Once upon a time there was a young girl. Who didn’t look
like you and me. She was a wolf girl and was forced to let people stare at her
for a few pennies. But one day she finds some friends….freaks like her…and all
of a sudden, she finds a home. And a mystery!

Sheba is a “freak” and does not know where she belongs in Freaks
by first time novelist Kieran Larwood. This mystery set in Victorian London is
a sweet, funny and exciting ride along the streets of the magnificent, but also
very seedy, world. Sheba and her new found friends must find out who is
stealing the “mudlark children” (the poor who search the river at low tide for
whatever they can find to sell).

But the mystery turns deadly when Sheba, Monkey Boy and
Sister Moon learn that what you see is not always the truth.

Historical information in the back and illustrations by the
author create an amazing adventure for kids ages 10 to 14. 

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Usually I talk about the story, but this book is more than just a story. This book is done in the “cardboard” or “board book” format. It has nice, hard, sturdy pages that will allow your child to hold the book. And play with it as much as read it! I know that many a child takes this type of book, lines up the bears, dolls and other toys and has a grand time of reading!

Red Wagon will be the perfect book that will spark the imagination in your child, grandchild, nieces or nephews!  And you can find this, other board books and books on imagination at the Northshire Bookstore!

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Mr. Berg is the younger son of Nathan Berg, a human pile driver whose volatile temperament expanded proportionately with his business setbacks — and his setbacks were considerable and frequent. Nathan took out his frustrations on his entire family, but David’s older brother, Alan, was the preferred target of his father’s wrath. Nathan’s dream had been to become a doctor, but, like most everything else in his life, it didn’t work out. The disappointment hovered over Berg; a merciless reminder that, no matter what else he accomplished, in his own mind it would be second best.

Alan, who had alienated himself further from his father by not becoming a doctor, offered David a kind of firewall, protecting him from Nathan’s emotional browbeating. It seemed for a while that Nathan had finally found the promise of some financial security after he and Alan opened an upholstery business in Houston. A fire ended all that. There was no insurance and the Bergs were back on square one, but they had acquired a flair for resilience — of sorts.

The relationship between Nathan and Alan continued to be explosive. Alan’s fourth wife, Harriet, had a stabilizing influence on her new husband’s chaotic life. The couple had two sons and all the attendant financial responsibilities that come with children. Alan began drifting back into bad habits. He bet large sums on sporting events and couldn’t always pay up quickly when he lost. Then one day, he just never came home.

Much of the book is concerned with Nathan’s desperate attempts to discover what became of his son. The man who continually fought with Alan, belittling and humiliating him, would spend thousands of dollars tracking down every lead, no matter how far-fetched and tenuous, only to arrive at a destination that Alan’s family very likely knew that it was going to reach from the very start of their nightmare.

I am sure writing Run, Brother, Run provided Mr. Berg with a catharsis and it provides a gripping story for the reader. I suspect a lot of attention, however, will focus on the fact that the central villain of the tale is the father of actor Woody Harrelson. It would be difficult to find any redeeming qualities in Charles “Chuck” Harrelson, even if his famous son had the resources to hire the same lawyer who was so instrumental in helping O.J. Simpson beat the hangman. But, aside from the Hollywood connection, there is nothing particularly interesting about Harrelson. He’s a garden variety thug whose kid happened to be famous. (Oliver Stone told Woody to “act like your father” when they were filming Natural Born Killers.)

The most deviously fascinating character in a book that is overflowing with them is the lawyer Charles Harrelson hired to defend him at the trial for Alan Berg’s murder. Percy Forman was one of those legendarily flamboyant lawyers who could better serve justice by being ficticious. He once hired a van to clean out a client’s home of its valuables as payment for his “services,” a maneuver that even outraged a judge in Texas. Forman’s liberal interpretation of “win at any cost defense” is the most shocking aspect of the book.

David Berg is a lawyer as well as a writer, but that fact doesn’t preclude him from painting a very dim picture of the legal system in America. Run, Brother, Run may have had it’s origins in Mr. Berg’s anger and frustration, but this worthy attempt to place a human face on his flawed brother’s rocky life is also a jarring reminder that justice is awed by fame, easily manipulated by unscrupulous men, and — are you ready for this revelation? — corrupted by money.

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Winterveil due in July of this year. Shadowcry and Blackwatch start Kate Winters adventures. Finding out that you can walk between the world of the living and the world of the dead has many dangers. Especially when even your friends want to use you for their own gains! (Ages 12 up).

We can follow that up with Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby by John Boyne, the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.  Barnaby does not obey the law of gravity. From Brazil to New York, Canada to Ireland, and even space, he meets all sorts of different people, discovering he really is along the way. (Ages 10 up)

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne is a debut novel. Six high school kids, two eighth graders, and six littlekids are trapped together in a chain superstore. Outside, disasters are tearing the world apart. Sky on Fire continues the adventures. (Ages 14 up).

And last, but not least My Big, Fat Zombie Goldfish by Mo O’Hara. Recommended to me by astrong, precocious 6 year old, she tells me this would be good for ages 8 to 10 who like Captain Underpants. She hasn’t quite finished it yet, but promises to give me a review of it soon! Until then, this is what the publisher has to say: In this hilarious debut novel, the first in an illustrated chapter book series, a budding evil scientist’s experiment goes horribly right by turning the family’s new goldfish Frankie into a Big Fat Zombie Goldfish! (I am sooo exited!) This is due “soon”. So come to the store a preoreder a copy today!

You can find these, and other books to add to you must read list at the Northshire Bookstore!

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No hidden meanings in these books…
1. Publishers chose great covers:
Why? Because they’ve been at it and they know what they’re doing.  For example, Vanessa Farquharson hated the cover of her book, Sleeping Naked is Green. But I like it.  It’s funny.  It represents the book well, which is also funny.   Writers write and publishers market.  So go marketing team, you sold me a book.  See, not all marketing is bad.

Political books often feature a photo of the author on the cover. That’s because publishers know that the readers who are going to pick that book up are doing it because they recognize the author and may want to read what they have to say.  Many of those authors may not have chosen to put themselves on the covers (or maybe they would.  Ugh, politicians).

Did you enjoy the movie?  Good thing the movie poster is on the front of the book to let you know that Blade Runner was based a book originally titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Or that Precious was based on the book Push.

Enjoy my smile? Buy the book!

2. Made just for you:
Publishers know their audience.  They know what age, gender, and interests they should target in their readers and will pick a cover that appeals to those people.  For example, when I look for a kids’ book, I don’t want anything that is too strongly male or female.  I like stories to be fantastical, but not strictly fantasy.  I also like things kind of creepy, but not scary.  No surprise that I picked up Gustav Gloom, The Girl who Circumnavigated, and also The Tell-Tale Start.  All of these books have gender neutral* covers and are a little mysterious-looking.  Loved them.  Harry Potter? Yep, you fit the bill.

I also dislike reading books about young love, lust, or anything in between.  It’s a no-brainer that I won’t be reading Sarah Dessenthis summer.  All of her covers are marketed to a female, teen audience and have all kinds of hearts and frills on the covers.  I don’t like violence either, so I won’t be reading Department 19.  That doesn’t mean these are bad covers (in fact, the covers are great), it just means they were not marketed to my interests.

Personal copy #127

That’s just kid’s books.  I can go on and on about adult books, because they are a little less obvious with the covers.  However, it’s safe to say that if you are drawn to a cover, it’s probably because you were meant to be. (Hello, impulse purchase of Farewell My Subaru, a book I highly recommend.)

Sometimes a book gets a new cover to appeal to a different audience.  Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea books got new covers that appeal to a slightly younger audience than they did originally.  That makes sense because a YA reader could enjoy them just as much as a reader of adult fantasy.  Classic books often get  classy, old-timey covers, to show off their timelessness.  (How many editions of Jane Eyre do I own, just because I loved the covers? I’ll never tell.)

Yellow and about lights? Perfect!

3. Because you can:
You should pick up a book and be dazzled from the very start, meaning the cover.  You should be excited to open the book and get to reading. Something about it should grab you and hold you.  A great cover is the first step to that.  Plus, you know best what looks prettiest in your home library.  I have a preference for yellow and orange books, myself. No reason.  Just do.  Also, science books with purple covers.  Hardcovers with stripes on the spines make me happy I keep books in my bedroom.

*By gender neutral I mean that the book doesn’t try to be a “boy book” or a “girl book.”  You know, no fairies, gun, sports, or cleavage. Nothing that screams “I THINK GENDER IS IMPORTANT AND YOU HAVE TO BE A GIRL OR BOY TO LOVE THIS BOOK.” It does not mean that there are no male or female characters on the cover.

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 This one snuck into the shop to be fixed during Open Studio Weekend … I didn’t pay much attention to it until i turned it over  …

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“If I had it all to do over, I’d rather have all the pain and danger and trouble than to be just a plain farmer.” — Frank James

By 1876, the sun was setting in the Old West and even the outlaws were becoming aware of it. If their bad habits persisted, it was usually because life seemed so dull and uneventful after the shoot-em-up years began to wane. It wasn’t easy earning an honest living when the only thing a man knew how to do that was worth a damn was dishonest.

The country was beginning to recover from the devastation wrought by the Civil War,
although old resentments still lingered, especially in the border states. When they exploded, they could still be as deadly as any battlefield.

Frank James was born in Kearney, Missouri in 1843 and his brother, Jesse, in 1847. Their father was a minister, who passed away when Frank was 12-years-old. As young men, the brothers had their share of scrapes with the law, but they embarked on their trail of infamy with a vengeance after a bungled raid on the James farm by Pinkerton operatives left their mother injured and their young half-brother dead. Jesse promptly murdered a neighboring farmer whom he thought had supplied information to the Pinkertons.

The violent and bloody road that Frank and Jesse set out upon eventually led them to a bank in Northfield, Minnesota. They had joined forces with the Younger brothers, Bob, Jim, and Cole, a some other ne’er-do-wells. Northfield’s bank hadn’t been the gang’s first choice to rob, but the layout of the town and the bank had been carefully scrutinized. It looked like an easy morning’s work.

It didn’t turn out that way. Northfield residents didn’t much care for the looks of the ruffians who rode into their town on the morning of September 7, 1876. When the James/Younger gang rode out, two of its members lay dead in the street and a cashier in the bank had been brutally — and senselessly — murdered

The robbers rode away with a little over $26.00 for their efforts, but the brazen crime instigated the biggest manhunt since John Wilkes Booth had been cornered and killed 20 years earlier.

Mark Lee Gardner’s book, Shot All to Hell, is about the hunt for the perpetrators of the Northfield robbery. The book is written in a style that fits its subject like a pair of comfortable boots, scuffs and all. It has a lot of the good guys and bad guys aspects of a good Louis L’Amour western, complete with an evocative — and slightly lurid — title; Train robberies, bank hold-ups, outlaws on the run and posses just a few hours behind.

The adventure elements are played out amidst one of the most turbulent periods in American history and Mr. Gardner deftly incorporates the bloody times into his story of a band of men who contributed heavily to the blood-letting and, even more significantly, to the romantic aura that always evolve from the disreputable glamour of gunsmoke and lawlessness.

The author isn’t taking sides here. It is largely left to the reader to decide whether Frank and Jesse were worthy of any admiration. Mr. Gardner is simply telling a good story. Or, more precisely, the end of a story. Jesse’s violent demise was probably inevitable and provided an accelerant to the legend that was growing even while he was alive. Frank’s death serves as a reminder that history and inevitability are sometimes only passing acquaintances.

Shot All to Hell will be published by William Morrow in July, 2013.

Book List

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title=”Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West’s Greatest Escape” onerror=”this.src = ‘/sites/all/modules/custom/aba_product/book_not_found.jpg’;” />

Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West’s Greatest Escape (Hardcover)

By Mark Lee Gardner

$27.99

ISBN-13: 9780061989476
Availability: Coming Soon – Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: William Morrow & Company, 7/2013

Other Editions of this Title

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