NONFICTION

Just Kids – Patti Smith (Ecco)

It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation. Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamous - the influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu, two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy, romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another during the hungry years. Beginning as a love story and ending as an elegy, Just Kids serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions.

Free for All: Joe Papp, the Public and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told – Kenneth Turan & Joe Papp (Doubleday)

Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan takes you behind the scenes at the Public Theater and tells the amazing story of how Joe Papp made American theatrical and cultural history. Free for All is the irresistible oral history of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater - two institutions that under the inspired leadership of Joseph Papp have been a premier source of revolutionary and enduring American theater. To tell this fascinating story, Kenneth Turan interviewed some 160 luminaries-including George C. Scott, Meryl Streep, Mike Nichols, Kevin Kline, James Earl Jones, David Rabe, Jerry Stiller, Tommy Lee Jones, and Wallace Shawn - and masterfully weaves their voices into a dizzyingly rich tale of creativity, conflict, and achievement.

Paris Under Water: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910 – Jeffrey Jackson (Palgrave Macmillan)

In the winter of 1910, the river that brought life to Paris quickly became a force of destruction. Torrential rainfall saturated the soil, and faulty engineering created a perfect storm of conditions that soon drowned Parisian streets, homes, businesses, and museums. The city seemed to have lost its battle with the elements. Improvising techniques to keep Paris functioning and braving the dangers of collapsing infrastructure and looters, leaders and residents alike answered the call to action. This newfound ability to work together proved a crucial rehearsal for an even graver crisis four years later, when France was plunged into World War I. On the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the flood, Jeffrey H. Jackson captures here for the first time the drama and ultimate victory of man over nature.

Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, not Bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan – Greg Mortenson  & Mike Bryan (Viking)

In this dramatic first-person narrative, Greg Mortenson picks up where Three Cups of Tea left off in 2003, recounting his relentless, ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his extensive work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan after a massive earthquake hit the region in 2005; and the unique ways he has built relationships with Islamic clerics, militia commanders, and tribal leaders. He shares for the first time his broader vision to promote peace through education and literacy, as well as touching on military matters, Islam, and women - all woven together with the many rich personal stories of the people who have been involved in this remarkable two-decade humanitarian effort.

TEEN LIT

When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books)

This terrific novel is a bubble off square: it’s hyper-realistic, with an engaging 12-year-old narrator and a slew of well-developed secondary characters, and it’s threaded through with a mind-bending element of mystery and time travel. Set in 1979 Manhattan, a wealth of detail makes the story riveting and its characters unforgettable. Once the mystery is sorted out, you’ll want to go back to the beginning and follow the clues you missed.

Marcelo in the Real World - Francisco X. Stork (Arthur A. Levine Books)

This is a superb novel, and not just for teens. Marcelo, 17 and labeled with Asperger’s syndrome, is forced out of his comfort zone and into the mailroom of his father’s law firm for the summer. Many of his coping strategies don’t work in the “real world” he’s entered, and he has to juggle increasing autonomy, ethical dilemmas, disturbing insights into his father, and a new awareness of feelings - his own and others’. I can’t say enough about the quality of the writing and the vividness of the characters. Read this book. Now.

Waiting for You - Susane Colasanti (Viking)

All her life Marisa has been waiting patiently for the perfect man, but her patience is wearing thin. She's had her eye on Derek - the smartest, coolest, most athletic boy in the school. As it turns out, he wants her, too! But when everything isn't automatic 'puppies and rainbows' with their relationship, Marisa finds herself wanting more. She soon discovers that her perfect man might not be who she imagined.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E. Lockhart (Hyperion)

Frankie’s gone from ugly duckling to swan over the summer after her freshman year at Alabaster, an elite boarding school. The new Frankie attracts the attention of one of the most desirable senior boys. Becoming his girlfriend and learning, though not from him, about the all-male secret society to which he belongs, forces the ultra-smart, ultra-clever Frankie to reconcile issues of feminism, power, politics and privilege. She not only juggles these thorny concepts, she finds engaging and creative ways to confront them. What entertaining company she is, and what a great role model!

KIDS CORNER

The Lion & the Mouse - Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown & Co.)

Pinkney’s magnificent illustrations have contributed so much to countless picture books over the decades; in this stunning volume, the illustrations are the book. Virtually wordless (save for a few sound-effects words), the book tells Aesop’s fable of the mouse, spared by a lion, who later becomes the lion’s savior. The detail of the splendid watercolors will entrance children (and adults!). Here’s an end to the art vs. illustration debate: These pictures are both.

Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated - Florence Parry Heide; Lane Smith, ill. (Schwartz & Wade Books)

Being a princess may seem desirable, but not if you have poor Hyacinth’s problem: she’s lighter than air and must always be weighted or tied down lest she float away. But Hyacinth’s indomitable spirit and the intervention of a clever new friend render her problem at worst a mere inconvenience and at best an opportunity for great fun. The airy, whimsical illustrations add to the delight of this most delightful book.

Testing the Ice: A True Story about Jackie Robinson - Sharon Robinson; Kadir Nelson, ill. (Scholastic)

A moving story, beautifully told and gorgeously illustrated.  This wonderful glimpse into Jackie Robinson’s life, both inside baseball and within his family, is told by his daughter, who shares the story of the integration of the major leagues and gives us a sense of who Robinson was as a husband and father. She draws a parallel between what was required of Robinson during his time with the Brooklyn Dodgers and how he faced his fear of testing the ice on a lake where his children wanted to skate. The incomparable Kadir Nelson’s illustrations will take your breath away.

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