February 2023 Prime Picks

The Culinary Corner

The Complete Guide to Healthy Drinks
America's Test Kitchen
America's Test Kitchen, Publisher
9781954210202 $27.99
www.americastestkitchen.com

The Complete Guide to Healthy Drinks may bring the usual protein shake or smoothie to mind, but as this book shows, there is a much broader definition available that eschews the usual sugar-laden fare for drinks that use a minimum of sweetners and a maximum of fresh fruit and veggie ingredients.

Some 160 recipes profile these alternatives; but besides the recipes, the discussions of "why this combination works" offer much added value. Insights into complimentary flavors are represented in recipes such as Spicy Jicama Juice with Lime or water infusions such as Grapefruit, Blackberry, and Sage Water.

The drinks are colorful, attractive alternatives to sugar-laden drink cookbooks, have been fully vetted and tested by America's Test Kitchen, and are also infused with color photos on every page, offering enticing lures to try the healthier drink recipes.

Kyle Books
www.octopusbooksusa.com

Tristan Hogg and Jon Simon's Pieminister Live and Eat Pie! (9781804190630, $26.99) offers over seventy recipes and tips for "ethical and sustainable pie making." Cooks might question this ideal, but the Pieminister brand embraces vegan and plant-based options as well as meat and fish pies, departing from the usual focus on sweets to provide a more balanced focus on making savory, healthy fare.

They also discuss the ideals and incarnations of sustainable food choices and eating, translating these lofty-sounding principles into daily recipes that anyone can enjoy.

From a Mushroom Wwwellington to a Hop Dog influenced by a Scottish craft brewer and replete with beef, black treacle, and hoppy ale, one thing is certain: you won't see anything comparable to these original recipes in another pie cookbook. This fact makes Pieminister Live and Eat Pie! a standout.

Nathan Outlaw's Fish for Dinner: Delicious Seafood Recipes to Cook at Home (9781914239809, $34.99) translates the fisherman's catch from the Cornish harbor town of Port Isaac to some seventy illustrated recipes that all cooks can use to produce a variety of fish dishes at home.

Stews to snacks and salads display the wide-ranging possibilities of fish in recipes such as Szechuan Mackerel in Mushroom and Tofu Sauce and Pickled Chillies to Grilled Bass in a tapenade of Tomato, Red Pepper, and Anchovy Sauce.

Color photos add appeal to dishes which are clear, inviting, unusual displays offering home cooks a variety of approaches to adding fish to their diets.

Leon: Big Salads
Rebecca Seal
Conran/Octopus Publishing
9781840918250 $24.99
www.octopusbookusa.com

Leon: Big Salads is the first book in a new Leon series, and packs in some 100 ideas for hearty and healthy salads that can serve as main courses for a range of different salad eaters.

Some can be packed and brought to picnics or work; others can be served at dinner as the main event.

Recipes such as Raddicchio, White Bean, Feta & Roasted Peppers Salad, or Salt & Szechuan Pepper Tofu with Cabbage and Ginger Salad, embrace international influences and the wide-ranging possibilities of redefining the ordinary concept of the salad. These are accompanied by full-page color photos that add appeal to the results and ideas for attractive food displays.

The result is highly recommended even for collections where a few ordinary salad books already exist. Its contents and opportunity for expanding the salad concept are bright, refreshing, and appealing.

Reviewer's Choice

Flash Fiction America: 73 Very Short Stories
James Thomas, et.al.
W.W. Norton
9780393358056 $16.95
www.wwnorton.com

Flash Fiction America: 73 Very Short Stories is the perfect anthology of choice for readers who look for the most power in the least number of words. It will especially appeal to Twitter users and those who enjoy succinct expression, demonstrating the power of precision in short story writing.

The editors have searched out the best writings from all parts of the country to gather this diverse reflection of American regional experience, choosing fiction that uses a range of formats, from experimental literature to short narratives both serious and humorous.

The diversity of voices and approaches to the short form results in short 2-3 page works that offer the greatest value in the least words, demonstrating that flash fiction short forms can be just as compelling as longer writings.

Gently Down This Dream
Hugh & Gayle Prather
New World Library
9781608688418 $17.95
www.newworldlibrary.com

When author Hugh Prather completed the manuscript Gently Down This Dream: Notes on My Sudden Departure, he turned it over to his wife and writing partner for editing. He died the next day, leaving it in her hands to revise and bring to publication.

That she did so is a tribute to Hugh's effort and the power of the self-improvement exercises that Hugh and Gayle practiced and taught all their lives.

Filled with humor, visionary statements, wisdom, and self and world inspections, Gently Down This Dream both celebrates life and offers new pathways for making a positive impact in life and one's own role in it.

From communication to intention and self-understanding, Gently Down This Dream is a gentle road map for souls who would live life to its fullest while doing better with its riches and their choices.

Learn to Let Go
John Purkiss
Aster/Octopus Publishing
9781783255436 $14.99
www.octopusbooksusa.com

Learn to Let Go: A Guided Journal advocates dropping negative thinking, attitudes, and life perceptions in favor of reformulating a new reality and perception through an illustrated guided journal of possibilities.

This book is actually a progressive, interactive lesson that teaches and encourages readers how to be present in the moment and let go of limiting thought patterns and pain. It shows how to not just overcome, but supersede limiting forces and perspectives in life.

Exercises for daily contemplation and completion accompany admonitions and lessons on how to identify and let go of negative life experiences and messages, both internal and external.

The journal offers a format for self-exploration, a safe place for contemplation, and a rich blend of insight and supportive writing exercise that imparts lessons on all aspects of life.

The result is a tool that's just the ticket for those who would employ creative writing to support psychological growth and self-help efforts.

Young Adult/Children

All the Colors of Life
Lisa Aisato
W-1 Media Inc/Arctis
9781646900114 $24.00
www.arctis-books.com

All the Colors of Life comes from a Norwegian illustrator who presents images that create evocative connections between emotions and color. "Our lives are full of color," she maintains, supporting this contention with gorgeous full-page drawings that will appeal to all ages.

A variety of life experiences accompany these representations, from "you feel like you don't know the words to the song the grown-ups are singing" to "You wish there were a user manual for difficult mornings, days, and nights."

The gorgeous illustrations power a book that should be a family basic read, filled with opportunities for understanding and discussing feelings and backed by colorful and fun illustrations throughout.

Bunnies in a Boat
Philip Ardagh and Ben Mantle
Candlewick Press
9781536228335 $17.99
www.candlewickpress.com

Bunnies in a Boat returns the picture book bunny characters of previous volumes to young readers in a new hilarious adventure replete with chaos and fantasy fun.

A rollicking rhyme accompanies hilarious, colorful illustrations of a variety of encounters and nautical mishaps as the bunnies struggle to stay in the boat and afloat.

Adults who choose Bunnies in a Boat for read-aloud will find its delightful scenarios lend to laughter and discussion.

Dark on Light
Dianne White
Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster
9781534487895 $18.99
www.simonandschuster.com

Dark on Light pairs appealing illustrations by Felicita Sala with a story that explores and contrasts dark and light experienced by kids who explore the nighttime outdoors.

A gentle rhyme cements these experiences ("Silent the owl. Still the night/Dark the meadow beneath its flight.") and brings the story to life.

Parents who choose this tender book for its read-aloud attraction will find it a lovely celebration of both dark and light worlds that kids will appreciate.

A Dream for Every Season
Haddy Njie and Lisa Aisato
Arctis Books
9781646900237 $18.00
www.arctis-books.com

A Dream for Every Season is translated by Megan Turney and Rachel Rankin and provides young picture book readers with a poetic examination of seasonal nature experiences to be found in Norway and many places of the world.

Large-size, whimsical, attractive illustrations accompany four-line poems that link emotions with the wonders and fantasy of nature settings.

Many of the images are particularly fanciful and striking, as in that of a girl who sports blooming flowers instead of hair.

The result is a lovely celebration of dreams and seasons which lends particularly well to read-aloud pleasure.

Penguin/Dial Books
www.penguin.com/kids

These new arrivals represent some of the best of Penguin's books for young readers, and are recommended for libraries looking for lasting elementary-level lends that attract young leisure readers.

Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (9780399538568, $24.99) is an essential guide to the Miss Peregrine world, highly recommended for collections that have prior books in the series.

Here, an encyclopedia of "peculiardom" covers this odd world and its traits, pairing black and white images with quotes and misquotes that are thought-provoking and enlightening.

The visuals and discussions are fun and varied.

Groundhog Gets It Wrong by Jess Townes (9780693326152, $18.99) receives engaging illustrations by Nicole Miles as it provides young picture book readers with an alternate story of Groundhog Day in which a seemingly easily prediction process goes awry.

What can a groundhog do when he misses his calling?

A fun story of mishaps and unexpected consequences emerges to delight picture book fans and read-aloud adults alike.

Reese Witherspoon's Busy Betty (9780593465882, $19.99) receives large-sized, colorful embellishment by Xindi Yan that accompanies a large-print story suitable for ages 3-7.

Busy Betty has always been busy, and her story of perseverance against all odds will engage readers as she tackles the challenge of giving her dog a bath ... even if she lacks soap, a bathtub, and gets easily distracted by the possibilities of bubbles.

A zany story keeps Betty and her readers on their toes, problem-solving and dealing with distractions.

David Shannon's Gold! (9780593352274, $18.99) tells of Maximilian Midas, a "peculiar little boy" who doesn't like chocolate, toys, or the usual child's activities.

From early youth, he's been fascinated by gold, and only wants to make millions so he can spend it on ... more gold!

There's a lesson involved about accumulating riches, as Max comes to learn despite his early obsession, and adults who read picture books to the young will be happy to consider the ultimate impact of Max's focus.

Patchwork by Matt de La Peña and Corinna Luyken (9781984813961, $18.99) pairs the efforts of an award-winning author and illustrator who bring to life the idea that different talents may result in unexpected paths in life.

A restless young jokester in school, for example, exhibits traits that indicate "the skill it takes to make people laugh is the skill you'll use to help people learn when you become a favorite teacher. And when a restless kid like you lands in the back of your class, you will see her, you will love her."

The warm story of acceptance opens up a world of future possibilities.

Meanwhile Back on Earth ... Finding Our Place Through Time and Space by Oliver Jeffers (9780593621523, $24.99) tells of a savvy father faced with a car trip with arguing children, who decides to turn the trip into a thrilling space exploration with a cosmic viewpoints that unite them all.

Solar system facts intersect with fancy to not only keep the kids quiet, but educate them about the impact of the universe on their daily lives and perceptions.

Go, Sled! Go! by James Yang (9780593404799, $18.99) presents a sled ride to young readers—but it's not your usual celebration of a snowy day.

All kinds of obstacles arise that can keep the sled from speeding forward effortlessly, with hilarious results.

Adults who choose this book as a read-aloud for the very young will find all kinds of opportunities for embellishment and fun in the sound effects and hilarious encounters the sled ride brings.

Awe-Some Days: Poems About the Jewish Holidays by Marilyn Singer (9780593324691, $18.99) is illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte. It presents poetic celebrations narrated by a smart little girl who helps readers explore the traditions of a year of Jewish celebrations.

The poems and descriptions will attract parents who will choose this as a read-aloud suitable for not just a lively story, but for discussion of these traditions.

All are excellent choices for discriminating libraries and young leisure-reading audiences.

Tish
Edwina Wyatt
Berbay Publishing
9781922610522 $19.99
www.berbaybooks.com

Tish is the tale of an imaginary friend who just wants to be loved, and follows the children who make this fantasy mammoth into something real, if not magical.

Tish's participation in the lives of children who bring him to life to experience the world makes for an easy reader for elementary grades 3-5. This audience will find this magical story of a winning, evolving relationship and its adventures to be revealing and unusual.

Libraries that choose Tish will find it a top recommendation for kids past the picture book stage who want an attractive story about fantasy beliefs and creatures.

The Unofficial Guide to the Ancient Egyptian Afterlife
Bastet the Cat and Laura Winstone
Cicada Books
9781700660120 $18.99
www.cicadabooks.co.uk

The Unofficial Guide to the Ancient Egyptian Afterlife presents a mummified cat's perspective of ancient Egypt's death rituals, including spells, tomb options, and Afterlife visions. This is a fun way of introducing young picture book readers to some of the concepts held by ancient Egyptians of that afterlife.

From how bodies are pickled and preserved to magical symbols and decorations, the specifics herein lend to insights that are graphic, intriguing, and fun.

Young readers interested in ancient Egypt will find this introduction by Bastet the Cat and Laura Winstone to be colorful, compelling, and attractive.

Youniverse
Lizelle van der Merwe
Tilbury House Publishers
9780884489559 $18.95
www.tilburyhouse.com

Youniverse: The Quantum Kaleidoscope of You is a fun exploration connecting biology, physics, and other sciences with a young person's perspective of self and the universe.

A kaleidoscope of colors moves from the microcosm of one's body and the Earth to the macrocosm of universal connections in a dance that ends with a tour of the cosmos.

Readers interested in a story that holds the appeal of a picture book and the vivid descriptions of a poetic journey will find Youniverse lively, positive, and captivating.