Colleen Mondor's Blog, page 16

More from the Consortium catalog - this time for teens & kids

After covering the titles for adults in the fall/winter Consortium catalog for small presses, I wanted to also share some titles for teens and kids that caught my eye. Here they are, along with some catalog copy descriptions:

Wild Ocean, Ed by Matt Dembicki (he also edited Trickster: Native American Tales) (Fulcrum Publishing). In this graphic collection, Matt Dembicki....explores the adventures of twelve iconic endangered sea animals: hawkbill turtle, bluefin tuna, hammerhead shark, giant clam, manatee....Produced in cooperation with the nonprofit PangeaSeed, these gripping stories instill a passion to conserve our magnificent sea creatures.

For ages 8 and up this is a format and topic I never get tired of. I liked Trickster and I'm eager to see what Dembicki does here.

Breath of Wilderness: The Life of Sigurd Olson by Kristin Eggerling. (Fulcrum Publishing) ...the story of Sigurd Olson's love for wild places and how that love transformed his life. It inspired him to play a key role in the movement to preserve wilderness throughout North America, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the largest lakefront wilderness in the country. Olson's successful writing career, born from his devotion, spread his fervor worldwide. This is a story of one man finding his passion and standing up for what he believed even in the face of tremendous adversity.

Secret Lives by Berthe Amoss (from the Lizzie Skurnick Books imprint at IG Publishing). The Lizzie Skurnick imprint is about bringing back into print YA lit from the 30s and 40s through the 70s and 80s. Although much of the appeal will likely be to adults filled with nostalgia for long out-of-print titles from their childhood, I think Secret Lives in particular should be received well by today's MG & young teen readers of historical fiction. Here's a bit:

Set against the backdrop of 1930s New Orleans, Berthe Amoss's 1979 young adult mystery follows twelve-year-old Addie Agnew as she struggles to uncover the secret of her mother's death. Living with her spinster aunts in a house that's practically haunted, Addie was always told her mother was perfect and was swept off to sea with Addie's father in a Honduran tidal wave. But Addie suspects there's something her aunts aren't telling her, and it has something to do with the locked trunk in the attic. What's in the trunk? And what really happened to Addie's parents? In this classic story about family secrets and growing up, Addie will stop at nothing to discover truth about her mother, even if learning the truth will change everything forever.

Lone Wolves by John Smelcer (Leapfrog Press). Deneena Yazzie's love of the woods and trail come from her grandfather, who teaches her their all-but-vanished Native Alaskan language. While her peers lose hope, trapped between the old and the modern cultures, and turn to destructive behaviors, Denny and her mysterious lead dog, a blue-eyed wolf, train for the Great Race - giving her town a new pride and hope.

This one is a no-brainer for me - the Alaska setting, suggestion of dying language, Iditarod and struggle between old and new. Smelcer is an Alaskan Native who is the last surviving reader of the Ahtna language. Looking forward to it.

Nine Open Arms by Benny Lindelauf (Enchanted Lion). Oh how I love Enchanted Lion! What a great publisher - their books are STUNNING. This one is for MG readers - here's a bit:

A ghost story, a fantasy, a historical novel, and literary fiction all wrapped into one, this highly awarded novel for young readers begins with the Boon family's move to an isolated, dilapidated house. Is it the site of a haunting tragedy, as one of the daughters believes, or an end to all their worries, as their father hopes? The novel's gripping language, enriched by Yiddish, German, and Dutch dialect, plunges the reader into the world of a large, colorful motherless family.

[To All My Fans, With Love, From Sylvie is another great book from Lizzie Skurnick Books. Find out more here.]

Marguerite Harrison, a true American original

When her son Tommy, then seventy-two, was interviewed in his Baltimore home, he reflected on his lifelong awe of his mother's talents. "She could do anything she attempted," he said. "She was a fine pianist, she spoke five languages fluently, could pick up the rudiments of a new one swiftly. She made the most beautiful clothes, embroidered, did wood carving, was a gourmet cook and a great gardener. She was a marvelous bridge player, always in demand. And when she lectured there was a rare quality of naturalness that carried the audience along with her every word."*

Tommy's mother, Marguerite Harrison, spontaneously applied for a job at the Baltimore Sun even though she had no experience as a journalist. As a 36 year old widow with a young son, her situation was precarious and she needed work. So off she went and started writing and soon enough had her own column and soon after that, as the war drive picked up, she was out in the streets, joining women on the job, writing about how they contributed to the war effort. And then she decided to become a spy and with references in hand from her former father-in-law, went to the head of Military Intelligence Division and became a spy. A very very good spy!

In the years that followed, Marguerite uncovered secrets from Europe and sent them home, found her way into post-war Soviet Union where she was eventually imprisoned not once but twice, and then, after her spying years ended, she started making movies in Central Asia and sending dispatches back to various news outlets on what she found there. Marguerite Harrison lived large - she made her life.

I think I might be madly in love with her.

* Quote taken from Women of the Four Winds which I happen to be reading right this very minute.

Catalogging Consoritum which means a ton of small press excellence

The big fat Consortium Books catalog arrived last week and there were several books that caught my eye. Here is the quick & dirty catalog copy on them along with a comment or two from me on what made them jump off the page:

Unmentionables by Laurie Loewenstein (Akashic Books) Marian Elliott Adams, an outspoken advocate for sensible undergarments for women, sweeps onto the Chautauqua stage under a brown canvas tent on a sweltering August night in 1917, and shocks the gathered town of Caledonia with her speech: how can women compete with men in the workplace and in life if they are confined by their undergarments?

It's not due out until January so be sure to check out the full description (which is a little confusing) at the pub site. I love the time period and the topic (women's suffrage) and I've got high hopes.

I wrote about Palmerino by Melissa Pritchard (Bellevue Literary Press) a little while ago and I'm still looking forward to this fictional look at the real life of Violet Paget, the "brilliant gender-bending, lesbian polymath known for her chilling supernatural stories". (Due in January.)

Also from Bellevue, I think this would be a good choice for my column: Then They Started Shooting by Lynne Jones. The author interviewed over forty Serb and Muslim children who "came of age during the Bosnian War and now returns, twenty years after the war began, to discover the adults they have become." (Due in October.)

The River Detroit by Paul Vasey (Biblioasis): What is the Detroit River? It's dumps, dogpatches, ships, steamers, storms. It's month-long salvage operations. It's the Zug Island stacks, belching clouds of purple and yellow....It's the reflection of a city in riot. And it's the singing motormen, the agitators and the autoworkers who look into its waves every day and see something of their future.

I am endlessly fascinated by Americana, especially of unexpected angles to see features of this country and how they inform who we are. This sounds wicked cool. (Oct)

Baghdad Central by Elliot Colla (Bitter Lemon Press). I love Bitter Lemon mysteries - they are very similar to SoHo Press in that they share foreign locales, a hardboiled sensibility and a lack of "coziness". (Not that there's anything wrong with that - I enjoy a cozy every now and again as well.) Here's the gist of Baghdad Central:

"...a noir debut novel set in Baghdad in September 2003. The US occupation of Iraq is a swamp of incompetence and self-delusion. The CPA has disbanded the Iraqi army and police as a consequence of its paranoid policy of de-Baathification of Iraqi society. Tales of hubris and reality-denial abound, culminating in Washington hailing the glorious mess as "mission accomplished."

Into all this walks Inspector Mushin al-Khafaji, forced into a deal with the Americans and investigating the disappearance of young women translators working for the US Army. I love the setting - I've been waiting for a Baghdad series from this period. Check out more Bitter Lemon titles at the website. (Oooh - a new Leonardo Padura is on the way - great Cuban author whose Mario Conde series I really enjoy.)



A Commonplace Book of Pie by Kate Lebo w/art by Jessica Lynn Bonin (Chin Music Press). Here's all you need to know: "a collection of facts, both real and imagined about pie." No, wait - here's more: "Lebo explores the tension between the container and the contained while also busting cliches and creating new myths around strawberry rhubarb, vanilla cream, mincemeat and many other pies."

Just go see more at Lebo's website - the book started as a zine and now it is a book! Huzzah! (October)

Afghan Box Camera by Lukas Birk and Sean Foley (Dewi lewis Publishing). This is the most unique title I've heard of in ages: ...Afghanistan is one of the last places on earth where the box camera continues to be used as a way of making a living. Handmade out of wood - a camera and darkroom in one - generations of Afghans have had their portraits taken with it. Spanning decades, from peacetime to war, box camera photography exists within a more sophisticated photographic history....the story is told through a rich mixture of contemporary and archive photography, ephemera, illustrations, interviews and storytelling. (October)

Check out the Dewi Lewis site - some really interesting books over there.

Play Pretty Blues by Snowden Wright (Engine Books): The mysteries of blues legend Robert Johnson's life and death long ago became myth. Part researched reconstruction, part vivid imagination, this lyrical novel brings Johnson alive through the voices of his six wives, revealing the husband and son inside the legend. (November)

More here - Robert Johnson never gets old to me; I'd love to see what Wright does with his legend.

Next week, the YA titles from Consortium that caught my eye.....

Why Dan Eldon's book wasn't considered publishable

From Kathy Eldon's upcoming In the Heart of Life (Kathy is Dan's mother):



...I wrote a proposal for a book based on his journals-a book that I hoped would inspire other young people to follow their dreams. Stuffing four volumes into a carry-on case, I flew to New York to discuss the project with various publishing companies.

"Beautiful," the first editor commented, thumbing through the pages of one of them. "But if the artist is dead, how could we promote the book?" Closing it, she turned to me with a frown. "I'm afraid it isn't for us," she said, "but we'll keep the proposal on file in case something changes."

I got the same response wherever I went. The work was good, but a collection of images created by a dead twenty-two year old wasn't commercially viable. Sadly, I hid the journals away in my bedroom closet. It was far too painful to have them in sight.

Everyone who has seen Dan's journals or been consumed by The Journey is the Destination* is (1) shaking their heads right now in disbelief and (2) thanking God for Chronicle Books who saw that this work had to be shared with the world. (100,000+ copies in print, in case you're wondering.)

I have been working for the past year on a somewhat super secret project. It involves forming a small press with a good friend and ushering a couple of books into the world. (Yes, I'm really doing this.) One of them is a reissue of an out-of-print Alaskan classic and the author died several years ago. Never once did we think that her death would affect the marketing and sale of the book-I read books by dead people all the time.

This is crazycakes.

I understand that editors must think of marketing but I also know (boy, do I know) that most publishers do not work very effectively at marketing books. They get scared too easily, I think and this is a perfect example of fear outweighing brilliance. Thank heavens the stars aligned and Kathy Eldon was still able to bring her son's work out into the world. The world is much better with Dan still a part of it.

*On sale now at Powells for $12.98 in tpb. BUY A COPY.

[Images from Dan Eldon's site. If you aren't aware of his amazing and tragic story then be sure to check it out. He was really something special.]

On mountains and yachts and Italian princes. Really.

Mount Bona:



"Finally, to the northwest, some two hundred miles off, a conical peak soared up....apparently of even greater height than the other two [Lucania and Bear]. This was christened the Bona, after a racing yacht then belonging to H.R.H."

(Excerpt from the The Ascent of Mount St. Elias by H.R.H. Prince Luigi Amedeo Di Savoia, Duke of the Abruzzi, 1900, p.160. by Filippo de Filippi)

And that my friends is how a mountain in Alaska ends up with the name of an Italian prince's yacht. At least the Duke of Abruzzi was a real mountaineer and not just some prominent guy who never climbed a mountain in his life but got a permanent memorial (I'm looking at you William McKinley).

I learned about the history of Mt. Bona's name from The American Alpine Journal Vol. XI, Number 2, 1959 which contained the delightful article "Naming Alaska's Mountains" by Francis Farquhar. I have fallen madly in love with the AAJ which is primarily comprised of first hand accounts of climbing and other mountaineering topics that are delightfully not about posing but being prepared. There is also a lot of science which makes me especially happy.

I found this volume while sitting on the floor of a great used bookstore with a massive selection of mountaineering and Alaska books. It was less than $10 which from wandering around the web is apparently a killer deal on old volumes of the AAJ. (Score!!) I wandered through a couple of dozen old issues looking for Alaska articles but never thought I would find one this cool. It fit so perfectly into something I wanted to write about but didn't even think I could properly research. Call it kismet.

This is why I love bookstores - you never know what you might find.

[Post pic of a title held in The American Alpine Club Henry S. Hall library collection of the 469-year-old book called 'On the Appreciation of Mountains'. OH HOW I COVET THIS.)

Lightening the load

Last weekend we took part in a community garage sale that was massive - 200+ houses with maps handed out and hamburgers and hotdogs sold and people walking from house to house pulling along wagons to load up at each stop. In preparation I went through every last inch of the house. Every.Last.Inch. You would not believe the little weird crap we found around here. (Or maybe you would!)

The biggest pile - the most difficult to pull together - was the books. I was pretty ruthless, not because I had to be but because I wanted to be. My son had aged out of a lot of his books so we had a ton there to sell but I had plenty that I have moved from house to house to house and while they are good books and I did enjoy reading them, I just got tired of trying to make the space.

So I sold them. I sold a freaking ton of books.

What's left are books I use as research or have deep sentimental attachment to (belonged to my father, gifts from my Great Uncle Ben, childhood books like Little Women that I have had forever), and also some great big coffee table books that I never tire of. It was interesting to pick and choose the novels I couldn't part with, some obvious (Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials which my son will love soon enough), some as lessons in how to write well (Glaciers by Alexis Smith, nearly everything by Andrea Barrett) and some that just always make me happy (Tam Lin by Pamela Dean - never gets old).

Plus Ray Bradbury. Of course.

There are still hundreds of books in my office but it's a lot more open, a lot easier to navigate and a lot more.....significant. These are books that matter, not just books I have. They probably only matter to me, but that's okay. For the first time in ages I don't feel overwhelmed when I walk into that space which is a very good thing.

Plus, now I've got all that room on the shelves to fill........... *grin*.

Mark Slouka gives new definition to heartbreak & more

What I'm Reading:

Weeds: A Farm Daughter's Lament for Booklist. It's part of the American Lives Series, from the Univ of Nebraska Press. Interesting stuff.

The Magic Circle by my friend Jenny Davidson. I started it and then got buried under a ton of Booklist titles so had to set it aside. Now I'm back at the beginning as I had forgotten where I left off! More on this later, obviously.

Brewster* by Mark Slouka. I tweeted about this one a few days ago - unreal. It's going to be all over the place come award time, mark my words. It will be reviewed in my September column and it is the most heart-ripping, intense, honest coming-of-age story for young men that I have come across in ages. I have about 25 pages left and I know what's coming (or that something bad is coming) and I so wish it didn't have to be but there's no other way out for these characters. Keep your eyes peeled for Brewster (due in August); it's such an American story and although set during the Vietnam period will still 100% resonate with readers today. (Also - published for adults but an obvious older teen crossover as that is the age of the main characters.)

Give me a moment - still reeling from that one.



What I'm Reviewing:

Mister Orange by Truus Matti. This middle grade title from Enchanted Lion is set during WW2 in NYC and conflates a family drama with the young protagonist's discovery of art. Using the real story of Piet Mondrian as its inspiration, this is one reminded me of Sidney Taylor's All-Of-A-Kind Family books crossed with some Andy Warhol. It's sweet and kind and quietly surprising. Look for the review in my September column as well.

What I'm Writing:

A crazy amount of stuff I need to write starting with the introduction to a long out of print book that is returning, much to my joy. (More on this later.) Also articles about how the bush pilot myth is perpetuated by writers who visit AK, about Don Sheldon & Bradford Washburn flying on Denali, on a new photography book coming out with some pics of AK aircraft wrecks and an interview with AK author Jan Harper-Haines (whose uncle was the first man to summit Denali almost 100 years ago).

All of that, of course, is professional-type writing for other folks.

For me, there are two things - one about flying in mountains and pins on maps and getting lost and found (in more ways than on) and one on the naming of mountains and a man who claimed them. It's all good, promise.

*Be warned - the dog dies. (Yeah, I knew she would from the first time she showed up and I kept reading anyway. Dammit.)

Canadian fisherman

Tony Taylor's Fishing the River of Time came my way from the new Greystone Books, a year after I requested it. I am quite pleased to see that the press has endured - now separate from Douglas McIntyre - and I wish them all the best. They sent Taylor's book with a note apologizing its lateness; for me it's right on time.

On the surface, Fishing the River of Time is about Taylor returning to British Columbia after decades away to meet his eight year old grandson and teach him fishing. Taylor does some reminiscing about his previous work in the area (he's a geologist) and the people he met. He was there during the heavy logging years and has a lot to say on that but mostly it is the places he fished and characters he fished with that make up his memories. As he moves from past to present, noting what has changed and what hasn't, he comments not only on fishing in general but great fishermen and women of the past, books on fishing, and the importance of the act of fishing, as opposed to the fish itself. Here's a bit I really liked:

Lone fishermen, like the kind I used to be, are getting rare. Since the movie A River Runs Through It, the number of anglers has increased exponentially. Rivers like the Cowichan are riddled with anglers and there are hundreds of professional guides modeled on Brad Pitt. Nowadays many books and most magazines emphasize fish capture by showing, without remorse, pictures of giant fish held at arm's length by successful trophy-hunting anglers. A hundred years ago anglers were obsessed with numbers but today it is size. The truth is neither is important, but fishing is.

When his son and grandson arrive, Taylor includes some conversation with the little boy, who has never fished before. I was quite relieved to see that the book never devolved into something cute - Ned is a mature fellow who quickly grasps the significance of fishing as an act rather a contest and Taylor never seeks to make the book about bonding although some of that happens and life lessons are certainly imparted. More than anything - anything - this is a book about what it means to understand and respect the art of fishing and as someone who spent many hours sitting beside my father at the beach waiting for the tip of the rod to "bounce", Taylor's experiences resonated a great deal.

I'll have a formal review in my July column because I think Fishing the River of Time will appeal to older teens, especially if they have ever looked at James Prosek's work with admiration. But if you're looking for a Father's Day gift then you should give this one a serious look - it's lovely.

At last, traveling with Herodotus

The first time I heard of Herodotus was in the movie The English Patient. I loved - loved - how Almasy kept his personal journal by writing within his copy of The Histories. He layered his thoughts over those of Herodotus, putting in drawings, overfilling the pages. The Greek and the wars he wrote about were a part of the movie through Almasy's copy of the book and I was beyond curious about it back then and also couldn't figure out why I had never heard of him before then.

But then I remembered that the only world history class I had was in junior high - eight grade maybe? It was utterly and completely forgettable - I recall the teacher and that my friend Caryn was in the class with me. Other than that, it's a total loss.

So, for my birthday last year one of the books I asked for was Travels With Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski and I just finished it last week. Not only do I have a firm grip on who Herodotus was now, but this was also the first Kapuscinski book I've read and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The whole notion of being the only foreign correspondent for your newspaper - pretty much the only one from your county - blows me away. In every way that matters, Kapuscinski was just like Herodotus, going out to the edges of the map, finding a world that he barely knew existed. (His chapters on Africa, where the maps are barely drawn especially illustrates this point.)

What really impressed me though was the relationship Kapuscinski formed with The Histories. Every place he visits sparks a literary memory and he views the people and places through the history shared in the book. When he writes about his work, he writes about Herodotus and this is how I ended up, at least a little bit, learning the history I was never taught.

Now, if I can get brave enough, I should tackle The Histories itself.

[Post pic is from The English Patient - Almasy's journal/The Histories.]

One of my favorite reads of the year....

For as long as I can remember I have had a ridiculously romantic vision of lakeside resorts from the early to mid twentieth century. I love seeing pictures of people walking along lake shores and riding wooden speedboats and gathering on big wide verandas. It's the pictures I'm sure - they just look so wonderful and conjure up all those happy family ideals that I know are bunk but can never resist.

I just wanted to play cards on a veranda during a rainstorm I guess, with no distractions from television or telephone, just see the lake and drink lemonade and everyone loves everyone.*

Reading Molly Beth Griffin's lovely YA novel Silhouette of the Sparrow brought all of this back and more; I just inhaled this book and can't recommend it enough. It's set in 1926 on a lake in Minnesota with Garnet, who has been sent away from home as her parents struggle through a difficult time. The wealthy relative who's supposed to watch over her is her father's cousin and a major snob but Garnet is happy to be someplace faraway, someplace where she can think about all the changes about to come her way. (Should she marry the perfectly suitable boy back home who's threatening to propose, will her WWI vet father be okay, is she crazy to be dreaming of college?)

Garnet is a girl stuck in a strange period in American history, when women had the right to vote and hemlines were rising and anything seemed possible but marriage was the only truly acceptable path and motherhood was expected and college was still a distant dream for most. Garnet is like so many young women of her time - brave enough to imagine a different future but incapable of how to make it happen. Everything changes in Minnesota for her however, because in Minnesota Garnet meets Isabella and everything about the two of them together is just wonderful.

Plus Garnet is a silhouette artist who cuts amazing images of birds and wants to study the natural world in college, especially ornithology. How could you not adore her?

Here's just a snippet from the book that I loved:



"I looked over at Isabella - those perfect lips, that short hair starting to dry with little tufts sticking up at funny angles, those boyish clothes all rumpled and soaked. I wanted to tell her secrets I hadn't even told myself yet."

"...secrets I hadn't even told myself yet." Isn't that lovely and so perfectly what it is to be a teenage girl? Silhouette of the Sparrow will be formally reviewed in my July column; highly recommended for anyone who ever had a wistful heart...

*You would think reading Kate Atkinson's The Awakening would have cured me of the romantic view of such summertime resorts, but still I cling to it...just can't let go!