Best friends, adventurers,
true Olympians!
Click the link and enter their world:
MAX AND MARLA BOOKTRAILER
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Best friends, adventurers,
true Olympians!
Click the link and enter their world:
MAX AND MARLA BOOKTRAILER
Max:" And look here, Marla! They put up a new sign. It's the name of the person who created us!"
I think those two should relax now and drink a cup of hot chocolate for the next couple of days.
Max: " I am just looking, if there is anybody out there. Oh, and could somebody please brighten up our sign?--Thank you!!"
"Psst...Marla, it's only 16 more days now," says Max.
MAX AND MARLA are getting ready for October 13. It'll be their big day, and they are very nervous and excited.
By: Dianna Dilworth,
on 9/25/2015
Blog: Galley Cat (Mediabistro) (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Book Biz, Penguin Books, Add a tag
MAX and MARLA tells the story of two best friends. They are adventurers. They are true Olympians who never give up and they will turn obstacles into victories!
My debut title as both author and illustrator will be published in October, 2015 by Putnam's Sons, an Imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group and I am so excited.
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By: Lizzy Burns,
on 10/8/2014
Blog: A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: reviews, historical fiction, adult fiction, mystery, 2014, penguin books, 2013, Berkley, Lyndsay Faye, Favorite Books of 2014, Add a tag
The Plot: The Timothy Wilde novels are mysteries set in 1840s New York City, at the very start of New York City's police force.
The Good: There are few things I like better than a historical mystery. Faye both recreates 1840s New York, full of details and interesting tidbits; yet also creates something that is a mirror to our own time. For example, the formation of the police force is far from simple. Part of it is need, with the growing size of the city and population. Then there is the mix of altruism and nepotism. Wilde, for example, gets a job on the new force not because he wants it or has any particular skill set -- he's a bartender. Rather, it's because of his politically connected brother.
Timothy Wilde is reluctant to even take the job, because he and his brother don't get along but for various reasons he needs the job. And, it turns out being a bartender is a pretty good skill set: observation, talking, listening, crowd management. Oh, and another thing: many regular people were opposed to a formation of the police, in part because they feared it was militarization. So.... 1840s questions that have parallels today.
The Gods of Gotham is the first in the series, and gives as much room to Timothy's own origin story as it does to the start of the police. He'd been left orphaned as a child, raised by his older brother, befriended by a local minister. Timothy isn't desperate enough to accept his brother's job until he loses everything in the Great New York Fire of 1845. And here is why I love fiction that accurately incorporates history: learning not just about fire but also the just how scary a fire was -- how it was fought -- and the devastating losses, both in terms of lives, injuries (Timothy's face is burnt, leaving scars), and property. Timothy's savings, all his property, is lost.
And Faye's writing! I loved it. Here, an example of showing the bias of the times and where Timothy stands in terms of that prejudice: "Popery is widely considered to be a sick corruption of Christianity ruled by the Antichrist, the spread of which will quash the Second Coming like an ant. I don't bother responding to this brand of insanity for two reasons: idiots treasure their facts like newborns, and the entire topic makes my shoulders ache."
The Gods of Gotham, as that quote hints at, is about the immigration as a result of the Irish Potato Famine, how those Irish Catholics were treated in New York City, as well as missing children, prostitution, child prostitutes, private efforts at addressing the problems of poverty, women's rights, religion -- and, of course, the politics of the 1840s. And as I read it, I thought of all those historical fiction children's books, set in Ireland, set in other European countries, were the happy ending, the solution to poverty or discrimination, is emigration to America; and how often that was just the start of a new nightmare.
In Seven for a Secret, Timothy Wilde is still with the New York City police force. How the police worked, what actually it meant to be a member, was fascinating -- Timothy's role as detective, investigating and solving crimes, is almost as revolutionary as the force itself.
Seven for a Secret centers around a different group of New Yorkers than the one shown in the first book: the world of free blacks and runaway slaves. Without giving too much away -- don't worry. Timothy is not the Great White Hope that saves the day. The mystery involves that community, and so Timothy becomes involved, and at times he is ignorant of the laws and social mores and risks -- but the community itself has leaders, and Timothy works with them or for them. The African American characters are multifaceted and complex.
My favorite quote from Seven for a Secret: "He likes who he is in the story because it's the wrong story he's telling."
What else? I adore Timothy's older brother, Val. Yes, Timothy is often at odds with him; yes, Timothy is judgmental about Val's choices, from Val's politics to his substance abuse to his womanizing. But what captured me is that Val was a teen when his parents died; the two books show just how brutal and cold their world was, and just how indifferent it was to two orphaned boys. Timothy doesn't quite realize or appreciate just what Val did, was willing to do, to take care of him. Val, in some ways, has earned his right to drink or drug or romance too much. He's my 1840s Bad Boyfriend.
I also like how Faye portrays the female characters, including how Timothy views them. They are whole; more than tropes. (And having watched and/or read one too many historical fiction shows, where it's either the virginal wife (hey, you know what I mean) or the whore - -well, it was nice to see more than that, and to see Timothy himself seeing the disservice society does by viewing women as being either one or the other.)
Finally -- Timothy himself. He's in his mid-twenties, and while he's great at observations and putting the pieces of a puzzle together, he's not brilliant. He makes mistakes, mistakes that arise from his youth, his inexperience, his own biases (such as the ones he has about his brother), and his own stubbornness.
Good news: a third book is on its way! The Fatal Flame is scheduled for May 2015.
And yes -- these are some of my Favorite Books Read in 2014.
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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
By: Lizzy Burns,
on 7/24/2014
Blog: A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: contemporary, 2009, penguin books, Gayle Forman, Favorite Books of 2014, Add a tag
The Plot: Mia is in a coma.
There was a car accident.
She can see what is happening around her, but she cannot interact. She is not dead but she is not alive.
Her family is dead.
It's all her choice, whether to stay with the living. But what will her life be like, if her family is gone?
The Good: Confession: I did not read this when it first came out, in 2009. I skipped to the end of the book to find out her choice, then read other things.
Then I saw the trailer. And Chloe Grace Moretz's performance as Mia. And just from the trailer, I cried more than I cried in The Fault in Our Stars. Even though I have a pretty firm rule to not read books before movies, I broke the rule. In part because the trailer already seduced me into wanting to see the film version, and in part because even though that "read the end" moment had told me the ending, I wanted to know more about Mia and how how she got to that moment.
Looking for a book to make you cry buckets? Then this is the book for you. Yes, from the start you know there's been a car accident and her family is dead. You'd think that would mean, no tears because you already know the worst. So, why cry? Because If I Stay proceeds to flashback to Mia's family and OHMYGOD I love her parents. I want them to be MY parents. Mia is a teen who had a great, supportive family. Page after page just shows you the depth of what she has lost.
Page after page of If I Stay is also showing the depth of what Mia has to keep going: her best friend, her boyfriend, her music, her other family members. Her boyfriend! Adam, like Mia, is a musician, but entirely different music so that music isn't necessarily something they share. What they do share is respect and love and fun, and wow, Adam. I just loved him.
Seriously, Mia before the accident had a great life.
Reinvention and starting over is often the subject of novels, and there is something curiously appealing about suddenly having a clean slate. Typically, though, this is a fairly positive process in that it's a character's choice and what they are leaving is a place and people that they can return to. Vacations, holidays, changes in mind, all that means that what is left isn't really gone.
Mia is faced with a choice: does go back to a world where her life and the people in it will always be "behind" her? She was worried about the impact and changes leaving for college was going to be, and suddenly she has to face a life where those she thought she was leaving have left her.
Mia's going to be facing a life where no one shares her childhood memories. Or family jokes. Without the love and support of her parents.
Is that a life she wants? Is what she has left enough reason to stay?
I LOVED this book. Love, love, love. Who cares if its a 2009 title? It's a Favorite Book Read in 2014. Also -- I can't wait for the movie.
Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.
© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
By: Lizzy Burns,
on 5/20/2014
Blog: A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: reviews, ballet, contemporary, 2014, penguin books, Favorite Books of 2014, Brandy Colbert, Add a tag
The Plot: Theo's life is in a good place. Some would say a very good place. She's one of the top ballet dancers in her class. She has good friends and a boy who is interested in her. The heartache and problems of the past -- the breakup with her first love, her best friend disappearing and feared dead, her parents' overreaction to Theo's resulting depression and eating issues -- are in the past.
The past comes back, fast and furious.
Donovan is found. Alive. It's been four years and Donovan is alive and coming home. Relief and joy and tinged with something else: fear.
Because Theo recognizes the face of Donovan's kidnapper. She knew him by a different name, but she knew him.
He was the boy she loved, the person who broke her heart when he left her. It's the same man.
Everything Theo thought she knew, about Donovan, about her old boyfriend, about herself, is about to be turned inside out. At least she still has ballet, but how long will that last, when people find out?
The Good: The Good? Everything. Everything is good.
Theo is such a complex, amazing, interesting young woman.
Readers of this blog may remember, I like to keep notes as I read -- I sketch family trees and timelines, jot down ages and names. As I'm sketching this out while reading Pointe, I realize what Theo does not. Oh, I also realize it because I'm old, a grown up, I'm not a teenager. When Theo was with her first love, Trent, the person she loves and believes was wonderful, Theo was thirteen. And Trent was eighteen.
Theo was crushed when Trent disappeared on her, and had few people to confide in because there were so few people who knew about Theo and Trent. Donovan was the only person, actually, who knew. Now that Donovan has been found, Theo learns not just that Donovan was with Trent, but that Trent's real name is Christopher. And that he's thirty. Which means that not only did he lie to her about his name, he also lied about his age: instead of being eighteen, he was twenty-six. And she was thirteen.
And here is one reason I just flat out adored Theo: through all this, she's thinking "what about me" and "what does this mean to me." She dances around what all this means to Donovan, wondering mostly if Donovan ran away with Christopher and voluntarily stayed with him.
Part of what I loved about Pointe was how long it takes Theo to come to the place that you, the reader, does.
What Theo had wasn't love; it never was. But her love for Trent (well, Christopher) was such a part of Theo's identity, that she just cannot look at the facts, the numbers -- she has to deal with the emotions. Her love. And because she has to believe that what she had was real, when she looks at Donovan she believes about him what she believes about herself: that the then-thirteen year old Donovan had a choice, a choice about being with and staying with Christopher.
Donovan has been silent since his return home, not leaving his house, not talking to anyone, including Theo. No one knows Theo's secret. And part of Theo is very happy -- and very relieved -- at Donovan's silence.
From the outside, Theo looks put together and strong. You'd have to be, to become such a talented dancer. Pointe is clear about the dedication it takes to reach the place that Theo is now at. The reality? Then, she was a thirteen year old girl swayed by the attentions of an older boy, wanting to be loved, wanting to make him happy. Now, it turns out, is not that much better. Hosea, the boy she likes, is her age, goes to her school, but, in addition to being the local drug dealer, is dating someone else.
Theo doesn't quite realize the parallels between the two loves of her life. Oh, the present boy is age-appropriate and also power-appropriate. They are equals. Which means that what the present relationship shows the reader is what Theo thinks is mutual affection and respect and love; what she'll put up in order to get what she thinks is love; what she'll settle for.
As you can see from all those paragraphs, what intrigues me the most about Pointe is the relationships and emotional journey of Theo. There is so much more! Hosea, for example, is a fully realized character, and may be the nicest, sweetest, drug dealer cheater in book history. I so understood why Theo likes him and wants him, even as I realized that it was much less clear cut than Theo believes.
Theo is one of the only black kids in her dance class, in her school, in her neighborhood. Donovan was only of the others. This matters, in that it shows her relationship with her peers. What it means when the topic of segregation comes up in school, and she is asked to give examples of what that meant to her family.
And of course this is a mystery: what happened to Donovan? What, if anything, should Theo say about what she knows? And it's a story about being passionate about something as all-consuming and physical as ballet. And it's about friendship, I haven't even mentioned Theo's two best friends, Sara-Kate and Phil. Or Theo and eating, and what she eats and why, and how that is part of who Theo is rather than the only thing.
Because this is such an elegant, complex book this is one of my Favorite Books Read in 2014.
Other reviews: Stacked; Slate Breakers; Los Angeles Review of Books.
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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
By: Venetia Butterfield,
on 10/15/2013
Blog: The Penguin Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Cooks, pen vogler, food, history, Food and Drink, Jane Austen, pride and prejudice, food writing, penguin books, food blog, Add a tag
By: Amanda,
on 1/25/2013
Blog: A Patchwork of Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: adult fiction, Penguin books, Mary Ellen Taylor, Add a tag
The main character, Daisy, loses her job in finance and is forced to move back home to help run her family's failing bakery on Union Street. In the family for generations, everyone expects Daisy to save the place, though she's not even sure she can. She doesn't really want to be there, doesn't get along with her sisters who also assist in the running of the business, and on her first day back is approached by a crazy old lady who insists she knows Daisy's birth mother who left her at the bakery when she was only three years old.
By: Renee Taprell,
on 5/12/2012
Blog: Books for Little Hands (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Allen and Unwin, Penguin Books, Diana Lawrenson, It’s True Your Hair Grows 15 Kilometres a Year, Guide Dogs From Puppies to Partners, Crocodile River, Paraphernalia’s Present, Add a tag
When did you first know you wanted to be an author?
I remember saying in grade 2 I’d like to write a book – but that was looking to the future and way before I had any understanding of all that would be involved. Something must have been there, though, because I always enjoyed writing letters.
What was your journey to publication like?
Can you please tell us about where you got the idea for your picture book, Crocodile River?
In the years before crocodiles were protected, my uncle hunted them in Papua New Guinea, selling their skins to the fashion houses of Paris. When I was small he would come down on leave to Melbourne and tell exciting tales of his night hunts on the rivers, so from early on I became fascinated by crocodiles.
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By: gaby317,
on 3/11/2011
Blog: Starting Fresh (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, Nightshade by Andrea Cremer, Add a tag
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, 2010, penguin books, Jean-Luc Fromental, Joelle Jolivet, alphabet pop-ups, Mike Haines, Julia Frohlich, Wild Alphabet An A to Zoo Pop-Up, 10 Little Penguins A Pop-Up, Add a tag
By: gaby317,
on 11/4/2010
Blog: Starting Fresh (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, Grace Under Pressure: A Manor House Mystery by Julie Hyzy, Berkeley Mysteries, Add a tag
By: gaby317,
on 11/4/2010
Blog: Starting Fresh (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: memoirs, Penguin Books, Laura Munson's This Is Not The Story You Think It Is. . . A Story of Unlikely Happiness, Add a tag
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By: Mabel Kaplan,
on 10/28/2010
Blog: TALES I TELL (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, Aussie Chomps, Angela Sunde, girl heroes, children's books, Children's Authors, Add a tag
By: Venetia Butterfield,
on 6/15/2010
Blog: The Penguin Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: football, books, world cup, Penguin books, Add a tag
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By: Alexandra Boiger,
on 10/14/2015
Blog: Alexandra Boiger Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Max and Marla by Alexandra Boiger, Umon Kawamura, Add a tag
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Best friends, adventurers,
true Olympians!
Click the link and enter their world:
MAX AND MARLA BOOKTRAILER
By: Alexandra Boiger,
on 10/13/2015
Blog: Alexandra Boiger Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Max and Marla by Alexandra Boiger, Add a tag
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THE CURTAIN IS UP!
Max and Marla are celebrating their book birthday!!
If you'd like to find out more, you may check out my new website and one more surprise is just around the corner..
Max and Marla are celebrating their book birthday!!
If you'd like to find out more, you may check out my new website and one more surprise is just around the corner..
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By: Bianca Schulze,
on 10/1/2015
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Hot New Releases & Popular Kids Stories We think our list of the best new kids books for October is sensational! It highlights some amazing books from many different genres: non-fiction, reality fiction, and fantasy. Take a gander and let us know which titles and covers catch your eye ... Read the rest of this post
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By: Alexandra Boiger,
on 9/28/2015
Blog: Alexandra Boiger Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Marla and Max Alexandra Boiger, Alexandra Boiger, Penguin Books, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Add a tag
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Relax? Hot chocolate? Who are you kidding.
Right now-- well, it's kind of a secret (Max told me that), they are just on a roll. Don't forget: these two are Olympians!!!
But next week they might take some days off. I think, Marla hinted something. But then, of course - Marla would hint that kind of thing.
Right now-- well, it's kind of a secret (Max told me that), they are just on a roll. Don't forget: these two are Olympians!!!
But next week they might take some days off. I think, Marla hinted something. But then, of course - Marla would hint that kind of thing.
Oh, I can see some people have arrived in the audience.
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By: Alexandra Boiger,
on 9/27/2015
Blog: Alexandra Boiger Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Marla and Max Alexandra Boiger, Add a tag
Blog: Alexandra Boiger Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Marla and Max Alexandra Boiger, Add a tag
Max:" And look here, Marla! They put up a new sign. It's the name of the person who created us!"
I think those two should relax now and drink a cup of hot chocolate for the next couple of days.
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By: Alexandra Boiger,
on 9/27/2015
Blog: Alexandra Boiger Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Marla and Max Alexandra Boiger, Add a tag
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JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Marla and Max Alexandra Boiger, Add a tag
0 Comments on MAX AND MARLA are still getting ready as of 9/27/2015 2:42:00 PM
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By: Alexandra Boiger,
on 9/27/2015
Blog: Alexandra Boiger Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Marla and Max Alexandra Boiger, Add a tag
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JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Marla and Max Alexandra Boiger, Add a tag
"Psst...Marla, it's only 16 more days now," says Max.
MAX AND MARLA are getting ready for October 13. It'll be their big day, and they are very nervous and excited.
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By: Dianna Dilworth,
on 9/25/2015
Blog: Galley Cat (Mediabistro) (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Book Biz, Penguin Books, Add a tag
By: Gi Hallmark,
on 7/21/2015
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Mysteries, Science Fiction, Ages 9-12, Technology, Science, Humor, Teenagers, YA Fiction, High School, Books for Boys, Books for Girls, Action, STEM, Penguin Books, Kathy Reichs, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, Virals, Teens: Young Adults, Brendan Reichs, Add a tag
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The Morris Island gang is back in Terminal, the fifth and final full installment of Kathy and Brendan Reichs’ NY Times Bestselling Virals series.
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By: Alexandra Boiger,
on 2/2/2015
Blog: Alexandra Boiger Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Alexandra Boiger, Penguin Books, G. P. Putnam's Sons, Add a tag
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MAX and MARLA tells the story of two best friends. They are adventurers. They are true Olympians who never give up and they will turn obstacles into victories!
My debut title as both author and illustrator will be published in October, 2015 by Putnam's Sons, an Imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group and I am so excited.
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By: Lizzy Burns,
on 10/8/2014
Blog: A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: reviews, historical fiction, adult fiction, mystery, 2014, penguin books, 2013, Berkley, Lyndsay Faye, Favorite Books of 2014, Add a tag
The Gods of Gotham (A Timothy Wilde Novel)
The Good: There are few things I like better than a historical mystery. Faye both recreates 1840s New York, full of details and interesting tidbits; yet also creates something that is a mirror to our own time. For example, the formation of the police force is far from simple. Part of it is need, with the growing size of the city and population. Then there is the mix of altruism and nepotism. Wilde, for example, gets a job on the new force not because he wants it or has any particular skill set -- he's a bartender. Rather, it's because of his politically connected brother.
Timothy Wilde is reluctant to even take the job, because he and his brother don't get along but for various reasons he needs the job. And, it turns out being a bartender is a pretty good skill set: observation, talking, listening, crowd management. Oh, and another thing: many regular people were opposed to a formation of the police, in part because they feared it was militarization. So.... 1840s questions that have parallels today.
The Gods of Gotham is the first in the series, and gives as much room to Timothy's own origin story as it does to the start of the police. He'd been left orphaned as a child, raised by his older brother, befriended by a local minister. Timothy isn't desperate enough to accept his brother's job until he loses everything in the Great New York Fire of 1845. And here is why I love fiction that accurately incorporates history: learning not just about fire but also the just how scary a fire was -- how it was fought -- and the devastating losses, both in terms of lives, injuries (Timothy's face is burnt, leaving scars), and property. Timothy's savings, all his property, is lost.And Faye's writing! I loved it. Here, an example of showing the bias of the times and where Timothy stands in terms of that prejudice: "Popery is widely considered to be a sick corruption of Christianity ruled by the Antichrist, the spread of which will quash the Second Coming like an ant. I don't bother responding to this brand of insanity for two reasons: idiots treasure their facts like newborns, and the entire topic makes my shoulders ache."
The Gods of Gotham, as that quote hints at, is about the immigration as a result of the Irish Potato Famine, how those Irish Catholics were treated in New York City, as well as missing children, prostitution, child prostitutes, private efforts at addressing the problems of poverty, women's rights, religion -- and, of course, the politics of the 1840s. And as I read it, I thought of all those historical fiction children's books, set in Ireland, set in other European countries, were the happy ending, the solution to poverty or discrimination, is emigration to America; and how often that was just the start of a new nightmare.
Seven for a Secret centers around a different group of New Yorkers than the one shown in the first book: the world of free blacks and runaway slaves. Without giving too much away -- don't worry. Timothy is not the Great White Hope that saves the day. The mystery involves that community, and so Timothy becomes involved, and at times he is ignorant of the laws and social mores and risks -- but the community itself has leaders, and Timothy works with them or for them. The African American characters are multifaceted and complex.
My favorite quote from Seven for a Secret: "He likes who he is in the story because it's the wrong story he's telling."
What else? I adore Timothy's older brother, Val. Yes, Timothy is often at odds with him; yes, Timothy is judgmental about Val's choices, from Val's politics to his substance abuse to his womanizing. But what captured me is that Val was a teen when his parents died; the two books show just how brutal and cold their world was, and just how indifferent it was to two orphaned boys. Timothy doesn't quite realize or appreciate just what Val did, was willing to do, to take care of him. Val, in some ways, has earned his right to drink or drug or romance too much. He's my 1840s Bad Boyfriend.
I also like how Faye portrays the female characters, including how Timothy views them. They are whole; more than tropes. (And having watched and/or read one too many historical fiction shows, where it's either the virginal wife (hey, you know what I mean) or the whore - -well, it was nice to see more than that, and to see Timothy himself seeing the disservice society does by viewing women as being either one or the other.)
Finally -- Timothy himself. He's in his mid-twenties, and while he's great at observations and putting the pieces of a puzzle together, he's not brilliant. He makes mistakes, mistakes that arise from his youth, his inexperience, his own biases (such as the ones he has about his brother), and his own stubbornness.
Good news: a third book is on its way! The Fatal Flame is scheduled for May 2015.
And yes -- these are some of my Favorite Books Read in 2014.
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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
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By: Bianca Schulze,
on 10/3/2014
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Ages 4-8, Ages 9-12, Kirsten Miller, Jason Segel, R.J. Palacio, Best Kids Stories, Best Selling Books For Kids, Book Lists, The New York Times, Gift Books, Books for Boys, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Rick Riordan, Best Sellers, Delacorte Press, Matthew Reinhart, Knopf Books for Young Readers, Mike Lupica, Middle Grade Books, Disney-Hyperion Books, Penguin Books, Philomel Books, Sharon M. Draper, Orchard Books, Add a tag
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Ages 4-8, Ages 9-12, Kirsten Miller, Jason Segel, R.J. Palacio, Best Kids Stories, Best Selling Books For Kids, Book Lists, The New York Times, Gift Books, Books for Boys, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Rick Riordan, Best Sellers, Delacorte Press, Matthew Reinhart, Knopf Books for Young Readers, Mike Lupica, Middle Grade Books, Disney-Hyperion Books, Penguin Books, Philomel Books, Sharon M. Draper, Orchard Books, Add a tag
This month we've seen some changes on the best selling middle grade books list due to the well timed releases of Jason Segel's Nightmares!—a great choice for the upcoming spooky season—and Mike Lupica's Fantasy League (Did somebody say football?).
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By: Gi Hallmark,
on 8/21/2014
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Virals, Seizure, Teens: Young Adults, Brendan Reichs, Virals Series, Terminal, YA Fiction Authors, Science Fiction, Science, Chapter Books, Author Interviews, featured, Code, Penguin Books, Exposure, Kathy Reichs, Add a tag
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Virals, Seizure, Teens: Young Adults, Brendan Reichs, Virals Series, Terminal, YA Fiction Authors, Science Fiction, Science, Chapter Books, Author Interviews, featured, Code, Penguin Books, Exposure, Kathy Reichs, Add a tag
Brendan Reichs, co-writer of the YA Fiction Virals series, shares with us some insights, favorites, and confessions of his dynamic author life.
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By: Lizzy Burns,
on 7/24/2014
Blog: A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: contemporary, 2009, penguin books, Gayle Forman, Favorite Books of 2014, Add a tag
If I Stay
There was a car accident.
She can see what is happening around her, but she cannot interact. She is not dead but she is not alive.
Her family is dead.
It's all her choice, whether to stay with the living. But what will her life be like, if her family is gone?
The Good: Confession: I did not read this when it first came out, in 2009. I skipped to the end of the book to find out her choice, then read other things.
Then I saw the trailer. And Chloe Grace Moretz's performance as Mia. And just from the trailer, I cried more than I cried in The Fault in Our Stars. Even though I have a pretty firm rule to not read books before movies, I broke the rule. In part because the trailer already seduced me into wanting to see the film version, and in part because even though that "read the end" moment had told me the ending, I wanted to know more about Mia and how how she got to that moment.
Looking for a book to make you cry buckets? Then this is the book for you. Yes, from the start you know there's been a car accident and her family is dead. You'd think that would mean, no tears because you already know the worst. So, why cry? Because If I Stay proceeds to flashback to Mia's family and OHMYGOD I love her parents. I want them to be MY parents. Mia is a teen who had a great, supportive family. Page after page just shows you the depth of what she has lost.
Page after page of If I Stay is also showing the depth of what Mia has to keep going: her best friend, her boyfriend, her music, her other family members. Her boyfriend! Adam, like Mia, is a musician, but entirely different music so that music isn't necessarily something they share. What they do share is respect and love and fun, and wow, Adam. I just loved him.
Seriously, Mia before the accident had a great life.
Reinvention and starting over is often the subject of novels, and there is something curiously appealing about suddenly having a clean slate. Typically, though, this is a fairly positive process in that it's a character's choice and what they are leaving is a place and people that they can return to. Vacations, holidays, changes in mind, all that means that what is left isn't really gone.
Mia is faced with a choice: does go back to a world where her life and the people in it will always be "behind" her? She was worried about the impact and changes leaving for college was going to be, and suddenly she has to face a life where those she thought she was leaving have left her.
Mia's going to be facing a life where no one shares her childhood memories. Or family jokes. Without the love and support of her parents.
Is that a life she wants? Is what she has left enough reason to stay?
I LOVED this book. Love, love, love. Who cares if its a 2009 title? It's a Favorite Book Read in 2014. Also -- I can't wait for the movie.
Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.
© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
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By: Lizzy Burns,
on 5/20/2014
Blog: A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: reviews, ballet, contemporary, 2014, penguin books, Favorite Books of 2014, Brandy Colbert, Add a tag
Pointe
The past comes back, fast and furious.
Donovan is found. Alive. It's been four years and Donovan is alive and coming home. Relief and joy and tinged with something else: fear.
Because Theo recognizes the face of Donovan's kidnapper. She knew him by a different name, but she knew him.
He was the boy she loved, the person who broke her heart when he left her. It's the same man.
Everything Theo thought she knew, about Donovan, about her old boyfriend, about herself, is about to be turned inside out. At least she still has ballet, but how long will that last, when people find out?
The Good: The Good? Everything. Everything is good.
Theo is such a complex, amazing, interesting young woman.
Readers of this blog may remember, I like to keep notes as I read -- I sketch family trees and timelines, jot down ages and names. As I'm sketching this out while reading Pointe, I realize what Theo does not. Oh, I also realize it because I'm old, a grown up, I'm not a teenager. When Theo was with her first love, Trent, the person she loves and believes was wonderful, Theo was thirteen. And Trent was eighteen.
Theo was crushed when Trent disappeared on her, and had few people to confide in because there were so few people who knew about Theo and Trent. Donovan was the only person, actually, who knew. Now that Donovan has been found, Theo learns not just that Donovan was with Trent, but that Trent's real name is Christopher. And that he's thirty. Which means that not only did he lie to her about his name, he also lied about his age: instead of being eighteen, he was twenty-six. And she was thirteen.
And here is one reason I just flat out adored Theo: through all this, she's thinking "what about me" and "what does this mean to me." She dances around what all this means to Donovan, wondering mostly if Donovan ran away with Christopher and voluntarily stayed with him.
Part of what I loved about Pointe was how long it takes Theo to come to the place that you, the reader, does.
What Theo had wasn't love; it never was. But her love for Trent (well, Christopher) was such a part of Theo's identity, that she just cannot look at the facts, the numbers -- she has to deal with the emotions. Her love. And because she has to believe that what she had was real, when she looks at Donovan she believes about him what she believes about herself: that the then-thirteen year old Donovan had a choice, a choice about being with and staying with Christopher.
Donovan has been silent since his return home, not leaving his house, not talking to anyone, including Theo. No one knows Theo's secret. And part of Theo is very happy -- and very relieved -- at Donovan's silence.
From the outside, Theo looks put together and strong. You'd have to be, to become such a talented dancer. Pointe is clear about the dedication it takes to reach the place that Theo is now at. The reality? Then, she was a thirteen year old girl swayed by the attentions of an older boy, wanting to be loved, wanting to make him happy. Now, it turns out, is not that much better. Hosea, the boy she likes, is her age, goes to her school, but, in addition to being the local drug dealer, is dating someone else.
Theo doesn't quite realize the parallels between the two loves of her life. Oh, the present boy is age-appropriate and also power-appropriate. They are equals. Which means that what the present relationship shows the reader is what Theo thinks is mutual affection and respect and love; what she'll put up in order to get what she thinks is love; what she'll settle for.
As you can see from all those paragraphs, what intrigues me the most about Pointe is the relationships and emotional journey of Theo. There is so much more! Hosea, for example, is a fully realized character, and may be the nicest, sweetest, drug dealer cheater in book history. I so understood why Theo likes him and wants him, even as I realized that it was much less clear cut than Theo believes.
Theo is one of the only black kids in her dance class, in her school, in her neighborhood. Donovan was only of the others. This matters, in that it shows her relationship with her peers. What it means when the topic of segregation comes up in school, and she is asked to give examples of what that meant to her family.
And of course this is a mystery: what happened to Donovan? What, if anything, should Theo say about what she knows? And it's a story about being passionate about something as all-consuming and physical as ballet. And it's about friendship, I haven't even mentioned Theo's two best friends, Sara-Kate and Phil. Or Theo and eating, and what she eats and why, and how that is part of who Theo is rather than the only thing.
Because this is such an elegant, complex book this is one of my Favorite Books Read in 2014.
Other reviews: Stacked; Slate Breakers; Los Angeles Review of Books.
Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.
© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
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By: Alexandra Boiger,
on 3/7/2014
Blog: Alexandra Boiger Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Alexandra Boiger, Penguin Books, Lola's Heart, Add a tag
Blog: Alexandra Boiger Illustration (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Alexandra Boiger, Penguin Books, Lola's Heart, Add a tag
Back in December 2011 I started to post about Lola on this blog. The story was born then, only I didn't really understand it yet. Lola forced her way onto my paper and gradually I understood that it is one of the stories I wanted to tell. I have been bursting to announce the book since quite some time now. In Fall 2015 Lola's Heart will be published by Penguin Books. This will be my first book as a writer/illustrator.
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By: Venetia Butterfield,
on 10/15/2013
Blog: The Penguin Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Cooks, pen vogler, food, history, Food and Drink, Jane Austen, pride and prejudice, food writing, penguin books, food blog, Add a tag
The first in a series of Penguin Cooks blogs, here one of our resident food experts, Pen Vogler, tells us a little about the food featured in some of Jane Austen's earliest works.
Next year, Jane Austen’s juvenilia will be published in Penguin Classics for the first time. It may seem odd to be trumpeting this on a food blog, but the young writer delighted in culinary obsessions. Foremost of foodies in the juvenilia is Charlotte Luttrell of Lesley Castle (written when Jane was 16) who, broiling, roasting and baking her sister’s wedding feast, is appalled to hear of the groom’s life-threatening accident; "Good God!" (said I) "you don't say so? Why what in the name of Heaven will become of all the Victuals?” Her sister is too afflicted to even eat a chicken wing.
The Georgian dinner table hosted some strange dishes and I wonder if the vile-sounding “fried Cowheel & Onion” which comes in her lampoon, The Visit, was a riposte to some adult attempt to make her eat it. A more acceptable treat is joked about by the twelve-year-old Jane whose The Beautifull Cassandra, “proceeded to a Pastry-cooks where she devoured six ices, refused to pay for them, knocked down the Pastry cook and walked away.”
Even I baulk at fried cow’s heel, but I have had a lovely time cooking my way through dishes that Jane mentions in her novels and letters. As a young woman, left in charge of the housekeeping, she writes with relish about ordering braised ox-cheek and indeed it is gorgeous; melty and tender and just the thing for a cold day.
Braised Ox-Cheek, updated from an original recipe by Mrs Rundell, A New System of Domestic Cookery, 1806
Brought up, as she was, on meat from her father’s livestock, ‘haricot mutton’ is another Austen favourite that deserves to be restored to the contemporary table. And who wouldn’t agree with her that “Good apples pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness”.
A Buttered Apple Tart, updated from an original recipe by Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, 1747
Dinner with Mr Darcy: Recipes inspired by the novels and letters of Jane Austen is published by Cico books, £16.99 in hardback.
Pen Vogler is the editor of Penguin's Great Food series. If you enjoyed the above, read more on her blog, Pen's Great Food Club, where she describes cooking with recipes from history. For more foodie updates, follow her on Twitter / @penfrompenguin
By: Amanda,
on 1/25/2013
Blog: A Patchwork of Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: adult fiction, Penguin books, Mary Ellen Taylor, Add a tag
Well, I now know how all of you that caught the dreaded stomach bug have felt these past couple of months. I was really hoping it would skip our house, but it started with Elliott, went to me, and has now hit my poor husband, who I think got the worst of it.
A bit blurry, my apologies. Even when sick, the little monkey is adorable and always with a mischeivous glint in his eye. He's SO his father's child.
As I was cozied up on the couch yesterday, feeling incredibly sorry for myself, I read The Union Street Bakery by Mary Ellen Taylor. It was a great choice to take my mind off the queasiness in my stomach! It takes place in Old Town Alexandria, where I worked up until November when I decided to stay home with my little guy. It's such a beautiful town, with a truly old fashioned feel, which made for an excellent setting for a story.
The main character, Daisy, loses her job in finance and is forced to move back home to help run her family's failing bakery on Union Street. In the family for generations, everyone expects Daisy to save the place, though she's not even sure she can. She doesn't really want to be there, doesn't get along with her sisters who also assist in the running of the business, and on her first day back is approached by a crazy old lady who insists she knows Daisy's birth mother who left her at the bakery when she was only three years old. There's a bit of a ghost story, a slave's journal, and plenty of baking deliciousness all thrown into the story. It was a quick read, complete with amazing recipes that I cannot wait to try, and characters that were easy to like.
Even in my stomach flu haze, I did feel like there was a lot going on in the story, but it didn't make me stop reading. I think the ghost portion could have been left out and it would have made for a better flow of plot. The setting, however, was spot on and really fun to read about being a frequent visitor to Old Town.
So many of my blogging pals have been struck down by illness lately too. Make sure you grab a book or two that is easy to read and keeps the pages moving quickly. Too heavy and I know I definitely can't concentrate, especially when my stomach is queasy and my head pounding. Hoping everyone starts feeling better soon!
Thank you to Penguin for the review copy of The Union Street Bakery.
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By: Renee Taprell,
on 5/12/2012
Blog: Books for Little Hands (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Allen and Unwin, Penguin Books, Diana Lawrenson, It’s True Your Hair Grows 15 Kilometres a Year, Guide Dogs From Puppies to Partners, Crocodile River, Paraphernalia’s Present, Add a tag
I remember saying in grade 2 I’d like to write a book – but that was looking to the future and way before I had any understanding of all that would be involved. Something must have been there, though, because I always enjoyed writing letters.
What was your journey to publication like?
My first pieces were published when I was a child in the children’s page of one of Melbourne’s daily newspapers. When I was pregnant with my second child I attended writing classes with my two-year-old on my knee – to stop him from distracting everyone by screaming blue murder in the crèche across the hall. For a number of years I wrote travel pieces, profiles, general articles and features for various newspapers and magazines that are always hungry for material. My son and daughter had both left school before I turned to writing books for children.
In the years before crocodiles were protected, my uncle hunted them in Papua New Guinea, selling their skins to the fashion houses of Paris. When I was small he would come down on leave to Melbourne and tell exciting tales of his night hunts on the rivers, so from early on I became fascinated by crocodiles.
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By: gaby317,
on 3/11/2011
Blog: Starting Fresh (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, Nightshade by Andrea Cremer, Add a tag
The blurb:
Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from Mountain School, she’ll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters’ laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything -- including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?
Review:
I loved Nightshade 
partly because of the characters and the unusual world that they inhabit. Andrea Cremer constructed a world with a supernatural beings, special powers, a clear hierarchy/hegemony where the high schoolers are exceptionally literate, driven, and aware.
partly because of the characters and the unusual world that they inhabit. Andrea Cremer constructed a world with a supernatural beings, special powers, a clear hierarchy/hegemony where the high schoolers are exceptionally literate, driven, and aware.Calla and Ren are young Alphas from separate packs. They’ve been raised as Guardians and have been specially chosen to create a new pack - through their “union.” The union seems to be both a marriage of sorts and alliance of the young members of their packs. Calla is an interesting leader - as a woman paired off with Ren, her behavior is strictly regulated and circumscribed. She is willing to follow the rules and live by the pack’s expectations when it comes to her own future but she’s deeply protective of the young members of her pack.
At first look, Ren appears less complicated. As the Alpha male, he’s been encouraged to test boundaries and to explore. Ren is the ultimate athlete and a natural leader. He is quick to shoot down anyone who comes to close to his partner-to-be Calla. But as Nightshade unfolds, we learn that Ren has accepted the responsibilities and expectations that come wi
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, 2010, penguin books, Jean-Luc Fromental, Joelle Jolivet, alphabet pop-ups, Mike Haines, Julia Frohlich, Wild Alphabet An A to Zoo Pop-Up, 10 Little Penguins A Pop-Up, Add a tag
Wild Alphabet: An A to Zoo Pop-Up Book, by Mike Haines and Julia Frohlich, Kingfisher, $19.99, ages 3 and up, 52 pages. Twenty-five animals and one little insect play peek-a-boo with readers in this delightful alphabet pop-up that's small enough for a child to hold. Every letter is paired with a creature whose name starts with the same letter. On the right of each spread is an image of the letter and the creature popping up or sliding around each other, and to the left is a photograph of the same creature and a brief write-up about its behavior. Each description is written to sound like it's coming from the animal itself and highlights a word in playful type that epitomizes what this animal does best. For Hippopotamus, the word is "wallowing," and the type waves about on the page. Every page brings a fun and unexpected surprise sure to widen eyes, beginning with A for Antelope. As you open this spread, a bold letter A splits opens from its center like a door and the head of this long-legged beauty rises to you.
In another spread, a chinchilla scrambles around an exercise wheel, revealing a C behind the rungs, and in my favorite, J is for Jaguar, a sleek black cat slinks out from behind the J, just far enough to look sneaky, and make your insides tingle (and giggles spill).
In another spread, a chinchilla scrambles around an exercise wheel, revealing a C behind the rungs, and in my favorite, J is for Jaguar, a sleek black cat slinks out from behind the J, just far enough to look sneaky, and make your insides tingle (and giggles spill).
10 Little Penguins: A Pop-Up Book, written by Jean-Luc Fromental, illustrated by Joelle Jolivet, engineered by Bernard Dulsit, translated by Amanda Katz, Abrams, $17.95, ages 4-8, 24 pages. From the French team that created the hilarious, oversized picture book, 365 Penguins, comes an adorable pop-up countdown. Ten penguins playing on the ice disappear one by one, but no worries, this isn't because their home is shrinking. Each is slipping out of the scene just for kicks and will reappear under an iceberg at book's end. Fromenthal's rhymes are a delight as he takes readers through playtime mishaps, beginning with penguin # 10 who's bowled off the ice into the brine and continuing to #1, who (chilled to the bone) hops a bus for Valparaiso. Jolivet and Dulsit punctuate each humorous verse, first setting up each playful scene then bringing on the mishap with a quick turn or pull of a tab, like penguin #9 getting swept into the water by a whale's tail and penguin #5 twirling under the ice while making figure eights. This is a book to be read and viewed sideways, again and again and again. "Please, Mom, just once more?"
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By: gaby317,
on 11/4/2010
Blog: Starting Fresh (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, Grace Under Pressure: A Manor House Mystery by Julie Hyzy, Berkeley Mysteries, Add a tag
Grace Under Pressure (Manor House Mysteries, No. 1)
The blurb:
Everyone wants a piece of millionaire Bennett Marshfield, owner of Marshfield Manor, and letters are coming in daily from those claiming to be poor relations. The elderly, reclusive heir trusts no one but his aged curator, Abe. But when Abe is killed in a case of mistaken identity, the tale changes. . . .
Although shaken by the murder, Grace Wheaton, whose lifelong dream has been to work at the manor, steps up to the challenge of assuming Abe's job.But now some of the letters arriving for Bennett have taken a nasty turn, demanding millions--or else. When an uninvited stalker shows up at the manor and at Grace's home, she and handsome groundskeeper Jack Embers must protect their dear old Marshfield. But to do this, they'll have to investigate a botched Ponzi scheme, some torrid Wheaton family secrets--and sour grapes out for revenge. . . .
Review:
Grace Under Pressure
Well crafted, witty and engrossing, Grace Under Pressure is a book that I'd recommend to cozy lovers everywhere. I look forward to the next installment in the Manor House Mysteries.
ISBN-10: 0425235211 - Mass Market Paperback $7.99
Publisher: Berkley (June 1, 2010), 320 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
About the Author:
An award-winning author, Julie Hyzy also enjoys writing short stories, many of them mysteries and science fiction. Julie was born in Chicago, but loves the history and grandeur of Washington D.C.
Thank you so much to Dana Kaye and the publisher for this review opportunity!
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By: gaby317,
on 11/4/2010
Blog: Starting Fresh (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: memoirs, Penguin Books, Laura Munson's This Is Not The Story You Think It Is. . . A Story of Unlikely Happiness, Add a tag
I've started reviewing books for Town & Country magazine in the Philippines. For January, I've tried to choose books that encourage us to appreciate the relationships and people that matter in our lives. One book that I recommend is This Is Not The Story You Think It Is: A Season of Unlikely Happiness
This Is Not The Story You Think It Is. . . A Season of Unlikely Happiness is the true account of a woman who married her college sweetheart and their “happily ever after.” They were young, beautiful, successful -- they grew careers and built their lives together. They moved to Montana and lived surrounded by the mountains and grounded by nature. Then suddenly, things fell apart.
Laura’s husband of fourteen years suddenly announced that he needed to be alone, that he couldn’t say that he loved her and that he wasn’t sure that he had ever loved her. Faced with the destruction of the life and family that she loved, Laura Munson fought -- for her husband, her marriage, and her sense of self. &nbs
Laura’s husband of fourteen years suddenly announced that he needed to be alone, that he couldn’t say that he loved her and that he wasn’t sure that he had ever loved her. Faced with the destruction of the life and family that she loved, Laura Munson fought -- for her husband, her marriage, and her sense of self. &nbs
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By: Mabel Kaplan,
on 10/28/2010
Blog: TALES I TELL (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Penguin Books, Aussie Chomps, Angela Sunde, girl heroes, children's books, Children's Authors, Add a tag
Today I have a Guest Blogger: Angela Sunde. This is a first for me! What it means is that I don't have to dream up appropriate questions or do any of the hard work. Angela is just going to do all that and all I have to do is paste what she says on this blog and sit back and enjoy!In case you don't already know, Angela is the author of Pond Magic - one of Peguin's Aussie Chomps series. If you
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By: Venetia Butterfield,
on 6/15/2010
Blog: The Penguin Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: football, books, world cup, Penguin books, Add a tag
Out of Office reply:
Thank you for your message. I will be out of the office now from June 11th - July 11th. I will be checking my e-mails on my return, but if England don’t win the World Cup, I might not come back at all.
Oh it's that time once again. For thirty glorious days England expects, and as football fever sweeps the nation, Penguin Books have decided to show their full support for Fabio's men.
In a controversial move, Penguin Books have renamed a number of their summer titles in time for the World Cup finals.
New titles include:
The Case For Working with your Hands: A radical new goalscoring strategy by Matthew Crawford
Fabio, Naked by Nick Hornby
The Help: We need all we can get by Kathryn Stockett.
Penguin employee Roy Cannavaro, a branding executive, has high hopes for the titles.
"I think they will inspire England to win. The manager Fabio Capello is well known to read Peppa Pig to Wayne Rooney at bedtimes before he tucks him in.”
Penguin, an unofficial sponsor of the 2010 World Cup will not be following in the footsteps of Toshiba, who have promised full refunds to customers of HD televisions if England win the World Cup, and Sports Direct who will give fans their money back who purchased shirts if England lift the trophy.
However, famous for the invention of the paperback by Allen Lane in 1935, Penguin is once again at the cutting edge of book technology. An even slimmer paperback has been designed to fit in the players’ shorts and shirt pockets during games at the finals.
Joe Di Canio, a literary clothes stylist/publicist at Penguin says that the new paperback will add to overall player movement and comfort.
"Ashley Cole could do with bulking up a bit and it will also give him something to do if he gets lonely out on the left side of defence."
However, while Penguin's patriotic marketing technique has been hailed by some as "brave and pioneering”, some literary purists believe that something must be done to put an end to this “soccer madness.”
A. Ferguson, the scottish founder of the 'Penguin for Justice' movement believes that it is bringing the company's name and history into disrepute, and ruining the image of books around the world. “I would rather eat a book than watch it be defaced in such a way.”
With the recent launch of the iPad and the traditional reading drought that occurs during the World Cup month, publishers are increasingly looking for ways to compete in a competitive marketplace. Whether Penguin's bold marketing strategy pays off, and whether it will help England to win the World Cup, only time will tell. But regardless of the outcome, and in those famous words of 1966: "They think it's all over, it is now. So read a book."
Ben Brusey
Editorial Assistant, Viking
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Thanks for the review. This looks like an interesting series of books and I just love the cover.
Hey Gaby!!!!Great review!! have a great weekend!!!