QUARTERLY SPRING 2015 | VOL. 58 NO. 2
Spring 2015 | 1 Contents QUARTERLY Spring 2015
FEATURES STAFF David Weaver...... Executive Director Stephanie Michaels.....Librarian and Editor 4 2015 Ohioana Book Festival Kathryn Powers...... Office Manager
BOARD OF TRUSTEES BOOK REVIEWS EX-OFFICIO Karen Waldbillig Kasich, Westerville
12 Nonfiction ELECTED President: Rudine Sims Bishop, Columbus 15 Fiction Vice-President: Lisa Evans, Johnstown Secretary: Lillie Howard, Englewood 19 Young Adult Treasurer: L. Bradfield Hughes, Columbus Gillian Berchowitz, Athens 20 Middle Grade & Children’s Ann M. Bowers, Bowling Green Georgeanne Bradford, Cincinnati Christopher S. Duckworth, Columbus Linda Feagler, Cleveland BOOKS AND EVENTS John F. Furniss III, Lancaster Louise S. Musser, Delaware Claudia Plumley, Columbus 23 Book List Cynthia Puckett, Columbus Joan V. Schmutzler, Berea Daniel Shuey, New Albany David Siders, Cincinnati Geoffrey Smith, Columbus Robin Smith, Columbus John Sullivan, Plain City Yolanda Danyi Szuch, Perrysburg Jacquelyn L. Vaughan, Dublin
APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR Carl J. Denbow, Ph.D., Athens
EMERITUS Frances Ott Allen, Cincinnati Christina Butler, Columbus John Gabel, Avon Lake James M. Hughes, Dayton George Knepper, Stow
The Ohioana Quarterly (ISSN 0030-1248) is currently published four times a year by the Ohioana Library Association, 274 East First Avenue, Suite 300, Columbus, Ohio 43201. Individual subscriptions to the Ohioana Quarterly are available through membership in the Association; $35 of membership dues pays the required subscription. Single copy $6.50. U.S. postage paid at Columbus, Ohio. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Ohioana Quarterly, 274 East First Avenue, Suite 300, Columbus, Ohio 43201. Copyright © 2015 by the Ohioana Library Association. All rights reserved. Printed by Odyssey Press.
2 | Ohioana Quarterly From the Director
Dear Friends,
A blue–bell springs upon the ledge, A lark sits singing in the hedge; Sweet perfumes scent the balmy air, And life is brimming everywhere. What lark and breeze and bluebird sing, Is Spring, Spring, Spring!
This is the opening refrain of the appropriately titled “Spring Song” by one of the world’s greatest poets, Ohio’s own Paul Laurence Dunbar. It’s from one of his early compilations, Lyrics of Lowly Life, an 1898 copy of which is one of the treasures in Ohioana's collection.
I am sure everyone can relate to Dunbar’s exuberant feeling at the arrival of this wonderful season. For the Ohioana Library, spring means it’s time once again for the annual presentation of our biggest event, the Ohioana Book Festival, which truly embodies our tagline, “Connecting readers and Ohio writers.”
This year is particularly exciting for us, as the festival moves to a new day and location—Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Columbus at Capitol Square.
You’ll find out more about the festival and our great lineup of authors, programs, and activities on the following pages. Don’t forget to check out our website, www.ohioanabookfestival.org, which will be updated with the latest festival news right up until the event.
Also in this issue you’ll find a number of reviews and a list with descriptions of books received into our collection in recent months. We continue to be gratified at the wonderful response from so many readers to the new format of the Ohioana Quarterly. Please keep your comments, suggestions, and ideas coming—we want to ON THE COVER hear from you! This issue's cover art comes from the 2015 Ohioana Book As Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote, it’s “Spring, Spring, Spring!” We Festival official poster. The hope your spring will be a good one, and that part of it will include artwork was created by Jeffrey joining us April 25 at the Sheraton Columbus at Capitol Square for Ebbeler, one of the ten featured the 2015 Ohioana Book Festival. authors at this year's festival. Come visit Jeff and purchase Hope to see you there! your own signed copy of the poster on April 25!
Spring 2015 | 3 Ohioana Book Festival: On the Move! by David Weaver
“Connecting readers with Ohio American Girl® Columbus, story Margaret Peterson Haddix, Karen writers” is not only our tagline; times, costumed book characters, Harper, Mindy McGinnis, Brandon it’s what the Ohioana Library is author visits, and more. Marie Miller, and Leah Stewart. all about. No event captures that idea better than the Ohioana Book You’ll also see a number of festival Festival, a celebration of reading, AUTHORS authors doing outreach in the writing, books, and Ohio authors. greater Columbus area during the Nearly 110 authors will participate Exciting changes are in store for this in this year's festival—the most year’s event as we move to a new ever! This includes our ten featured location—the Sheraton Columbus authors—David Baker, Jeffrey at Capitol Square. The ninth annual Ebbeler, Ann Hagedorn, Michelle Ohioana Book Festival will be held Houts, Gene Logsdon, Celeste there on Saturday, April 25, from Ng, Edith Pattou, Mike Resnick, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The event is Yolonda Tonette Sanders, and Thrity free and open to the public—no Umrigar. Nearly twenty past winners ticket and no advance registration of the Ohioana Awards will join us, required. including 2014 honorees Kazim Ali, Andrea Cheng, and Brad Ricca. You’ll In this new space, the Ohioana Book find bios of the featured authors and Festival promises to be bigger and a list of all the participating authors better than ever before. But one on the following pages. important thing will stay the same: there will be something for every "Choose to Read Ohio" is a program reader of every age to see, do, and that grew out of the festival as a experience, including: collaboration between the State Library of Ohio and the Ohioana •An expanded book fair where fans Library to encourage people to “Read can meet their favorite authors Together, Read Ohio, Read for Life.” Yolonda Tonette Sanders and Andrew •Thirty panel discussions on topics Nearly a dozen CTRO authors will Welsh-Huggins chat with readers at ranging from poetry to publishing attend the festival, including Laura the 2014 Ohioana Book Festival. Both •A larger fun space for the kids, Bickle, Mary Kay Carson, Cinda authors will be back for this year's event. featuring activities and crafts from Williams Chima, Colleen Clayton,
4 | Ohioana Quarterly Special 2015 Ohioana Book Festival Preview week leading up to the main event— Practically every literary visiting schools and libraries, making genre is covered in the appearances on radio and television, panels and roundtables, and taking part in other community from science fiction and activities. We’ll keep you posted fantasy to history and about community outreach on our biography, from poetry to book festival website at picture books. For those www.ohioanabookfestival.org. who love getting to know more about the Buckeye State, we’ll have several PANELS panels devoted to Ohio stories and themes. The heart of the festival programming has always been the Check out the panel schedule on pages 8-9, panels and roundtables. Attendees Illustrator Jeffrey Ebbeler gives a drawing demonstration and be sure to check have told us they enjoy hearing for children at the 2014 Ohioana Book Festival. authors speak in their own words our website, www. about their books and the creative ohioanabookfestival.org, process. Each discussion lasts for the complete lineup of create bookmarks to take home, forty-five minutes and includes authors who will be participating. build their favorite book character or ample time for questions from the scene with Legos, and much more. audience. CHILDREN'S ACTIVITIES Visit the Ohioana Book Festival website to learn more about We are thrilled to welcome a new children's programming at partner to the festival this year: the festival, and join us in the American Girl® Columbus, located Congressional Room on April 25th! at Easton Town Center. They are providing crafts and activities, including the popular Bitty Baby® WE'LL SEE YOU THERE! Story Time. We’ll also have an American Girl doll to give away, as It is no surprise that the Ohioana well as a Lego® set. Book Festival has become, in just a few years, the single largest literary We’ll have appearances throughout event in the Buckeye State (and one the day by children’s book authors of the largest in the Midwest). Ohio and illustrators who will read has been, and is today, the home of stories, draw pictures, host question- many fabulous writers. and-answer sessions with children, and lead other fun and creative Come meet more than 100 of them activities. Costumed characters, April 25 at the Sheraton Columbus at including Arthur® and Daniel Kirk’s Capitol Square. If you love books and popular Library Mouse, will be reading, the Ohioana Book Festival is visiting the kids’ space and meeting the place to be! Kylie Logan and Dan Andriacco fans in the common area. Children participate in a mystery writers' panel will also be able to dress up as their For updates and further information, at the 2014 Ohioana Book Festival. favorite characters, learn how to visit www.ohioanabookfestival.org. twist their own balloon animals,
Special 2015 Ohioana Book Festival Preview Spring 2015 | 5 Featured Authors Each year the Ohioana Library invites ten “featured authors” to participate in community literacy and outreach activities. This year’s group includes Hugo and American Library Association award winners, past winners of the Ohioana Book Award and Ohioana Career Award, and New York Times best-sellers. Read more about the 2015 featured authors below.
David Baker Poet David Baker teaches at Denison University and is the poetry editor for the Kenyon Review. His latest collection of poems, Scavenger Loop, will be introduced at the 2015 Ohioana Book Festival.
Jeffrey Ebbeler Jeffrey Ebbeler has illustrated more than forty picture books and is both the author and illustrator of his newest book, Click! Ebbeler also created the artwork for the official 2015 Ohioana Book Festival poster.
Ann Hagedorn Ann Hagedorn has written for the Wall Street Journal and New York Daily News and is the author of five critically acclaimed books, including the Ohioana Award- winning Beyond the River and Savage Peace. Her latest book is The Invisible Soldiers: How America Outsourced Our Security. (Photo by Jeanie Wulfkuhle)
Michelle Houts Michelle Houts graduated from The Ohio State University and was a special education teacher before becoming a writer of books for young readers. Her most recent work is Kammie on First, a middle grade biography of baseball player Dottie Kamenshek, who served as the model for the Geena Davis character in the filmA League of Their Own.
Gene Logsdon Gene Logsdon, a self-described “contrary farmer,” is the author of more than two dozen books and is one of America’s most influential writers on sustainable pastoral farming. Logsdon won the 2000 Ohioana Career Award. His most recent book is Gene Everlasting: A Contrary Farmer’s Thoughts on Living Forever. (Photo by Ben Barnes)
6 | Ohioana Quarterly Special 2015 Ohioana Book Festival Preview Celeste Ng Celeste Ng is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Everything I Never Told You. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, One Story, Five Chapters, Gulf Coast, The Millions, and elsewhere, and has won the Pushcart Prize. To learn more about her, visit celesteng.com or follow her on Twitter (@pronounced_ing). (Photo ©Kevin Day Photography)
Edith Pattou Edith Pattou is the author of three award-winning fantasy novels for young adults as well as the New York Times bestselling picture book Mrs. Spitzer’s Garden. Pattou’s newest book is Ghosting, a contemporary novel for young adults told in free verse.
Mike Resnick Science fiction writer Mike Resnick holds a record thirty-six Hugo Award nominations, including five wins. Resnick has written sixty-four novels, over 250 short stories, two screenplays, and has edited forty anthologies. His most recent book is The Fortress in Orion.
Yolonda Tonette Sanders After retiring from the State of Ohio, Yolonda Tonette Sanders became a published author and started her own company, Yo Productions LLC, specializing in literary services and theatrical entertainment. Yolonda is the author of five novels, including Day of Atonement, the second book in her Protective Detective series. Find her at www.yoproductions.net, www.yolonda.net, www.facebook.com/yoproductions and on Twitter (@ytsanders).
Thrity Umrigar Thrity Umrigar was born in India and immigrated to the U.S. in 1983 to attend The Ohio State University. Umrigar has written for the Washington Post and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She has won numerous awards, including the American Library Association’s Lambda Literary Award for her novel The World We Found. She is the author of a memoir and six novels, the most recent of which is The Story Hour. Umrigar teaches at Case Western Reserve University. (Photo ©Robert Muller 2009)
Special 2015 Ohioana Book Festival Preview Spring 2015 | 7 PARTICIPATING AUTHORS
FICTION Robert Miltner And Your Bird Can Tom Diemer & Lee Leonard James Deanna R. Adams Scoundrels & Sing: Short Stories A. Rhodes: Ohio Colossus Dreamers Eliot Parker Making Arrangements D. Rose Elder Why the Amish Sing Dan Andriacco Rogues Gallery Lynn Rae Prohibited Emily Foster The Ohio State Lissa Bryan The Land of the Shadow Mark Rigney Check-Out Time University District Neil Carpathios Every River on Leah Stewart The History of Us Timothy R. Gaffney The Dayton Earth: Writing from Appalachian S. Andrew Swann Dragon Thief Flight Factory Ohio Sam Thomas The Witch Hunter’s Sandra Gurvis Myths and Mysteries Shelley Costa Basil Instinct Tale of Ohio Paisley Cruz Love Me Tender Cindy Thomson Annie’s Stories Susan M. Guy Mobsters, Madams R.C. Durkee Rum Run TJ Turner Lincoln’s Bodyguard and Murder in Steubenville, Ohio Mary Ellis The Last Heiress Tim Waggoner Grimm: The Killing Brett Harper Harper Ever After: Terry W. Ervin II Soul Forge Time The Early Work of Charley and Edie Julie Flanders Polar Day Andrew Welsh-Huggins Slow Burn Harper Claire Gebben The Last of the R.G. Yoho The Evil Day Jay Hoster Early Wall Street Blacksmiths Richard O Jones Cincinnati’s Savage Robert Glinski The Friendship of NONFICTION Seamstress Criminals Ian Adams A Photographer’s Guide to Linda Mercadante Belief Without Shari Goldhagen In Some Other Ohio, Volume 2 Borders: Inside the Minds of the World, Maybe Mike Bartell Orbit of Discovery: The Spiritual but not Religious Karen Harper Shattered Secrets All-Ohio Space Shuttle Mission David Meyers & Elise Meyers Sherri Hayes Crossing the Line Tom Batiuk The Complete Funky Walker Kahiki Supper Club Ryan Ireland Beyond the Horizon Winkerbean, Volume 4 Robert Earnest Miller World War II Kurt Landefeld Jack’s Memoirs Eli R. Beachy World War II in Medina Cincinnati Tracy Lawson Counteract County, Ohio Connie & Robert J. Pond Follow the Kylie Logan The Legend of Sleepy Kevin Cordi Playing with Stories Blue Blazes Harlow Michael C. DeAloia Lost Grand Brad Ricca Super Boys Brian McClellan The Autumn Hotels of Cleveland Republic
AUTHOR PANELS & ROUNDTABLES
10:15AM – 11:00AM 12:45PM – 1:30PM Mystery, Thrills & Suspense I (Leg. A) The Creative Life (Leg. A) From Another Realm: Paranormal, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (Leg. B) Mystery, Thrills & Suspense II (Leg. B) The Power of Words (House A) In Brief: Essays, Poems, and Short Stories (House A) Young Adult I: Fiction & Nonfiction (House B) Young Adult III: Fantasy Roundtable (House B) Writing for the Young Reader I: Middle Grade (Sen. A) Ohio Stories: Crimes, Disasters, and Mysteries (Sen. A) Extraordinary Lives: Biography (Sen. B) Historical Fiction: Stories Set in Real Places and Times (Sen. B)
11:30AM – 12:15PM 2:00PM – 2:45PM Real People, Real Stories (Leg. A) How We Write, What We Write (Leg. A) Dystopian Fiction: Dark Imaginings (Leg. B) Horror, Suspense & the Supernatural (Leg. B) Ohio Stories: Columbus Landmarks (House A) Scenic Ohio: Through the Eye of the Camera (House A) Young Adult II: Contemporary (House B) Writing for the Young Reader II: Middle Grade (House B) The Story Behind the Story I: Fiction Roundtable (Sen. A) The Story Behind the Story II: Fiction Roundtable (Sen. A) Back to Nature: Non-Fiction (Sen. B) Inspirational Stories (Sen. B)
8 | Ohioana Quarterly Special 2015 Ohioana Book Festival Preview Daniel L. Rice & Gary Meszaros POETRY YOUNG ADULT Native Fishes of Ohio Kazim Ali Sky Ward Laura Bickle The Outside Debra Robinson The Dead Are Darren Demaree Temporary Susan Bradley Uncovered Watching: Ghost Stories from a Champions Cinda Williams Chima The Sorcerer Reluctant Psychic Larry R. Smith Lake Winds: Poems Heir Craig Sanders Cleveland Mainline Colleen Clayton What Happens Next Railroads CHILDREN’S AND Julie Drew Run: Book 2 of the Tesla Eugene Schmiel Citizen-General: MIDDLE GRADE Effect Jacob Dolson Cox and the Civil War Tim Bowers Rappy the Raptor Vicki Leigh Catch Me When I Fall Era Gary Buettner Dracula’s Cat: Monster Julie Anne Lindsey Prophecy Mike Shannon Cincinnati Reds Pets Book 1 Erin McCahan Love & Other Foreign Legends Mary Kay Carson Park Scientists Words Joanne Huist Smith The 13th Gift Andrea Cheng The Year of the Three Mindy McGinnis In a Handful of Lucy A. Snyder Shooting Yourself Sisters Dust in the Head for Fun and Profit: A Jane Dippold Farmers’ Market Day Brandon Marie Miller Women of the Writer’s Survival Guide Amanda Flower Andi Under Pressure Frontier Mary Stockwell The Other Trail Margaret Peterson Haddix Palace of Natalie D. Richards Gone Too Far of Tears: The Removal of the Ohio Lies Indians Marlane Kennedy Disaster Strikes: Barney & Laura Taxel The Lake Volcano Blast View Cemetery: Photographs from Tammie Lyon Katie’s Noisy Music Cleveland’s Historic Landmark Michael J. Rosen The Maine Coon's Jane Ann Turzillo Ohio Train Haiku & Other Poems for Cat Lovers Disasters Tricia Springstubb Moonpenny Betty Weibel The Cleveland Grand Island Prix: American Show Jumping First Aileen Stewart Return to Fern Valley Scott A. Zanon Landscaping with Tara Tyler Broken Branch Falls Trees in the Midwest
3:15PM – 4:00PM Legislative Fiction by Women: Unique Voices & Visions (Leg. A) B Publishing: Everything You Wanted to Know (Leg. B) House Imagination at Play: Stories for Children (House A) A Legislative Narrative Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir (House B) A House Senate B Ohio Stories: Cleveland and Cincinnati (Sen. A) B From the Pages of History: Roundtable (Sen. B) Senate A
Congressional Room Children’s Programming (See page 10) Restrooms
Special 2015 Ohioana Book Festival Preview Spring 2015 | 9 ‘
C H I L D R E N S PROGRAMMING
Meet Your Favorite Children’s Authors and Illustrators! READ stories together, learn to DRAW your favorite characters, and get CREATIVE with the Ohioana Book Festival 2015 children’s authors and illustrators!
All-Day Activities Dress-Up! Crafts and Story Times by like your favorite characters American Girl® Columbus Balloon Twisting! stories and dolls learn to twist your own animals Meet Library Mouse and Arthur! Crafts! your favorite charcters in real life paper, markers, and more Lego® Construction Area don’t forget your hard hat Door Prizes! something for everyone
10 | Ohioana Quarterly Special 2015 Ohioana Book Festival Preview PRESENTING SPONSORS
SPONSORS MEDIA SPONSOR
CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING
CONTRIBUTORS BOOKSELLER
PARTNERS
Special 2015 Ohioana Book Festival Preview Spring 2015 | 11 Book Reviews
NONFICTION
Freeberg, Ernest. The Age of Edison: Early efforts at electrical lighting often resulted in Electric Light and the Invention of tragedy. Fires caused by poorly-insulated or poorly- strung wires killed people when buildings blazed Modern America. into oblivion. Gas companies pointed at such fires Penguin Press (New York, NY) 2013. HC $27.95. triumphantly, while electrical companies loved to talk about the safety problems with gas lighting. Both were In The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention correct in the sense that people died occasionally from of Modern America, Ernest Freeberg has tapped into a gas and electricity, but outrageous claims were made, live-wire topic that extends—as his subtitle suggests— especially by gas companies that were desperate to keep far beyond the invention of electrical lighting. This their industry from becoming obsolete. There was a book has it all: people getting barbecued by bad wiring, serious power struggle as the gas companies fought back incompetent civic management, cut-throat corporate against “the electric light scare.” The war of words was competition, inventors racing to become well-known extensive, loud, and confusing to the public. and rich, nasty court fights, and even the fear of the Almighty. Freeberg has written an interesting book that Despite these marketing claims, it became clear that focuses on Thomas A. Edison while placing the exciting gaslight was dirty, smelly, and dangerous. City streets world of invention of all manner of items into a broader were poorly lit; crime thrived in the darkness. The time context. was ready for increased enlightenment, and Edison took
up the challenge. While most of his early challengers The United States was born in the eighteenth century worked exclusively on the bulb, Edison was aware and didn’t truly swagger onto the world stage until the that the goal wasn’t merely an electric light bulb, but twentieth century. We grew into how we identified an entire electrical system: generator, distribution, ourselves internally and to other nations during the regulation, and illumination. Additionally, whatever nineteenth century, when the Battle of Inventors was produced not only had to work, but had to sell in helped to define that identity. “Men and women of the sufficient quantity to reward the huge investment of nineteenth century were the first to live in a world capital. Edison worked up to 14 hours a day to develop shaped by perpetual invention. Fascinated by the new both efficiency and profitability. machines that were transforming their lives, the public eagerly toured exhibitions of the latest technologies and Edison’s company had one huge advantage: Edison followed news about inventions in the public press.” himself. The inventor was already widely known, due Change was the only constant; new machines were a in great part to his awareness of the importance of matter of routine. publicity; he marketed the name of Edison everywhere. When the public thought of electrical lighting, they There’s a solid section at the beginning of the book thought of Edison, leaving other inventors frustrated. detailing the pre-Edison efforts to create stable, It was easier to sell a brand name than an upstart’s efficient, cost-effective incandescent light bulbs. Edison attempts. was not the first, nor the last, to want to develop an electric light that would become the standard. Most There was some initial reluctance when light bills were early efforts were set aside because of cost, lack of higher than the electric companies projected. However, endurance of the bulb, and/or safety issues. Once it the most perceptive electrical companies correctly became clear that gaslight was fading and electric predicted that Americans would rather have more light light was established as the coming norm, “vagrant” than smaller bills. Ultimately, electrical lighting created electricity—unlicensed companies installing their own an economic revolution, amply rewarding investors in systems with badly-insulated wires—caused substantial the right companies. injury, death, and fear.
12 | Ohioana Quarterly BOOK REVIEWS | NONFICTION
Wonderful anecdotes are provided from each level of wide-ranging period history. Freeberg shows how the electrical lighting’s progression, from public spectacle— invention of electrical lighting brought amazing change this is how Broadway first got the nickname “The Great to all aspects of life: civic, commercial, and personal. White Way”—to town squares, to street lighting, to The author takes a wealth of technological detail and department stores and other retail shops, and eventually makes it very readable, understandable, and enjoyable— into the home. no easy task.
Freeberg discusses the inevitability of electric lighting REVIEWED BY GEORGE COWMEADOW BAUMAN and its reception from individuals, governments, and corporations. By 1885, over 600 lighting companies had You might also like: formed. Each proclaimed loudly to be the best, trying to DeGraff, Leonard.Edison and the Rise of Innovation. top another with grand spectacles. Sterling Signature (New York, NY) 2013. HC $29.95.
Charles Brush, who grew up on a farm in northern Ohio and tinkered with electrical generation, was a Logsdon, Gene. Gene Everlasting: A major player early in this challenge. He had invented a Contrary Farmer’s Thoughts on Living means of providing consistent enough electrical light to Forever. brilliantly illuminate Cleveland’s public square, where Chelsea Green Publishing (White River Junction, VT) 2014. 10,000 light-crazed Ohioans were jammed, cheering and HC $24.95. yelling while ships in the harbor provided cannonade punctuation to the playing of brass bands. Other Gene Logsdon’s collection towns simply stood in awe at the unveiling of the new, of stories and essays, Gene powerful light. One man in Wabash, Indiana, believed Everlasting: A Contrary Farmer’s that the new light heralded the Second Coming. Thoughts on Living Forever, focuses upon the central theme Electrical lighting quickly became a status symbol for of death. Logsdon doses out towns across the country. If a community had electrical farm-grown wisdom while lighting, it was a matter of civic pride and boasting; they reflecting on man’s mortality and could lord it over darker, neighboring towns. Wherever the possibilities of immortality. such lighting was first displayed, “citizens always turned The concept for this collection out to give it a warm welcome with music, parades, and of personal essays came upon the ritualistic burial of oil lamps”. Logsdon when he had to confront his own mortality after being diagnosed with, and No inventor could have possibly anticipated the myriad surviving, cancer. Looking to the natural world as ways that this new lighting would change the world. a source of guidance concerning a subject that no Nightscapes were altered as never before. The public one likes to talk about, Logsdon illustrates that the went crazy for night-lighting, and the demand drove impermanence, flux, and resiliency witnessed in nature expansion of the service until it ultimately reached are principles from which humans can learn much into their very homes. Workplaces could expand their regarding questions of life and (after) death. hours, negating the rising cost of electricity. Lighting companies even marketed their product as crime- Logsdon illustrates his belief that a study of the natural fighters, stating that electric lights were “nothing less world can guide human understanding of mortality than a police force on a pole.” and immortality in a diversity of ways. For example, he devotes his chapters to topics such as “marble There is extensive material to cover, but Freeberg orchards,” vultures, family rites at a pig butchering, does it well, without confusion. The book has many and children’s first encounters with death. Part of illustrations from periodicals that illuminate the Logsdon’s appeal in this book lies in his ability to inevitable frustrations and progress from gas to electric approach morbid, unsettling topics from alternative light. This is a good read for those interested in a perspectives. For instance, “marble orchards” are
Spring 2015 | 13 BOOK REVIEWS | NONFICTION
to be revered for a variety of reasons, not simply as understanding of human life. Logsdon speaks of the monuments to the dead; he admires the aesthetic and wisdom and calm that comes “when you get old and biological value of cemeteries: “Many cemeteries are have no future” (167). He concludes that living in really marvelous groves of trees…because the homes and appreciating the present is “really the secret of of the dead were honored as sacred places, never to be happiness for all ages,” and he wonders, “what if we as molested, they became, and remain, preserves not only loving parents and conscientious teachers, told children of unusual ornamentals but also of exotic wild native that, yes, someday, the people you love are going to die plants that elsewhere were being destroyed by farming but they will always live in your memory safe from both and industry” (25). Logsdon even celebrates the lowly the strife and suffering of life and the inscrutable agony buzzard, that flesh-feeding carrion bird, proclaiming of spiritual mortality. Our bodies are made of chemicals that “the buzzard was the perfect totem of that clash of and organic matter that do not go to any paradise up life and death. A visionary Thunderbird, breathtakingly in the sky somewhere but into a peaceful slumber of beautiful in the sky, fearsomely ugly on the ground; life humus in Old Mother Earth, where, in one form or and death clothed in mordant black feathers and fiery- another, they live forever?” It is this kind of thoughtful alive red head” (104). questioning, coupled with the author’s wit, that makes Gene Everlasting a book worth reading. As Logsdon In his musings on the nature of life and death, says in the preface, “I really do intend this book to be a Logsdon’s environmental advocacy and promotion comfort and a solace for those people facing death. And of self-sustaining agriculture are revealed. The Ohio that means all of us.” agrarian writer believes that a close connection to nature and an understanding of animal and plant life REVIEWED BY MICHAEL C. RYAN, PH.D. cycles is instructive. He argues that “the more humans disconnected themselves from nature, the more fearful they became of the most natural cycle in life, that Meyers, David, et al. Kahiki Supper Club: is, death…I have a notion that it is a little easier for gardeners and farmers to accept death than the rest A Polynesian Paradise in Columbus. American Palate (Charleston, SC) 2014. PB $19.99. of the populace. Every day we help plants and animals begin life and help plants and animals end life. We are The Kahiki Supper Club holds accultured to the food chain” (vii, 9). This principle is a special place in many people’s illustrated throughout the book as Logsdon draws on hearts. Whether celebrating examples from life on his own farm in Upper Sandusky. a special occasion or simply “We raise our farm animals with loving care, grow enjoying an evening out, the quite fond of them, put our lives at risk to save theirs restaurant was a beloved if necessary, and then we kill and eat them,” Logsdon Columbus icon from 1961 to explains. “Growing up in an agrarian culture, I never 2000. It’s hard to forget such a saw or felt any contradiction involved with this” (91). spectacular eatery: the giant moai statues, the indoor rainforest, the Logsdon balances humor with deeper, more serious delicious cuisine, and the smoking contemplations of his subject matter. He devotes Mystery Drink. This Polynesian two chapters of his book to two hardy weeds that restaurant was an escape from everyday life where are often seen as the bane of the farmyard due their diners could pretend they were on a tropical island insuppressible nature. He amusedly acknowledges their without ever leaving Ohio. perpetual life and insistence to thrive in Wordsworthian style, entitling these chapters “Intimations of Kahiki Supper Club: A Polynesian Paradise in Immortality I: The Chickweed Version” and Columbus by David Meyers, Elise Meyers Walker, Jeff “Intimations of Immortality II: The Pigweed Version.” Chenault, and Doug Motz is a celebration of this grand restaurant and tiki culture. It chronicles the history While playful and humorous at times, the book also of the Kahiki from its inception by Bill Sapp and Lee aims to clearly articulate the author’s philosophical Henry in the mid-century to its unfortunate demise
14 | Ohioana Quarterly BOOK REVIEWS | NONFICTION & FICTION
nearly forty years later. With a wealth of accounts and FICTION thorough research, the authors show every side of the restaurant—the good, the bad, and even the ugly. The Bryan, Lissa. The Land of the Shadow. facts are supplemented by anecdotes that give readers a The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House behind-the-scenes glimpse of the Kahiki, from the wig- wearing waitresses to the saucy parrots who sometimes (Waxahachie, TX) 2014. PB $17.50. couldn’t keep their beaks shut. The authors also discuss In a future devastated by a flu the rise of themed restaurants around the country and pandemic, the survivors of the how the Kahiki managed to prove itself as a one-of-a- disease are trying to make a better kind dining experience. Even celebrities like Zsa Zsa world for themselves. Justin and Gabor and Milton Berle dined in this Midwest paradise. Carly Daniels, along with their daughter Dagny, have settled With the decline of the Whitehall neighborhood in the in Colby, a small town in the 1990s, the fate of the restaurant became uncertain. swamplands of Florida. Together Then-owner Michael Tsao opened a frozen food with the other members of their company to bring Kahiki cuisine to grocery stores, community, they plant crops, and the building was put on the National Register of scavenge goods from nearby Historic Places in 1997. But the efforts weren’t enough towns and buildings, and protect to save the Kahiki, and the restaurant closed its doors their homes. Enter Marcus and his gang of young for the last time on August 25, 2000. Since then, several men determined to dominate the land with menacing new restaurants have tried to reignite the Polynesian fists, arson, and guns. The residents of Colby have lots spirit in Columbus, but none could hold a tiki torch to going for them, including Justin’s military prowess the Kahiki’s success. and survival know-how. They’ll do anything to protect their town and families. Can they counter an attack by Like many fans of the Kahiki, I wish I could eat at Marcus’s gang of thugs? Ingenuity, gumption, and love my long-lost favorite restaurant just one more time. are powerful weapons against domination and cruelty. Fortunately, the authors have helped fulfill this desire by adding authentic Kahiki food and drink recipes at the Lissa Bryan weaves a tale of hope in the face of end of the book. While rattan chairs and coconut mugs catastrophic loss. In this sequel to The End of All Things, aren’t included, if you close your eyes and breathe in the Bryan uses flashbacks and dream sequences to fill in the smells of Ham Fried Rice and the Smoking Eruption backstory for readers who are new to the story. Rather drink, you can almost pretend you’re back in the Kahiki than dragging down the plot, the information about life without ever leaving your kitchen. just after the virus fills in the blanks and rounds out the characters. The writing is straightforward and full of If the thought of the Kahiki hits you with a wave of witty dialogue. The story fits neatly within the genre nostalgia, this book is a must-read for you. “Kahiki- of apocalyptic fiction; readers will learn how to skin an ophiles” everywhere hope that someday the restaurant animal, plant crops, and even make soap. will be reborn; until then, we have this delightful book to satisfy our tiki cravings. One of many books about life after “the end of the world REVIEWED BY KATHRYN POWERS as we know it,” The Land of the Shadow paints a more positive view of survival and communities rebuilding. Full of hope and friendship, it is uplifting rather than dystopian. Bryan brings her talent to bear constructing a believable story of survival that will leave readers begging for more. Once you discover Bryan, you’ll want to share her books with your friends.
REVIEWED BY MIRIAM KAHN
Spring 2015 | 15 BOOK REVIEWS | FICTION Book Reviews You might also like: Ellis, Mary. The Last Heiress. Bryan, Lissa. The End of All Things. The Writer's Coffee Harvest House (Eugene, OR) 2015. PB $13.99. Shop Publishing House (Waxahachie, TX) 2013. PB $18.99. In 1864, Amanda Dunn sails from England to Wilmington, North Costa, Shelley. Basil Instinct (Miracolo Carolina with two goals: to restore Restaurant Book 2). cotton shipments to her family's Pocket Books (New York, NY) 2014. PB $7.99. textile mill, and to reunite with her twin sister, who eloped with Eve Angelotta, chief chef a wealthy Southern businessman of Miracolo restaurant in five years earlier. Although happy Philadelphia, is trying her hand to see her sister again, Amanda at solving mysteries in the second is disappointed by the family's installment of Costa's Miracolo position as slaveowners and Restaurant series. When her struggles to be taken seriously by grandmother Maria Pia is invited to local cotton distributors, including her brother-in-law. join Belfiere, a 200-year-old secret When she meets grocer Nate Cooper, the two form a society of women chefs, alarm bells friendship that quickly grows into something more. go off. Eve must investigate to make However, Amanda and Nate will have to overcome certain her nonna will be safe with opposition from her family and threats from both the these mysterious women. In the Confederate and Union armies in order to find their meantime, Eve's cousin Choo Choo convinces her to happy ending. give cooking lessons to a class of juvenile delinquents at the local community college. When one of her students, Ellis is a history enthusiast, and her knowledge of the Georgia, turns out to be highly skilled, Eve hires her Civil War period shows. Although the ending of the book to work at the fancy dinner Maria Pia must give to the is not unexpected, Ellis addresses issues along the way fifty Belfiere women before she's inducted. But Georgia that keep this from being a standard story. Amanda is turns up dead the morning of the dinner, and Eve, in her not a perfect heroine, as evidenced by her willingness craziest decision ever, decides to investigate the murder to bend the truth (either outright or by omission) to with the help of her ever-present cousins (who readers get her way, thinking that the ends justify the means. met in You Cannoli Die Once). The two investigations Although she is staunchly anti-slavery, Amanda has also become as entwined as a good dish of spaghetti, with remained blissfully ignorant of the plight of the working cousins heading off in all directions—and the truth is class in England, including her own family's household more delicious than a creamy cannoli. servants and mill workers. Ellis also shines a light on the differences between poorer, western North Carolinians If you liked the first book in this series, you'll find the and wealthy coastal families, and shows the effects same madcap adventures, the same characters, and of those differences not only through the interaction similar dialogue. Costa fleshes out the characters between Nate and Amanda's family, but also through some more, making them seem more believable, even larger events near the end of the war. This third book in if the story is a little light. Put your feet up, grab some Ellis's Civil War Heroines series is a satisfying read that munchies, and settle down for a quick read on a comfy will have you reaching for the first two volumes. afternoon. REVIEWED BY STEPHANIE MICHAELS REVIEWED BY MIRIAM KAHN You might also like: You might also like: Ellis, Mary. The Quaker and the Rebel. Harvest House Costa, Shelley. You Cannoli Die Once (Miracolo (Eugene, OR) 2014. PB $13.99. Restaurant Book 1). Pocket Books (New York, NY) Ellis, Mary. The Lady and the Officer. Harvest House 2013. PB $7.99. (Eugene, OR) 2014. PB $13.99.
16 | Ohioana Quarterly BOOK REVIEWS | FICTION
McClellan, Brian. The Autumn Republic: You might also like: Book Three of the Powder Mage Trilogy. McClellan, Brian. Promise of Blood: Book One of the Powder Mage Trilogy. Orbit Books (New York, NY) Orbit Books (New York, NY) 2014. HC $26.00. 2013. HC $23.99. The third book of the Powder McClellan, Brian. The Crimson Campaign: Book Two Mage series starts where the last of the Powder Mage Trilogy. Orbit Books (New York, left off, almost to the minute. This NY) 2013. HC $26.00. military adventure is set in a land of mages, knackers (who have unusual talents), Privileged (who Scalzi, John. Lock In. can manipulate the elements), Tor Books (New York, NY) 2014. HC $24.99. and gods, where war is ravaging Hamilton’s John Scalzi, who the people, armies, and landscape. over the latter half of the last Field Marshall Tamas, leader of the decade rose to prominence as an army of Adopest, fights his way to author of readable, compelling the south to decimate the enemy science fiction novels, has Kez, then back north to his home to overthrow the gods, ordinarily written in two flavors: particularly two-faced Brude. Most of the characters (1) full-throated Heinleinesque from his previous books—Taniel Two-Shot, Ka-Poel, military science fiction, as in his Vlora, Olem, Inspector Adamat, Privileged Bo, and well-received debut novel, Old his apprentice Nila—are engaged in this tremendous Man’s War, and its successors; battle. Taniel Two-Shot searches for Ka-Poel, who was and (2) almost-parodies that captured by Brude because she can kill his brother. affectionately tweak the Bo and Nila, who are sharpening their sorcery skills conventions of both written and televised science and their control of the elements, become key players fiction Agent( to the Stars and 2013’s Hugo Award- in the war against the Kez. In the meantime, Adamat winning Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas). In 2014’s travels back to Adopest in a last-ditch effort to uncover Lock In, he strikes into new territory, with a near-future conspiracies within the city. When Tamas, Olem, and police procedural layered with shades of future tech. the rest of the Adan army finally defeat the Kez, they must race to save their city while battling gods and At its core, speculative fiction is about creating a setting Privileged every inch of the way. The trilogy is really one with different assumptions than the real world and long sweeping story best read from the beginning. then allowing relatable characters to interact around those assumptions. Lock In is no different. It has an With few stops for breath or respite from the violence absorbing premise: a global pandemic—“Haden’s and war, the reader is trapped in the magic and the Syndrome”—infects much of the world’s population. action until the very last chapter. McClellan’s writing Most of the exposed develop flu-like symptoms, while a is absorbing and full of description of the terrain and small number of victims become essentially catatonic: endless battles. In this final installment of the trilogy, fully awake, but unable to move or respond. (These he weaves the various plots together so the characters “locked in” survivors become known as “Hadens.”) finally interact with one another and work toward the In response to this disease, mankind has developed ultimate goal of destroying the Kez and freeing Adopest. a pair of technological countermeasures. The first is The ending is full of surprises as the battle for the city the construction of “threeps” (named after C3P0, the echoes off the walls and palace. While McClellan ties fussy, bewildered robot of Star Wars fame), artificial up all the loose ends, he deftly leaves small threads that constructs that can carry the minds of Haden’s victims. could be woven into a new series or more adventures for The second is the creation of “Integrators”—specially his carefully crafted characters. Start the series at the prepared Haden’s survivors into whom Haden’s victims beginning and dive in for the battle of a lifetime. can project their minds for short periods of time.
REVIEWED BY MIRIAM KAHN
Spring 2015 | 17 BOOK REVIEWS | FICTION
Having set this intriguing premise in motion, Scalzi the characters to interact in an organic way and trusting deftly constructs a plot whose centerpiece is a police the audience to glean the plot details it needs from those procedural. Twenty-five years after the initial outbreak, interactions. FBI agent Chris Shane, himself a survivor of Haden’s, partners with world-weary fellow agent Leslie Vann For such a slim work, the cast of characters is vast. (an ex-Integrator with a troubled past and even more Scalzi has done an excellent job of cramming a dozen troubling personal habits) to investigate a series of or so complicated characters into a small volume and murders that may involve an Integrator (and therefore letting them bounce off one another in interesting ways. a Haden). The mechanics of the procedural take place The novel’s cast, in addition to its police protagonists, against a series of political protests that devolve into features Chris’s extended and wealthy family and an hate crimes against Hadens and the defunding of entire crew of staff, friends, and employees; political support for Hadens by the federal government. figures (shadowy and otherwise) involved in legislation centered on Haden’s Syndrome; and the various Lock In is a strangely schizophrenic novel. Like all of suspects, witnesses, and informants involved in the Scalzi’s works, it has a pleasing economy, compressing murder investigation. a lot of content into a slim, readable volume. But in a novel like this one, which promises at the edges to It is to Scalzi’s credit that none of these characters explore the personal, political, and social changes that seems like filler. Indeed, Agent Shane is the least might be created by a disease like Haden’s Syndrome interesting character, a kind of cipher (perhaps fitting, (and by the technological countermeasures that science given his condition as a victim of Haden’s Syndrome). fiction makes possible), Scalzi’s strong penchant for But there is precious little time to spend with any of creating propulsive, well-plotted stories actually does them; as with all else, Scalzi’s drive towards resolution him a disservice. The underlying murder mystery, of the novel leaves the reader wondering whether it presented here as the driver of the action, is the least wouldn’t be possible to spend just a few more minutes interesting part of the novel; the characters’ engagement getting to know these people. with it and even its resolution sometimes seem perfunctory. With that said, this is a very good novel, and one that lays the foundation for what will (hopefully) be a This is unfortunate, because the thinking that Scalzi has continuing series of works set in this universe. The done about the world itself, and the way he describes world of Lock In is fascinating, and one hopes that Scalzi that world, is so good. Scalzi’s narrative focus is so has further stories to explore there—ones that will allow breathlessly bent on resolving the plot’s main conflict his readers to take their time, look around, and enjoy the that he leaves little time for the more thorough atmosphere. exploration of setting that the novel’s well-executed premise demands. Finally, a word must be said about the audiobook versions of this very good novel. There are two, both The novel’s contradictions are also apparent in the unabridged: one narrated by Amber Benson and the language that Scalzi uses. Scalzi has always been other by Wil Wheaton. Both are excellent (this review a strong plotter, but here his muscular, confident, was prepared after listening to the Benson-narrated workman-like prose—so suited to the military science version), providing lively and intelligent readings of fiction that has been his bread-and-butter—transcends the text. Although the substance of the book itself his earlier work (except, perhaps, for Redshirts) and is excellent, these performances provide a strong reveals a cleverness and depth unusual in this kind of incentive to enjoy the book in audio format. work. REVIEWED BY JOHN SULLIVAN Unfortunately, that strong prose is sometimes placed in service of dialogue that does little more than deliver exposition. Much of the dialogue seems aimed at telling the reader something plot-oriented rather than allowing
18 | Ohioana Quarterly BOOK REVIEWS | YOUNG ADULT
YOUNG ADULT McGinnis, Mindy. In a Handful of Dust. Katherine Tegen Books (New York, NY) 2014. HC $17.99. Maxwell, Lisa. Sweet Unrest. Flux (Woodbury, MN) 2014. PB $9.99. Mindy McGinnis’s second book, In a Handful of Dust, follows The summer before her senior year, Lucy Aimes finds 2013’s Not a Drop to Drink, herself uprooted from Chicago to New Orleans, where continuing the story of ecological Lucy’s father has been asked to curate an old plantation disaster and human survival property outside the city. While the rest of the family begun in that book. Like Not a couldn’t be happier, Lucy is counting the days until she Drop to Drink, In a Handful of can return to Chicago. Her only comfort is new material Dust takes place in a near-future to photograph. But when her chronic dream about America where drinkable water drowning resurfaces, more vivid than ever before, Lucy has become very rare, with most of wants to know how to stop it. A new friend introduces the action of both books centering her to the world of voodoo, but for scientific-minded around the need to find or defend Lucy, venturing into the unexplained isn’t so believable. this precious resource. Then she meets a mysterious boy, finds herself knowing In a Handful of Dust takes the form of a travelogue. facts about the plantation that she shouldn’t, and Lynn and her adopted daughter, Lucy, are living in their notices that events from her dreams feel like they are home in Ohio when an outbreak of polio makes it clear becoming reality. that the fresh water provided by their little pond—so Determined to put an end to her dreams, Lucy must central to the plot of the first book—is no longer safe. find a way to open her mind. She realizes things are Accompanied by allies and friends, they strike westward not always as they seem, that dreams can mean much towards California, where rumor says people have found more than she ever imagined, and that somehow she has or maintained the ability to make drinkable water from unknowingly stumbled into a centuries-old plot that the ocean. people will kill to keep secret. As young women begin to The two must overcome numerous obstacles during go missing, and several are found dead, Lucy admits she their cross-continent journey: the challenges presented is somehow linked to it all. But as she navigates this new by the terrain itself in a world without immediate world, can she figure out who to trust? Lucy must find power; the threat of constant physical hardship, in the a way to put an end to the sinister plot before someone form of thirst and starvation; and the ever-present she loves ends up dead—or she does. danger of other people, both inside and outside their Maxwell weaves a seamless story of the past and group. present, good versus evil, and finding courage in unlikely I loved this book. I particularly enjoyed the vivid way places. At its core, Sweet Unrest remains a story about in which McGinnis draws the characters of Lynn and deciding who to trust and learning to follow your own Lucy, who form a lasting bond despite their differences. path. Maxwell sets up a unique cast of characters, an McGinnis’s gift with incident—the way in which she intriguing setting, and a plot that kept me turning the constantly surprises her characters and her audience pages until the end. with new complications—also makes for an exciting, REVIEWED BY ANDREA HALL edge-of-your-seat read. This holds true for the ending, which, like Not a Drop to Drink, will leave the reader thirsty for what comes next.
REVIEWED BY CHLOE SULLIVAN
Spring 2015 | 19 BOOK REVIEWS | YOUNG ADULT, MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN'S Book Reviews Stine, R.L. Party Games: A Fear Street MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN’S Novel. St. Martin's Griffin (New York, NY) 2014. HC $17.99. Carson, Mary Kay. Park Scientists: Gila Monsters, Geysers, and Grizzly Bears in R.L. Stine’s latest Fear Street book, Party Games, is not to be missed. The book is not only chock-full of the America’s Own Backyard. usual mayhem and murder known to Stine’s stories, but HMH Books for Young Readers (New York, NY) 2014. HC is also rife with plot twists and turns. The story begins $18.99. with Rachel, a young teenager with a major crush on Park Scientists: Gila Brendan Fear. She is elated when Brendan invites her Monsters, Geysers, to a weekend party. Despite warnings from more than a and Grizzly Bears in few of Rachel’s friends to stay away from the dangerous America’s Own Backyard Fear family, Rachel attends the party anyway. It starts is a nonfiction book that out fairly normal—music, dancing, and food—but soon shows people all about things take a turn for the worse, and Rachel ends up three National Parks: fighting for her life. Yellowstone, Saguaro, and Stine does an excellent job of building tension in Party Great Smoky Mountains. Games. For instance, by the time Rachel is ready for Each park has two chapters focusing on a main attraction in the park. Chapters 1 and 2 are all about the party, readers are officially unnerved by warnings, geysers, hot springs, and grizzly bears in Yellowstone. nightmares, premonitions, and many scary stories about In Chapters 3 and 4 you can track the elusive Gila the Fear family. This also keeps readers speculating monster and hear about the friendly cacti in Saguaro. In about Brendan Fear. Stine paints such a gloomy and Chapters 5 and 6, stop by the Smoky Mountains to meet dark picture of Brendan that it is hard to decide if he the salamanders and fireflies. This nonfiction book is in should be trusted or not, until he inevitably shows his the form of a picture book, which makes it easier to read. true colors. The illustrations are all color photos with some science Another trademark of Stine’s is his macabre humor, charts. This book would be good in an elementary or which shows up on notes left at the party’s murder middle school science lab. scenes. These notes reference beloved children’s games and are a chilling but fun addition in the story. Mary Kay Carson gives lots of interesting facts about the parks, animals, and plants. All the information is in However, there are two issues with the book. First, a an easy-to-read format so elementary school kids can kidnapping plot twist does not seem to fit and causes the read it too. I recommend this book for kids ages seven story to lose momentum. Although the action picks back to fourteen. There are lots of fun facts in this book, up, it fails to reach the “on the edge of your seat” feel that from the eating habits of grizzly bears to the habitat of the first 190 pages achieve. Secondly, readers may find salamanders. Did you know that saguaro cacti can grow it hard to believe that Rachel is still madly in love with to be over 50 feet tall and live to be 150 years old? In this Brendan after all the traumatic events of the games. But book you will hear from real scientists and park rangers of course, this is exactly why Stine is so good at what he and look at data from actual studies in national parks. does—he gives readers the creeps! You can find out about all these facts and more inPark Scientists: Gila Monsters, Geysers, and Grizzly Bears in REVIEWED BY VERONICA DEMARCO America’s Own Backyard.
REVIEWED BY VIOLET DEMKO-GARCHA, GRADE 4
20 | Ohioana Quarterly BOOK REVIEWS | MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN'S
Rosen, Michael J. The Forever Flowers. Salamon, Julie. Cat in the City. Creative Editions (Mankato, MN) 2014. HC $18.99. Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY) 2014. HC $16.99. The Forever Flowers starts with a grouse that doesn’t want summer When Pretty Boy hides in a New to end. Her bird friends try to warn York City dog park one afternoon, her by saying “hang on to what’s the street-wise cat has no idea old, and you miss something new.” he’s in for the adventure of his However, the grouse does not nine lives. Scraggly and alone, heed their warning and burdens Pretty Boy usually loves his life herself with seeds from her of freedom on the streets, but favorite flower. When she starts his recent wanderings have left her migration flight she is unable him the worse for wear. A trio of to fly with her heavy load and dogs offers to help him out, and plunges into a river, where a dog rescues her and brings he follows them across the city to her home. shepherd Roxie’s home at Pink Patti’s shop. The salon owner next door, Dee, quickly takes a shine to the stray The dog and his owner care for the grouse and plant cat, giving him a name and a place to stay. It doesn’t take the seeds that were so important to her. She anxiously long for Pretty Boy to discover the joys of his new life, waits for the blooms and is not able to enjoy life with from becoming friends with the dogs and joining them her new friends until she starts to see the snow melt and on their daily walks to learning that he loves music. His understands that spring is coming. The grouse’s bird tail even has a knack for keeping time like a metronome, friends find her during their spring migration, and the and he becomes a big hit with the outdoor cellist and grouse must then decide whether to continue on her audience in the nearby park. journey or stay at her new home. But change is always around the corner in the big city, Overall, The Forever Flowers is a sweet story filled with and soon the salon owner has to move away and can’t good messages about learning to let go of the past and take Pretty Boy with her. Pretty Boy is swept up in a blur be happy in the present. The cover art immediately of new owners, cat allergies, and uncertainty. His true captures the eye, and inside the book the reader is home must be somewhere, and luckily fate knows just met with poetic wording and stunning, intricate where he belongs. illustrations. The only hindrance is that the reader must sometimes work to follow the storyline. However, the Cat in the City is written by Ohioan Julie Salamon with beauty of the poetic lyrics and the fantastic illustrations illustrations by Jill Weber. The charming story takes are worth the extra effort. readers on a romp through a city where anything can happen in a New York minute. With a loveable cast of REVIEWED BY VERONICA DEMARCO furry and human characters, readers will be rooting for Pretty Boy through every step of his journey. The brisk pace and adventure-filled plot are perfectly suited for young readers, and adults will appreciate the themes of community, change, and compromise. Weber’s adorable illustrations capture the life of the city, and the fact that they are in full-color is an extra treat.
With a heartfelt story, unique characters, and delightful illustrations, Cat in the City is a book that shouldn’t be missed.
REVIEWED BY KATHRYN POWERS
Spring 2015 | 21 BOOK REVIEWS | MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN'S Book Reviews Solheim, James. Illus. by Jeffrey Ebbeler. Springstubb, Patricia. Moonpenny Island. The Only Alex Addleston in All These Balzer + Bray (New York, NY) 2014. HC $16.99. Mountains. Eleven-year-old Flor O’Dell has Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN) 2014. HC $17.95. lived her whole life on Moonpenny Island with her parents and two The Only Alex Addleston siblings. The only other person her in All These Mountains, age living on Moonpenny is Syvlie illustrated by Ohioan Pinch. Sylvie’s family founded Jeffrey Ebbeler, is a book the island and are like royalty; about friendship, hope, that’s how Sylvie’s brother gets and love. On the first day away with totaling his car and not of kindergarten a girl getting in trouble at all. Flor and named Alex Addleston Sylvie do everything together. saw her name on her new So when Sylvie announces she’s going to live on the desk. Then she saw a boy mainland and attend private school, Flor is crushed. in her seat; his nametag said Alex Addleston too. They She doesn’t understand why Sylvie won’t put up a fight looked at each other and started to laugh. After that they to stay together. With the absence of her best friend, were best friends who did everything together. They Flor begins to open her eyes to life around her: troubles got Captain Moonbeam message rings that said “Harp at home, being the only sixth grader at school, and the slyamor me zippal fwip,” which meant “best friends no changes in her sister that only Flor seems to notice. matter what.” When a new girl shows up on the island, Flor doesn’t One summer, Alex’s mom takes him to Chicago to spend know what to think. Flor dislikes being spied on, doesn’t two months with his grandma. When he gets home he understand why this girl doesn’t go to school, and sees a crisp yellow sheet of paper where Alex wrote wonders about her need for science. But when Sylvie that she was leaving for Africa to fix a school there. The stops communicating with Flor and the arguments Alexes spend years apart. Will they come back together at home become unbearable, Flor is desperate for by the end of the story? interaction even if it means having conversations — about trilobites. As Flor learns to observe life on the This is a great picture book for all ages to enjoy. It island, will she be able to retain who she is while teaches the reader to never give up on a friend, because shedding some of her childlike notions? And will she if you still believe in your friends they will come back find a way to reach out to Sylvie, or will this be the end of again. Claudia loved how Alex and Alex held onto their their friendship forever? friendship so tightly. Rhian loved the end pages and how they give hints about what the future holds for the Springstubb tackles tough issues throughout this Alexes. story. Although at its heart this book is a testament to true friendship, it also touches on topics of family Rhian recommends this book because it is a great story relationships, alcoholism, disabilities, diversity, secrets, to share with your family. Claudia recommends this and the dichotomy between childhood and adulthood. book because it’s a great book about friendship. Springstubb has put together a unique cast of characters REVIEWED BY CLAUDIA JONES AND RHIAN WALLACE, who feel real and genuine to this story; each brings a GRADE 4 new element and insight into life. The use of science to help Flor navigate the murky waters between childhood and adulthood is excellent, and the metaphors and similes stand out among the well-written prose.
REVIEWED BY ANDREA HALL
22 | Ohioana Quarterly Book List
The following books were added to Elder, D. Rose. Why the Amish Harper, Brett and Sara Caswell- the Ohioana Library's collection Sing: Songs of Solidarity and Pearce. Harper Ever After: The between November 2014 and Identity. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press Early Work of Charlie and Edie January 2015. Look for them at your (Baltimore, MD) 2014. HC $39.95. Harper. Pomegranate Publishing local library or bookstore! Although singing permeates Amish (Portland, OR) 2015. HC $45.00. life, it has been largely unexplored Charley Harper and Edie McKee by outsiders until now. Author Elder met on their first day of school at NONFICTION studied Amish groups in Wayne and the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Holmes Counties, Ohio (the largest This biography in images uses the Case, William R. Golf in Columbus concentration of Amish in the world), Harpers' early artwork, with notes by at Wyandot Country Club. The History Press (Charleston, SC) 2014. using first-hand observation and their son Brett, to tell their story from PB $19.99. interviews to learn about the role of that first meeting in 1940 through Donald Ross was an influential golf song in Amish history and culture. Charley's service in WWII and the course designer whose course at the early years of their married life. Elks and Wyandot Country Clubs Gaffney, Timothy R.The Dayton was celebrated as one of Ohio’s best. Flight Factory: The Wright Haven, Lisa Stein (ed.). Charlie This book describes the course’s Brothers & the Birth of Aviation. Chaplin: A Comedian Sees the history from its inception in 1923, The History Press (Charleston, SC) World. Univ. of Missouri Press through struggles caused by the 2014. PB $19.99. (Columbia, MO) 2014. HC $29.95. Great Depression and WWII, to its Author and former aerospace Between February 1931 and June untimely closing in 1952. journalist Gaffney tells the story 1932, legendary comedian Charlie of the Wright brothers from a Chaplin toured Europe and hometown perspective, from their documented his experiences in a Cordi, Kevin. Playing with Stories: Dayton, Ohio childhoods to the travel memoir. Although that memoir Story crafting for storytellers, establishment of the Dayton Aviation was published as a series of magazine writers, teachers and other Heritage National Historic Park. articles in 1933 and 1934, it was never imaginative thinkers. Parkhurst Brothers Publishers (Marion, MI) published as a book in the U.S.— 2014. PB $19.50. Hall, Sheryl Smart. Warren G. until now. Haven’s insights not only In this book Cordi, a leading Harding & the Marion Daily provide context for Chaplin’s travels, storytelling advocate, guides readers Star: How Newspapering Shaped but also document their effect on his through the storytelling process a President. The History Press subsequent writings and films. with practical tips and exercises (Charleston, SC) 2014. PB $19.99. while emphasizing the importance Ohioan Warren Hoster, Jay. Early Wall Street 1830- of imagination, deep listening, G. Harding spent 1940: Images of America. Arcadia nearly four decades Publishing (Charleston, SC) 2014. PB and—most importantly—play in the creative process. as a newspaperman $21.99. before becoming The extensive images in this book president. This show the evolution of New York’s Doane, Randal. Stealing All book traces financial district from the early Transmissions: A Secret History of Harding’s time at nineteenth century through the The Clash. PM Press (Oakland, CA) 2014. PB $15.95. the Marion Daily Star and explores Great Depression, and capture not This first American history of The how his experiences there shaped his only changing architecture, but also Clash not only documents their rise approach to the presidency. changing times. in the 1970s New York punk scene, but also explores free-form radio, rock journalism, and the relationship between music and the written word.
Spring 2015 | 23 BOOK LIST | NONFICTION
Jones, Richard O. Cincinnati’s Meyers, David et al. Kahiki Supper Oller, John. American Queen: Savage Seamstress: The Shocking Club: A Polynesian Paradise in The Rise and Fall of Kate Chase Edythe Klumpp Murder Scandal. Columbus. American Palate/The Sprague, Civil War “Belle of the The History Press (Charleston, SC) History Press (Charleston, SC) 2014. North” and Gilded Age Woman of 2014. PB $19.99. PB $19.99. Scandal. Da Capo Press (Boston, In the fall of 1958, the charred In 1961, Bill Sapp and MA) 2014. HC $25.99. remains of Cincinnati resident Lee Henry opened the Kate Chase Sprague, daughter of Louise Bergen were discovered. Kahiki Supper Club Abraham Lincoln’s treasury secretary When Edythe Klumpp (the mistress in Columbus with the and wife of Rhode Island’s handsome of Bergen’s estranged husband) failed goal of building a nice and wealthy governor, was one of the a lie detector test, she confessed Polynesian restaurant. most powerful women in Washington to the crime and was sentenced What they created during the Civil War. However, to death—despite the fact that her was a celebration of an affair with a married senator confession did not fit the evidence. tiki culture with giant Easter Island ruined her reputation and cost The story was a media sensation. In heads spouting flames, indoor grass her a marriage and a fortune. This this book, author Jones separates fact huts, and a rainforest with simulated biography documents the charisma from rumor to tell the true story of the thunderstorms. This book not only and ambition of one of the nineteenth murder. traces the restaurant’s history until century’s most interesting women. its eventual closing in 2000, but also Mehlo Jr., Noel F. The Lost Ranger: includes recipes for some of the club’s Pond, Connie, and Robert J. Pond. A Soldier’s Story. CreateSpace signature dishes and drinks. Follow the Blue Blazes: A Guide (Charleston, SC) 2014. PB $59.95. to Hiking Ohio’s Buckeye Trail Ohio native Herbert Hull served with Miller, Robert Earnest. World War II (Second Edition). Ohio Univ. Press the 5th Infantry Ranger Battalion Cincinnati: From the Front Lines (Athens, OH) 2014. PB $26.95. during WWII, where he was wounded to the Home Front. The History The Buckeye Trail, marked by in action and discharged. In the Press (Charleston, SC) 2014. PB distinctive blue blazes on trees and process, his military records were $19.99. signposts along the way, runs through separated from those of his unit; With text and photographs, Miller more than 40 of Ohio’s 88 counties. his untimely death ten years later traces Cincinnati’s evolution from a The chapters within this guide focus resulted in most knowledge of his “parochial metropolis” at the start of on 100-mile sections of the trail and military service being lost. This World War II through food rationing, feature three self-guided hikes for book describes his grandson’s two- air raid drills, and war bond rallies to each section. year search to uncover not just his emerge a changed city by the war’s grandfather’s story, but the story of end. Sego, Bill J. Universal Logic: What his unit as well. is the true meaning of life? Native Myles, Bill. Myles Traveled: Ink Press/Ink Smith Publishing Mercadante, Linda A. Belief Without Stories of My American Journey. (Monrovia, CA) 2014. PB $17.99. Borders: Inside the Minds of the Barnhardt & Ashe Publishing, Inc. “What is the meaning of life?” is one Spiritual but Not Religious. Oxford (Miami, FL) 2014. HC $34.99. of the most fundamental questions Univ. Press (Oxford, UK) 2014. HC Bill Myles coached with some of the humans ask themselves. In this $29.95. greats at Ohio State, and later served volume Sego combines philosophical, The past two decades have seen a as the university’s associate athletic scientific, metaphysical, paranormal, dramatic rise in “nones”—people director for more than two decades. and religious insights to explore the who claim no affiliation with Myles Traveled is the story of his life, question. organized religion, but who are often including a forty-five-year coaching nonetheless spiritual. Based on career. Snyder, Lucy A. Shooting Yourself observation and nearly 100 in-depth in the Head for Fun and Profit: interviews, this book explores the A Writer’s Survival Guide. Post views and beliefs of the spiritual but Mortem Press (Cincinnati, OH) 2014. not religious. PB $16.00.
24 | Ohioana Quarterly BOOK LIST | NONFICTION & FICTION
With a good dose of sharp humor, not only her own northern Ohio Bog, Justin. Hark: A Christmas Snyder walks aspiring writers childhood, but also a life that has Collection. Booktrope Editions through every step of the process, spanned most of the twentieth (Seattle, WA) 2014. PB $10.95. from manuscript fundamentals to century. This collection of six short stories networking and finding an agent to explores the full range of emotions promoting the finished product. Zola, Gary Phillip. We Called Him surrounding the holiday season, from Rabbi Abraham: Lincoln and loss and regret to forgiveness and Taxel, Barney, and Laura Taxel. The American Jewry: A Documentary hope. Lake View Cemetery: Photographs History. Southern Illinois Univ. from Cleveland’s Historic Press (Carbondale, IL) 2014. HC Brown, Duffy.Geared for the Grave: Landmark. Ringtaw Books/Univ. of $49.50. A Cycle Path Mystery. Berkley Akron Press (Akron, OH) 2014. HC Since the time of Abrahm Lincoln’s Prime Crime (New York, NY) 2014. $62.95. presidency, American Jews have PB $7.99. Photographer Barney Taxel captures identified with Lincoln and even Hoping for a promotion, Evie both the natural and human-made considered him one of their own. Bloomfield travels to Mackinac beauty of Cleveland’s Lake View In this book Zola traces the history Island to help her boss’s father, Rudy, Cemetery in color and black-and- of this relationship using primary while he recovers from a broken white photographs. source documents and explores the leg. When Rudy becomes the prime role American Jews have played in suspect in a murder, Evie must clear Thomas, Don, and Mike Bartell. preserving Lincoln’s memory for the his name and find the real killer. Orbit of Discovery: The All-Ohio nation. Space Shuttle Mission. Ringtaw Bryan, Lissa. The Land of the Books/Univ. of Akron Press (Akron, Shadow. TWCS Publishing House (Waxahachie, TX) 2014. PB $17.50. OH) 2014. HC $24.95. FICTION Continuing the tradition of John After surviving Adams, Deanna R. Scoundrels & Glenn and Neil Armstrong, Cleveland a plague and a Dreamers. Soul Mate Publishing native Don Thomas worked hard dangerous journey (New York, NY) 2014. PB $13.99. to achieve his goal of becoming an through the remains In this sequel to Peggy Sue Got astronaut. In 1995 he became part of the United States, Pregnant, rock singer Charlee Justin and Carly have of the “All-Ohio” mission of the Cambell and her husband are finally found a new space shuttle Discovery. In this devastated when their newborn son home in the small book Thomas shares the story of is kidnapped from the hospital. As the town of Colby. There, that mission, from a pre-launch years pass, Charlee loses hope that they must make decisions about woodpecker encounter to its landing she will ever see him again. However, justice and freedom that will define at Kennedy Space Center. the boy is close; can Charlee find him the nature of their new community. as she struggles to balance family and When the town is threatened by Turzillo, Jane Ann. Ohio Train fame? outsiders, they must also decide how The History Press Disasters. far they are willing to go to protect (Charleston, SC) 2014. PB $19.99. Andriacco, Dan. Rogues Gallery. MX those they love. In this book Turzillo recounts Publishing (London, England) 2014. stories both heroic and tragic as she PB $14.95. Costa, Shelley. Basil Instinct. Pocket describes a dozen of the worst train Fans of Andriacco’s Sherlock Books/Simon & Schuster (New York, disasters in Ohio history. Holmes-inspired McCabe-Cody NY) 2014. PB $7.99. mysteries will enjoy this collection of When a secret society Zipp, Jean. Windows: Letters to three novellas and two short stories of female chefs Ayla. Pinyon Publishing (Montrose, that feature the series characters. tries to convince CO) 2014. PB $17.00. Eve Angelotta’s These letters from the author to grandmother to join her great-granddaughter document their ranks, Eve
Spring 2015 | 25 BOOK LIST | FICTION Book List recruits her cousin Landon and shop owner Nate Cooper, her desire hometown while she figures out friend Joe Beck to find out what’s to return home changes. However, her next move. She suspects some going on. When Eve’s own sous chef as her family objects to Nate's social unfriendly locals are keeping a is found dead with the society’s tattoo station and Nate is ready to join the dangerous secret and, with the help on her wrist, Eve ratchets up the Confederate army to protect his of Matt Rowan, tries to uncover the investigation before Nonna becomes brother, Amanda will have a fight truth. the next victim. of her own before she and Nate can build a future together. Harper, Karen. Niege Mortelle. Durkee, R.C. Rum Run. Moonshine Best Sellers/Harlequin S.A. (Paris, Cove Publishing (Abbeville, SC) Flanders, Julie. Polar Day. Ink France) 2014. PB $9.14. 2014. PB $14.95. Smith Publishing (Monrovia, CA) This French translation of Upon a In 1928, Rusty loses both his 2015. PB $15.50. Winter’s Night tells the story of Lydia deckhand job and his charter boat In Fairbanks, Alaska, detective Brand. The knowledge that she is business. In order to support his Danny Fitzpatrick is still recovering adopted has always made Lydia feel family, he takes a job with the Trapani from his near-fatal encounter with different from her Amish community. family running illegal alcohol from vampire Aleksei Nechayev. However, When she searches for answers about Canada. Although Rusty realizes he when someone who can conjure fire her birth parents, dark secrets are is jeopardizing his marriage and his out of thin air starts burning people revealed, and only the man she loves life, getting out is nearly impossible; alive, Nechayev may be the only one can help her find answers. he’ll have to re-examine not only his who can point Danny toward the principles, but his understanding of killer. Helms, Rhonda. Scratch. Kensington good and evil as well. (New York, NY) 2014. PB $9.95. Fleming, Deborah. Without Leave. Since a night that ended in violence, Ellis, Mary. The Lady and the Black Mountain Press (Asheville, college senior Casey is reserved, Officer. Harvest House (Eugene, OR) NC) 2014. PB $22.50. practical, and determined to never 2014. PB $13.99. In 1967, David goes AWOL from the again trust the wrong person. Daniel At the battle of Gettysburg, nurse Navy, and Diane leaves college after is the exact opposite: open, charming, Madeline Howard saves the life of a brutal assault. The two meet in San and determined to break through the Confederate officer Elliott Haywood Francisco and fall in love, only to walls that Casey has put up. Can he despite her Union sympathies and discover that they cannot escape the convince her to take a chance? her love for James, a Union army past. commander. When Madeline moves Hershey, Brian. Forgotten Sin. to Richmond to live with her aunt Glinski, Robert. The Friendship of McWood Publishing 2014. PB $19.99. and uncle, she not only reunites with Criminals. Minotaur/Macmillan Desperate to be free from a curse and Elliott, but also overhears plans for (New York, NY) 2015. HC $25.99. her past, Dr. Maya Bishop seeks help attacks against Union soldiers. Can When the new leader of from animal expert Marcus Holland. she betray her family and Elliott to Philadelphia’s Italian mob threatens When Marcus unwittingly unleashes save James? Port Richmond’s Polish crime boss, a monster, he finds himself in the the city’s criminal factions teeter on middle of a fight for Maya’s life as well Ellis, Mary. The Last Heiress. the brink of war. Glinski’s debut novel as her soul. Harvest House Publishers (Eugene, explores the relationships among OR) 2015. PB $13.99. criminals that make a “family.” Hugo, Lynne. A Matter of Mercy. In 1864, Amanda Blank Slate Press (St. Louis, MO) Dunn travels to Harper, Karen. Broken Bonds: A 2014. PB $14.95. North Carolina to Cold Creek Novel. Harlequin Mira Carolyn Marcum has returned to try to restore cotton (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada) 2015. Wellfleet harbor to care for her dying shipments to her PB $7.99. mother. Ridley Neal has returned to family's textile In this final installment of theCold take over his father’s oyster beds— mills in England. Creek trilogy, social worker Char and to put his prison sentence behind When she meets Lockwood has returned to her him. When a lawsuit threatens
26 | Ohioana Quarterly BOOK LIST | FICTION
Ridley’s way of life and Carolyn Matulich, Josef. Camp Arcanum. serial killer who is targeting single accidentally encounters the person Post Mortem Press (Cincinnati, OH) women on their fortieth birthday. she wronged years earlier, the two 2014. PB $16.00. When the killer targets her sister, must learn how to forgive, trust, and Contractor Marc Sindri has Jadz must heal an old wrong to love. come to Arcanum, Ohio, to build protect those she loves. a Renaissance fair in just seven Lawson, Tracy. Counteract. months. He soon finds himself in Rigney, Mark. Check-Out Time: Buddhapuss Ink (Edison, NJ) 2014. a web of magic and conspiracies. A Renner & Quist Adventure. PB $15.95. To meet his deadline and get out Samhain Publishing (Cincinnati, Twenty years from now, the Office unscathed, he’ll have to navigate OH) 2014. PB $15.00. of Civilian Safety and Defense has through witches, demons, the When Reverend Renner answers protected the public from terrorism undead—and power tools. an invitation sent from the long- by controlling nearly every aspect of demolished and ghost-filled Neil civilian life. Now they are offering an McClendon, T.T. To Remove and House hotel, he discovers that antidote against possible chemical Rebirth the Woman. McWood checking out will be much harder weapons—but what is the price, and Publishing 2014. PB $19.99. than checking in. Even with the help who are the real terrorists? Having given up hope, Syiah awakens of his friend and investigative partner in a dark place full of very personal Dale Quist, it will take everything he Lindsey, Julie Anne. Murder by demons. In order to find her way has to put this hotel out of business the Seaside: The Patience Price home, she must confront her past, once and for all. Mysteries. Worldwide Mystery/ learn to forgive, and find a way to be Harlequin (Toronto, Canada) 2014. true to herself. Selcer, David M. Muscles, Music PB $7.99. and Murder. Cozy Cat Press Patience Price has McFawn, Monica. Bright Shards of (Aurora, IL) 2013. PB $14.95. returned home to Someplace Else. Univ. of Georgia Columbus attorney Winston Chincoteague Island Press (Athens, GA) 2014. HC $24.95. Barchrist is juggling two high- to start a counseling The eleven stories in this Flannery profile cases: his best friend is practice—and finds O’Connor Award winner explore the accused of murdering a Belgian that Adrian Davis, who consequences of misunderstanding, bodybuilder during a local broke her heart when including how it can change one’s competition, and the daughter of she was younger, is the view of the world. a Russian symphony conductor main suspect in a murder. Patience has hired him to find out who shot agrees to investigate and finds her Parker, Brent Eliot. Making her father during a performance. own life in danger. Can she solve the Arrangements: A Novel. Sunstone As Barchrist investigates, the two murder before she runs out of time? Press (Santa Fe, NM) 2014. PB cases become intertwined, leading $22.95. him to some closely guarded—and Mackrory, KaraLynne. Haunting The death of Colin Madsen’s father dangerous—secrets. Mr. Darcy: A Spirited Courtship. brings him back to his hometown, Meryton Press (Oysterville, WA) where he must decide the fate of Shonkwiler, Eric. Above All Men. 2014. PB $12.95. the family funeral home. When his MG Press (Ann Arbor, MI) 2014. PB This spirited adaptation of Pride childhood friend Ava takes a job in $15.00. and Prejudice takes place following funeral home acquisitions, he may Years from now, the country is the gentlemen’s departure from have to choose between their growing slowly dying as crops wither from Netherfield. After a carriage accident, romance and his father’s legacy. drought, oil supplies run low, and Elizabeth finds her spirit transported crime increases. When a local child is to Darcy’s London home, where Pauwels, C.L. Forty & Out. Deadly murdered, war veteran David Parrish Darcy believes she is a hallucination. Writes Publishing (Marble Hill, MO) must confront his own demons as he Somehow the two must learn to trust 2014. PB $14.95. hunts for the killer and tries to keep and love in order to return Elizabeth New homicide detective Veronica his family together. to her body…before it’s too late. Jadzinski is determined to stop a
Spring 2015 | 27 BOOK LIST | FICTION, POETRY & YOUNG ADULT Book List Snyder, Lucy A. Soft Apocalypses. do anything to get her back. Together, Lardner, Ted. We Practice for It. Raw Dog Screaming (Bowie, MD) Joe and his friend Kellen Malone set Tupelo Press (North Adams, MA) 2014. PB $12.95. out on a hunt to stop a serial killer. 2014. PB $11.95. The fifteen stories in this collection This is the fifth book in Yoho’sKellen Many of the poems in this collection range from steampunk to science Malone series. involve both literal and figurative fiction to horror. Included is travel, and the revelations that can “Magdala Amygdala,” winner of the come from exploring seemingly 2013 Stoker Award for Superior POETRY mundane places and events. Achievement in Short Fiction. Winner of the 2014 Sunken Garden Ankney, Christopher. Hearsay. Chapbook Prize. Washington Writers’ Publishing Thomas, Sam. The Witch Hunter’s House (Washington, DC) 2014. PB Tale: A Midwife Mystery. $16.00. Minotaur/St. Martin’s (New York, Despite the title, the poems in this YOUNG ADULT NY) 2015. HC $24.99. prize-winning collection are based on Drew, Julie. It is the winter of 1644, Run: The Tesla Effect Ankney’s own childhood experiences Ring of Fire Publishing and the British town of Book 2. and the lessons learned from them. (Seattle, WA) 2014. PB $13.99. York is in the midst of After surviving time travel, Tesla a full-scale witch hunt. Collins, Martha. hopes her junior year will have some When someone close Day Unto Day: Milkweed Editions semblance of normalcy. However, to midwife Bridget Poems. (Minneapolis, MN) 2014. PB $16.00. the two boys in her life are being Hodgson is murdered, This volume contains six chapters, difficult, and her father still won’t she struggles to find each with thirty or thirty-one share information about her mother’s the killer without being named short entries. Part diary and part death. Tesla hopes that by jumping a witch herself. This is the third meditation, the passages reflect back in time again she can learn what mystery in the series that began with on topics ranging from seasons to happened to her mother—or better The Midwife’s Tale. national identity to love and death. yet, stop it from happening at all. However, Tesla quickly learns that Turner, TJ. Lincoln’s Bodyguard: Friebert, Stuart. Floating Heart. every action has consequences… A Novel. Oceanview Publishing Pinyon Publishing (Montrose, CO) (Longboat Key, FL) 2015. PB $26.95. 2014. PB $16.00. Haddix, Margaret Peterson. In this revisionist history novel, Palace of The poems in this collection are by Simon & Schuster BFYR (New Abraham Lincoln’s bodyguard, Lies. turns gritty, delightful, and disturbing York, NY) 2015. HC $17.99. Joseph Foster, saves the president’s as they “take both poet and reader to Princess Desmia was raised amidst life and kills John Wilkes Booth unexpected places.” palace intrigue and distrust. one fateful night in Ford’s Theater. Although she and her sisters are now Instead of a relatively clean end Jastrun, Mieczysław. ruling the kingdom as a united front, to the Civil War, the country falls Memorials: A Dialogos Books/Lavender she can’t help suspecting that trouble into a lingering insurgency. Years Selection. Ink (New Orleans, LA) 2014. PB lurks nearby. When her suspicions later, Foster receives a letter from $16.00. are confirmed, she must find the Lincoln asking for help. If Foster is Mieczysław Jastrun was born in truth and determine the fate of two successful, he’ll fulfill the presiden’t Poland in 1903; during his lifetime he kingdoms. plan, find his own long-lost daughter, published more than a dozen books and—perhaps—restore peace to the of poetry as well as other works. This Kendall, Gillian Murray. nation. The Garden volume of his later poetry includes of Darkness. Ravenstone/Rebellion the original poems as well as English Publishing (Oxford, UK) 2014. PB Yoho, R.G. The Evil Day. White translations by Ohioan Dzvinia $9.99. Feather Press (MI) 2014. PB $15.95. Orlowsky, making his work available After the Pest pandemic decimates When Joe Clement’s young bride is to American readers. the adult population, cheerleader kidnapped from their home in the Clare and chess nerd Jem are thrown Arizona Territory, the gunfighter will together as they struggle to survive.
28 | Ohioana Quarterly BOOK LIST | YOUNG ADULT, MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN’S
A mysterious adult voice on the radio water, and set Lucy on a journey to Rosen, Michael J. Place Hacking: promises shelter and a cure. As Clare find her own place in the world. Venturing Off Limits. Twenty-First and Jem travel toward the voice with Century Books/Lerner (Minneapolis, an ever-growing group of children, Mitchell, Don. The Freedom MN) 2015. HC $33.32. they realize that nothing in this new Summer Murders. Scholastic Press “Place hacking” is the practice of world can be trusted—except perhaps (New York, NY) 2014. HC $18.99. entering and exploring obscure or friendship. In June of 1964, a group of volunteers prohibited human-made spaces. In gathered at Miami University in this book Rosen takes readers around Lee, Banie. Sleep Drifter. Ink Smith Oxford, Ohio, to receive training as the world as he investigates the Publishing (Monrovia, CA) 2014. PB part of the Freedom Summer voter motives behind—and results of—this $14.99. registration effort in Mississippi. The extreme form of urban exploration. Camden is a Watcher, tasked murder of three of these volunteers— with protecting humans from the James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, Spieles, J.F. Echoes of an Outlaw’s Obsidians, who are sealed inside a and Andrew Goodman—became one Curse. Black Rose Writing magical realm. However, the door to of the key events of the civil rights (Castroville, TX) 2014. PB $17.95. this realm is vulnerable. Can Camden movement and led to a forty-one-year After Cam’s mother dies and his team keep the Obsidians from search for justice. unexpectedly, he still sees her escaping and enslaving humankind? everywhere—literally. After confiding Richards, Natalie D. Gone Too Far. in his close friend Maddie, his secret Lindsey, Julie Anne. Prophecy: Sourcebooks (Naperville, IL) 2015. is revealed, and he is placed in a A Calypso Novel. Lyrical Press/ PB $9.99. psychiatric ward. Years later, 15-year- Kensington (New York, NY) 2014. PB Piper can’t wait to leave her old Cam tries to help Maddie when $15.00. senior year—and high school she begins to show signs of emotional Callie’s senior year is cliques—behind. Then she finds disturbance. As Cam confronts his focused on swimming a notebook documenting the sins memories and journeys with Maddie and college—until of her classmates, and its creator to the place of a local legend, he she learns that her makes her an offer: together they discovers that the dead keep secrets— cute new neighbor is can make bullies and others pay for and those secrets are about to be a Viking. Suddenly their crimes. At first Piper is willing revealed. Callie finds herself in to avenge the wrongs done by her the middle of a love classmates. But when does the price triangle and a coming of justice become too high? apocalypse that only she can stop. MIDDLE GRADE & Rosen, Michael J. Girls vs. Guys: CHILDREN’S McGinnis, Mindy. In a Handful Surprising Differences Between Buettner, Gary. Dracula’s Cat: of Dust. Katherine Tegen Books/ the Sexes. Twenty-First Century Monster Pets Book 1. Emby Kids HarperCollins (New York, NY) 2014. Books/Lerner (Minneapolis, MN) 2014. PB $10.99. HC $17.99. 2015. HC $33.27. Seventh-grader Mina is trying to In a near future where Rosen uses scientific research to expand her pet-sitting business to water is a scarce explore how genetics, environment, save money for camp. When she ends commodity, Lucy and neurology, and physiology all come up watching Dracula’s cat, Belfry, her adoptive mother together to shape behavior—and how she gets more than she bargained for. Lynn have lived a that behavior differs in sometimes (Who knew cats had wings?) It’s a good life by their rural unexpected ways. Answers to race against time—and monsters—to Ohio pond. However, questions ranging from “Who has find Belfry before Dracula gets home. when disease ravages a better memory?” to “Who is more their community, the pond may be likely to get bitten by a mosquito?” to blame. Rumors of desalinization will have readers rethinking the plants in California set the two of differences between the sexes. them on a journey west in search of
Spring 2015 | 29 BOOK LIST | MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN’S Book List Carson, Mary Kay. Park Scientists: Jakubowski, Michele. Snowy Blast: summer, however, Sylvie moves to Gila Monsters, Geysers, and Perfectly Poppy. Picture Window the mainland, Flor’s mother leaves to Grizzly Bears in America’s Own Books/Capstone (Mankato, MN) take care of Flor’s sick grandmother, Backyard. Houghton Mifflin 2014. PB $5.95. and a strange new girl and her father Harcourt Books for Young Readers After the first big snowfall of the arrive on the island to study fossils. (Boston, MA) 2014. HC $18.99. season, Poppy would rather curl As Flor begins to help them, she America’s up with a good book than venture learns more about herself and those national outside. With some convincing by her around her than she ever imagined. parks mom and her older brother, Poppy not only discovers that playing outside can Stewart, Aileen. Return to Fern welcome be fun. This book, which is part of a Valley: Another Collection of Short more than series for early readers, also includes Stories. Tate Publishing (Mustang, 270 million a short vocabulary list, writing/ OK) 2014. PB $11.99. visitors each year, they also contain discussion prompts, and a list of This is the second collection of scientific wonders that cannot be snowy-day activities. short stories featuring Mildred and found anywhere else on the planet. Roberta Cornstalk and the other Author Carson and photographer Rosen, Michael J. The Maine animals of Fern Valley. Uhlman share scientific research Coon’s Haiku and Other Poems taking place in the Yellowstone, for Cat Lovers. Candlewick Press Tyler, Tara. Broken Branch Falls. Saguaro, and Great Smoky (Somerville, MA) 2015. PB $17.99. Curiosity Quills Press (Reston, VA) Mountains National Parks. This illustrated poetry collection 2014. PB $14.99. for cat lovers of all ages contains a Gabe, a goblin, lives in Broken Branch Geither, Regina M. Luring the haiku for each of twenty different cat Falls—a town where ogres, pixies, Leprechaun: Celtic Kids Book 2. breeds. and dragons are the norm. During the Loconeal (Amherst, OH) 2014. PB first football game of the year, Gabe $7.95. Springstubb, Tricia. Cody and the and his friends pull a prank on the In order to retrieve a magical object Fountain of Happiness. Candlewick dragons that literally backfires. To from a greedy leprechaun, Caitlin and Press (Somerville, MA) 2015. HC keep the High Council from shutting Sean must travel through an ancient $14.99. down not only the high school but forest, battle a powerful druid, and Although Cody has been eagerly the town itself, Gabe must find outwit a fairy army. Can they escape, awaiting summer vacation, it’s not their hidden handbook. Can he save or will they be trapped in the land of starting out as planned: her parents the school, or will he be an outcast magic forever? are busy with work, her brother forever? is distracted by a girl, and camp is Houts, Michelle. Kammie on First: cancelled. Then she meets her new Baseball’s Dottie Kamenshek. Ohio neighbor Spencer, who is looking for Univ. Press (Athens, OH) 2014. PB his lost cat. A new friend and a found $14.95. cat might be the start of a beautiful In 1943, seventeen-year-old Dottie summer after all. Kamenshek left her home in Cincinnati to become a professional Springstubb, Tricia. Moonpenny baseball player for the All-American Island. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins Girls Professional Baseball League. (New York, NY) 2015. HC $16.99. She played for the Rockford Peaches Flor, her family, and for ten years, becoming one of the her best friend Sylvie league’s greatest players. This first live year-round on book in the Biographies for Young tiny Moonpenny Readers series documents how Island, a summer Kamenshek became one of America’s vacation spot. At the most beloved athletes. end of one particular
30 | Ohioana Quarterly Spring 2015 | 31 NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID 274 E. First Avenue COLUMBUS, OH Suite 300 PERMIT NO. 1069 Columbus, OH 43201
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