The offer of a new job in a small resort town on the coast of Normandy allows the recently widowed Simone Sauvelle the chance for her and her two children to escape a poverty-stricken life in Paris. As the assistant to brilliant toymaker Lazarus Jann,...
Ready for some literal fun? This book is so ingenious, I can hardly stand it! Talk about different ways of seeing ...
The morning began with an early birthday in our house before going off to another swim meet. Always the swim meet! Egads, the time passes so quickly, I can't keep up. That the kids are getting older only means I'm getting more ancient. Someone, please...
A biography, a travel memoir, and a piece of art landed on my desk ...
Before you begin The Watch, allow me to offer a few details about Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya's writerly preparations you won't find in the book. Although his ending "Acknowledgements" includes candid gratitude to numerous members of the U.S. military, the interview attached to the press materials sent with his title...
At 15, Faten is uprooted from her village life to become a live-in servant to a wealthy family in Beirut, where violence from the ongoing Lebanese Civil War seems neverending. Her father's decision to pull her out of school, to indenture her away from all...
Parents, listen up: here's a heart-fluttering game to play with your kiddies, especially perfect just before bedtime to send the little ones off to slumberland. It's as simple as asking the question that is this title, 'How far do you love me?" and then let...
Just in case you're pressed for time, let me offer this short-cut alternative up front: if you're looking for a fabulous foodie book that takes you to unexpected corners of the world, bypass Noodle Road and try Jennifer 8. Lee's The Fortune Cookie Chronicles instead. If...
In segregated Greenville, North Carolina, 14-year-old Mason Steele has the rare talent to transcribe his father's impassioned descriptions of civil rights incidents into effective business letters determined to educate and change people's minds. His father's civil rights group rewards young Mason's efforts with a typewriter....
Sleeping Sloth is jolted awake by a ringing phone he can't pick up in time. Thank goodness for answering machines (methinks parents might need to explain that anachronistic precursor to voice mail) because the lucky message announces Sloth has won a prize! But oh, no!...
It's Friday. Do you know where your children are? If you thought you sent them off in the care of trustworthy adults, then you might want to wait until they come back ...
Before this novel, Khaled Hosseini's third, even hit shelves on May 21, the world had already made it a bestseller; many months – more likely years – will pass before it fades from the international spotlight. Although I had the galley for months before, I kept it...
DC-area local Chiêu Anh Urban's second chunky children's book is perhaps even more clever than her first. While Raindrops: A Shower of Colors offered a thoroughly kiddie-friendly lesson in color-making, Away We Go! is an entertaining game in learning shapes. Invitingly packaged in vivid hues,...
If Lenore Look’s East Coast leading man, the delightfully frank Alvin Ho, admits to being afraid of just about everything, his West Coast counterpart, wondergirl Ruby Lu, lets little slow her down. Regardless of their opposite fear factors, both of Look's bicoastal protagonists are multicultural heroes with close family ties...
Important warnings first: this is definitely NOT a kiddie manga, so parents (!!) – be sure to keep this well out of reach from curious young 'uns. The word 'graphic' is especially relevant here, and is definitely not intended or appropriate for younger eyes. Creator Asumiko Nakamura's...
I've never seen, but have read about (no surprise) the international popularity of telenovelas, but I imagine that if this, Isabel Allende's latest novel, was transferred to the little screen, it would fit quite well in what seems to be a rather histrionic genre with...
Reading four novels, each set in a major Indian city, one after another over a single week or so, has made the stories feel as if they might overlap, dovetail, conflate, creating quite the enriching literary experience. In the midst of A Fine Balance, I...
As part of appreciating the versatile art of LeUyen Pham – who with her hubby Alex Puvilland imbued Friday's post, Templar, with such swashbuckling energy – I thought I should keep a good thing going by adding a few more Pham-tabulously illustrated titles this bright new Monday. [Truth be told, I...
Ready for some swashbuckling adventure ...
This week has been especially stormy and wet, so I thought I needed to throw in a rainbow in the midst of bursting clouds. The waking glee of three young children staying with their grandfather quickly turns to "[w]himper, sigh, cloudy sky," when their plans for...
