Book Reviews

Book Promotions for the week of April 23

Children’s Pick

Press Here by Hervé Tullet

A Review from Publisher’s Weekly

Starred Review. Tullet’s brilliant creation proves that books need not lose out to electronic wizardry; his colorful dots perform every bit as engagingly as any on the screen of an iPad. “Ready?” the voiceover-style narration asks on the first page; it shows a yellow dot on a plain white background. “Press here and turn the page,” it instructs. When the page is turned, there’s a second yellow dot beside the first one. “Great!” it says. “Now press the yellow dot again.” A third yellow dot appears beside the first two. “Perfect,” the narrator continues. “Rub the dot on the left… gently.” On the next page, voila!—that dot is now red. “Well done!” the book congratulates. The fun continues as the dots proliferate, travel around the page, grow and shrink in response to commands to clap, shake, or tilt the book, etc. The joy is in the tacit agreement between artist and reader that what’s happening is magic. Shh! Don’t tell. All ages.

Juvenile Fiction

Fake Mustache: Or how Jodie O’Rodeo and her Wonder Horse (And Some Nerdy Guy) Saved the U.S. Presidential Election From a Mad Genius Criminal Mastermind by Tom Angleberger

A Review from Amazon

Award-winning author Tom Angleberger flexes his comic muscle in this hairy adventure story with twists at every turn. Regular kid Lenny Flem Jr. is the only one standing between his evil-genius best friendùCasper, a master of disguise and hypnosisùand world domination. It all begins when Casper spends money from his granny on a spectacularly convincing fake mustache, the Heidelberg Handlebar #7. With it heÆs able rob banks, amass a vast fortune, and run for president. Is Lenny the only one who can see through his disguise? And will he be able to stop Casper from taking over the world?

Young Adult Fiction

Immortal City by Scott Speer

A Review from Amazon

Jackson Godspeed is the hottest young Angel in a city filled with them. He’s days away from becoming a full Guardian, and people around the world are already competing for the chance to be watched over by him. Everyone’s obsessed with the Angels and the lucky people they protect – everyone except for Madison Montgomery.
Maddy’s the one girl in Angel City who doesn’t breathlessly follow the Angels on TV and gossip blogs. When she meets Jackson, she doesn’t recognize him. But Jackson is instantly captivated by her, and against all odds the two fall in love.
Maddy is swiftly caught up in Jackson’s scene, a world of glamour, paparazzi – and murder. A serial killer is on the loose, leaving dead Angels’ wings for the police to find on the Walk of Fame. Even the Guardians are powerless to protect themselves in the face of this threat … and this time it’s up to Maddy to save Jackson.

Adult Fiction

Departing at Dawn: A Novel of Argentina’s Dirty War by Gloria Lisé

A Review from Library Journal

Relatively new to the literary scene, Argentine lawyer and professor Lisé sets her novel early in General Videla’s repressive regime, a seven-year era following Isabel Perón’s overthrow in 1976 that became known as the Dirty War, when thousands of political victims were imprisoned or killed or simply disappeared. Berta Rojas watches helplessly as her boyfriend, Atilio, is hurled from a Tucumán balcony to his death for his outlawed union activities and immediately realizes that her own life is in danger. She hides out first with her uncle and aunt in La Rioja and then at her Uncle Tristán’s farm in Olpa, eventually heading for Buenos Aires, determined to leave the country. Lisé’s thinly veiled work of fiction reads like a personal diary, as we eavesdrop on Berta, who at any moment risks being denounced. Ultimately, Berta, who risks everything, symbolizes how a national crisis affects innocent citizens at the individual level. VERDICT A well-written and engaging story of one person’s escape from tyranny whose appeal goes beyond the implicitly narrow focus of the publisher’s name, extending to a wider audience of Latin American historians and buffs of historical fiction.

Adult Non-fiction

Queen Elizabeth in the Garden: A Story of Love, Rivalry and Spectacular Gardens by Trea Martyn

A Review from Amazon

Taking a fresh and original approach to the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth I, this book tells the incredible story of her great passion for gardens, and how the two most powerful men in England during her reign fought a decade-long duel for their queen’s affections by creating lavish gardens for her. It chronicles how, in their quest to woo the queen and outdo each other, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and William Cecil, Baron of Burghley, competed for Elizabeth’s favor by laying out innovative and extravagant pleasure grounds at their palaces for when she came to visit. As she played one off against the other, they created gorgeous palaces and landscapes that amazed the world. The book also describes how others in England and abroad followed Dudley’s and Cecil’s leads and how the queen’s love of plants made gardeners of courtiers, statesmen, and soldiers. This meticulously researched account reveals how Elizabeth’s enthusiasm for horticulture changed the world, encouraging gardeners and designers to create landscapes inspired by the spirit of the Elizabethan garden.