Current & previous staff reviews (by year):
September 2004
Featuring Authors Attending
The Baltimore Book Festival!
"Galileo and the Stargazers"
"Animal Tales"
(Tapes, $9.98; CDs, $14.98)
Jim Weiss is a professional storyteller having produced 34 storytelling recordings. His live performances entertain adults and children alike who upon hearing him, experience the feeling of having met characters from a wide range of classic literature and folktales.
Two of his storytelling recordings include:
- Animal Tales - A delightful collection of several Aesop Fables, plus lively tales from Grimm, Chaucer, and others. Appropriate for Ages 3 and up.
- Galileo and the Stargazers - Historic icons of the sciences are turned into real people weaving discovery with tales of great thinkers who changed the world. Recommended for Ages 7 to adult.
--Debbie Nelson
The Lost Colony of Roanoke (Penguin Putnam, $16.99)
This is a gripping story of tragedy, intrigue, treachery, and the unsolved mystery of Roanoke island. The island was actually settled twice. The first group of settlers returned to England after extreme hardship and near starvation. They had also managed to completely alienate the Native Americans. When the second group of settlers arrived, the natives were already their enemies. But they had numerous other enemies to contend with: the weather, treacherous and greedy seamen, and courtiers back in England. Although the mystery of Roanoke continues, Fritz and Talbott provide the reader with some insight into the story as well as a number of interesting hypotheses. --Lisa Cody
Exiled: Memoirs of a Camel (Marshall Cavendish, $15.95)
Exiled is an outstanding imagining of the experience of the camels brought to Texas to be part of the United States Camel Corps in 1856. The story is told in first person from the point of view of one of the camels, young Ali, beginning with his childhood in the Middle East and continuing through the dissolution of the United States Camel Corps at the outbreak of the Civil War. The story is well-researched and peopled with the historical personalities originally involved in the experiment, as well as the camel whose skeleton now resides in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The story is followed with an author's note about the actual historical details. I also recommend her book Skullduggery which focuses on a bizarre branch of medicine: phrenology. The story is exciting and filled with adventure as well as historical detail. --Emma Casale
The Flag Maker (Houghton Mifflin, $16.00)
Susan Campbell Bartoletti's The Flag Maker tells the story of the women who sewed the original Star-Spangled Banner—the flag that survived the British attack on Fort McHenry and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that would later become our National Anthem. Through the eyes of Caroline, the twelve-year-old daughter of flag maker Mary Pickersgill, we see this giant flag gradually taking shape as war draws ever closer to Baltimore. The book includes historical notes and a list of "Flag Facts", and Bartoletti draws a faithful picture of life in Baltimore in the early 1800s, acknowledging the sad fact that at least one of the women who helped to create this famous symbol of freedom was Mary Pickersgill's slave. Bartoletti's simple narrative style is well complemented by Claire A. Nivola's watercolor illustrations, which capture the ‘look‘ of early American art. --Ben Bruch
Miracle's Boys (Penguin Putnam, $15.99-hardcover; $5.99-paperback)
Lafayette was there when their mom doesn't wake up one morning…for good. Things are never the same after that for him or his older brothers, Tyree and Charlie. Miracle's Boys is the story of what keeps the boys together without parents to guide them and despite the challenges of an urban setting. --Donna Basik
Behind You (Penguin Putnam, $15.99)
In Behind You, Woodson deftly weaves together the experiences of those left behind after the tragic death of a teenage boy. It is a story of reconciliation which supports the idea that the meaning of a person's death is truly the meaning it holds for those touched by his or her life. This book is a welcome addition to the youn adult list in a city where so many teens are losing their loved ones through homicide. --Jennifer Williams
Not Quite a Stranger (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, $16.00)
After his mother's death, 17 year-old Zack arrives in Baltimore, MD to find the father who he has never met. Arriving unannounced, he is met by his 13 year old half-sister, Tottie, whose world is suddenly up-ended by the fact that a virtual stranger is now sharing her home. Rodowsky's skill is having the story unfold in alternating chapters between Zach's and Tottie's points of view evoking the emotions of two adolescents in crisis along with the family's adjustment to the situation. --Debbie Nelson
A Northern Light (Harcourt Brace, $17.00-hardcover; $8.95-paperback)
With the backdrop of the Adirondack mountains and lakes, inherently full of their own mystery, an endearing story unfolds of two girls whose paths fatefully cross. Sixteen year old Mattie Gokey's story is told in flashbacks from her current job as hired help at a resort. She knows something no one else does, but is torn between loyalities to old promises and what others want her to do, and what she knows is right and she owes to herself. --Debbie Nelson
The Willoughby Spit Wonder (Candlewick, $15.99)
In this touching story, Carter Johnston, a boy experiencing the first stirrings of manhood, fights the reality of his father's failing health by attempting something extraordinary. Set in the familiar beauty of the Chesapeake Bay region, Fuqua's novel captures the natural richness and the dangers of a boyhood on the water. A fine, fine novel. --Jennifer Williams
T is for Terrible (Henry Holt, $15.95)
In this new book, a T-Rex explains that he can't help being big and scary. He can't help that he has a big appetite, or that he doesn't eat trees. He started out like everyone else, hatching from an egg and having a mother. He grew just like everybody else and he couldn't help that he grew so big. McCarty's illustrations are soft and inviting. This is a great picture book for the young dinosaur lover and a pleasant introduction to the terrible T-Rex. --Lisa Cody
Thunder Rose (Harcourt Brace, $16.00)
Jerdine Nolen's Thunder Rose is a new twist on an old American tradition—the "tall tale". The hero of this story is Rose herself, an African-American cowgirl born during an electrical storm, who soon becomes known throughout the West for her prodigious strength and her ability to control thunder and lightning. The source of Rose's power, we are told, is her song, which grows out of the "fortunate feeling" she has in her heart, a sense of love and optimism that can tame stampeding cattle or angry tornadoes. Nolen's tale, which was inspired by the bravery of the freed African slaves who made new lives for themselves in the Old West, is brought to life by Kadir Nelson's award-winning illustrations. --Ben Bruch
The Castle of The Cats (Holiday House, $16.95)
This retelling of the latvian folktale "The Palace of the Cats" (also know as "The White Cat") is beautifully illustrated and simply retold. A farmer sends his three sons on three quests to determine who will inherit the farm. The youngest son happens upon a castle inhabited only by cats and ruled over by their beautiful white cat queen. She gives him the items he has been sent questing for by his father, and of course, they wind up living happily ever after. Eric Kimmel is an excellent storyteller and has retold a number of traditional folk tales from all over the world. --Emma Casale
Leaping Beauty (HarperCollins, $15.99)
Eight "fractured" fairy tales are presented in this clever, funny, modern, and up-beat collection of stories casting zany animals as the well-known characters. --Debbie Nelson
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (HarperCollins, $25.00-hardcover;
$14.95-paperback)
From the bestselling author of Wicked, this outstanding retelling of Cinderella is set in Renaissance Holland, and is told from the point of view of the stepsisters, neither of whom is wicked, merely ugly. Maguire skillfully creates each of his characters and allows the reader to experience compassion and understanding for each of them, even the wicked stepmother. While this book was intended for adult readers, it is well-suited to the sophisticated young adult reader. I absolutely loved this book and consider it one of the best Cinderella retellings I have ever read. --Emma Casale
Wizard at Work (Harcourt Brace, $16.00-hardcover; $5.95-paperback)
This entertaining collection of stories focuses on a wizard looking forward to his summer vacation: gardening, fishing and napping. Unfortunately, a wizard's work is never done and his vacation keeps getting interrupted: to rescue a princess, lift a vile curse, confront a ghost… This book is a wonderful read. --Emma Casale
Heir Apparent (Harcourt Brace, $17.00-hardcover; $6.95-paper)
Giannine has been looking forward to playing the new virtual reality game Heir Apparent. Finally she is getting the chance. The game is extremely difficult with numerous ways to get your character killed, forcing her to start the game over. While she is playing the game, protesters attack the arcade and damage the equipment. Now Giannine is in the game for her life. She can't be disconnected from the equipment until she has won the game and if she doesn't win within a certain period of time, she will actually die. A fun read, with a little surprise on the very last page. Don't look until you finish the book!!! --Emma Casale
The Stink Files Dossier 001: The Postman Always
Brings Mice (HarperCollins, $14.99)
This entertaining espionage story is told from the feline point of view of James Edward Bristlefur, former pet to the director of a very secret intelligence agency in Britain. When his owner is poisoned, James finds himself being sent to live with a woman in Norway. The only problem is that he was put on the wrong plane and instead winds up in a humane society in Newark, New Jersey. He is adopted by a boy named Aaron. James sets out to find out who caused him to be put on the wrong plane and who has been framing him for behaving badly in the house, while developing a relationship with his new owner Aaron. This book is a fun read with a bit of heart and a good amount of suspense. Look for its sequel in October. --Emma Casale