seventeenth-century Japan, involving the powerful and power-hungry Lord Toranaga, the ambitious Englishman, Blackthorne, and the Lady Mariko, a Catholic convert in love with the barbarian Englishman - (Baker & Taylor)



Kirkus Review
In Clavell's last whopper, Tai-pan, the hero became tai-pan (supreme ruler) of Hong Kong following England's victory in the first Opium War. Clavell's new hero, John Blackthorne, a giant Englishman, arrives in 17th century Japan in search of riches and becomes the right arm of the warlord Toranaga who is even more powerful than the Emperor. Superhumanly self-confident (and so sexually overendowed that the ladies who bathe him can die content at having seen the world's most sublime member), Blackthorne attempts to break Portugal's hold on Japan and encourage trade with Elizabeth I's merchants. He is a barbarian not only to the Japanese but also to Portuguese Catholics, who want him dispatched to a non-papist hell. The novel begins on a note of maelstrom-and-tempest ("'Piss on you, storm!' Blackthorne raged. 'Get your dung-eating hands off my ship!'") and teems for about 900 pages of relentless lopped heads, severed torsos, assassins, intrigue, war, tragic love, over-refined sex, excrement, torture, high honor, ritual suicide, hot baths and breathless haikus. As in Tai-pan, the carefully researched material on feudal Oriental money matters seems to he Clavell's real interest, along with the megalomania of personal and political power. After Blackthorne has saved Toranaga's life three times, he is elevated to samurai status, given a fief and made a chief defender of the empire. Meanwhile, his highborn Japanese love (a Catholic convert and adulteress) teaches him "inner harmony" as he grows ever more Eastern. With Toranaga as shogun (military dictator), the book ends with the open possibility of a forthcoming sequel. Engrossing, predictable and surely sellable. (Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 1975)

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The last banquet - Jon Courtenay Grimwood


The last banquet - Grimwood, Jon Courtenay

Summary: Follows an adventurous man, once a penniless orphan, through French society during the Enlightenment as he searches for the perfect taste, befriends Benjamin Franklin, becomes pen pals with the Marquis de Sade and Voltaire, and improves contraceptive methods

Kirkus Reviews
Jean-Marie d'Aumout is a liberal, democratic Frenchman obsessed with flavor whose life, narrated in an elegant debut, lays bare the extreme contrasts of pre-Revolutionary France. First encountered at age 5, eating beetles from a dung heap, his parents dead in their run-down chateau, the boy who will become the Marquis d'Aumout never grows out of his fascination with how things taste. Rescued by the Duc d'Orléans, who gives him his first, divine taste of Roquefort cheese, d'Aumout is sent to school and then military academy, where the friends he makes will shape his life. Charlot, heir to the wildly wealthy Saulx estate, will introduce him to one of his sisters, Virginie, whose life d'Aumout will save twice. Grimwood's sensuous, intelligent, occasionally drifting account of the marquis's progress is constantly informed by French politics, notably the immense gulf between the nobility and the peasants whom d'Aumout at least treats with fairness. Scenes at Versailles underline the decadence which will lead to social collapse. Through it all, d'Aumout is driven by a hunger to taste everything--rat, wolf, cat, etc.--and an erotic appetite that is explicitly filled. Ben Franklin puts in a late appearance before the revolution begins, and d'Aumout prepares for a final, extraordinary meal. Studded with bizarre recipes, this vividly entertaining account of a life lived during groundbreaking times is a curious, piquant pleasure. Copyright Kirkus 2013 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

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William Shakespeare's Star Wars - Ian Doescher


William Shakespeare's Star Wars: verily, a new hope - Doescher, Ian

Summary: Retells the first Star Wars film, reimagining the saga of a wise knight, an evil lord, and a captive princess in iambic pentameter while conveying the valor and villainy of Shakespeare's greatest plays.



School Library Journal Reviews
Gr 8 Up—"…In time so long ago begins our play,/In star-crossed galaxy far, far away." Inspired by the work of George Lucas and William Shakespeare, this is the story of Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope, retold as a five-act play, complete with blank verse, couplets, and Elizabethan stage directions. Even Jabba the Hutt and R2-D2 speak (or beep) in iambic pentameter. Luke, Leia, Han, Darth Vader, and the rest of the cast battle to determine the future of the galaxy while parodying various well-known lines and speeches from Richard III, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Henry V. Luke's soliloquy, "Alas, poor stormtrooper, I knew ye not," accompanied by an illustration of Luke holding up a stormtrooper helmet, is a standout comic moment, as is Leia's "songs of nonny," sung as the planet Alderaan explodes. Doescher's pseudo-Shakespearean language is absolutely dead-on; this is one of the best-written Shakespeare parodies created for this audience and it is absolutely laugh-out-loud funny for those familiar with both The Bard and Star Wars. It is most likely to be appreciated by snarky AP English students and drama club members, but an imaginative English teacher could find ways to use it in the classroom to engage reluctant readers of Shakespeare. May the verse be with you! —Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ

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Unnatural creatures - Neil Gaiman


Unnatural creatures - Gaiman, Neil

Summary: Sixteen short stories selected by the bestselling author Neil Gaiman about a menagerie of creatures that are strange, wondrous, and shocking, but have never existed anywhere save the writer's imagination.


Booklist Reviews
From darkly menacing to bizarrely surreal, these 16 fantasy stories featuring mythical and imaginary creatures combine work from such luminaries as Saki, E. Nesbit, and Anthony Boucher, as well as more contemporary writers. Larry Niven's The Flight of the Horse is on the sillier side of the spectrum: a time traveler is sent to the past to retrieve a horse, which he has never seen except in picture books, and he mistakenly returns with a unicorn instead. In Nalo Hopkinson's A Smile on the Face, a self-conscious girl is bullied for her size and pressured into an unwanted sexual encounter, but she finds inner strength—and an inner fire-breathing monster—thanks to an accidentally swallowed cherry pit from the hamadryad in her front yard. Gaiman's contribution, Sunbird, recounts the adventures of the Epicurean Club members, who, grown bored after tasting every available thing on the planet, enjoy the best (and last) meal of their lives. In true Gaiman fashion, these stories are macabre, subversive, and just a little bit sinister. His fans will eat this up—ravenously. The book will benefit nonprofit 826DC, which fosters student writing skills. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Gaiman's name should draw a wide readership. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.


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The weird sisters - Eleanor Brown


The weird sisters - Brown, Eleanor

Summary: Unwillingly brought together to care for their ailing mother, three sisters who were named after famous Shakespearean characters discover that everything they have been avoiding may prove more worthwhile than expected.



Booklist Reviews
Three sisters, a scholarly father who breaks into iambic pentameter, and an absentminded but loving mother who brought the girls up in rural Ohio may sound like an idyllic family; however, when Rosalind, Bianca, and Cordelia return home—ostensibly to help their parents through their mother's cancer treatment—readers begin to see a whole different family. A prologue introduces characters and hints of the dramas to come, while the omniscient narrator, seemingly the combined consciousness of the sisters, chronicles in the first-person plural events that occur during the heavy Ohio summer and end in the epilogue, which describes an (overly?) hopeful resolution. Brown writes with authority and affection both for her characters and the family hometown of Barnwell, a place that almost becomes another character in the story. A skillful use of flashback shows the characters developing and evolving as well as establishing the origins of family myth and specific personality traits. There are no false steps in this debut novel: the humor, lyricism, and realism characterizing this lovely book will appeal to fans of good modern fiction as well as stories of family and of the Midwest. Copyright 2010 Booklist Reviews.

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From Norvelt to nowhere - Gantos


From Norvelt to nowhere - Gantos, Jack

Summary: After an explosion, a new crime by an old murderer, and the sad passing of the founder of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack accompanies his slightly mental elderly mentor, Miss Volker, on a cross-country run as she pursues the oddest of outlaws.


Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Whodunit this time? The murder of yet another old lady starts off this rambunctious sequel to Gantos' Newbery Medal–winning Dead End in Norvelt (2011). Is it old Spizz, who is on the lam after confessing to the murder of nine others? Is it Miss Volker, young Jack's mentor? Could it be Mr. Huffer, the local undertaker? Before the mystery can be solved, Jack finds himself en route to Hyde Park with Miss Volker to pay tribute to the recently deceased Eleanor Roosevelt, who founded Norvelt. Once there, Miss Volker receives word that her twin sister has died (or been murdered?) in Miami, and so the two catch the first train south. When first Spizz—whom Miss Volker has vowed to shoot on sight—and then Mr. Huffer show up, our heroes decamp to Washington, D.C.; buy a battered old VW; and hit the long and winding road to the Sunshine State, pursued by the usual suspects, plus a mysterious ferret-faced fellow. Yes, there's more than a little of the outré in this mystery-cum-farce that unspools episodically, building suspense along the way. Gantos does an excellent job of keeping readers guessing about his characters: are they the good Dr. Jekyll or the evil Mr. Hyde or perhaps a bit of both? Whichever, fans of Dead End in Norvelt won't want to miss this lively sequel. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

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The Velvet Underground & Nico (CD)

The Velvet Underground & Nico (CD)

When the Velvets recorded this debut, they were best known as the protégés of Andy Warhol (who designed the sleeve), and as a grating, combustive live band. Fueled by drummer Moe Tucker's no-nonsense wham and John Cale's howling viola, some of the straight-up rock & roll and arty noise extravaganzas here bear that out. But before Lou Reed was singing about sadomasochism and drug deals and writing lyrics inspired by his favorite poets, he was a pop songwriter, and this album has some of his prettiest tunes, mostly sung by Nico, the German dark angel who left the band after this disc. Even the sordid rockers are underscored by graceful pop tricks, like the two-chord flutter at the center of the classic "Heroin." --Douglas Wolk amazon.com

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Walk on the wild side: the best of Lou Reed (CD)

Walk on the wild side: the best of Lou Reed (CD)

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Lou Reed was born on March 2, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. In 1965, he co-founded the Velvet Underground, a rock band managed by Andy Warhol. Reed went solo in the 1970s, scoring a hit with the song "Walk on the Wild Side" and releasing more than 16 albums, including Coney Island Baby and Berlin. He died on October 27, 2013, at age 71. (biography.com)

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Battle bunny - Richard Scieszka


Battle bunny - Scieszka, Richard

Summary: Alex, whose birthday it is, hijacks a story about Birthday Bunny on his special day and turns it into a battle between a supervillain and his enemies in the forest--who, in the original story, are simply planning a surprise party.


Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* This deliciously subversive piece of metafiction skewers—with a sharp wit and a sharper pencil—the earnest, purposeful literature so popular in the middle of the last century. The fun begins with a facsimile of something akin to an antique Little Golden Book, Birthday Bunny, complete with worn cover, yellowed pages, and wholesome message. But the book has been "improved" in story and pictures by a child named Alex wielding his trusty no. 2. The cover, retitled Battle Bunny, now features rockets, planes, bombs, and a general promise of mayhem. And Alex keeps that promise, transforming the insipid story of a sad bunny being cheered by his friends on his birthday into a raucous adventure wherein an evil bunny unleashes a tornado of destruction on the unsuspecting forest until the president is forced to call in one Agent Alex to save the day. Alex's "edits," including a complete reworking of the text and plenty of pictorial embellishments, are soaked in testosterone. The animals of the forest become luchadores and ninja warriors; Air Force One and a few presidents (Obama and Lincoln) make appearances; and just about everything explodes. In the end, Alex is victorious, Battle Bunny is vanquished, and the world is safe. At least until Alex and his pencil ride again . . . Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

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Bridge of sighs - Richard Russo


Bridge of sighs - Russo, Richard

Summary: After sixty years of living in the upstate New York town of Thomaston, Louis Charles and his wife of forty years, Sarah, prepare for a trip to Italy to visit Louis' childhood friend, an artist who had fled his hometown many years earlier.


Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Here is the novel Russo was born to write. Coursing with humor and humanity, the sixth novel by the bard of Main Street U.S.A. gives full expression to the themes that have always been at the heart of his work: the all-important bond between fathers and sons, the economic desperation of small-town businesses, and the lifelong feuds and friendships that are a hallmark of small-town life. Following a trio of best friends who grew up in upstate Thomaston, New York, over 50 years, the novel captures some of the essential mysteries of life, including the unanticipated moments of childhood that will forever define one's adulthood. Louis Charles ("Lucy") Lynch has spent his entire life in Thomaston, married for 40 years to his wife, Sarah, and finally living in the rich section of town, thanks to the success of his father's convenience stores. Long planning a trip to Venice, he tries in vain to communicate with the couple's best friend, Bobby Marconi, now a world-famous painter living in Venice. Meanwhile, the irascible ex-pat, now approaching 60 and suffering from night terrors, is still chasing women, engaging in fistfights, and struggling to complete his latest painting. Russo slowly and lovingly pieces together rich, multilayered portraits not only of the principals but also of their families, and, by extension, their quintessentially American town. It is a seamless interweaving of childhood memories (sometimes told from three points of view), tragic incidents (the town river, once the lifeblood of local industry, has become a toxic stew that is poisoning residents), and unforgettable dialogue that is so natural, funny, and touching that it may, perhaps, be the best of Russo's many gifts. Copyright 2007 Booklist Reviews.

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Learning to live out loud - Piper Laurie


Learning to live out loud - Laurie, Piper

Summary: The noted actress recounts her early shyness and anxieties, her years as a contract actress at Universal, her break with the studio system, her subsequent career in film, the theater, and television, and her personal life.


PW Annex Reviews
This riveting autobiography by the nearly 80-year-old Laurie tells of her experiences from childhood through her contract years at Universal, as well as the ups and downs of her independent film, television, and stage career. Known for her roles in The Hustler and Carrie, Laurie's empathy for others makes this book far more than a star's attempt to hype an image. Family members and entertainment personalities are fully drawn and treated with honesty and respect. She recalls Ronald Reagan, her first lover, as a 40-year-old actor not yet on a path to fame. A USO tour in Korea during the war was a huge eye-opener for the 19-year-old actress, who had always experienced difficulty in speaking out and laughing; in fact, she had to be taught to laugh. Her early angst persisted for some time, as she recalls when she and actor Roddy McDowall were cast in the play, Handful of Fire: "We were thrilled. No matter how much success you have, the having to prove yourself never ends." Later in life, Laurie conquered an addiction to amphetamines, and enthusiastically embraced the eccentricities of the cult TV series Twin Peaks. (Nov.)

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Etiquette and espionage - Gail Carriger


Etiquette and espionage - Carriger, Gail

Summary: In an alternate England of 1851, spirited fourteen-year-old Sophronia is enrolled in a finishing school where, she is suprised to learn, lessons include not only the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also diversion, deceit, and espionage.



Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Set 25 years before her Parasol Protectorate series, Carriger's YA debut brings her mix of Victorian paranormal steampunk and winning heroines to a whole new audience. After an incident involving a plummeting dumbwaiter and an airborne trifle, Sophronia is sent to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy to learn how to be a proper lady. Their carriage is immediately waylaid by flywaymen looking for a mysterious prototype—the first of many clues that this academy will not be the dreadful bore Sophronia expected. Once established at Mademoiselle Geraldine's (set on a chain of dirigibles!), Sophronia learns that she is a covert recruit into a school that trains girls to be part assassins, part spies, and also always fashionable ladies of quality. It's this last bit she has trouble with; in her self-assigned search for the prototype, she acquires an illegal mechanimal pet, befriends the boiler room sooties, and avoids both teachers and mechanicals to explore restricted areas, yet she can't master curtsying or eyelash fluttering. While the prototype plot isn't fully developed, Carriger's series starter more than makes up for it with cleverly Victorian methods of espionage, witty banter, lighthearted silliness, and a ship full of intriguingly quirky people. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Carriger has made major waves as a best-selling steampunker, and the promotion and outreach planned for this YA offshoot should continue that streak. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

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Go : a Kidd's guide to graphic design - Chip Kidd

Go : a Kidd's guide to graphic design - Kidd, Chip

Summary: Kids love to express themselves, and are designers by nature - whether making posters for school, deciding what to hang in their rooms, or creating personalized notebook covers. Go, by the award-winning graphic designer Chip Kidd, is a stunning introduction to the ways in which a designer communicates his or her ideas to the world. It's written and designed just for those curious kids, not to mention their savvy parents, who want to learn the secret of how to make things dynamic and interesting.

Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Graphic design is everywhere we look—from the colors on a box of cereal to advertisements plastering the walls of buildings to the shapes of labels on toothpaste tubes and shampoo bottles. Illustrious graphic designer Kidd, who, among other things, created the iconic cover of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park (1990), introduces kids to design elements they likely take for granted. But Kidd dispenses with the boring technical jargon and instead presents a rich, colorful, and captivating overview of the things designers consider every day. He clearly and engagingly explains concepts such as form, color, typography, and scale, but he relies far more on delicious full-page visuals of book covers, advertisements, vintage posters, and photographs to illustrate his points. The chapter on typography in particular makes excellent use of images to demonstrate concepts. Apart from geeking out about design elements, however, Kidd's primary goal is to encourage aspiring designers to pay attention to graphics they see every day in their favorite book covers, ads, and posters and to use this newfound knowledge to create their own designs. Captivating, eye-opening, and just plain cool. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

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Parisian chic: a style guide - La Fressange

Parisian chic: a style guide - La Fressange, Ines de

Summary: Celebrity model Inès de la Fressange shares the well-kept secrets of how Parisian women maintain effortless glamour and a timeless allure. Inès de la Fressange—France’s icon of chic—shares her personal tips for living with style and charm, gleaned from decades in the fashion industry. She offers specific pointers on how to dress like a Parisian, including how to mix affordable basics with high-fashion touches, and how to accessorize. Her step-by-step do’s and don’ts are accompanied by fashion photography, and the book is personalized with her charming drawings. Inès also shares how to bring Parisian chic into your home, and how to insert your signature style into any space—even the office. The ultrachic volume is wrapped with a three-quarter-height removable jacket and features offset aquarelle paper and a ribbon page marker. Complete with her favorite addresses for finding the ultimate fashion and decorating items, this is a must-have for any woman who wants to add a touch of Paris to her own style. - (Random House, Inc.)

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Wait! Wait! - Hatsue Nakawaki

Wait! Wait! - Nakawaki, Hatsue

Summary: A gentle celebration of a very young child's introduction to the natural world combines sparse, repetitive text and delicate illustrations depicting a child who encounters small animals, birds and insects that rapidly swoop away until the child's parent appears, revealing how loved ones will always return. - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews
In this gentle book for very young children, a toddler is playing outdoors, enchanted by the living things he sees. First a butterfly flutters by, but—"Wait! Wait!"—it swoops up into the air. Then a lizard crawls by, but—"Wait! Wait!"—it too disappears, wiggling off into a crevice near the sidewalk. Next pecking pigeons flap and fly away. Finally, two cats "Meow. Meow. Meow" away from the little one's outstretched arms. When Dad picks up the tot by the tummy, his little body makes a U shape as he stretches his arms down to reach for all the exciting things he sees. With a final "Here we go!" Dad scoops the tot up onto his shoulders as they continue their walk through the park. Delicate illustrations in acrylics and oil pencils on white backgrounds echo the spare quality of some Japanese artwork, and the sweetly expressive features and movements show Sakai's ability to accurately portray the actions and emotions of a child just beginning to explore the world. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

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The circle - David Eggers

The circle - Eggers, David

Summary: "The Circle is the exhilarating new novel from Dave Eggers, best-selling author of A Hologram for the King, a finalist for the National Book Award. When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company's modernity and activity. There are parties that last throughthe night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can't believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world--even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman's ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Most of us imagine totalitarianism as something imposed upon us—but what if we're complicit in our own oppression? That's the scenario in Eggers' ambitious, terrifying, and eerily plausible new novel. When Mae gets a job at the Circle, a Bay Area tech company that's cornered the world market on social media and e-commerce, she's elated, and not just because of the platinum health-care package. The gleaming campus is a wonder, and it seems as though there isn't anything the company can't do (and won't try). But she soon learns that participation in social media is mandatory, not voluntary, and that could soon apply to the general population as well. For a monopoly, it's a short step from sharing to surveillance, to a world without privacy. This isn't a perfect book—the good guys lecture true-believer Mae, and a key metaphor is laboriously explained—but it's brave and important and will draw comparisons to Brave New World and 1984. Eggers brilliantly depicts the Internet binges, torrents of information, and endless loops of feedback that increasingly characterize modern life. But perhaps most chilling of all is his notion that our ultimate undoing could be something so petty as our desperate desire for affirmation. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Eggers' reputation as a novelist continues to grow. Expect this title to be talked about, as it has an announced first printing of 200,000 and the New York Times Magazine has first serial rights. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

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Boxers/Saints - Gene Luen Yang




Boxers/Saints - Yang, Gene Luen

Summary: Vibiana, an unwanted fourth child, finds her name and identity in Christianity, but with the Boxer Rebellion in full swing and Chinese Christians facing death, she must decide whether her loyalties lie with her religion or her country.


Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* In American Born Chinese (2006), Yang spoke to the culture clash of Chinese American teen life. In Saints—the concluding volume in a two-book set beginning with Boxers (2013)—about the Boxer Rebellion at the end of the nineteenth century in China, he looses twin voices in harmony and dissonance from opposite sides of the bloody conflict. Saints follows Four-Girl, an outcast in her own family, who embraces the Christian faith spreading through her country and places herself in the dangerous path of the Boxers. Between the two books, Yang ties tangled knots of empathy where the heroes of one become the monsters of the other. Four-Girl and her foil in Boxers, Little Bao, are drawn by the same fundamental impulses—for community, family, faith, tradition, purpose—and their stories reflect the inner torture that comes when those things are threatened. Yang is in superb form here, arranging numerous touch points of ideological complexity and deeply plumbing his characters' points of view. And in an homage to the driving power of stories themselves, Four-Girl is captivated by a vision sprung from lore: a young Frenchwoman clad in golden armor, Joan of Arc. Much blood is spilled as Four-Girl marches toward her grim fate, which is even more unsettling given that Yang hasn't fundamentally altered his squeaky clean, cartoonishly approachable visual style. A poignant, powerhouse work of historical fiction from one of our finest graphic storytellers. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

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When lions roar - Robie Harris


When lions roar - Harris, Robie

Summary: A reassuring story about a young child who faces his fears to make his world a safe place again follows his efforts to be brave in the face of booming thunder, a big barking dog and other scary things. Illustrated by the Caldecott Medal-winning artist of Yo! Yes? - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Harris and Raschka elegantly tackle a common childhood emotion in this pitch-perfect book for the youngest child. "When lions roar! / When monkeys screech! / When lightning cracks! / When thunder booms!" it's scary, and the sources of the fear can feel very close and very threatening. After becoming overwhelmed by a series of events, a little boy sits down, closes his eyes, and tells the scary to "go away." Quiet starts to return, as flowers bloom, puppies cuddle, and mommies and daddies, who have their scary moments, too, are back to their singing and dancing selves. Sure, it's simplistic, but it's also a powerful message about positive thinking: a change in perspective influences how we experience our environment. It's possible that no one conveys emotion better than Raschka, and with the curve of an eyebrow or the posturing of a body, we know exactly what the boy is thinking and feeling. Similarly, simple backgrounds depict footsteps and fear clouds or offer exuberant swirls of excitement and speak volumes about the boy's state of mind. Paired with Harris' simple text, this reassures children that facing your fears can have truly transformative results.HIGH-DEMAND HOTLIST: The unexpected pairing of popular children's book creator Harris and Caldecott Medalist Raschka, whose fan base is ever-widening, will ensure this title's spot on most-requested lists. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

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