SirReadaLot.org

SirReadaLot.org


We Review the Best of the Latest Books

ISSN 1934-6557

May 2006, Issue #85

Guide to this Issue's Contents

Arts & Photography / Painting

Painters of the Wasatch Mountains by Robert S. Olpin, Ann W. Orton & Thomas F. Rugh (Gibbs Smith, Publisher) 

The American West's Wasatch Range has been the focus of numerous painters since the nineteenth century and persists as such even today. These ‘painters of the Wasatch’ have set many precedents through their artistic interpretations of this mountain subject matter. Painters of the Wasatch Mountains presents for the first time a survey of the gamut of painters who formed and have carried forward an expression of nature's mighty gift to both visitors and residents of Utah.
A sequence of painted scenes of ordered Wasatch environments and the artists who form this group underscore the painting development that is directly, and by each generation, linked to modern landscape paintings. Though the Wasatch Range forms part of the Rocky Mountains, it is quite different in the sense that the Painters of the Wasatch developed their own character and history. The Rocky Mountain School and Painters of the Wasatch were related, but not as a national phenomenon in the first instance and not merely one of its ‘regional’ echoes in the second. According to H. L. A. Culmer, the Wasatch Rocky Mountains have long foothills; the Wasatch Range does not.

But what makes the Wasatch unique is not only its geology but also its cultural roots: The Mormon pioneers set down roots in Utah in 1847. Throughout time, a variety of immigrant artists settled along the Wasatch Front and in the mountain valleys, carrying forward a careful scrutiny of the Wasatch not unlike that received by the Hudson River country. In this way the Wasatch is the setting for a school of painting in the West that is quite like a Hudson River School in the East, and the Painters of the Wasatch persist to this day because of the values associated with that first of America's art movements – a dedication to place and a careful study and interpretation of the environment in a spiritual and cultural context. According to authors Robert S. Olpin, faculty in art and art history at the University of Utah including art history program director, department chair, and College of Fine Arts dean, and founding co-director of the Utah Fine Arts Institute; Ann W. Orton, editor and public affairs representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and Thomas F. Rugh, Sid and Mary Foulger Executive Director of the Museum of Utah Art & History, the Painters of the Wasatch are not defined by a particular style or medium. They are defined by a physical presence that has unlimited appeal and inspiration. Ann Orton provides a researched reference to the Wasatch, titled "The Wasatch Mountains," that documents the various peaks and valleys. Robert Olpin and Thomas Rugh's essay titled "Painters of the Wasatch" establishes the foundation of a perspective on nineteenth-century Utah Wasatch art.

Painters of the Wasatch Mountains, the first in a forthcoming series of books on the art of the West and the collections of the Utah Museum of Art & History. This book will be the basis of a forthcoming exhibition at the museum also titled "Painters of the Wasatch Mountains."

Around 275 artworks are included, from the earliest examples of painting in the nineteenth century to works by Utah’s contemporary artists. Also included are brief biographies of each artist, with occasional stylistic analysis. Artists featured in this book include: Frank Ward Kent, Dan Weggeland, James T. Harwood, John VI. Clawson, Edwin Evans, Lee Greene Richards, John Tullidge, Lawrence Squires, VaLoy Eaton, LeConte Stewart, Mahonri Young, John H. Stansfield, Hal Burrows, Waldo Midgley, Maynard Dixon, Joseph A. F. Everett, and Francis L. Horspool, among many others.

Painters of the Wasatch Mountains is a lavish celebration of the best-loved artists of the Wasatch Mountain Range. This book presents for the first time a sequence of painted scenes firmly positioned within the context of ordered Wasatch environments; the artists who form this group known as Painters of the Wasatch. The book, especially the essay on the painters, will encourage further study and visual investigation.

Arts & Photography / Performing Arts

The Performing Set: The Broadway Designs of William and Jean Eckart by Andrew B. Harris, foreword by Carol Burnett, preface by Sheldon Harnick (University of North Texas Press) 

The show that Jean and Bill offered me gave me my big break. And so they were not just brilliant designers and producers, but also really good friends. – Carol Burnett, actor and star of Once Upon a Mattress and Fade Out – Fade In, television, and film (from the foreword)

The sets for Maine were the first of the really magnificently choreographed sets. The furniture and the set pieces moved on and off without breaking the flow of the action. We never needed the curtain to come down for a change of scenery. It never stopped. Everything was just so fluid and marvelous. – Angela Lansbury, actor in Maine; Anyone Can Whistle; Sweeney Todd; and Dear World

The large-scale Broadway musical is one of America's great contributions to world theatre. Bill and Jean Eckart were stage designers and producers at the peak of the musical, and their designs revolutionized Broadway productions. At a time when sets were meant to remain simply backdrops that established time and place but not much else, an Eckart set became part of the performance on stage, equal at times to an actor. Anyone who has seen Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables has seen the innovations that the Eckarts brought to the large Broadway-style musical production. They were best known for their designs for Damn Yankees (1955): Once Upon a Mattress (1959), in which Carol Burnett made her Broadway debut: and Maine (1966) with Angela Lansbury. According to Charles Nelson Reilly, director and actor in The Mother of Us All; Hello, Dolly and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, they were, by far, the finest design artists of their time.

Author Andrew B. Harris, stage director and producer, former chair of theatre departments at Columbia University, Texas Christian University, and Southern Methodist University, currently pro­fessor in the Department of Dance and Theatre at the University of North Texas, uses production stills and the Eckarts' sketches from every show they worked on to illustrate the magic behind an Eckart design. The Performing Set, containing more than 500 full-color illustrations, is a tribute to the couple who helped make it great.

Contents of The Performing Set include a foreword by Carol Burnett, a preface by Sheldon Harnick, Getting Together, Enchantment: The Golden Apple, Split Screen and a "Style" Show, Damn Yankees, Sets That Move, Shows That Don't, Li'l Abner, Cinderella, Hollywood, Riding the Broadway Roller Coaster, Once upon a Mattress, Fiorello!, Feast Or Famine, She Loves Me, Express Yourself, Mame, Disenchantment: Age of Aquarius.           

The book also includes an epilog, a chronology, notes, a bibliography, and an index.

Sheldon Harnick in his preface, writes about his memory of a set that needed meticulous craftsmanship – a Turkish bath. “Its creators not only needed to be architects, engineers, plumbers, and safety experts, but they also had to be gifted with the eye, hand, and wit of a Daumier. In the scene that had been written by our bookwriters, Joe Stein and Will Glickman, the fight manager had come to plead with a promoter to set up a match using one of his boxers. Clouds of steam hovered over the stage, with more steam constantly hissing onto the set. The promoter was sensibly attired in a Turkish towel while Jack wore a suit and tie which grew progressively limp and waterlogged during the scene. Alas, this pre-dated the days of the Lincoln Center Archives, so the scene is not available for viewing. You will have to take my word that the scene itself, what with the pleading, soggy Jack Warden plus the perfectly realized steam room set combined to create one of the most hilarious scenes I have ever witnessed.”

He also says: “I had the pleasure of working with Bill and Jean once more when Hal Prince invited them to design and light She Loves Me. It's difficult to conceive of three shows more dissimilar in look and tone, scenically, than the three we did together. It's a tribute to the Eckarts' wide ranging versatility that they could move so successfully from the gritty realism of The Body Beautiful, to the nostalgic little-old-New York atmosphere of Fiorello! to the delicious Old World, Art Nouveau charm of She Loves Me. For this last show, what the Eckarts created was so in tune with our score and Joe Masteroff's book that it left an indelible, glowing memo­ry in the minds and hearts of those aficionados of the musical theatre who saw it.”

Chock full of new and valuable information and which in my opinion will be an important book on the history of the American musical. . . I found it an excellent précis of the theatrical process and one which brilliantly shows the collaborative aspects of design. . . Dr. Harris is well known as a theatre educator. His Broadway Theatre is a highly regarded, award-winning book. – Robert Taylor, Curator for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Bill and Jean Eckart were unsung heroes of the Golden Age of Broadway, and Andy Harris' book tells us why, and brilliantly. I have never known a book to take the reader through an entire process so magically – from initial drawings through set construction to costume fittings ending up with the finished productions. This book is a must for anyone interested in the American theatre and its rich history. – Theodore S. Chapin, President, Rodgers and Hammerstein

Lavishly illustrated, creatively presented, The Performing Set takes readers nostalgically back to the era of the grand musical and pays fitting tribute to William and Jean Eckart.

Audio / Mysteries & Thrillers

Champagne for One [UNABRIDGED] (4 audio cassettes, 5 CDs, running time 6 hours) by Rex Stout, narrated by Michael Prichard (Audio Editions Mystery Masters Series: Audio Partners)

Champagne for One begins at the annual gala for unwed mothers. When Faith Usher dies after drinking champagne at the soiree, everyone assumed it was suicide…

This mystery from one of America's best-loved writers, Rex Stout, features one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time – Nero Wolfe. An orchid-growing, gourmandizing, demanding genius, Wolfe solves this case with the able assistance of his legman, Archie Goodwin, who narrates with his usual wry humor.

Usher had been telling anyone willing to listen that she wants to kill herself. So when she dies, everyone insists that it was suicide. Everyone except Archie, that is.

Now it's up to Wolfe, who is even more stubborn than usual, asking question after question until he learns the surprising truth.

Rex Stout (1886-1975), inimitable master of detective fiction, wrote 73 mysteries. His career also included writing three novels, chairing the War Writers' Board, and mobilizing public opinion against the use of nuclear devices.

The audio version of Champagne for One is ably narrated by Michael Prichard, a Los Angeles-based actor who has recorded more than 400 audiobooks, including novels by Clive Cussler and Tom Clancy. Smart Money magazine named him one of the ‘Top Ten Golden Voices.’

In this 1958 Nero Wolfe mystery, the rotund, beer-guzzling super sleuth and his sidekick, Archie Goodwin, endeavor to prove that a socialite's apparent suicide was actually a murder. – Library Journal

[Nero Wolfe mysteries] are the perfect reconciliation between the classic British drawing room mystery and the naturalistic American novel of the mean streets – Sherlock Holmes meets Sam Spade.  – William G. Tapply, introduction to The Second Confession

It is always a treat to [hear] a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore. – The New York Times Book Review

Rex Stout, through the voice of Archie telling us about his world (a full third of which was occupied by Nero Wolfe), raised detective fiction to the level of art with these books. He gave us genius of at least two kinds, and a strong realist voice that was shot through with hope. – Walter Mosley

Nero Wolfe, the fat detective of Rex Stout's novels, towers over his rivals... he is an exceptional character creation. – The New Yorker

Stout's supreme triumph was the creation of Archie Goodwin. – P.G. Wodehouse

The urbane antics of Nero Wolfe and his legman, Archie, always provide enjoyment. – AudioFile

Another complex and gratifying case solved by www.sirreadalot.org’s favorite duo, Wolfe and Goodwin, second only to Holmes and Watson. Oh, if only PBS would bring them both back!

Business & Investing

Competing for Customers and Capital by Victor J. Cook, Jr. (Thomson South-Western) 

Not only do the goals of marketing departments often fail to match those of finance, they sometimes outright conflict. The two departments speak different languages, they have no clear link, and, bottom line, the markets for customers and investors are separate. But one innovative book can change everything.

Competing for Customers and Capital illustrates a cause-and-effect model of relationships between marketing and finance based on a common language, economic theory, and financial accounting data. This model links intangible assets to the market value of firms. Breaking with the tradition of valuing companies based on unrelated ratios and metrics, Victor Cook, Professor of Marketing Strategy at Tulane University, identifies three metrics that bind marketing and finance: the Value Sales Principle, the Rule of Maximum Earnings, and the Competitive Valuation Paradigm.

According to Cook, the golden egg of business mythology probably can be found in the spaces between the markets that serve customers and those that create capital. The managers of product and stock markets speak different languages, rely on different theories, and use different data. These markets are separate, but equally important. Yet, they share a fundamental force – both are driven by competition.

Competition drives managers to create the greatest possible net value per dollar of expenditure. Investors evaluate a company's future productivity and risk to price its common stock. They also compare systematically the perfor­mance of one company with its peers. Other things being equal, those com­panies that are expected to be the more productive, lower-risk ones within a group of peer companies will be more highly valued by investors. Those that are expected to be higher risk and less productive than their peers will be valued less. This leads to a new approach to stock pricing – competitive stock valuation.

Some companies make more efficient use of their resources than others. Some maximize earnings while others don't. Companies that maximize earnings after the cost of sales return the largest possible residual to the bot­tom line. Understanding this profit-maximizing behavior leads to metrics that blend financial and marketing processes together. When these metrics are combined, the result is the rule of maximum earnings.

The competition for customers and capital leads to systematic interac­tions between product and stock markets. While subtle and complex, this interaction can be explained by value-sales principles. Applying these prin­ciples to the way we assess company performance leads to new and surpris­ing insights about investment risk and the impact of enterprise marketing expenses on shareholder value.

Competing for Customers and Capital introduces and applies competitive stock valuation, the rule of maximum earnings, and value-sales principles to a wide range of public en­terprises. These concepts were developed and tested in Cook’s research over the last twenty-five years using financial data to bridge the gaps between corporate finance and enterprise marketing. The gaps remain wide and the bridge is still under construction.

Both marketing and finance are about maximizing returns.

Cook breaks new ground by linking product and capital markets and revenue and share-holder value together in a way that is at once analytical and readable. Not the least of his insights is the way he portrays selling and general administrative expenses, not as the overhead most see but as an important value driver. Everyone who wants a rounded view of business strategy should read this extraordinary book. – Tim Ambler, Senior Fellow, London Business School

In an era of ever-greater specialization, we sometimes forget that new insights are often generated by those who are able to merge fields to gain fresh perspectives. This rigorous yet readable book is a major contribution to our understanding of what drives enterprise value. – Harry L. Davis, Roger L. and Rachael M. Goetz Distinguished Service Professor of Creative Management, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago

Competing for Customers and Capital is a thoughtful and thought-provoking presentation of the critical and at times subtle relationship between marketing and finance. Cook's analyses are quite perceptive and present the material in a realistic and engaging fashion. This book will enlighten students, scholars, and practitioners. – Meyer Feldberg, Senior Advisor to Morgan Stanley and Dean Emeritus of Columbia Business School

In building a quantitative bridge between marketing and the finance department, Cook has constructed the elusive linkages between enterprise marketing investments, brand equity, and shareholder value. Cross the bridge and embrace the new science of marketing and corporate finance – you'll be at the vanguard of nothing short of a business revolution. – Dave Sutton, Co-author, Enterprise Marketing Management: The New Science of Marketing

The groundbreaking principles presented in the book point to a model that unites important metrics from marketing and sales and adds to the understanding of exactly what drives the value of an organization. Competing for Customers and Capital may stimulate integrative research in finance and marketing and, as Cook hopes, the faculties of colleges, universities, and centers of corporate educa­tion may find this book a catalyst that drives the cross-listing of courses in their organizations.

Business & Investing / Economics

Spatial Disparities in Human Development: Perspectives from Asia edited by Ravi Kanbur, Anthony J. Venables & Guanghua Wan (United Nations University Press) 

Spatial disparities are a measure of the unequal distribution of income, wealth, power and resources between peoples in different locations.

Amidst a general and growing concern about global inequalities, consid­erable policy interest has begun to be directed at regional disparities within developing and transition economies. Spatial variations in living standards – as reflected in average incomes, the incidence and depth of poverty, health indicators, and education status – are particularly pro­nounced in large nations such as Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa; but marked regional differences are also evident in many smaller coun­tries, especially in Africa. Although spatial inequality is of interest in its own right, the topic takes on added significance when spatial and regional divisions align with political and ethnic tensions to undermine social and political stability.

According to editors Ravi Kanbur, Anthony Venables and Guanghua Wan, in Spatial Disparities in Human Development, variations in living standards within countries have a number of un­derlying causes. They may reflect historical differences in the pace of development (Sao Paulo versus northeast Brazil), the uneven impact of economic reform (Guangdong versus Qinghai), discrimination in the provision of economic and social infrastructure (South Africa during apartheid), and impediments to labor migration (China and Russia). Unfavorable agricultural conditions and geographical remoteness from principal markets also play a role. Whatever the original source, there is a widespread perception that spatial disparities in human development have recently become more visible and that they are increasing over time. Furthermore, increasing spatial variations are very often thought to be linked in some way to greater openness of economies, and to glob­alization in general.

Despite the significance of the problem, little systematic scholarly ana­lysis has been devoted to the causes of growing inequalities within coun­tries and their cumulative detrimental impact on human development. The UNU-WIDER project on "Spatial Disparities in Human Develop­ment", directed by editors Kanbur and Venables in collaboration with Wan, set out to rectify this neglect by drawing together expertise from all regions of the globe in order to better understand the incidence, significance and causes of spatial variations within countries, and to contribute to the global policy debate.

Separate meetings were convened to focus on the experiences within Africa, Latin America and Asia. Spatial Disparities in Human Development is a collection of studies on Asia first presented at a large scientific conference orga­nized by UNU-WIDER (Helsinki) and co-sponsored by the United Na­tions University Centre, held in Tokyo, March 2003. Seven of the chapters are minor revisions of pa­pers published in a special issue of the Review of Development Econom­ics in February 2005.

Spatial Disparities in Human Development focuses on issues directly related to the Millennium Development Goals including conflict, poverty, and the causes and consequences of inequality. It applies the latest research techniques including regression-based decomposition, poverty decomposition and computable general equilibrium models.

Contributors to Spatial Disparities in Human Development include:

  • Kathryn H. Anderson, associate professor of economics at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.
  • Arsenio M. Balisacan, Director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), and a professor of economics at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
  • Bob Baulch, fellow of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.
  • Sanjoy Chakravorty, an associate professor of geography and urban studies and a fellow at the Center for Public Policy at Temple University.
  • Shatakshee Dhongde, former intern at WIDER in Helsinki.
  • Comoki Fujii, consultant for the World Bank.
  • Nobuhiko Fuwa, visiting research associate at the School of Economics, University of the Philippines, and associate professor of agricultural economics at Chiba University (Japan).
  • Scott Gates, Director of the Centre for the Study of Civil War at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) and professor of political science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
  • Henning Tarp Jensen, assistant professor at the Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen.
  • Ravi Kanbur, T. H. Lee Professor of World Affairs and professor of economics at Cornell University.
  • John Knight, professor of economics at the University of Oxford.
  • Stanislav Kolenikov, research associate at the Centre for Economic and Financial Research, Moscow.
  • Somik V. Lail, senior economist at the Development Research Group of the World Bank (USA).
  • Li Shi, professor of economics at the Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
  • Nicholas Minot, research fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
  • S. Mansoob Murshed, a professor of international economics at the Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, and at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.
  • Richard Pomfret, professor of economics at the University of Adelaide (Australia).
  • Anthony Shorrocks is Director of WIDER (Finland).
  • Finn Tarp, professor of development economics at the Institute of Economics at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) and Coordinator of the Development Economics Research Group.
  • Anthony V. Venables, Chief Economist in the UK Department for International Development and Professor of international economics at the London School of Economics (UK). He also directs the globalization programme at the LSE Centre for Economic Performance.
  • Guanghua Wan, senior research fellow and project director at UNU­WIDER in Helsinki.
  • Xiaobo Zhang, research fellow at the Division of Development Strategy and Governance, International Food Policy Research Institute (USA), and president-elect of the Chinese Economists Society.
  • Zhao Renwei, Emeritus Professor and former director of the Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
  • Zhangyue Zhou, associate professor in business studies at the Faculty of Law, Business and Creative Arts of James Cook University (Australia).

The great value of this book comes from comparing, through detailed analysis, the problems of regional inequality and poverty in different Asian countries. … With contributions from leading regional scientists and economists, this book also examines the policy experience of Asian countries in closing regional gaps and the effectiveness of public interventions in this field. – Jussi Pakkasvarta, Director and Professor at the Institute of Development Studies. University of Helsinki, Finland

Kanbur, Venables and Wan make an important contribution by bringing together a collection of articles that discuss not only methodological issues in measuring regional disparities but also empirical evidence from small and large countries of Asia. Of interest are the varied explanations of what causes these inequalities that will no doubt be useful for policymakers and practitioners dealing with development issues. – Brinda Viswanathan, Associate Professor at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, India

The papers in this volume represent economists' great efforts to achieve a better understanding and measurement of rising regional disparities facing Asian economies. Its theoretical and methodological contents make this book of much value to both students of economics and to policymakers in developing Asia. – Zhang Jun, Director and Professor at the China Centre for Economic Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Spatial Disparities in Human Development is the first serious attempt to examine spatial inequality in Asia from multiple perspectives, and it contains val­uable information and advice for both policy makers and policy takers. The book will be essential reading for academics and students interested in this research area and a useful reference source for others wishing to know more about a topic of growing national and international significance.

Children’s / Adventure / Ages 6-9

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners by Erica Silverman, illustrated by Betsy Lewin (Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa Series: Harcourt, Inc.) 

Saddle up, wranglers!

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners is the next installment in the adventures of Cowgirl Kate and her trusty cowhorse, Cocoa.

The best friends are as feisty as ever as they ride the range, play hide-and-seek, get new shoes, and after a long day of herding cows, learn the true meaning of friendship. They're partners through thick and thin, partners going everywhere and doing everything together.
Author of the Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa Series is Erica Silverman, who has written many books for children, including When the Chickens Went on Strike and Don't Fidget a Feather. The books are illustrated by Betsy Lewin, a well-known illustrator of children’s books.

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners, the amusing sequel to the engaging Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa (2005), features four short, episodic chapters, each telling a new tale of the little cowgirl and her horse. In the first, Kate has difficulty convincing Cocoa that horseshoes are a better choice for him than cowboy boots. In the next, they play hide-and-seek on the range. Kate tries to use the uncooperative Cocoa for cow-roping practice in the third adventure, and in the fourth, they explore the highs and lows of the horse-and-rider partnership. The clean lines and buoyant spirit of the watercolor artwork reflect the simplicity and humor of the entertaining text. This is a pleasing choice as either a beginning reader or a picture book to read aloud. – Carolyn Phelan, Booklist

The humorous text, warm friendship between horse and owner and captivating illustrations add up to a cowgirl and ‘cowhorse’ with enough star power to ride the range together in subsequent sequels. …Both girls and boys will enjoy this fresh new series, another winner in the publisher's stable of excellent books for emergent readers. – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

With its lively text and spirited illustrations by Caldecott Honor recipient Betsy Lewin, this second book in the Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa series, Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners, is sure to have young readers everywhere chomping at the bit for more.

Children’s / Outdoors & Nature / Ages 4-8

Kelly of Hazel Ridge by Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen, illustrated by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen (Hazel Ridge Farm Series: Sleeping Bear Press) 

As told in Kelly of Hazel Ridge, Kelly is a young girl growing up on Hazel Ridge Farm, aware of how special the place she calls home is. After all, it's not everyday that your backyard lets you view white-tailed deer and sand-hill cranes, swim in ponds populated by snapping turtles or hear the hoot of an owl named Jackson as he keeps watch as you sleep each night. Here Kelly can help nurse a fawn back to health and drift off to sleep each night to the hoot of the owl. At Hazel Ridge Farm, Kelly's parents are committed to maintaining a natural wilderness, and they have created a wildlife sanctuary where both the land and its residents (animal as well as human) are nurtured and can live in harmony.

Kelly of Hazel Ridge is the third title in the Hazel Ridge Farm series (Saving Samantha and Adopted by an Owl) by husband-and-wife team, illustrator Gijsbert (also known as Nick) and writer Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen. For over 20 years, the van Frankenhuyzens have nurtured the land back to health and raised and released injured and orphaned animals.

The Hazel Ridge Farm books are fun to read and educational while they stimulate a child's interest in the outdoors and nature. Young people that know and care about the outdoors will continue to take care of it for future generations to enjoy. These books and their subject matter are a great way to enlighten young people with that caring attitude of stewardship for wildlife and the environment. – Dr. Jim Sikarskie, Director of Michigan State University's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center

The van Frankenhuyzens have created something unique and inspiring for children's literature. Their commitment to nature shines through Robbyn's stories and Nick's art, engaging readers of all ages. – Holly Frakes, Children's Coordinator, Schuler Books

Kelly of Hazel Ridge pairs Nick's vivid illustrations with Robbyn's prose, based on the experiences of their daughter, Kelly. Kelly of Hazel Ridge is a charming story to be read to, and by, kids of all ages. The art really shines.

Cooking, Food & Wine

The Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon (Tuttle Publishing) 

A tour de force – Craig Claiborne, The New York Times

The world is changing rapidly, and in no way has it changed more rapidly than in the pop­ularity of Asian cooking through travel and immi­gration. Witness the way Japanese, Thai and Viet­namese restaurants have mushroomed in diverse pla­ces. Chinese restaurants, of course, seem always to have been there in most countries. With the movement of migrants and refugees has come an abundance of Asian ingredients throughout the western world, bringing authentic Asian flavors within everyone's grasp.

Through newspapers, magazines, television, cooking schools, and over 25 books, Charmaine Solomon is one of the world’s best known and respected cookbook writers. Since The Complete Asian Cookbook was published in 1976 and has been reprinted almost every year since then. Over a million copies have been sold, and the book has been translated into German, French, and Dutch. In print now for 30 years, The Complete Asian Cookbook ventures into culinary areas that are often overlooked: the sour-hot dishes of Thailand, the Nonya cooking of Singapore and Malaysia, the soul-warming hotpots of Korea; as well as excitingly different dishes from the lands of Burma, Laos and Cambodia.

According to Solomon, there is no real mystery to being able to cook well – no magic potions or charms, just a healthy interest in good eating and in getting the most pleasure possible from each meal. A reliable cookbook is also a great help.

Solomon groups the foods of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kashmir within one chapter. The chapter on China draws heavily on her on-the-spot experiences in Hong Kong, but in addition to the world-famous Cantonese cuisine, the cooking of other mainland provinces is well represented. Much of Singapore's excellent Chinese food is also found in Hong Kong, so to avoid repeti­tion she makes a particular feature of the island republic's Nonya dishes. Many dishes in Malaysia and Indonesia are the same, or are strikingly similar, so again she chooses those that seem most representative of each country.

For those who are unfamiliar with some of the ingredients and methods used in the recipes, the introduction to each chapter provides useful information, both general and specific. Besides being practical in terms of what readers will need in the way of special ingredients and utensils, the introductions evoke some of the color and flavor of every country visited in this culinary tour. Solomon provides the list of synonyms and equivalents. There is also an extensive alphabetical glossary.

Those readers who are already familiar with some of the Asian cuisines will find recipes to interest and excite them in The Complete Asian Cookbook, and will be tempted to explore cuisines with which they are less well acquainted. For those who are coming to Asian cooking for the first time, or whose previous experience with Asian food has been limited to restaurant fare, Solomon takes care to ensure that the essential steps are clear and precise.

There are special sections devoted to the use of cooking oils, the best ways to prepare rice (and the types to buy), the making of coconut milk, the handling of chilies and several other worthwhile tips that apply to many of the recipes.

This edition has been updated by the author, incorporating new information Solomon has learned in the intervening years since the first edition.

Solomon says that while she still uses the recipes she wrote so many years ago, she finds there are ways to cut down preparation time by taking advantage of modern appliances.

It is all very well to be able to cook, but says Solomon, writing down recipes so other people can get the same results was no simple task. It meant cooking over again the familiar dishes, this time weighing and measuring instead of shaking a bottle of sauce or spice or seasoning over the dish until it tasted as it should. The result is that every dish can be successfully recreated from The Complete Asian Cookbook, and she can pass on to her children and to their children the legacy of a tradition of Asian cuisine; a cuisine whose magic is woven through her childhood memories, and years of living in Asian lands.

Charmaine has successfully compiled one of the most comprehensive culinary works encompassing all Asian cuisines. Hats off to her for bringing the varied flavors of each country into people's kitchens through not only tasty recipes, but also ones that are easy-to-follow. Peace and Good Eating! – Ming Tsai

For almost ten years this has been my primary reference for the cookery and the dishes of the whole vast region which it covers, and I am delighted to have the new revised edition. It is entertaining as well as informative, and the recipes are laid out with admirable clarity. A real treasure. – Alan Davidson

With over 800 recipes from 16 countries, Solomon’s classic The Complete Asian Cookbook is the perfect introduction to the food of Asia. Solomon makes it possible for avid cooks everywhere to explore the cooking of Asia – and to prove that real Eastern meals can be produced in a Western kitchen. It’s clear that she has tried and tested every recipe, ensuring that they are easy to prepare and that every ingredient and every step is explained in easy-to-follow terms.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts by Maida Heatter (Andrews McMeel Publishing) 

Chocoholics unite! Maida's back and bringing the world's best chocolate recipes with her. Maida, of course, is Maida Heatter, respected cookbook author, sorceress supreme of all things chocolate. Chocolate creators know they can turn to Heatter for tantalizing confections, cookies, cakes, pies, puddings, and sauces that transcend the ordinary and make for memorable dining experiences.

Now cocoa aficionados, food fiends, and master chefs everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief as Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts, the classic New York Times best-seller, returns after ten years out of print.

Heatter is justifiably famous for her respected series of cookbooks, ranging from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts to Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies. But it was always her Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts that inspired the highest praise, admiration, and following from home and restaurant dessert cooks around the world. Features include:

  • An in-depth explanation of the process of how the fruits of the cocoa (or cacao) tree become sweetened chocolate. From the tree blossoms to the seeds to the fumigating and shelling process at the factory, Heatter knows her chocolate.
  • A discussion of the types of chocolate and the specific uses for each. Heatter even identifies the proper sugars, flours, and eggs used to create the most perfect chocolate dessert. Her personal notes and detailed instructions make readers feel as if Heatter is in the kitchen with them, cheerfully helping guide them toward culinary success and a chocolaty reward.
  • A brief tutorial on kitchen tools and techniques that can turn anyone into a chocolate artist. Readers learn to melt, fold, decorate, serve, and freeze like the pros. And they learn the merits of a small, narrow metal spatula, the fine points of a rolling pin, and the right way to whip egg whites and blanch hazelnuts.

This jacketed hardcover includes all the original Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts recipes that have become favorites, along with changes and updates from the dessert doyenne herself.

Maida’s wonderful chocolate recipes are the true key to joy and happiness. Hallelujah! – Wolfgang Puck

Whenever I prepare one of Maida Heatter's desserts I fall into a state of euphoria. . . . If  I have a valentine, Maida is mine. – Craig Claiborne

The quintessential Queen Mother of desserts has iced the cake yet again. Heatter's reputation as a dessert maker in the USA comes through in her meticulous, delicious recipes that can turn culinary clods into pastry chefs. – USA Today

Maida's extraordinary passion for baking, her professionalism, and her expertise are all on display here. This useful book will be welcomed by anyone interested in good food and good life. – Jacques Pepin

When it was first published in 1980, Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts became a New York Times bestseller and then won a James Beard award. The book is Heatter's third, a mouthwatering compendium of superb but easily achieved chocolate cakes, cookies, pies, puddings, confections, sauces, and more. Like all of Heater's books, Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts balances good taste with warm, meticulous instruction that anticipates and addresses every question and concern a dessert-maker might have. Cooks at every skill level, from amateur to professional, will find Heater's recipes, and their results, a joy. – Arthur Boehm, www.Amazon.com

Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts contains more than 200 unique desserts. From brownies and macaroons to truffles and mousses, there is something for everyone in this encyclopedia of chocolate, and enough of it to satisfy even the strongest chocolate craving. Those who have worn out, shared as a gift, or misplaced their original version – or who want to replace their later paperback edition – will welcome this book, as will anyone who enjoys cooking with and eating chocolate.

Cooking, Food & Wine / Health, Mind & Body

Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection by Jessica Prentice, foreword by Deborah Madison (Chelsea Green Publishing) 

In Full Moon Feast, accomplished chef and passionate food activist Jessica Prentice champions locally grown, humanely raised, nutrient-rich foods and traditional cooking methods. The book follows the thirteen lunar cycles of an agrarian year, from the midwinter Hunger Moon and the springtime sweetness of the Sap Moon to the bounty of the Moon When Salmon Return to Earth in autumn. Each chapter includes recipes that display the flavors of foods tied to the ancient rhythm of the seasons.

Prentice decries our modern food culture: mega farms and factories, the chemically processed ghosts of real foods in our diets, and the suffering – physical, emotional, cultural, communal, and spiritual – born of a disconnect from our food sources. She laments the system that she says is poisoning our bodies and our communities.

But Full Moon Feast is a celebration, not a dirge. Prentice, professional chef, teacher and food activist, has emerged from her own early struggles with food to offer health, nourishment, and fulfillment to her readers. She recounts her relationships with local farmers alongside ancient harvest legends and methods of food preparation from indigenous cultures around the world.

Fired by the abuses of modern industrialism, this poet-chef tells her life story as a vision-quest for a world of harmony and connectedness, which she finds in the voices of traditional cultures past and present, condensed in poems, myths, foods, feasts and fasts, tuned to the rhythm of the seasons. As we follow her lunar calendar from Hunger Moon to Wolf Moon, we discover in recipes for Nettle Soup, Sourdough Crackers, Yarrow Ale, new uses and new meanings in the gifts of earth and sea. Meanings multiply in a work that is not a quick bite, but a vertical tasting to be savored slowly. – Betty Fussell, author of The Story of Corn and My Kitchen Wars, A Memoir

Full Moon Feast is the perfect title for this surprising and ultimately hopeful book. It is full of fascinating information and lived wisdom about the plants and animals, fish and birds we consume and how we are misusing the planet we share with them. … Like a memorable meal, Full Moon Feast is convivial, stimulating, comforting, at times piquant, and always deeply satisfying. A feast indeed! – Joan Dye Gussow, author of This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader

Jessica Prentice’s far-ranging culinary explorations bring us back to the rhythms of seasonal being. … Full Moon Feast reminds us of ancient cultural wisdom, encourages us to deepen our connections to the sources of our food, and invites us to make these seasonal rhythms our own. – Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods

Combining the radical nutrition of Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions, keen agri-political acumen, and a spiritual sensibility that draws from indigenous as well as Western traditions, Full Moon Feast is a call to reconnect to the food, the land, and each other.

Education / Elementary / Arts & Humanities

Creativity and the Arts with Young Children, 2nd edition by Rebecca T. Isbell & Shirley C. Raines (Thomson Delmar Learning) 

Today's world is filled with new challenges of global issues, concerns about safety, and ex­panding technology. Never before has there been such a need for creative thinking by both teach­ers and young children. An early childhood edu­cator must create a supportive environment for young children that accepts them as they are and nurtures them so they can reach their potential. The early childhood classroom should be filled with meaningful learning experiences, intrigu­ing materials, emergent literacy, and opportuni­ties to be creative investigators. To meet these diverse expectations, an early childhood educa­tor must understand the holistic nature of chil­dren's development and be able to design an environment that matches their unique ways of learning.

The creative arts, defined as visual art, music, drama, and movement/dance, are power­ful tools that inspire children to use their intelli­gence, think in unique ways, work together, and make connections across content areas. Partici­pation in the arts gives young children the opportunity to discover the world around them and provides ways to expand into new areas that are both enjoyable and challenging. For this to occur, teachers must develop their own creative thinking and value the inclusion of the creative arts as an essential part of their classroom. This textbook is designed to help teachers discover and gain information that will help them inte­grate creativity and the arts into their early child-hood classroom.

Creativity and the Arts with Young Children, 2nd edition is written specifically for early childhood educators as well as professionals who work with children – birth through age eight. The focus of this book, now in it’s second edition, is on making the vital connection to music, movement, drama, and the visual arts in all areas of the classroom, as well as, developing creative teachers and professionals who will be able to foster an artistic environment. The book, written by Director of Tennessee’s Center of Excellence in Early Childhood Learning and Development, and Professor of Early Childhood Education at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN; and Shirley Raines, President and Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Memphis, includes observations and pictures of teachers and children that demonstrate practical ways the arts can be used to help children reach their potential. There are expanded sections on multi-intelligences, divergent questioning, and art recipes, and Creativity and the Arts with Young Children also includes literacy connections, and activities for adults at the end of each chapter. There are many ideas in the book for open-ended activities that are important for the development of young children and will encourage them to think in new ways. The standards and recommendations from professional organizations are addressed so that readers can recognize what goals these organizations believe are important in the early years.
Creativity and the Arts with Young Children concentrates on the importance of integrating the arts into all aspects of the early childhood program. It shows how creative arts enrich a curriculum and become a motivating tool for engaging young children.
Creativity and the Arts with Young Children is based on many years of teaching that creativity course at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The content included in this text, the examples shown, and the activities pro­vided for students have been developed and refined during this process.

Creativity and the Arts with Young Children is a practical introduction to the cre­ative arts in early childhood. It is designed to nurture the creativity of new or experienced early childhood teachers. The first chapter provides the background for understanding creativity. It discusses theories, research, and environmental issues that help recognize the significance of the creative process. Chapter 2 explores the potential for creativity that exists in each person. The focus is on the creative possi­bilities that are within each early childhood edu­cator. The next chapter examines the importance of play in the development of young children and its relationship to creativity. Teachers can design play environments that will nurture young children's creative endeavors in the early childhood classroom. The chapters that follow address specific areas of the creative arts such as art, music, move­ment, and drama. Each chapter includes what, why, and how the art form should be included in early childhood programs, and gives specific ways to enrich their development. Chapters 9 and 10 provide insight into the meaningful inte­gration of the arts across the curriculum. These chapters include developmentally appropriate approaches for making the arts an important component of the classroom content.

Special features of second edition include:

  • Observation of Creativity with Reflections. Each chapter begins with the description of an experience that demonstrates the creative child or adult, doing his best work. The episode is followed by a discussion of what can be learned from observing creative moments that occur throughout the day. At the end of each chapter, questions are posed to assist readers in reflecting on the episode and identifying the creative aspects of their observations.
  • Quotes. The powerful words of artists, philoso­phers, and creative teachers provided through-out the book promote new ways of thinking about creativity and the arts. These quotations provide inspiration to teachers for including the arts in programs for young children.
  • Increased Number of Pictures and Drawings. For many people, visual images provide impor­tant connections for learning. Throughout this book, wonderful images of children and adults are included that demonstrate active participation in the arts. In addition, specific examples of chil­dren's work are included to show the range of cre­ative possibilities across the early childhood pe­riod. These provide another way of understanding the creative potential of young children.
  • Expanded Research. Each chapter includes new research and publications related to the creative arts, visual arts, music, movement, and drama.
  • Possibilities for Adult Learners. At the end of each chapter, there are several examples of activ­ities that can be used with adults. These activi­ties provide opportunities for students in college courses to experience the power of the arts and the creative process for themselves.
  • Open-Ended Activities for Young Children. Each chapter includes open-ended activities for young children. Examples are provided for both PreK-K and primary grades so adult students can recognize opportunities for the creative arts across the early childhood developmental span. The focus of these activities is on diverse and unique responses instead of on ‘cute products.’
  • Additional Reading. This section at the end of each chapter provides references for additional reading on the chapter's topic. These sources are for students who want to expand their knowl­edge of a subject or search for additional infor­mation on these topics.
  • Application of Theory. Chapters include exam­ples of thematic units, centers, projects, and ac­tivities related to the application of theory.
  • Children's Literature. Children's books are a resource that provides additional support for learn­ing about the arts and creative thinking. Each chapter includes recommended and recently pub­lished books to extend children's understanding and provide a literary connection to the arts.
  • Expanded Helpful Web Sites. An expanded list­ing of Internet resources is included in the Online Companion. These on-line resources provide additional informa­tion related to the content of each chapter and identify other avenues for obtaining current information.
  • Appendices. Much of the information contained in the appendices of the first edition has been incorporated into the chapters. The appendices of this second edition provide a great deal of practical information for the teacher to use in early childhood classrooms. The appendices also provide stories for dramatizing and a creative unit to demonstrate some unique possibilities. The appendices are a resource for educators and pro-vide new materials that will enrich classroom offerings.
  • Key Terms and the Glossary. When a new term or concept is introduced in the text, it ap­pears in color print. The bolded terms are listed at the end of each chapter and defined in the glos­sary at the back of the book. Terms used by artists in their field also are included. These terms and definitions can be used to expand the vocabulary of early childhood teachers and may be used with children as they participate in the arts.

Rebecca Isbell and Shirley Raines have pre­sented us with a wonderful book on creative arts with young children. As they state, the creative arts are a powerful tool when used with young children. It accommodates to their needs and means of instruction. I do not know why we have had so little of this kind of education. …The authors use separate chapters in addressing specific areas of the creative arts: art, music, movement, drama, and literature. They use inspiring quotations from artists, philoso­phers, and creative teachers throughout the book to promote new ways of thinking about creativ­ity in the arts. They also use pictures, open-ended activities, and children's literature to stimulate creativity and imagination. I feel confi­dent that readers in the early childhood educa­tion field will find many helpful ideas in this book for developing creativity. – E. Paul Torrance, author of Georgia Studies of Creative Behavior

Isabell and Raines believe that creative classrooms begin with a teacher who is knowledgeable about the creative process and can effectively in­tegrate all of the arts into a program that engages and inspires young children. The content of Creativity and the Arts with Young Children is designed to help early childhood ed­ucators in this exciting adventure. Thorough in its coverage, the book speaks to children with special needs and cultural diversity, leaving readers with the most complete information regarding arts in the young child’s learning environment.

Education / Policy

Discipline, Achievement, and Race: Is Zero Tolerance the Answer? by Augustina H. Reyes (Rowman & Littlefield Education) 

Discipline, Achievement, and Race provides a comprehensive analysis of policy, the practice, the affects, and recommendations for solutions to the exclusionary discipline policies of zero tolerance.

Zero tolerance refers to the state-mandated school discipline policies that have gained national popularity for their ‘get tough’ approach on student misconduct. Zero tolerance became popular on the stage in Columbine, Colorado and other states experiencing student kill­ings. In 1974, an eighteen-year-old honor student shot and killed a janitor and firefighters in a well-planned attack on his school. Since 1974 there have been thirty-seven school shootings. Following Col­umbine, school districts made enormous investments in school security equipment, including metal detectors, cameras and student and staff identi­fication card systems. Schools have limited the number of entrances to cam­puses and searched backpacks and lockers. Some schools have used bomb-sniffing dogs. Lock-down drills, hotlines, and campus police are used in many campuses. In 2000, a Palm Beach County, Florida, school student walked into a school and killed a teacher. The school was fully equipped with the most sophisticated security equipment, including a card-access system and a full-time guard. Principals have learned that expensive equipment is not enough to maintain a sale school environment.

The evidence from Columbine and successful campus crime-prevention efforts show that school climate and good relationships with students are the best crime prevention tools. According to a U.S. Secret Service report, in 75 percent of the school shootings, the students told someone else about the shootings. School districts in Twentynine Palms, California; Fort Collins, Colorado; Elmira, New York, have all prevented major violent crimes by using information provided by students and staff. Crime prevention comes from investments in resource personnel counselors, staff development, and student development. Other resources include provid­ing teachers and other staff with communication and management skills. The intent of zero tolerance policies that prevent violent crime is important for every school. While Department of Education reports show schools to be one of the safest places for our children, school safety should be the primary con­cern of every school principal. School safety takes precedence over school testing and many other school programs.

The concerns with zero tolerance policies are the thoughtlessness with which they are implemented and the extension of crime-prevention policies to daily school behavior defined as discipline infractions. The lack of admin­istrative flexibility and discretion led to student expulsions for the possession of Midol, a misplaced butter knife in a truck, and coming to school without a uniform when the family could not afford to buy the uniform. According to Discipline, Achievement, and Race, the original intent of providing school safety by keeping guns, other weapons, drugs, tobacco, and violence off the school campus has evolved to the criminaliza­tion of student behavior. The overrepresentation of Latino African American, low-income, poor, and at-risk students in zero tolerance discipline categories fueled a debate about the real intent of these policies. Are there more real alternatives that also produce better achievement?

The difficult question is whether or not zero tolerance after ten years of implementation is the most effective method to judge adolescent behavior.

The purpose of Discipline, Achievement, and Race is to increase the school principal's understand­ing of zero tolerance policies and their lifelong consequences. This book identifies and discusses the policy and the practices of zero tolerance nationally and for selected states.

Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs (DAEP) and the expansion of zero tolerance into school disruptions will be analyzed. The professional beliefs of teachers and principals in context of a national and state, school discipline policy environment that has silenced the professional beliefs of principals and teachers are explored.

Chapter 1 provides the national context. The 1997 case of Timothy Nanvares was not unique to Texas. The stage for the Navares case was set during the 1990s when a number of school shootings became high profile news events, culminating with the April 1999 killings at Columbine High School. News coverage and expert testimony predicted a wave of juvenile crime, even as the U.S. Department of Justice reported a 20 percent decrease in crime and a 30 percent decrease in juvenile crime during 1990-1999. During this period, U.S. Census data showed an increase of minority populations, particularly a growth bubble that represented minority youth. Public testimony predicted a juvenile crime bomb with the "coming of 40 million 10 year old and under ... fatherless, godless and jobless". School dis­tricts across the United States developed ‘zero tolerance’ policies that were codified in the state statutes of education and in criminal procedures. The zero tolerance policies gave absolute power to juvenile authorities in collabo­ration with school officials. The goal of the new policy was to remove stu­dents who were troublemakers from the classroom through suspension or expulsion. School discipline was no longer an issue of adolescent behavior; it became an issue of criminal record.

Chapter 2 defines zero tolerance. Zero tolerance refers to public school discipline policy that applies automatic, prescribed, mandatory sanctions for student discipline infractions with little or no consideration to the conditions, circumstances, intent, or understanding of the individual committing the offense. Zero tolerance policies are enforced by school officials who may not have or may choose not to exercise any discretion and flexibility. Zero tolerance policies mandate expulsion and suspension for specific discipline infractions that his­torically were dealt with using counseling, mediation, teacher intervention or teacher classroom management techniques. The federal laws were tied to federal funding in public school, through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. The ESEA required that federal funding be withheld from school districts that did not enforce the PL IO3-227.

Chapter 3 discusses disciplinary alternative education programs. Reactions to school shootings and perceived school violence spurred state legislatures to develop safe school legislation to frame all student discipline actions and consequences. Theoretically, the most severe disciplinary infrac­tions lead to student isolations or the use of DAEPs. In practice, DAEPs in the United States and Texas were used to isolate problem students. The dis­proportionate enrollment of urban, African American, Hispanic, low-income, at-risk, and male students raises concern about the intent and practice of DAEP policy. In 2004, African Americans made up 13.5 percent of all the first graders in Texas and 37 percent of all the first graders and 38 percent of all the third graders in the DAEP. A com­mon trend in zero tolerance violations is the disproportionate number of chil­dren of color who are disciplined or separated out of the regular school into disciplinary alternative education programs as early as the first grade. This chapter defines DAEP and discusses the operation of Texas DAEPs in the context of state policy. It sum­marizes DAEP program enrollment, teacher certification, achievement, and curriculum policies. This chapter also defines and describes the JJAEP, dis­cusses JJAEP policy, and discusses how JJAEPs are used.

Chapter 4 tells the courtroom drama. It discusses the evolution of zero tolerance policies from policies intended to control criminal activity of guns, drugs, and felonies to policies intended to control student development. During a period of adolescent development when students need adults to guide the behavior of future citi­zens, instead of guidance they receive citations. For example, the names of all the students who commit class C misdemeanor offenses of zero tolerance policies will be entered into a criminal justice information management system. While their criminal records are expungable offenses upon the age of majority, 25 percent of examined cases do not return to expunge their teen record (citation).

In Chapter 5 teachers talk about discipline, suspensions, and zero tolerance policy. The purpose of this chapter is to report the findings identified after conducting five focus groups of public school teachers in middle and high schools in one New England state. Through these focus groups, Reyes’ team sought to better understand what drives teachers' attitudes toward the use of zero toler­ance and other exclusionary disciplinary measures in their schools, and whether these are related to the types of schools they teach in, the level of support they feel from their administration, their level of experience, and the population of students they teach.

Chapter 6 relates how exclusion is not the only alternative: it discusses the children left behind project. In this chapter, Karega Rausch and Russell Skiba focus on the context of a national and state school discipline police environment that has silenced the professional beliefs of principals and teachers. This chapter describes many of the philosophies and approaches of principals interviewed as part of the Children Left Behind project at the University of Indiana, an endeavor seeking to begin a statewide dialogue about disciplinary philoso­phy, policy and practice and disseminate research-validated and locally gen­erated alternative disciplinary practices to key educational stakeholders in an attempt to influence disciplinary practice and policy in one midwestern state.

Chapter 7 gives the conclusions. Current research and the interviews in Discipline, Achievement, and Race describe numerous success­ful alternative student discipline strategies that result in increased student achievement. There is a need to analyze zero tolerance data, reevaluate zero tolerance policies, refocus on the original intent of zero tolerance, and provide teachers and administrators with the time and resources to develop tomorrow's citizens. Mentoring, anger management, peer mediation, cross-cultural understanding and the use of behavior models like Consistency Management all require time from the school day and funding for staff devel­opment and materials. Zero tolerance was never intended to segregate minority, low-income, and at-risk students. It was intended to remove drugs, guns, other weapons, murders, and students recommended by the courts. It was not intended to remove students who disrupt the classroom. Classroom management and other techniques were intended to control classroom behavior. Innovate alternative alternative schools were intended for nonliterate students who misbehave when they do not understand the instruction. Teachers and administrators have the capability to restore discipline in the classroom but must have the time and resources to complete the mission.

Professor Reyes's work expertly details the criminalization of student behavior and forces us to exam­ine more closely zero-tolerance policies that disproportionately affect students of color and poor stu­dents classified as at-risk. The book is a must-read for faculty in principal preparation programs and for school leaders who are concerned about a more socially just educational system. – Linda C. Tillman, associate professor of educational leadership, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The research by Professor Reyes makes a significant contribution to the ongoing research on school safety and how some school policies adversely affect minority students. In addition, she offers some important recommendations that education decision makers should consider as they formulate safe school policies. – Richard R. Verdugo, senior research scientist, Human and Civil Rights Division, National Education Association, Washington, D.C.

This book is a must-read for those concerned for the safety and academic well-being of our nation's youth. Professor Reyes's well-researched and documented book reminds us that metal detectors, armed school police, and rigid school behavior policies do little to stop school shootings. Positive school climate and good relationships between adults and their learners are the best strategies for school safety and academic achievement. – H. Jerome Freiberg, John & Rebecca Moores Professor, University of Houston; founder of Consistency Management & Cooperative Discipline

Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, inequalities in public education are evident in the number of Black and Latino students who are held back, fail to graduate from high school, or have been removed from school by zero-tolerance discipline policies. Reyes contends that when ineffective zero-tolerance discipline policies disproportionately remove minority and low-income students from schools, the very roots of a democracy are threatened. It is important for educators to understand the effects of zero-tolerance discipline policies on low-income students, at-risk students, special education students, and students of color. It is equally important that edu­cators critically investigate the effects of zero-tolerance discipline policies, and re-evaluate the use of these policies in public schools. Discipline, Achievement, and Race provides the necessary information, offering a comprehensive analysis of policy and practice and recommending solutions to the discipline policies of zero tolerance. It will be of interest to teachers, principals and assistant principals, counselors, and concerned parents.

Education / Social Sciences / Race Relations

A Curriculum of Repression: A Pedagogy of Racial History in the United States by Haroon Kharem (Counterpoints: Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education Series:  Peter Lang) 

A Curriculum of Repression examines the pedagogy of white supremacy in the United States, the American Colonization Society, and the eugenics movement during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. According to author Haroon Kharem, both education and the larger society promoted the idea of the sacred mission of Anglo-Christians, who were seen as God's chosen people. Public policy and education were used to teach whites that black people were inferior and unsuitable for citizenship. Federal, state, and local governments, as well as religious leaders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, argued for the removal of all black people from the United States. Others used education as a means of discrediting the intelligence of African Americans while, at the same time, miseducating and deculturalizing African Americans to artificially create a homogenous society.

While many have chronologically examined the historical evolution of the ideological beliefs of white supremacy, Kharem, Assistant Professor of Education at Brooklyn College, in A Curriculum of Repression has chosen to examine how white supremacy pedagogically ensured its influence upon the American public and how it continues to influence education. While there is a wealth of scholarly works on white supremacy and how it has historically influenced the American public to believe in black inferiority, these studies have not focused upon the men who governed and framed this nation's laws formulated white supremacist ideology, made it the law, and taught the American public blacks were not only inferior, but also a threat to this nation's well-being. Furthermore, the plan to remove all black people from American society, keeping them in poverty, and the insidious eugenics movement that eventually led to the rise to Nazi ideology and the resurgence of social Darwinism in the form of statistical measurements of intelligence are also a part of maintaining white supremacy in the United States.

A Curriculum of Repression, divided into six sections, follows both a historical and thematic arrangement. This first chapter introduces certain concepts and definitions of white supremacy, its ideas and the specific ways white supremacist thought maintains its control in America. It includes the purpose of the study, the background of the problem, methodologies that explain how this study will view white supremacy through the knowledge of oppressed groups and their hermeneutic interpretations of history and culture, and the significance of the study.

Chapter 2 describes white supremacy and its manipulative influence upon the American people and its control of the public school system in the United States. It examines the curriculum of internal colonial education and the curriculum of ‘Americanization’ that reinforces passive obedience, the continual celebration of Anglo Protestant American culture, events and mythical heroes used to indoctrinate children. It investigates the cultural values, patriotic nationalism, political and economic systems along with the language, and religion that reflect Anglo Protestant Americanism.

Chapter 3 discusses white supremacy and its maintenance through the curriculum of repression and exclusion. It analyzes Anglo Protestant culture as it seeks to Americanize children through education.

Chapter 4 investigates the American Colonization Society, the foundations of white supremacist ideology, and how white government and public figures articulated a theory that black people were inferior and a threat to the nation's security. Chapter 5 concentrates on how white supremacy turned to scientific determinism to validate racism from the colonial period to the eugenics movement in the United States in the twentieth century, and how it incorporated an ideology of black inferiority and set out to influence public policy concerning education and crime. Chapter 5 also addresses how white supremacy continues to manipulate public policy that causes inequity and disparity within American society. Chapter 6 explores the debate of I.Q. and its claim that African Americans are less intelligent than whites. While individual wealth plays a part in the opportunities of education, public policy shapes the lives of those who have and those who have not and the widening destructive disparity of economic resources.

A Curriculum of Repression sheds new light on the fact that these old beliefs are still operating in American society. Hopefully, this will cause new debates concerning this ideology, educate the American public forthrightly about what white supremacy actually is, and begin to implement and enforce public policies to bring about a more equitable and emancipatory educational system in our society. A Curriculum of Repression is not only significant for scholars, but also for teachers in understanding why most urban schools remain in poverty and why most urban students continue to play catch up with white students in better suburban schools, and for school administrators, who need a working knowledge of white supremacy and how they consent to white supremacist public policy set in place by government officials.

Education / Special Education

The Deaf Experience: Classics in Language and Education edited by Harlan Lane, translated from the French by Franklin Philip (Gallaudet Classics in Deaf Studies Series: Gallaudet University Press) 

The seminal study of the antecedents of Deaf culture is now back in print. Edited by renowned scholar Harlan Lane, The Deaf Experience presents a selection of the earliest essays written by members of the nascent French Deaf community at the time of the Enlightenment, a rich period of education for Deaf people.
Many historians attribute the commencement of a renaissance in American deaf education in the 19th century to the influence of Deaf French writers Lane, the Matthews Distinguished University Professor in the Psychology Department at Northeastern University, Boston, MA, explores these antecedents of Deaf culture in this collection. The Deaf Experience shows how an extraordinary era of French Deaf education influenced the adoption of the manual method by the first schools for Deaf students in America, in sharp contrast to the oral movement that repressed sign-language-centered education for nearly a century afterward.

This fifth volume in the Gallaudet Classics in Deaf Studies series features works written from 1764 up to 1840. First, Pierre Desloges offers a paean to sign language in an excerpt from his book, the first ever published by a deaf person. Saboureux de Fontenay and Jean Massieu, two prominent leaders, relate their respective experiences in autobiographical accounts. In separate essays, Charles-Michel de l’Epée and Roch-Ambroise Sicard describe their systems for teaching manual French, followed by a critique of these methods by Roch-Ambroise Bébian, a well-known hearing friend of Deaf people during that era. Ferdinand Berthier, a renowned Deaf teacher and writer in the 19th century, concludes with a history of Deaf people up to that time.

Founded in 1980, Gallaudet University Press has published more than 300 titles on Deaf studies and issues. A nonprofit division of the only liberal arts university for Deaf and hard of hearing students, Gallaudet University Press publishes scholarly and general interest books, children's books, and sign language and other textbooks.

The Deaf Experience is a seminal work presenting, in clear and stirring language, a selection of the earliest essays written by hearing educators and members of the nascent French Deaf community at the time of the Enlightenment. Deaf studies scholars and students alike will welcome the return of this invaluable resource.

Entertainment / Movies / Arts & Photography / Popular Culture

Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos compiled & edited by Kerry Gammill & J. David Spurlock (Vanguard Productions) 

The ‘monster craze’ among baby-boomers, sparked by the release of hor­ror classics to television in the late 1950s, gave birth to a new phenomenon – the monster magazine. Famous Monsters of Filmland, was the premier publication for young horror film fans.

Issues of the new magazine practi­cally leapt off the newsstand due in no small way to their striking cover paint­ings by Basil Gogos. Like a Bizarro Norman Rockwell, his stylish portraits of horror film characters and stars were seen on magazine covers throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Gogos' Technicolored interpretations of Frankenstein, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the Phantom of the Opera, breathed new life into the old black and white images. His use of color and bold, impressionistic brushwork gave a sense of excitement and sophistication to his paintings which has never been matched.

To many the name Basil Logos is as familiar as that of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi or Vincent Price. Logos' paint­ings are as iconic as his subjects. Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos is a celebration of the career of the acknowledged master of film mon­ster portrait art. This long-overdue retrospective, compiled by Kerry Gammill, comic book artist turned conceptual artist and J. David Spurlock, commercial illustrator and pop-culture historian, features high-quality reproductions of many of his most famous paintings as well as many previ­ously unpublished paintings and draw­ings of classic film creatures and actors as well as the artist's magazine, book cover, Rock CD cover art, and movie posters. Also featured are in-depth interviews with the artist and commen­tary from his contemporaries and film professionals.

Basil's art was an amazing gift for me as a filmmaker. Fans knew the movie would terrify them before they got to the theater. – Roger Corman, director of The House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, and Mask of the Red Death

To create paintings of intense beauty featuring Frankenstein's monster, The Creature from the Black Lagoon or even Herman friggin' Munster and turn them into something that is ready to be hung in a gallery is, in my opinion, truly a mad genius at work. – Rob Zombie, Rock musician and director of House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects

Basil's marvelous, moody makeovers of movie maniacs make him a maven of macabre masterpieces. He has truly helped to keep horror fandom and our best fiends ALIVE! – Forrest J. Ackerman, founding editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine

Gogos ...is second to none. His covers are superior to my monster (paintings). Thanks to this collection, his work should endure. – James Bama, legendary artist of sixty-two Doc Savage paperback book covers

Seeing Gogos' art in Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos offers readers a fascinating look at what was one of the last havens for realistic artists during the waning days of the great era of magazine illustration. Gogos’ decades of inspirational art did so much to make being a classic horror movie lover an even more delightfully unique experience – the book brings it all back.

Entertainment / Movies / Biographies & Memoirs

Female Brando: The Legend of Kim Stanley by Jon Krampner (Backstage Books) 

Between 1949 and 1964, Kim Stanley created starring roles in twelve Broadway productions. In roles such as Cherie, the ‘chantoosy’ from Bus Stop; Millie Owens, the angst-ridden adolescent in Picnic; and Sara Melody, the headstrong innkeeper's daughter in A Touch of the Poet, Stanley had critics scrambling for superlatives. She was Oscar-nominated for her work in the films Seance on a Wet Afternoon and Frances, and was also the leading lady of live television drama.

No actress dazzled Broadway like Kim Stanley. She was acclaimed the greatest stage actress of a gen­eration that included Julie Harris, Geraldine Page, and Anne Bancroft. Arthur Penn called her the American Eleanora Duse. Elizabeth Taylor (in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and Marilyn Monroe (in Bus Stop) copied her stage per­formances on film. Men longed for her; scandal shadowed her. And theatergoers couldn't get enough of this Method-inspired performer from the Actors Studio.

Like other self-destructive icons – Elvis, Marilyn, or Marlon Brando, to whom she was often compared –Stanley's talent was matched only by her ability to undo herself. After fifteen years of stardom, this extraordinary actress walked away from the theater never to return, embarking upon a long Garbo-like odyssey of mystery and reclusiveness. What happened? Female Brando answers that question with a meticulously researched, empathetic biography that tells all – not only about her colorful and caution­ary personal life, but about her unrivaled theatrical brilliance and what became of this stage legend when the house lights went dark. The book traces Stanley’s childhood, her early training, her stardom – and her tragic descent into alcoholism and loneliness.

Entertainment history writer Jon Krampner conducted 225 interviews for the book, says he came to this book out of his interest in live television drama. According to him, Stanley was not an easy person, and neither was writing about her. She was secretive and had a complex, shape-shifting personality, encrusted over with several layers of self-mythologizing. Getting to the heart of that was no easy matter: Sometimes she seemed less a person­ality than a loosely affiliated collection of primal impulses.

Many of her colleagues had died, had Alzheimer's, had pickled their brains in alcohol, or didn't want to talk about her for reasons ranging from still-simmering anger to protectiveness. Family members would cooperate one day and then, with no explanation, not be on speaking terms with Krampner the next. Her worshipful students regarded him as the intellectual equivalent of a grave robber. But many people did speak, many resources on Kim were available, and gradually she came into focus. Still, the whole story is not here. In writing Female Brando, Krampner says, “I've aspired to the Venus de Milo standard: I hope people will find beauty in it, but important parts are missing.”

While Kim was remarkably complex, it's easy to delineate the three things she was best at: acting, teaching acting, and self-destruction. The first is why he wrote this book; the third is why it's so sad.

Kim was the great actress of my generation. She was the muse, the archetype, the female Brando to all of us who aspired to someday do great work on stage or screen. Jon Krampner has done us a huge favor by presenting to us a full picture of this remarkable actress and her life. – Sydney Pollack

I thought I knew Kim Stanley. However, after reading Jon Krampner's excellent biography of Kim, now I really know her. – Eva Marie Saint

Reading Female Brando brings back memories of an actress I adored and idolized. Kim Stanley was the best and brightest actress of her generation, and no other actress has ever illumi­nated Broadway the way Kim did. Krampner takes us to the heart of the demon that made Kim great. Broadway's lights dimmed considerably when that same demon sabotaged her career. Through Krampner's work, Kim shows us what real acting was, is, and should be. – Julie Harris

For those who admired and loved her, this is the book to read. And for those who want to find out about one of our best actresses, this is the book to read. – Jack Klugman

A must for every practicing artist. – Nehemiah Persoff

Female Brando is a compelling story of triumph and tragedy. Much more than a mere cautionary tale, the book is a clear-headed examination of Kim Stanley’s brilliance that places her in the pantheon of great American artists.

Entertainment / Sports / History

Catfish, Yaz, and Hammerin' Hank: The Unforgettable Era that Transformed Baseball, with DVD – Baseball Comes of Age by Phil Pepe, with a foreword by Bucky Dent (Triumph Books) 

With the advent of steroids and other physically-enhancing drugs in the 1980s,there's no wonder why the 1970s is considered the last ‘clean’ era in the game.

Catfish, Yaz, and Hammerin' Hank by Phil Pepe reveals the 1970s as the decade that witnessed the most abundant changes in the sport's history. It was the first time a player ever earned a million bucks. Hank Aaron became the all-time home-run king. Electronic scoreboards blazed against the night sky. Fans screamed "Ya gotta believe" and sang "We Are Family." While many fans may recall the most vibrant visuals and well-sung anthems of the era – Rollie Fingers' handlebar mustache, the Houston Astros' mammoth Astrodome and Chicago's Disco Demolition Night – Pepe discovered in his extensive interviewing with players that the decade is the bridge from the ‘old school’ know-how of the game to the ‘nu skool’ physical ability that was not previously associated with the game.

To chronicle the change in the sport that occurred during the '70s, veteran sportswriter Pepe interviewed more than 60 former players, managers, coaches and executives, including: George Steinbrenner, Marvin Miller, Tommy Lasorda, Tim McCarver, Billy Martin, Bowie Kuhn, and George Brett. Catfish, Yaz, and Hammerin' Hank is an oral history; in it Pepe talks to the stars of the day about their fondest memories and their greatest highlights and captures the spirit of the day through scores of archival photographs. Union leader Marvin Miller recounts St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood’s monumental challenge of the ironclad reserve clause, which dawned the age of free agency. Ron Blomberg recalls his time at bat as the game’s first designated hitter. Earl Weaver and Brooks Robinson describe the Orioles dismantling the Big Red Machine. Ralph Houk and Rusty Staub relive the actions and antics of Tigers rookie sensation Mark ‘the Bird’ Fidrych.

I made the 1971 All-Star team as an alternate. I was to replace Tony Oliva, who got hurt. I remember my [Oakland A’s] teammate, Sal Bando, telling me, ‘Don’t embarrass us and strike out...’ – Reggie Jackson

I used to pound Clemente inside, pound him inside, pound him inside, and he liked the ball out over the plate and he’d hit the ball to right center. I threw a slider down and away and it was a damn good pitch, and he hit a line drive right down the right field line... – Tom Seaver

We were in a car going to get some ice cream, not far from our house in New Jersey, and the guy said over the radio, ‘Thurman Munson just died...crash...’ Audry and I just looked at each other and didn’t say a word for I don’t know how long. – Chris Chambliss

Catfish, Yaz, and Hammerin' Hank proves to be a lot of fun. Through the memories and the marvels of more than 60 voices, Pepe weaves one of the most enjoyable baseball memoirs ever written into a keepsake book, along with a companion DVD featuring players and moments from a decade that changed the game forever.

Fantasy & Science Fiction / Horror

Tarra Khash: Hrossak! by Brian Lumley (Tales of the Primal Land Series: Tor Books) is classic Lovecraftian horror from one of the masters of the form, British Fantasy Award-winner Brian Lumley.

Tarra Khash is a Hrossak, a barbarian from the steppes beyond the River Luhr. A fearless adventurer, Tarra roves the island continent of Theem-hdra in search of his next fortune, his next drink, and warm, willing females to share his bed. The Hrossak is a most fortunate man, for he has faced more than one god during his travels, and so far escaped unscathed . . . .
In Tarra Khash: Hrossak!, seeking to avenge the murder of a beautiful young woman of the half-mystical Suhm-yi race, Tarra joins forces with her husband, now the last of his kind. Each worships a moon-god, and together, their faith and Tarra’s weapons wreak a terrible vengeance on those who stole the treasure of the Suhm-yi and destroyed that noble race. Eager for wealth, Tarra is trapped by a wily old man who has lured him into plumbing the depths of a treasure-filled cavern guarded by golden statues of the Great God Cthulhu. Cthulhu’s treasure is not easily plundered, and Tarra nearly loses his life to the monstrous forces of the Elder God.
Many men have met the lamia Orbiquita, but none have lived to tell of her extraordinary powers of love-making – until Tarra Khash, who treats her as a woman wants to be treated and so earns her forgiveness and his life. Others who assume her to be weakened by love for Tarra Khash are not so lucky.

… These entertaining, unpretentious stories in the pulp tradition show Lumley at his relaxed best. – Publishers Weekly
Lumley deserves a wide audience among those who love Anne Rice . . . John Grisham . . . and Stephen King. – VOYA
An accomplished wordsmith, Lumley wields a pen with the deft skill of a surgeon, drawing just enough blood to titillate without offending his readers. – The Phoenix Gazette
Lumley's strength is in his jovial voice, a diction that dominates the narrative. Lumley's love of his pulp-horror subjects is gleefully apparent. He revels in every telling detail, in stories-within-stories and convoluted histories. – San Francisco Chronicle
Whether humorous or atmospheric and chilling, Lumley’s tales are delightful. – Booklist

A faithful tribute by veteran fantasist Lumley to horror author H.P. Lovecraft. A good addition to most libraries’ horror collections and a title with special appeal to fans of the Cthulhu mythos. – Library Journal on Beneath the Moors and Darker Places

Lumley is the author of the bestselling Necroscope series of vampire novel