April 30, 2015
Stanley Meisler on SHOCKING PARIS and the Great Russian Jewish Migration to Pre-World War II France
Stanley Meisler is an emeritus foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. He is a distant relation (by marriage) of expressionist painter Chaim Soutine and has written several articles on Soutine and the School of Paris for the Smithsonian and the Los Angeles Times. In this piece, Meisler provides a bit of social and historical context for his latest book, SHOCKING PARIS: Soutine, Chagall and the Outsiders of Montparnasse. He talks about the grim circumstances that led to the flight of many Jews to France in the years leading up to World War II, as well as his own personal connection to the story he’s telling --- including his brave uncle and aunt, who overcame bleak odds to achieve a degree of success in early 20th-century Paris.
Editorial Content for Lois Lane: Fallout
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Reviewer (text)
Katherine Szabo
Lois Lane is your typical teenage army brat --- she's lived all over and has never stayed in one place for too long. That is, until her father is offered a new job that settles Lois permanently in Metropolis. She vows to make her stay in Metropolis different by keeping her head down, staying out of trouble (for once) and actually making some lasting friends (well, aside from her secretive, mysterious online maybe-more-than-a-friend she knows only by his screen name: SmallvilleGuy). Read More
Teaser
Lois Lane is starting a new life in Metropolis. An Army brat, Lois has lived all over --- and seen all kinds of things. But now her family is putting down roots in the big city, and Lois is determined to fit in. Stay quiet. Fly straight. As soon as she steps into her new high school, though, she can see it won't be that easy. Thank goodness for her maybe-more-than-a friend, a guy she knows only by his screenname, SmallvilleGuy...
Promo
Lois Lane is starting a new life in Metropolis. An Army brat, Lois has lived all over --- and seen all kinds of things. But now her family is putting down roots in the big city, and Lois is determined to fit in. Stay quiet. Fly straight. As soon as she steps into her new high school, though, she can see it won't be that easy. Thank goodness for her maybe-more-than-a friend, a guy she knows only by his screenname, SmallvilleGuy...
About the Book
Lois Lane is starting a new life in Metropolis. An Army brat, Lois has lived all over --- and seen all kinds of things. (Some of them defy explanation, like the near-disaster she witnessed in Kansas in the middle of one night.) But now her family is putting down roots in the big city, and Lois is determined to fit in. Stay quiet. Fly straight. As soon as she steps into her new high school, though, she can see it won't be that easy. A group known as the Warheads is making life miserable for another girl at school. They're messing with her mind, somehow, via the high-tech immersive videogame they all play. Not cool. Armed with her wit and her new snazzy job as a reporter, Lois has her sights set on solving this mystery. But sometimes it's all a bit much. Thank goodness for her maybe-more-than-a friend, a guy she knows only by his screenname, SmallvilleGuy...
Editorial Content for Dear Hank Williams
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Reviewer (text)
Aimee Rogers
DEAR HANK WILLIAMS is an epistolary novel written in a series of letters from the main character, Tate P. Ellerbee, to her pen pal Hank Williams. Tate’s new teacher, Mrs. Kipler, has assigned the entire class the task of writing to a pen pal throughout the school year. Tate selects Hank Williams, a singer whose star is beginning to rise, especially as he sings every Saturday night on the “Louisiana Hayride” radio program. Read More
Teaser
It's 1948 in Rippling Creek, Louisiana, and Tate P. Ellerbee's new teacher has just given her class an assignment --- learning the art of letter-writing. Luckily, Tate has the perfect pen pal in mind: Hank Williams, a country music singer whose star has just begun to rise. Tate and her great-aunt and -uncle listen to him on the radio every Saturday night, and Tate just knows that she and Hank are kindred spirits.
Promo
It's 1948 in Rippling Creek, Louisiana, and Tate P. Ellerbee's new teacher has just given her class an assignment --- learning the art of letter-writing. Luckily, Tate has the perfect pen pal in mind: Hank Williams, a country music singer whose star has just begun to rise. Tate and her great-aunt and -uncle listen to him on the radio every Saturday night, and Tate just knows that she and Hank are kindred spirits.
About the Book
It's 1948 in Rippling Creek, Louisiana, and Tate P. Ellerbee's new teacher has just given her class an assignment --- learning the art of letter-writing. Luckily, Tate has the perfect pen pal in mind: Hank Williams, a country music singer whose star has just begun to rise. Tate and her great-aunt and -uncle listen to him on the radio every Saturday night, and Tate just knows that she and Hank are kindred spirits.
Told entirely through Tate's hopeful letters, this beautifully drawn novel from National Book Award-winning author Kimberly Willis Holt gradually unfolds a story of family love, overcoming tragedy, and an insightful girl learning to find her voice.
Editorial Content for The Water and the Wild
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Reviewer (text)
Emma Kantor
Twelve-year-old orphan Lottie Fiske would feel all alone on Kemble Isle if not for her best friend, Eliot and the mysterious man who sends gifts via a magic apple tree every year on her birthday. No one else understands Lottie’s bold and imaginative spirit --- not her guardian Mrs. Yates and certainly not the other girls at school. Read More
Teaser
A green apple tree grows in the heart of Thirsby Square, and tangled up in its magical roots is the story of Lottie Fiske. For as long as Lottie can remember, the only people who seem to care about her are her best friend, Eliot, and the mysterious letter writer who sends her birthday gifts. But now strange things are happening on the island Lottie calls home, and Eliot's getting sicker, with a disease the doctors have given up trying to cure. Lottie is helpless, useless, powerless --- until a door opens in the apple tree. Follow Lottie down through the roots to another world in pursuit of the impossible: a cure for the incurable, a use for the useless, and protection against the pain of loss.
Promo
A green apple tree grows in the heart of Thirsby Square, and tangled up in its magical roots is the story of Lottie Fiske. For as long as Lottie can remember, the only people who seem to care about her are her best friend, Eliot, and the mysterious letter writer who sends her birthday gifts. But now strange things are happening on the island Lottie calls home, and Eliot's getting sicker, with a disease the doctors have given up trying to cure. Lottie is helpless, useless, powerless --- until a door opens in the apple tree. Follow Lottie down through the roots to another world in pursuit of the impossible: a cure for the incurable, a use for the useless, and protection against the pain of loss.
About the Book
A green apple tree grows in the heart of Thirsby Square, and tangled up in its magical roots is the story of Lottie Fiske. For as long as Lottie can remember, the only people who seem to care about her are her best friend, Eliot, and the mysterious letter writer who sends her birthday gifts. But now strange things are happening on the island Lottie calls home, and Eliot's getting sicker, with a disease the doctors have given up trying to cure. Lottie is helpless, useless, powerless --- until a door opens in the apple tree. Follow Lottie down through the roots to another world in pursuit of the impossible: a cure for the incurable, a use for the useless, and protection against the pain of loss.
Editorial Content for Gone Crazy in Alabama
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Anita Lock
Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern Gaither are back! With Delphine in charge, the trio --- now 12, 10 and 8 years of age, respectively --- head to Alabama to spend the summer of 1969 with their grandmother (Big Ma) and great-grandmother (Ma Charles). Obviously, the Deep South is nothing like Brooklyn, New York. There are a slew of unexpected experiences, which keep Delphine constantly on her toes since she has to deal with Vonetta's and Fern's outspoken viewpoints and persnickety ways. Read More
Teaser
Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are off to Alabama to visit their grandmother and her mother, Ma Charles. Across the way lives Ma Charles's half sister, Miss Trotter. The two half sisters haven't spoken in years. As Delphine hears about her family history, she uncovers the surprising truth that's been keeping the sisters apart. But when tragedy strikes, Delphine discovers that the bonds of family run deeper than she ever knew possible.
Promo
Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are off to Alabama to visit their grandmother and her mother, Ma Charles. Across the way lives Ma Charles's half sister, Miss Trotter. The two half sisters haven't spoken in years. As Delphine hears about her family history, she uncovers the surprising truth that's been keeping the sisters apart. But when tragedy strikes, Delphine discovers that the bonds of family run deeper than she ever knew possible.
About the Book
Newbery Honor winner and New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of the Gaither sisters, who are about to learn what it's like to be fish out of water as they travel from the streets of Brooklyn to the rural South for the summer of a lifetime.
Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are off to Alabama to visit their grandmother, Big Ma, and her mother, Ma Charles. Across the way lives Ma Charles's half sister, Miss Trotter. The two half sisters haven't spoken in years. As Delphine hears about her family history, she uncovers the surprising truth that's been keeping the sisters apart. But when tragedy strikes, Delphine discovers that the bonds of family run deeper than she ever knew possible.
Powerful and humorous, this companion to the award-winning ONE CRAZY SUMMER and P.S. BE ELEVEN will be enjoyed by fans of the first two books as well as by readers meeting these memorable sisters for the first time.
—Wally Lamb
