DOGFIGHT by Calvin Trillin

Calvin Trillin, the man who brought us Deciding the Next Decider, is back with DOGFIGHT: The 2012 Presidential Campaign in Verse. Fans of politics and/or poetry will like this, as will folks who like stuff that is funny.

The book opens with this poem as a prelude:

Let the Barking and Biting Begin
by Calvin Trillin

Mitt Romney put Seamus on top of the car.
("He liked it up there, and we weren't going far.")
Obama, in boyhood, while in Indonesia,
Once swallowed some dog meat without anesthesia.
Though dog lovers wouldn't be either man's base,
A dogfight seemed what was in store for their race.
And people were saying, "We wonder which dude'll
Emerge as the pit bull, and which as the poodle."

The next two chapters of the book cover the start of Obama's first administration in 2008 and the mid-term elections in 2010, followed by a number of chapters about the Republican primaries, including poems savaging many of the contenders (much as those contenders savaged one another). By page 83, though, it's pretty clear that Mitt Romney is going to be the GOP candidate, and Trillin gives us this gem:

The Republican National Committee Selects a Campaign Slogan
by Calvin Trillin

Our slogan's been chosen.
We think it's a hit.
We'll shout from the rafters,
"We've settled for Mitt!"

The Last Policeman by Ben Winters

I like my eggs runny and my detectives hardboiled. My women mysterious. And my disaster scenarios pre-apocalyptic. So when this oddball noir The Last Policeman walked its way into my hands, I forgot about the past and thought again about the future. Our future. The one that doesn’t exist.

Shakespeare, Darwin, Polo, Cleopatra & Dickens In Glorious Illustrated Biographies

Over the past couple of years, Templar Books (an imprint of Candlewick) has issued a series of stunning oversized biographies of some the great figures in history. Hardcover, copiously (COPIOUSLY) illustrated and full of foldouts, small envelopes and all manner of intriguing bits packaged in intriguing ways, the Historical Notebooks series includes William Shakespeare: His Life and Times, Marco Polo: History's Great Adventurer, Charles Dickens: England's Most Captivating Storyteller, Charles Darwin and the Beagle Adventure and Cleopatra: Queen of Egypt. Written by several different talented authors, these titles provide all the basic information a teen reader could want (and need) but the design places them so far over the top that readers of any age (including adults) will find them difficult to ignore. Each page offers something more pleasing than the previous with extracts from original texts plus facsimiles of old magazines, drawings, maps, letters, tapestries even (!!) spread out wide or alternately carefully placed within the text. This is food for the brain and the eye, titles to enjoy on so many levels that one feels almost surprised to be pouring over historical texts in such an avid manner. (Personally I can't get enough of old maps and letters so these are a real treat for me.) Behind the cut, feast your eyes on some of the interiors and see what you are missing.

Sky High by Germano Zullo or "My house is better than your house!"

Every now and again I come across a title that looks like a picture book but on careful perusal really is a whole other animal. Sky High by Germano Zullo and illustrated by Albertine (both from Switzerland) is a perfect example of this.

Tall and thin, this hardcover is designed to showcase the wacky story within. Agenor-Agobar Poirier des Chapelles and Willigis Kittycly Junior are two Gorey-esque characters who live side by side and are consumed with one-upmanship. They add on to their homes with more and more involved and excessive rooms (swimming pools! hanging gardens! turrets!), and employ progressively more expensive architects to impress each other. In the end, one building can not stand and another leaves it's owner marooned at the tippy-top, forever looking down at the levels he just can't reach. Yeah, we're talking hubris here, on an epic scale.

For artists the story, as amusing as it is, will be secondary to Albertine's careful pen and ink drawings. She has let her imagination run wild here and the care in which she makes sure everything fits together (like Zenga on the page) is delightful. Take a look at this illustration and then see if it doesn't inspire you to draw a fanciful home or two!


See also the review at Cool Hunting.

Bad Machinery: The Case of the Team Spirit

Bad Machinery: The Case of the Team Spirit by John Allison (Due out in April 2013)*

Teens Shauna, Mildred, Charlotte, Jack, Linton and Sonny attend Griswald's Grammar School in Yorkshire. In addition to navigating the perils of adolescence and school, they have a nose for mysteries. In The Case of the Team Spirit, the teens investigate strange happenings related to a new football stadium that is supposed to be built in their town. Someone - or something - is out to stop construction, and they want to know why.

The kids in Bad Machinery are a fun mix of the earnestness of  Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys-style sleuthing and the snark of Kate Beaton's Mystery Solving Teens with artwork that reminds me a bit of old school Scooby Doo. In a word -- awesome. The characters are funny, sarcastic, prickly and endearing, like most of the real teens I know. I don't want to say more about this story because, you know, spoilers. But I really enjoyed this book, and I am sure teens will enjoy this as well. I know I will be spending some quality time reading through the other posted installments. If you can't wait til April, you can read through this and other mysteries online. Start here for the beginning of the cases and an introduction to the team if you're reading online.



*Digital copy of the book courtesy of NetGalley.

Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson

We humans have always had trouble controlling our technology. Our fires burn out of control, our cars cause pollution, our convenience food costs us rainforests, etc.

But in the mythology of our collective dreams, it's even worse. In our nightmares, not only can't we control our technology but our technology turns on us, set to destroy us.

Robopocalypse is one manifestation of this fear. Daniel Wilson, author of the factual yet tongue-in-cheek How to Survive a Robot Uprising, presents his near-future fictional vision of just such an occurence.

Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride

When I read Hold MeCloser, Necromancer two years ago, I started making sure I placed it in highly visible places at work, making sure that everyone who would be interested in it got a chance to see it. Lish McBride's debut novel was a great combination of dark themes, silly humor, music puns, and a complex look at the nature of evil through the eyes of a necromancer who hates killing anything. So when I saw Necromancing the Stone laying around the library, picking it up was kind of a no-brainer.

Bone: Quest for the Spark, Book Three by Tom Sniegoski and Jeff Smith

The entire Valley is asleep - but Sleeping Beauty, this isn't. The townspeople have fallen victim to a horrible evil which intends to create an eternal darkness. Determined to save his family and his village, a 12-year-old boy named Tom has found all but one piece of the Spark, which will turn the darkness into light and save them all. All he has to do now is find that final piece, and the Spark will be complete, and the evil will be defeated.
Easier said than done. When the airship carrying Tom and his ragtag group of friends crashes, the group is split up, thrown about by the wind, and must try to find each other once again. New faces pop up along the way, including Roque Ja, the fearsome, giant mountain lion who is pictured on the cover, as well as foes.

This final volume of Bone: Quest for the Spark, a novel by author Tom Sniegoski with spot and full-page illustrations by Bone creator and artist Jeff Smith, with color by Steve Hamaker, does not disappoint. (And definitely read the books in order so you get the complete story! Read my reviews of the first two novels in the trilogy.) Young Tom didn't go on this quest alone, and Sniegoski juggles the various storylines with ease. From Tom's faithful raccoon, Roderick, to his newest ally, a little dragon named Stillman, the supporting characters are just as important to the story. Whether their actions and choices helped or hindered the journey, most of these characters never gave up on the quest or on each other. This volume wraps up the story neatly, then offers up a great cinematic scene right at which could easily lead to a new adventure. I hope it does, because I'd love to read more stories featuring these characters - especially Roderick the raccoon! 

Want to know which parts of this book made me think of Doctor Who, The Land Before Time, and Alice in Wonderland? Read the rest of this review at Bildungsroman.

The 2013 Youth Media Awards

I had been planning on (finally) reviewing Steve Sheinkin's Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon today, which would have been timely since it was one of the big winners at this morning's American Library Association's Youth Media Awards announcement. I meant to re-read Bomb before writing about it, and unfortunately forgot to bring home the book from the library--I've got it checked out, but left it sitting on my desk--so, that review will happen later. Instead, you get a roundup of the honor books and winner.

The Youth Media Awards encompass some of the most important, most recognizable children's and teen book awards, including the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, and Printz Award. You can find the full list of winners here, and an archived video of the livestream is available if you'd like to watch the announcements.

And the winners (and honors) are:

Kasher in the Rye by Moshe Kasher

If memoirs are written to both connect with the reader and exorcise the writer's personal demons, then Moshe Kasher had one gigantic, stinky, firebreathing, sword-wielding demon.

 His debut book's full title says it all: Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16. Sure the Salinger-inspired pun is as obvious as a rhino stampede, but Moshe Kasher has had quite a colorful life. A life that I would not want to wish on my worst enemy.

Now a stand-up comic, Kasher was born to not one, but two, deaf parents. Mom and Dad separated within a year of his birth, and his mother took him and his older brother from Brooklyn to Oakland where a life of food stamps, less than stellar public schools, and years of therapy awaited them. This menagerie of elements was perfect for young Moshe (who at the time went by the less-Semitic name Mark) to rebel.