Children's Health Books

We have a couple of new books at the library that deal with important health issues that many children are facing today: diabetes and fitness. Parents should find both of these books very helpful in raising healthy, happy kids.
We have lots of cookbooks with recipes for kids, and we have cookbooks specifically for diabetics and anyone watching their blood sugar levels, but we finally have one that marries the two. You Can Eat That! Awesome food for kids with diabetes, by Robyn Webb, is a useful guide for parents that are looking for advice on how to plan healthy meals for their diabetic children. These recipes are easy to make, very kid-friendly and come with a nutritional summary that lists calories, fat, sodium, cholesterol, protein and carbohydrates (both fiber and sugars). the chapters include lunchbox items and after-school snacks. Since there are lots of great color photos, as well, you can have the kids help you pick out the menu for the day.
Athletic Fitness for Kids, by Scott Lancaster and Radu Teodorescu, is a great resource for parents, teachers and coaches. There are various drills, games, and programs for developing flexibility, balance, stamina, coordination, strength, speed and agility. Most helpful is the chart at the beginning which cross-references the different skills with the applicable sports. In addition, the drills come in different levels that are appropriate for different age groups and experiences. Most of the drills require little, if any, special equipment and there are options for single children as well as groups. There are hints for progressing through the drills, and ways you can make the drills competitive for team use.
Summer's coming, and it's time to get those kids outdoors and moving!

Have aliens abducted Patrick Buchanan?

I usually avoid political commentary books like the plague because they are never unbiased. So either the author disagrees with my politics (and who wants to read an entire book of someone telling you you're wrong?), or the author is of my political persuasion, in which case reading the book is like having someone pat me on the back for correct thinking. But the back cover of our newest book by ultra-conservative pundit and former Presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan grabbed my eye. According to the cover of Day of Reckoning: how hubris, ideology, and greed are tearing America apart, Buchanan explains how the era of U.S. dominance in global affairs is over; how the country is breaking down among class, culture and ethnic lines; how free trade is crippling American industry; and how "one of every six U.S. manufacturing jobs vanished under Bush". These are not statements that I would have ever predicted hearing from Buchanan. I am tempted to break my self-imposed rule and pick up this book, to read his arguments and listen to his predictions. When a regular guest on The McLaughlin Group laments that "America is today less a nation than an encampment of suspicious and hostile tribes quarreling viciously over the spoils of politics and power", you have to wonder....is he baring his soul, or just trying to sell books? Will the real Patrick Buchanan please stand up?

Telling it like it is

We have a new book that was written by someone who works here at this library. Well, no, that's a lie. He actually works at a library in Southern California. But his book of library life is so spot-on, so accurate, that it feels like I work with him. Free For All: oddballs, geeks, and gangstas in the public library is my new favorite book. The author - Don Borchert - has spent years working behind the desk of his public library, dealing with an assortment of common library problems: people who argue about paying for a book they lost, drunks loitering outside the entrance, the one unmotivated employee, the shoving matches in the book stacks. He also talks about cheery people who come in and use everything the library has to offer, who enjoy spending time in the library, and who are happy to accept responsibility for their overdue fines. Every chapter, I found myself nodding and thinking "Oh yeah, I've seen that" (except the two guys using the men's room as a distribution center for methamphetamines. But it ain't beyond the realm of possibility....).
There is one problem with the book, and it's a problem I am guilty of also. Happy, smiling, pleasant patrons are not as memorable as angry, disruptive, irresponsible patrons. Nice people don't make as a good a story as bad people. So although the book is full of tales of conflict, frustration and marginally criminal activity, and although there aren't a lot of perky stories here, I think deep down Borchert (like all librarians) has a deep love for his job and a real affection for the people that come into his building. And that's the way it really is.

China on the brain

Well, I don't know what it is about me lately, but I seem to be ordering and reviewing an awful lot of books about China. In my defense, there is a heightened interest in that country due to the upcoming summer Olympics (and because of less cheery topics like consumer product safety). So the publishers have been busy cranking out beautiful books that introduce Westerners to the history, culture, religions, politics and economics of China. We have yet another one on the shelves (from DK, one of my favorite coffee-table book makers): China: people, place, culture, history. The first chapter - Landscape - is page after page of gorgeous wide-angle shots of various locations around the country. It gives you a very real appreciation of the geographic diversity and immense size of China. The second section goes through the history of China. The format of this section is basically a running timeline with scattered pictures and blurbs of information. If you want a more in-depth history, try The Great Wall: China against the world, 1000 BC - AD 2000, by Julia Lovell. Then follows an interesting section about the Chinese people, which focuses on various representative professions (cricket seller not being one you would commonly find in the U.S.). The chapter on culture is alarmingly brief, but the architecture chapter is great. Sometime before the torch fires up in Beijing this summer, you should check out one of our many new books on this fascinating country.

Peter Jennings

Our new biography of journalist Peter Jennings - who died of lung cancer in 2005 - follows an unusual format. Rather than sitting down and interviewing a bunch of Jennings' associates, combing through his old letters and quotes, and then parsing it all out into a 300-page narrative of his life, Peter Jennings: a reporter's life takes a different approach. Editors Kate Darnton, Kayce Freed Jennings and Lynn Sherr have created a bare-bones oral biography of the former anchorman of ABC's World News Tonight. Friends, relatives, colleagues, and prominent political figures have all contributed their recollections of Jennings: his charm, his insightful questions, his work ethic and his passion for reporting the news. The quotes follow a chronological track, beginning with his public-school upbringing in Canada (Jennings became an American citizen in 2003), his brief foray into nightly news as the youngest anchorman ever (a mere 26 years old), his on-the-spot reporting at the Munich Olympics and on to his 27-year stint at the anchor desk of ABC News. This book actually ends up being more of a tribute than a biography. There are no laundry lists of dates or facts, and while the commentators don't shy away from mentioning mistakes Jennings made, or arguments they had with him, the sense of respect and affection each commentator has for Jennings comes through on each page. It definitely shows Jennings in a much more human way than a half-hour newscast.

Patrick and Arthur Collaborate

We have a new mystery that should appeal to a wide range of readers: Deadly Shoals by Joan Druett. Part nautical adventure, part mystery, part cultural and historical commentary, Druett's book marries the traditions of Patrick O'Brian and Arthur Upfield to create an intriguing series with an unusual protagonist. Wiki Coffin is half-Maori, a sailor who acts as translator for the U.S. Exploring Expedition as it sails the oceans of the mid 19th century. In addition, Coffin acts as the official representative of United States law and order (such as it was back then) whenever trouble arises involving American citizens. In this book, he is hashing out a fradulent deal involving a New England whaler, political unrest in South America, and a killer who is targeting the expedition itself. Extremely well-researched and historically accurate, this story is also a rolicking mystery that will keep the reader turning pages. A very fun read. (We also have the first book in the series - A Watery Grave).

Marco who?

The name is legendary, but do any of us have more than a vague idea of the actions and events that made Marco Polo such a renowned public figure? Aside from the whole introducing Italy to macaroni myth - which, according to Laurence Bergreen's book Marco Polo: from Venice to Xanadu, is a myth - what do we know? Well, by sifting through original source material in more than half a dozen different languages, and by traveling over the same silk trading routes that Marco Polo himself crossed, Bergreen manages to put together a very thorough, very readable biography of one of history's most intrepid merchants. What an amazing experience it must have been for Marco Polo to travel through China during a period of great cultural, economic and military wealth, especially coming from the dark squalor of 13th century Venice. As he becomes a trusted diplomat of the Kublai Khan and travels throughout the Mongol kingdom on the Khan's business, Marco Polo not only gained an enormous amount of information and experience, he also developed a deep appreciation and respect for the cultures he saw. When you think that his fellow Europeans were busy burning one another at the stake for marginal heresies, Marco Polo's humility and adaptability were truly remarkable.