Library Talk.

In 1986, a young and naïve photojournalist named Didier Lefèvre started an amazing journey.  As part of an expedition of the humanitarian aid group Médecins Sans Frontièrs (Doctors Without Borders), Lefèvre would document the work of this group as they traveled from Pakistan into remote northern Afghanistan to build a hospital and staff another that was built during the last mission.  Months of preparation is required for the weeks of travel by horse and donkey it will take to reach the region of Badakhshan.  During the three months Lefèvre is in Afghanistan, he experiences first-hand the difficulties MSF faces in trying to provide medical services along with the physical toll the harsh environment and decades of war have taken on the Afghan people.  The journey also affects Lefèvre personally in ways that he couldn't even begin to anticipate.

The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders is the result of a combined effort of multiple people.  Lefèvre's photographs and writings from his journal are illustrated with the artwork of Emmanuel Guibert and Frédéric Lemercier, with the original French text beautifully translated into English by Alexis Siegel.  The result is stunning and powerful.  Lefèvre's stark and often haunting black and white images of the Afghan people and landscape are tempered by the colored panels detailing Lefèvre's personal journey.  His experience is highly emotional, from the almost daily trauma he witnesses to a series of decisions made near the end of his travels that nearly cost him his life.  Anyone looking for outstanding travel writing or unique insight into the history and culture of Afghanistan will be captivated by this very personal and engaging story.

The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going

Evie and her dad are moving to Beaumont, New York.  For Evie it means they're moving to Nowhere, USA and far, far from her mother.  They are both grieving deeply since the death of Evie's mother and not really talking to each other about their shared loss.  But when they get to Beaumont it's even worse than Evie imagined.  The farm her dad bought is surrounded by a huge apple orchard that looks pretty much dead and the town of Beaumont isn't much better.  Plus there is a graveyard right across the road.  It's just too creepy for comfort.  Pretty soon Evie hears the rumor that the town is cursed because of the man who owned their farm before.  It's not a good start to their new life.

Then things begin to get strange.  Evie meets a boy in the graveyard who claims he is a ghost and she is given a birthday gift from a man she never met.   It's a seed that is said to come from the Garden of Eden and only Evie can make its magic work to heal the town and maybe even her own broken heart.  And just to make everything really weird there's the mystery of a girl who disappeared years ago from the apple orchard never to be seen again.  A girl whose name was Eve.  

Evies new graveyard friend Alex is excited to help her solve the mysteries and they both disappear into some very strong magic as they look for answers.  And they need those answers before they and the town run out of time. 

Author K.L. Going has created a book filled with great characters, suspense, magic, friendship, loss and love.  Readers in 4th -8th grades will need to find out what happens next in this page turner of a story.

Navy Captain Will Laurence was moving nicely along in his career when his ship captured a French frigate and he discovers a very valuable cargo; a dragon's egg.  The egg hatches and the beautiful black dragonet bonds with Captain Laurence.  This is the end of his naval career; because dragons and their bondee(?) or bonder(?) become a part of the British Aerial Corps.  These aviators are viewed askance by the regular services, after all dragons are dangerous.   Temeraire is very smart and he likes to be read to. He can't hold the books himself, talons aren't good for that, you know, plus since he grew quickly to weigh over 8 tons, it makes the books pretty darn small.  Captain Laurence and Temeraire are sent to the wilds of Scotland for combat training, with other dragons and their humans.  Soon they are ready to fight Napoleon's Aerial Corps. They engage in one of biggest battles and win because of the special nature of Temeraire.

I know more about the manners of the British aristocracy than military issues and the aristocratic manners are portrayed fairly accurately, so I am going to assume, I know dangerous to assume, that the military protocol and the historical battles are accurate also. 

Captain Laurence is a very noble man and struggles with the casualness in the aerial corps.  He is righteous and does the right thing no matter what, but Temeraire does question some of the issues and forces Laurence to reexamine them.  Temeraire and Laurence become very good friends. If you enjoy Patrick O'Brien's naval stories or Alexander Kent's and you like dragon fantasies, you will enjoy Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon.   This book is the start of a series; there are five right now with number six being released in July 2010.

In The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri, the superstition about bad things happening in threes has certainly come true for Kate Robinson. Her mother's death from cancer, the failure of her fashion line, the betrayal of her longtime boyfriend--everything has come unraveled. When Kate travels to Ireland on the trip that she and her mother meant to take together, the rain and the green landscape feel like her home in Seattle. The village of Glenmara, however, is a world apart. Kate is stranded there due to an erratic bus schedule and stays because of the kindness of Bertie, one of the lace makers.  As she learns the craft of making lace from the women of the village, reminiscent of the way that she learned to sew from her mother, Kate begins to deal with that loss as she finds a new outlet for her creativity. Love, she believes, can wait until she has more faith in her own judgment.

I was most interested in the lace makers themselves, whose relationships with each other are rooted in a lifetime of history, lending the kind of security that only comes over time. Kate becomes a catalyst for change, but the women make it their own. With warm characters, a setting that is equal parts timeless history and inevitable change, and an unhurried pace, The Lace Makers of Glenmara is an excellent choice for a book group read or a companion on a rainy Seattle afternoon.

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World   by Tracy Kidder

This week's Chronicle of Philanthropy ran a front-page story on Partners in Health, one of the most effective NGO's in Haiti today.   Its programs are being replicated by other organizations throughout the developing world.   The mission of Partners in Health is prominent on their website:  "to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care."  So is the phrase: "Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes" to provide good health care to the poor is what Paul Farmer has been doing since 1983, the year before he started med school.  He managed to ace Harvard Medical School while spending much of the school year working in Haiti.  He routinely walked many miles to remote villages in order to visit patients too ill to come to the clinic. Whatever it takes. With the assistance of a generous donor and a classmate from Harvard, he developed a health care strategy that started with meeting basic needs such as food and clean water, so that effective medical treatment would be possible.  Whatever it takes. He began successful treatment of HIV and TB in the poorest areas of Haiti and Peru when others said it couldn't be done, and published his work so that it could be used by others.  All of this was accomplished before the year 2000, before the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made a $44.7 million dollar grant to Partners in Health to further their work. Since then, Partners in Health has expanded its operations to nine countries and has become a world leader in global health.      

Author Tracy Kidder interviewed dozens of Farmer's friends, colleagues and family members, and spent many weeks with Farmer in Haiti while researching this book.  There are snapshots of Farmer's unconventional childhood, which included several years of living in an old bus in South Carolina with his eccentric father, mother and 5 siblings. We hear about Farmer's undergraduate years on full scholarship at Duke, and his introduction to the plight of poor Haitian farm workers in the fields of South Carolina.   Kidder describes Farmer's ability to function on 4 hours of sleep per night, and work for several weeks without a day off.

Mountains beyond Mountains traces the arc of  Partners in Health, and provides an absorbing portrayal of the complicated, dedicated, uncompromising man who started it.

If you suddenly have a desire to read a fun, fast-paced book about potatoes, this is the book for you!  Potato Joe by Keith Baker is an expansion on the old rhyme "One potato, two potato, three potato, four."  Meet potatoes, a tomato, and even a watermelon!  Follow their antics as they bounce through the pages and count along.  This book can be read over and over (and over) and never get old. A great book to share with toddlers just learning how to count and with preschoolers who want to show off their counting skills.

I Need My Monster! by Amanda Noll, illustrated by Howard McWilliam

What if one night when you were ready to be scared to sleep by the resident monster under your bed you discovered that he decided to go fishing instead?!  How's a kid supposed to get to sleep without his monster?  This is the predicament Ethan finds himself in one night and he's terrified he won't be able to sleep without Gabe oozing green slime, scratching with his terrible claws and lashing with his spiked tail.  So Ethan does what any kid would do: he knocks on the floor for a replacement monster for the night.  What follows is a cavalcade of monsters, none living up to the scariness of Gabe.  How will Ethan get to sleep?

Amanda Noll appeared at the King County Library System Foundation's 2010 Literary Lions Gala.

The Enchantment Emporium, by Tanya Huff

Southern Ontario is not-so-discreetly ruled by the Gale family, or by the powerfully scary Gale Aunties to be more precise, and Alysha Catherine Gale often feels helplessly controlled by their dictates and expectations.  So when a letter arrives for Alysha stating that her Gran is most likely dead and that her junk shop in Calgary is to pass to her granddaughter, Alysha is determined to take control of her life and run the store.  When she arrives she quickly discovers there's more than junk in the shop, such as a creepy monkey paw with one wish left, enchanted mirrors with minds of their own, cases of regular and magical yo-yo's, and a mail drop for Calgary's fey community.  And that's before her Gale cousins start moving in.

Also in Calgary is an apprehensive leprechaun who doesn't want to return to the UnderRealm, a family of dragons with personal agendas that might prove messy, and a nosy reporter who wants to know more about the mysterious Gales and who has some secrets of his own, if only Alysha could swim deeper into those blue eyes.  Alysha just wants to run her shop, keep Calgary from burning, and dissuade the Aunties from leaving Ontario, but as powers build she may have no choice but to call in the broom-riding cavalry.

Huff has created a clever urban fantasy world of witches, dragons, and other fey beings who operate out in the open in modern day Canada.  Her writing has a subtle, implied fun that allows the reader to use imagination to figure out what's happening in those family conversations and rituals, and leaves just enough clues that you feel like you're solving a puzzle along with Alysha Gale.  Add a little magic and romance and you're in for a rollicking romp.

When I was little, I could not get enough of Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess. The tragic, suddenly orphaned Sara Crewe, left penniless and forced to be a servant in the school where she used to be a student.  The mysterious benefactor, the secret presents waiting for her in her attic room, the delicious food and crackling fire...  And finally, her rescue from destitution by the wealthy Indian gentleman next door.

But what happened in the world of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies after Sara left?  That is the story Hilary McKay tells in Wishing For Tomorrow: A Sequel to A Little Princess.  Told mainly through shy, insecure Ermengarde's point of view, McKay explores life at Miss Minchin's for the other girls.  There's the troublemaking youngster, Lottie, who discovers all the fun things the maid "gets" to do and demands to be let in on the fun.  Then there's the serious Lavinia who mysteriously begins piano lessons next door, but doesn't seem to be improving.  And how could the new red-headed boy next door help but to cause much excitement amongst the girls?  Then of course there's Miss Minchin herself, who acts more and more peculiar since Sara's departure.  Through it all, Ermengarde pens long letters to Sara, and must figure out how to get past her feelings of being left behind, as well as find strength within herself.

Hilary McKay, author of the Saffy's Angel series, brings her wry humor and skill for developing strong, interesting female characters to her sequel to a classic.   Great choice for mid to upper elementary school age girls.

I have a 2 1/2 year old who will eat pretty much nothing but raisins and cheerios.  This hasn't fazed us, however. We continue to offer him foods we enjoy, like sushi and hummus.  We figure one day he might just surprise us all and try some!

Matthew Amster-Burton is of the same mind.  His book, Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father's Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater, is part memoir and part cookbook.  His anecdotes about his daughter and her interactions with food are hilarious and down to earth. As a proper foodie, Amster-Burton cooks amazingly diverse dishes, utilizing Seattle's bounty of farmer's markets and international grocery stores. He also involves his daughter in every step of the process.  Four year old Iris operates a meat grinder and makes pancakes in her very own electric fry pan.  She memorizes cookie varieties in recipe books, and chastises her dad when he brings home inferior bacon.  Iris is a future foodie in the making, for sure.   Sure, she still wants her burger plain and eschews Brussels sprouts, but her parents continue to cook and expose her to a wide variety of flavors. 

Amster-Burton does mention some of the popular books on feeding children (mainly agreeing with Ellyn Satter, as I do), but this is much more an entertaining read about the quirks of feeding a child and how to make food a fun and interactive experience for your child, even if they will only eat goldfish crackers.

Also, check out Matthew Amster-Burton's blog!

Matthew Amster-Burton will be appearing at the King County Library System Foundation's 2010 Literary Lions Gala.