March 2016 Prime Picks
Arts and Crafts
Amherst Media
www.amherstmedia.com
Tony Corbell's Light and Shadow (9781608959938, $37.95) deserves ongoing attention for its outstanding surveys of the lighting tweaks that can create successful on-location shoots, providing fine discussions on the photographer's role in either supplementing or changing natural lighting conditions.
Numerous books on photography and lighting are on the market; but Light and Shadow differs from most in pairing lighting choices with specific style approaches and their results, packing color and black and white examples throughout to illustrate differences from positioning, light subtraction techniques, and handling or creating backgrounds to supplement or improve lighting.
From working with panels and understanding angles to different options under less than superior conditions, Light and Shadow's specific focus on location photography makes it a winner.
Thom Rouse's After the Camera (9781682030042, $29.95) concentrates on developing image concepts suitable for fine art productions, and demonstrates the photographer and author's special techniques of starting with client portraits and adding other selected photos for different artistic results.
Color photos throughout trace the evolution of how Thom Rouse combines his own shots with others' ideas to produce something uniquely different, with step-by-step discussions covering each set of images, surveying the various options available and why and how the author made his different choices.
Photographers who would move beyond portrait and landscape work to add fine art influences will find After the Camera is packed with exciting new ideas.
Book
Cover Designs
Matthew Goodman
Schiffer Books
9780764350160 $34.99
www.schifferbooks.com
Book Cover Designs features over five hundred cover designs along with discussions by modern book designers about the process of creating a cover, and gathers the award-winning results of cover artists from around the world.
These covers come from all genres and represent all kinds of approaches with designs that are original, eye-catching, and which breathe new life into classic books while propelling little-known authors or titles into newfound fame with attention-grabbing covers.
But the meat of Book Cover Designs isn't just in its full-page and four-to-a-page representations: it's in discussions of what makes for a superior cover. This vivid collection of exceptional productions illustrates what best succeeds in a book cover, and exactly why.
Empire
Lewis DeSoto
Heyday
9781507143349 $30.00
www.heydaybooks.com
Empire is a fine pairing of photos and essays by a visual artist who uses sixty full-page color images of Southern California landscapes to explore the area's natural and human environments alike, creating lovely panoramic views of different areas and adding eight essays about his youth (which was spent in the area).
While photo collections may center on a region and focus on natural or manmade landscapes, they too often lack the historical and personal information that turn these photos into important documents charting personal and environmental changes.
Empire's approach combines a literary and artistic perspective, creating a photo essay recommended both for arts and photography collections and especially for any interested in Southern California's culture and environment.
Kalmbach
Books
www.JewelryandBeadingStore.com
Kalmbach's books about jewelry making are perfect choices for anyone who would get up and running fast through a blend of how-to techniques and different projects. These new arrivals represent some of the best of Kalmbach's recent releases.
Steven James' Discover Torch Enameling: Get Started with 25 Sure-Fire Projects (9781627003247, $21.99) demonstrates that enameling need not be an expensive proposition. The projects here don't even require a kiln, and begin with a series of simple steps that impart enameling basics using a minimum of equipment.
No prior knowledge is presumed, while the good-quality step-by-step color photos do a terrific job of teaching the basics of working with wire, manipulating metal, and moving into advanced enameling techniques.
Kat Wisniewski's New Connections in Chain Mail Jewelry with Rubber and Glass Rings (9781627002370, $21.99) covers a type of chain mail production not usually seen in chain jewelry titles: a melding of glass, chain, and rubber to add color and different textures to chain mail jewelry.
Easy directions accompany step-by-step photos and tips on customizing designs, while projects range from bracelets and necklaces to earrings.
More chain mail projects are covered in Theresa D. Abelew's Play with Chain Mail (9781627001724, $21.99), which focuses on four weaves and the twenty different designs that can be produced from them, demonstrating how a wide variety of designs can evolve from just four simple techniques.
From quick, easy necklaces and earrings to rings and classic chains, notes review how to make connections, how to achieve the right look, and how to add embellishments to the designs.
Cathy Jakicic's Quick & Easy Stitched Jewelry (9781627002318, $21.99) reviews pieces that can be made in just a few hours, with design variations and color choices accompanying directions for over twenty bracelets, earrings, and other pieces.
Each project includes design variations, so if you take into account the fact that a single approach provides a number of different choices, it's easy to see that these projects will especially attract novices new to stitching and jewelry making who seek easy, quick, polished results.
Speaking of stitched jewelry, Josie Fabre's Fast Peyote Stitch Jewelry (9781627002394, $21.99) joins easy patterns with over twenty projects based on the peyote stitch, and is directed to relative newcomers to peyote stitching.
Step-by-step color illustrations and diagrams for beading enhance this title (which requires good eyesight for its detailed, small print stitch directions), which helps users create satisfyingly intricate patterns and colorful, original results.
Erica Swanson's Wonderful Wire Jewelry (9781627000048, $21.99) packs in thirty projects based on a number of techniques and styles for earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. These are all based on wire foundations, covering many options involved in wire jewelry manipulation.
Novices and those with some basic experience handling wire jewelry will relish the variety of techniques involved in the different jewelry-making processes, which show how to work with chains, beads, crystals and other materials and how to 'mix and match' for more creative results.
All are top picks for any jewelry maker who wants either an entry-level introduction or a progressive education on foundation techniques.
Suspended
City: L'Aquila
after the Earthquake
Michele Nastasi
Actar
9781940291673
$34.95
www.actar.com
Suspended City presents the photos taken by Michele Nastasi after an 6.3 earthquake razed the city of L'Aquila in 2009, joins these with critical essays written by Giorgio Agamben and Maddalena d’Alfonso, and combines an artistic perspective of an uncanny, surreal landscape with a record of the city's catastrophe and recovery process.
Especially exciting and notable are not just scenes of devastation, but accounts of the recovery and reinvention process, with photos capturing basic images representative of European art, history, and culture.
Milan photographer Nastasi's striking images of landscapes transformed are suitable for both arts collections and any interested in L'Aquila and its recovery process.
Biography & Autobiography
If
At Birth You Don't Succeed
Zach Anner
Henry Holt
9781627793643 $27.00
www.henryholt.com
If At Birth You Don't Succeed: My Adventures with Disaster and Destiny presents a comedian's humorous perspective on his life, himself, and his world, and begins with his contenton that he somehow 'botched his own birth' in entering life with cerebral palsy.
This didn't stop him: he's hosted two travel shows, driven a Mars Rover, and made much of his life, and If At Birth You Don't Succeed follows this process, exploring his childhood, coming of age, entry into adulthood, a successful career in entertainment, and more.
In the process of undertaking a wide range of endeavors and approaching success and failure with a light heart and upbeat attitude, Zach Anner captures the highlights of a life well lived and creates a memoir that is sparkling with events and discoveries.
Readers in search of inspirational and adventure reads will find If At Birth You Don't Succeed a captivating account of positive approaches to life against all odds.
The
Missing Kennedy
Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff
Bancroft Press
9781610881746 $27.50
www.bancroftpress.com
The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women blends history with a memoir in telling of Rosemary Kennedy (who underwent a lobotomy that substantially worsened her mental condition) and the woman who was to became Rosie Kennedy's caregiver.
Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff's aunt worked in a Catholic-run home for the mentally ill. For nearly two decades, Rosemary Kennedy did not see her family, as doctors maintained that any family contact would only worsen her mental condition.
This account of her life and times, taken from Sister Paulus' private notes and paired with previously unpublished photos, reveals a stunning story of a vivacious woman whose life and personality were irrevocably altered by the mental health interventions of her times.
Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff's memories of time spent with the missing Rosie Kennedy are perhaps the only firsthand, in-depth account of this Kennedy member's tragic life, making The Missing Kennedy a powerful 'must have' acquisition for any collection strong on either Kennedy family history or mental illness treatments.
The Computer Corner
The
Scrum Field Guide
Mitch Lacey
Addison Wesley
9780133853629 $47.99
www.informit.com/aw
The Scrum Field Guide: Agile Advice for Your First Year and Beyond appears in its second updated edition with advice based on the latest Scrum best practices and tools, and is recommended for any computer library strong in software engineering, agile practices, and Scrum guides.
This is no light revision: entire chapters have been extensively revamped and include new topics such as collaborative estimation and business adjustments, while the basic coverage incorporates tips in working with team members, handling daily scrums, managing risk in Scrum projects, running retrospectives, understanding when and how to document, and more.
Chapters are packed with charts, graphs, and technical information that includes the bigger picture of how to operate in a Scrum environment, how to know when a project is done, and how to fine-tune it.
No business or software engineering library should be without this primer, which includes plenty of real-world examples and applications.
Core
Java Volume 1 - Fundamentals
Cay S. Horstmann
Prentice Hall
9780134177304 $59.99
www.informit.com/ph
Core Java Volume 1 - Fundamentals isn't for novices: it's an in-depth reference written for experienced programmers who want to produce better code, appears in a revised and updated tenth edition to reflect the latest changes in Java SE 8, and has been completely rewritten and reorganized to feature new Java components, applications, and the latest recognized best practices.
From dealing with errors and using map views to the disadvantages of toolbars and using the tooltips interface to more effectively resolve problems, chapters are loaded with small black and white screen shots, charts, code examples, and notes that provide keys to working with all kinds of Java applications.
No serious programmer working in a Java environment should be without this basic primer, which reviews all the basics of Java's latest version.
The
Culinary Corner
Agate
Publishing Inc.
www.agatepublishing.com
Two excellent cookbooks are highly recommended picks for any discriminating collection; especially those interested in desserts.
First up is The Eli's Cheese Cookbook (9781572841826, $25.00) - and if you think this just mirrors the contents of other cheesecake cookbooks, you'd be wrong.
Eli Schulman is credited with placing Chicago-style cheesecake on the map to compete with the iconic New York version. From how Eli developed sweet and savory cheesecakes in his restaurant to why they differ from other recipes, lovely color photos lace a book crammed with recipes that embrace 17 batters, 10 crusts, 13 chocolates, caramels and compotes, and more.
Celebrity anecdotes compliment details on rolled and pressed crusts (almond streusel, graham crumb, or chocolate shortbread) and recipes such as Belgian Chocolate Cheesecake and Honey Almond Pistachio Ricotta Cheesecake.
These are far more innovative productions than can be found in the usual cheesecake cookbook; yet will prove quite accessible to newcomers - even those who may not have made a single cheesecake before.
Patty Pinner's Sweet Mornings (9781572841864, $27.50) differs from most breakfast cookbooks on the market by including a healthy selection of savory as well as sweet breakfast and brunch dishes.
There are recipes for a Morning Apple Crisp, Pistachio Coffee Cake, Glazed Coffee Bars and Sweet Potato Muffins along with such classics as Eggs Benedict, Corned Beef Hash, and various granolas, as an example of the diversity of this cookbook.
While the main emphasis is on 'sweet', even this section contains many recipes that differ from most, such as Broiled Pineapple, Puffed Cherry Pancake Casserole, and Orange-Filled Crescents.
The inclusion of color photos throughout and classic, traditional fare alongside innovations and unusual creations makes Sweet Mornings an appealing, delicious consideration for any breakfast cook and cookbook collections catering to them.
Front
Table Books/Cedar Fort
www.cedarfort.com
Craig Chapman's Real Food Real Kitchens New York Cookbook (9781462117246, $21.99) comes from a television producer and magazine editor who has long written about family, food and culinary history.
However, his latest production is something different: a gathering of family recipes from across New York City which focuses not just on ethnic traditions and family products, but the process of how each recipe has been passed down in its family and been kept alive.
Each section contains an introduction (by the recipe contributor) that discusses ethnic heritage, family interactions, and how the recipe evolved.
From a Haitian Black Rice to a potato pie created by a father over thirty years ago and a Polish Vegetable Salad, these are wonderful dishes that represent not only New York City's ethnic diversity, but the unique dishes that evolved from these roots.
Simply Delicious Sunday Dinners by Dina Foglio Crowell (9781462117632, $19.99) offers a range of comfort food for Sunday dinners with many variations on the usual Sunday themes, from an Ultimate Cinnamon Chili to Creamy Chicken Tomato Stew and Easy Fried Fish.
A 'Sunday supper' tends to combine comfort food and easy, quick preparation techniques. These 52 recipes are inspired by a father who loves to cook.
Add color photos of finished dishes for an easy comfort food guide that includes a range of spices and variations on themes, which will prove especially attractive to cooks who want to produce homemade meals and special weekly dinners.
Go
With Your Gut
Robyn Youkilis
Kyle Books
9781909487352 $22.95
www.kylebooks.com
Go With Your Gut: The Insider's Guide to Banishing the Bloat with 75 Digestion-Friendly Recipes provides weight loss tips that focus on stomach-friendly diet plans and, even more refreshingly, doesn't require any special ingredients or odd diet plans.
Where other weight loss books advocate healthier living by obsessing over diet, routines, and calorie counting, Go With Your Gut features a no-hassle approach that even the busiest reader will find central to developing an overall healthy lifestyle.
Because it comes from a lifestyle coach, Go With Your Gut pairs recipes with insights on how they were created, how they can be applied, and some of the techniques Robyn Youkilis uses to coach her clients at her "Your Heathiest You" practice.
The result, supported by color photos throughout, is a fine gathering of recipes and methods to bolster the ultimate goal of lasting health and better lifestyles.
Grand
Central Life & Style
www.grandcentralLifeandStyle.
It's All Easy: Delicious Weekday Recipes for the Super-Busy Home Cook (9781455584215, $35.00) by Gwyneth Paltrow with Thea Baumann shares over a hundred of Paltrow's favorite recipes that can be put together and on the table in the same amount of time as it would take the pizza delivery man to arrive at the door, and includes all meals from breakfasts to suppers.
Full-page color photos compliment such dishes as Crispy Polenta with Sauce (which uses instant polenta to speed up the process), Thai-Style Crab Cakes (which uses cooked crab meat and Asian flavors), and Roasted Cauliflower with Curry (to name just a few of the quick, appealing dishes featured in It's All Easy).
Plenty of cookbooks advocate 'fast' meals, but It's All Easy really puts elegance back into the equation.
Lulu's Kitchen: A Taste of the Gulf Coast Good Life (9781455566488, $19.99) by Lucy Buffett includes a foreword by Jimmy Buffett and updates and repackages the best-selling self-published cookbook for a wider audience.
Over a hundred original recipes stem from Lucy Buffett's Gulf Coast restaurant and meld fun stories with insights on how to put together parties, make sandwiches, and provide snacks and meals perfect for hot weather.
While the result will especially delight Florida residents and cooks with access to fresh local seafood, the recipes will be of interest to any who like to cook and offer many new creations which cooks will find easy to duplicate at home.
Meathooked
Marta Zaraska
Basic Books
9780465036622 $26.99
www.basicbooks.com
Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession with Meat comes from a science journalist who traces the world history of human meat consumption, and differs from a host of other culinary histories or meat books on the market (which tend to limit their examination to either specific regions, recipes, or discussions of different cuts of meat).
Marta Zaraska's wider-ranging survey of human patterns of consumption of animal proteins accompanies a review of global meat consumption habits, history, and cultural inclinations, adding an overall focus on how to eat less meat, and why this is a good idea.
Meathooked is an intriguing blend of health, culinary, and social history surveying how meat-eating has changed the human body and why it began and why the number of vegetarians in the U.S. hasn't changed since the 1940s.
Power
Grains
Stephanie Milner, Commissioning Editor
Ryland Peters & Small
9781849757218 $16.95
www.rylandpeters.com
Power Grains assesses the potentials of spelt, faro, amaranth, and other 'ancient grains' for modern cooks and eaters, and is a solid overview recommended for any who would like to learn how to use these grains in a variety of dishes. Of course, access to these grains is the first priority to successfully using this cookbook (tip: health and natural food stores will stock them), but once they're in hand, Power Grains can be used to learn how to make the most of them.
Small and larger plates include such dishes as Quinoa Burgers with Portobello Mushrooms, Saffron Shrimp with Barley Pilaf, Crunchy Bulgur Salad, and even baked and sweet goods.
Color photos accompany each recipe, while ingredients and instructions are quite clear and simple to use.
Power Grains is a wonderful, basic introduction to not just a range of grains, but the wide variety of dishes they can make, both sweet and savory.
Robert
Rose
www.robertrose.ca
Two excellent cookbooks are recommended for anyone who enjoys being in the kitchen, and pair recipes with color photos and plenty of advice.
Recommended for busy novices who just want to put a homemade meal on the table is Camilla V. Saulsbury's 200 Best Sheet Pan Meals (9780778805380, $24.95). All that's required here (besides basic ingredients) is a sheet pan and an oven to produce meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks to desserts.
The focus is on quick, easy dishes and common ingredients, but the results are anything but ordinary: Creole Baked Cod comes with peppers and onions and is spiced with Cajun seasoning, Miso-Maple Chicken Thighs with Roasted Snap Peas pairs miso paste and maple syrup with salt, pepper and lime wedges, and an Angel Food Sheet Cake eliminates the complicated tube pan from the equation.
Those feeling more adventurous who are interested in sausage production will be attracted to Tonia Reinhard, MS, RD, FAND with Brendan Reinhard & Brent Mitchell's The Complete Art & Science of Sausage Making (9780778805359, $24.95), which offers a far simpler and more visually-enhanced coverage than competing sausage cookbooks on the market.
Recipes are only a part of the equation: proper equipment and techniques also lend to better sausage-making results.
Add a peppering of color photos throughout and a focus on world sausage recipes ranging from classic productions to innovations created with wild game and fish and you have a tasty morsel, indeed.
The
Young Chef
Mark Ainsworth
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9780470928660
$23.00
www.hmhco.com
The Young Chef: Recipes and Techniques for Kids Who Love to Cook adds to a growing number of kids' cookbooks on the market and is backed by The Culinary Institute of America, which hosts a culinary program for younger cooks. Chef-instructor Mark Ainsworth tailors his book for kids ages 10-14 who are either already cooking or who want to learn more, and incorporate the school's professional techniques in the process of reaching this young audience.
Basics range from knife skills and kitchen safety to cooking methods and are followed by kid-friendly recipes for all meals, discussions of food and kitchen terminology, and a liberal peppering of color photos of kids of all ages at work in the kitchen.
This blend of professional focus and kid-friendly cooking methods makes for a highly recommended title that competes well with other kids' cookbooks on the market by adding a professional touch that moves well beyond a simple recipe collection.
Scintillating Sci-Fi and Fantasy
The
Life Engineered
J-F Dubeau
Sword & Laser
9781941758595 $14.99
www.inkshares.com
The Life Engineered represents the first book published by the fantasy book club and podcast Sword & Laser, and is especially recommended for fans of space opera and sci-fi thrillers.
The setting is the year 3594, where humanity is a distant legend and a race of artificial creatures created by the vanished human race has taken over the galaxy.
In this world beyond humans, a Boston cop's death leads her to become reborn as a Capek; one of the artificial inheritors of the universe. Can her newfound abilities belay her sense of being human, which is a distant memory that still lives inside her?
The quest for killers and a blend of detective story and sci-fi drama make for a satisfyingly gripping, dramatic read that crosses genres and is hard to put down.
Reviewer's Choice
Classic
Wooden Toys
Jim Harrold, Editor
Spring House Press
9781940611341 $24.95
www.springhousepress.com
Classic Wooden Toys: Step-by-Step Instructions for 20 Built-to-Last Projects provides step-by-step directions and photos for woodworkers, features wooden toys that are built to stand up to hard play and intergenerational action, and is recommended for any woodworker who wants to create such toys from scratch.
An easel, a wagon, a doll cradle, trucks, pull toys and toy boxes are some of the projects designed for various age ranges. Good-sized color photos are labeled for easy assembly with clear directions that can be easily followed by all levels of craftsman.
Compared with other woodworking and crafting books on basic toys already on the market, this is a standout.
The
Elephant in the Room
Jack Bender
Inkshares
9781941758793 $34.99
www.inkshares.com
The Elephant in the Room offers a curious production billed by Stephen King as being a "children's book for adults only", and combines Jack Bender's stories and color paintings in a collection that creates compelling, unusual protagonists and scenarios.
From a couple of street kids who defy gravity to a host of animals of different colors who refuse to be categorized and a passionate, playful kind of love cultivated by Wanda and Vance, who discover that romance changes everything only as long as it's alive, this is a surreal and whimsical presentation which is at once compelling and fun.
An appreciation for graphic novels or illustrated, edgy stories will be asked of readers of The Elephant in the Room: this audience will find it a compelling and fun read that offers quick staccato scenes and scenarios that exist on the cutting edge of cultural change.
The
End of Karma
Somini Sengupta
W.W. Norton
9780393071009 $26.95
www.wwnorton.com
The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India's Young comes from a personal as well as an analytical perspective, as the author was a child in India during the mid-1970s when politics and turmoil blossomed there, causing her family to move to Southern California. It would be thirty years before she returned to her native country as The New York Times' first Indian-American bureau chief to observe quite a different country than the one she recalled.
Any reader who would learn about these new pressures will find The End of Karma a fine account of how a new generation of young Indians are changing their country and propelling it into the world arena despite the social and political pressures against such developments.
The End of Karma is a hard-hitting documentary of digital freedoms and repression to corruption and widening social gaps which are pulling India apart, and offers both a personal viewpoint and a social analysis of these forces and their effects on all classes.
The result is a vivid, engrossing read that is a 'must' for any who would understand the shaping of modern India.
In
a Different Key
John Donvan and Caren Zucker
Crown
9780307985675 $30.00
www.crownpublishing.com
Eighty-two years ago in Mississippi, Donald Triplett became the first child in history to be diagnosed with autism after his behaviors challenged both his parents and every conventional child-rearing theory available. It was years before the idea of autism was conceived and a diagnosis was made possible. This history embraces not only Triplett's story, but those of others who have suffered from autism.
No light coverage, In A Different Key: The Story of Autism involved some seven years of research and gathers stories of disability rights movement activists, parents, institutions, psychologists, and researchers in a powerful survey that delves into the lasting controversies and investigations surrounding autism.
Plenty of books offer biographies and autobiographies, research and analysis, or surveys of parent movements and interactions within the medical community; but none other sums up both the history and the evolution of the diagnosis and experience of autism as does In A Different Key, a key acquisition for anyone interested in autism.
The
Internet of All of Us
Michael Patrick Lynch
Liveright Publishing
9780871406613 $25.95
www.wwnorton.com
The Internet of All of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data should be on the reading lists of any college-level student and any reader concerned about where information technology is leading the world.
Is there such a thing as too much knowledge? The Internet of All of Us comes from a leading scholar who answers this question and more as he observes an increasingly connected world that's not exponentially wiser. Michael Patrick Lynch maintains that while digital access and better databases and search engines can provide more knowledge, they can't serve as a direct path to wisdom.
This discussion considers various connections between knowledge and wisdom in the digital age, examining issues of privacy and political knowledge, and how humans can become more understanding using the knowledge available to them. No collection strong in sociology and internet analysis should be without The Internet of All of Us, which will also appeal to general interest audiences.
Our
Grandchildren Redesigned
Michael Bess
Beacon Press
9780807052174 $28.95
www.beacon.org
Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in the Bioengineered Society of the Near Future addresses the social issues likely to be raised by bioengineering technology and its fast pace, which range from people living longer with enhanced abilities to genetic manipulation that will allow people to change their own physical and mental abilities as well as those of their children.
A number of books predict these changes, but until recently, major scientific advancements evolved slowly over a period of centuries. As Our Grandchildren Redesigned points out, the fast pace of current technology outpaces the social system adaptations handling it, resulting in challenges to psychological, social, and human health systems alike.
From nanotechnology and conquering death itself to fragmenting species, Our Grandchildren Redesigned offers a powerful survey analyzing not a far future possibility, but a near future dilemma.
The History Shelf
The
King and Queen of Malibu
David K. Randall
W.W. Norton
97803932240993 $26.95
www.wwnorton.com
The King and Queen of Malibu: The True Story of the Battle for Paradise is recommended for any collection strong in California history and culture, reviewing some of the personalities of Southern California that gave Malibu the reputation of being a paradise.
One man's business empire paved from his self-made fortune in Los Angeles, his philanthropic efforts and struggles to protect his ranch and land, his determination to thwart efforts to build a road through his Malibu paradise for public access, and his family's battle preserving over their land rights creates a gripping, true story that documents a piece of the state's evolution and adds much information about Malibu's special place in California's history.
No California history collection should be without this lively and insightful story of the evolution of Malibu's image and culture.
Lake Tahoe Through Time
Carol A. Jensen
America Through Time/Fonthill Media
9781635000313 $22.99
www.fonthillmedia.com
Lake Tahoe Through Time supplies a fine photographic journey through Lake Tahoe over the years, using a contrast of historical images and modern photos to reveal the changes California's Tahoe area has experienced over the years.
From postcards to photos, nearly two hundred comparative images follow these changes and are supplemented with historical information throughout, revealing the places, peoples, and influences on Lake Tahoe's development and culture.
No development is left uncovered: from early timber interests in the region to the region's changing diversity, Lake Tahoe Through Time is an excellent survey that's highly recommended for any with an affection for or a special interest in California's well-known vacation destination.
Children and Teens
Candlewick
Press Helen
Frost and Rick Lieder's Among
a Thousand
Fireflies (9780763676421, $15.99) is a fine
story of a young firefly
who steps into a flower only to find herself surrounded by competing
firefly
flashing lights. How will she make her own little light stand out
against so
many competitors? Lovely,
close-up firefly photos by Rick Lieder accompany this gentle story of
how a
little firefly stands out from the crowd in a gorgeous easy reader
that's a top
recommendation for readers of all ages who are interested in
fireflies. Sally
Lloyd-Jones' Skip
to the Loo, My Darling!
(9780763672348, $11.99) isn't a remake of the classic song so much as a
toilet-training tale of a Bunny who wants his potty. In
this case, "skip to the loo" becomes literal in a hilarious, fun
story of potty training illustrated by Anita Jeram and filled with a
host of
skipping animals who participate in Bunny's efforts. These
are exceptional reads, very highly recommended as standout
acquisitions.
www.candlewick.com
Catch
A Kiss Catch
A Kiss pairs excellent drawings and
fun insights as it tells the story of Izzie and her mother, who like to
play
kissing games in which Mama blows a kiss and Izzie tries to catch
it. There
are different kinds of kisses, and each holds a special challenge, as
young
readers will discover in a warm story of a mother's lasting love and a
child's
concern when something seems to challenge it. The
gentle mother/daughter story is an appealing, fine read that especially
lends
to read-aloud interaction between parent and child.
Deborah Diesen
Sleeping Bear Press
9781585369614 $15.99
www.sleepingbearpress.com
Clarion/Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt Five
new arrivals from Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt provide
picture book
readers with fine leisure reading choices which are all top
recommendations. R.W.
Alley's Clark
in the Deep Sea
(9780547906928, $14.99) tells of Clark and his brother and sisters, who
are
stuck on their back porch on a rainy day. They won't be stuck for long,
though,
becuse the yard becomes an ocean and Clark
turns into a deep-sea diver to rescue his beloved stuffed bear, who has
fallen
off the porch. A
simple, rollicking rhyme follows Clark's
bravery and challenges as he faces the unfamiliar ocean. Edward
Hemingway's Field
Guide to the Grumpasaurus
(9780544546653, $16.99) is recommended for any young dinosaur
enthusiast and
features a fun fantasy creature, the Grumpasaurus, who happens to live
in many
a home. In
true field guide fashion, the qualities, appearance, and dangers of
this sulky
beast are reviewed in a fun read that many a parent will want to choose
as a
read-aloud for their own entertainment. Lori
Mortensen's Cowpoke
Clyde Rides the Range
(9780544370302, $16.99) receives fine illustrations by Michael Allen
Austin,
which enliven the tale of Cowpoke Clyde,
who is confused when he spies an ad that admonishes him to buy a
bicycle. Why
would he need a bike when he already has a horse? Perhaps it'd make his
range-roaming life simpler? Or not… Good
reading skills or parental assistance will lend easy fun to this
hilarious
story of a bicycle adventure gone awry. Brian
Lies provides an excellent read in Gator Dad
(9780544534339, $17.99), a whimsical tale focusing on fatherly love as
an alligator
dad shows his love in many different ways, from running errands and
taking
risks to tackling a fridge with food gone bad. The
various ways in which a father shares his life with his kids are
outlined in a
simple, warm alligator read that will delight all ages with its large,
fun,
colorful drawings. Kylie
Westaway's A
Whale in the Bathtub
(9780544535350, $16.99) enjoys fun drawings by Tom Jellett as it tells
of
Bruno's bath time, which is ruined by a tub-hogging, barnacle-rinsing
whale. But
the secondary problem is: nobody believes Bruno when he tries to
identify the
reason why he can't take a bath. Hilarious encounters between all
parties
involved make for a fun read about a bath challenged by impossible
events. All
are fun picture book reads that stand out from the crowd.
www.hmhco.com
More
Than Enough More
Than Enough: A Passover Story tells
of a family's preparations for Passover, the various foods and
preparations
that are undertaken for the event, and how a Seder meal involves the
entire
family. Simple
drawings and large-size, easy descriptions offer beginning picture book
readers
a lively story of togetherness and family preparations that will be
familiar to
many, creating a warm and involving piece that details all the Passover
rituals
and preparations. Both
Jewish and non-Jewish young readers will find this an easy way to
understand
the processes of a family's Passover celebration.
April Halprin Wayland
Dial Books for Young Readers
9780803741263 $16.99
www.penguin.com
Nola Nola
(9780989433495, $13.95) is
illustrated by Pilar Lama, who lends large-size, bright, and fun
full-page
illustrations to enhance Stephanie Lisa Tara's discussions of Nola, the
last
Northern White Rhino in America. Only
three such animals are left on the planet (as of 2015), and Nola's
blend of verse, watercolors, and
insights on overall happiness and connections in life are well done and
compelling. Within
a general 'love what you've got' message are the antics and discoveries
of a
baby rhino who learns to be happy with what she has in life. Concluding
this gentle rhyming story is an interview with the real-life Nola's
zookeeper,
a note about her demise, and full-page color photos of this rare
beast. Pilar
Lama also illustrates the Nola
Coloring Book
(9780692652916, $10.95), which features the some drawings as Nola but
in black and white line
productions perfect for a child's coloring efforts. These
are lovely, easy approachs that teache about the rare endangered
Northern White
Rhino but couches lessons within of a light, fictional story
line perfect
for new readers and parental read-aloud.
Nola Coloring Book
Stephanie Lisa Tara
Stephanie Lisa Tara Children's Books
www.stephanielisatara.com
Reference Shelf
Campaigns
That Shook the World
Danny Rogers
Kogan Page
9780749475093 $19.95
www.koganpage.com
Campaigns that Shook the World: The Evolution of Public Relations explores nine key public relations campaigns created over the last forty-year period that changed the communications and PR industry, linking these case studies with political and business circles affected and changed by their strategies, and is a top recommendation for any involved in marketing and PR.
More than just a survey of public relations approaches and history, Campaigns that Shook the World considers and contrasts changing relationships between communicators, uses campaigns by major companies to illustrate their lasting political and social impact, and considers what makes the best campaigns superior to others.
From contrasts between old and new approaches to reinventing popular icons such as the Rolling Stones, Campaigns that Shook the World covers a range of issues involved in the process and produces a powerful examination that no marketing student or business pro should be without.
Diamonds:
The Antoinette Matlins Buying Guide
Antoinette Matlins, P.G.
GemStone Press
9780943763736 $18.99
www.gemstonepress.com
If Diamonds: The Antoinette Matlins Buying Guide sounds familiar, that's because it appears in a new, expanded third edition that provides more knowledge on the best ways of selecting, caring for and using diamonds, combining a buyer's guide with a compendium of details on how to understand differences in diamond quality and cost.
From sample grading reports and how to understand each piece of information to judging stones for comparative quality, realizing different types of flaws and how they affect diamond values, and choosing jewelry settings that fit not only the diamond but the owner's lifestyle, Diamonds: The Antoinette Matlins Buying Guide should become a girl's best friend and is a key reference for any buying diamonds; whether it's an occasional habit, a hobby, or a venture into professional gemstone circles.
The
Essentials of Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers, 3rd
Edition
Edward Fields
Amacom
9780814436943 $19.95
www.amacombooks.org
The third updated edition of The Essentials of Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers provides new guidelines and exercises to explain the basic accounting and finance skills all managers need to understand, and should be given to or read by any new manager.
Many active managers may think they don't need these guidelines (after all; most have gained basic skill sets to produce and understand monthly reports and budgeting), but The Essentials of Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers goes into far more depth, including how to understand data, and this latest edition also has been revised to reflect the newest information on global trends and federal accounting practices.
With its fresh case studies and revised information, The Essentials of Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers to make for a guide no manager should be without.
A
Field Guide to Coastal Fishes From Alaska
to California
Val Kells, Luiz A. Rocha & Larry G. Allen
Johns Hopkins University Press
9781421418322 $25.00
www.press.jhu.edu
A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes from Alaska to California packs in over nine hundred illustrations of adult and juvenile fishes in full color and accompanies these with descriptions that include nearly seven hundred species as it covers both identification and the natural history of these different species.
Readers looking for a comprehensive reference that is easy to access and which pairs color panels of the fish with quick, at-a-glance information on habitat and natural history will find no better fish reference than this.
The illustrations are true to life and large enough to make identification easy, while biology notes are specific and easy to read and refer to. Produced in a pocket-sized format for easy field take-along toting, A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes from Alaska to California is a solid reference promising lasting value.
Personal
and Professional Growth for Health Care Professionals
David Tipton
Jones & Bartlett
9781284096217 $41.95
www.jblearning.com
Personal and Professional Growth for Health Care Professionals includes personal and professional development topics, and is a 'must' for any health care professional who would apply a basic understanding of business processes to their lives.
From communicating more effectively across generations to understanding belief systems, emotional intelligence, improving social awareness, and embarking on dialogues with other professionals, Personal and Professional Growth for Health Care Professionals pairs its insights with exercises that encourage not just individual pursuit but a collaborative process between colleagues and students.
Health care students will absorb the various lessons on professional behavior through a blend of case histories, discussions of major issues, and applications of what is learned from everyday life during interactions with others, making this a highly recommended approach for a better understanding of the human psyches and interactions that come into play in professional health care settings.