Recent Reviews

If you thought Humpty Dumpty couldn’t bring tears to your eyes, think again.  Humpty Dumpty Lived Near a Wall tells a classic tale in a modern way—in a spooky burned-out world with illustrations so triumphant they gave me chills (multiple times!) and with a story so special you’ll want to read it every night.  A collaboration like this is the stuff of fairy tales! Recommended by Mary

DUE IN SEPTEMBER America's complicated relationship with the bison is the subject of Kurt Repanshek’s Re-Bisoning the West, in which he traces the shameful history of Americans with the great shaggy beast of the plains as well as our modern attempts to replace and reimagine them in the western landscape.  It’s a particularly timely book as the bison as recently been named the first the national mammal of the United States.  By now, the near-extinction of the bison by the beginning of the twentieth century is well known.  What is perhaps less understood by twenty-first century Americans is the fraught process of conservation, made difficult by cattle-bison cross-breeding, diseases carried by some bison, and the always complicated politics of Western land use by the federal government. At the center of the controversy is the Yellowstone herd, the survivors of the Great Slaughter of the nineteenth century. Their role as a source of pure bison DNA is hampered by the fact that they also carry brucellosis, a disease rightly feared by the ranchers whose lands surround the park. Repanshek navigates these waters in deft and interesting prose that is scientific and historical and very compelling, asking important questions about how we can reintegrate the bison into the modern American landscape.  The bison is our nation’s next high-profile symbol of destruction and then conservation. Hopefully, it will join the bald eagle as a symbol not just of the nation but of our ability to correct the mistakes of our past. If you have ever stood in the Hayden Valley of Yellowstone or along the high plains of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and watched the great brown beast rumble and snort its way across the landscape, you will love this book.  If you have never seen large herds of bison, this book will inspire you to seek them out and marvel at their strength, beauty, tenacity and vulnerability. Recommended by Sarah

DUE IN SEPTEMBER Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano mysteries are gems, and here is another in this long-running series that you won’t be able to put down. Struggling with the influx of refugees to the Sicilian coast, Montalbano and his team are stretched thin trying to manage the ongoing humanitarian crisis when the beautiful tailor Elena Biasini is found murdered in her shop. The violence of the crime unsettles Montalbano who had been a reluctant customer after his girlfriend Livia insisted he order from her a tailored suit. With Elena’s orphaned cat and the members of his team, the Inspector sets out unravel this complicated crime. Montalbano is a quirky , insightful and sardonic hero of fundamental decency and strength, with a fondness for triple espresso and pasta, who endears himself to readers almost immediately.  This is a splendid addition to the series. Recommended by Sarah

DUE IN NOVEMBER While generally associated with comedy, Jenny Slate’s powerful artistic voice shines through in Little Weirds. I had expected a memoir when opening the book, but I found instead a mixture of works that read more like poetry and stream of consciousness, hooking me with Slate’s vivid imagination and sincerity. Slate does not hesitate to express her anger over her experiences as a woman, the current political climate, and the common critique that she is too much. However, readers can still find the humor we know and love from her, making Little Weirds a captivating journey into Slate’s unique mind. Recommended by Nikita