John Litweiler
Mojo Snake Minuet
Goodbait Books
ISBN: 978-159858-975-7
197 pages, paperback, $15.00
ordering information at www.goodbaitbooks.com

Mojo Snake Minuet is a thriller that takes place in an alternative America where black people are the majority, white people are the oppressed minority, and worse, Chicago is an uproar over a stolen mojo. The story includes TV news griots, black minstrels in whiteface, private witches, defrocked Voodoo priests, inner-city symphonic joints, among other monstrousness.

Michael Williams and Richard Cahan
Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home: Chicago's Forgotten Renaissance Man
CityFiles Press
ISBN-13: 978-0978545055
Hardcover: 400 pages, 9 1/4" x 12 1/4", $50.00
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Embracing old-world skills in a technological age, Edgar Miller was Chicago’s last Renaissance artist. He was a fine painter, a master wood carver, and one of the nation’s foremost stained glass designers. He could sculpt, draw hunting portraits, and was considered a pioneer in the use of graphic art in modern advertising. His artistic genius came together in four artistic studios he built on Chicago’s north side in the 1920s and 1930s. He touched almost every inch of the studios with daring and surprise. He took rustic brick, crude stone, salvaged tile, found glass, steel, and wood, then “Edgarized” the homes with stained glass windows, frescos, murals, tile work, and wood carving.

Rob Warden (editor), Steven A. Drizin (editor)
True Stories of False Confessions
Northwestern University Press
ISBN-10: 0810126036, ISBN-13: 978-0810126039
$27.95, 400 pages
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Editors Rob Warden and Steven Drizin have gathered stories about some of the most critical accounts of false confessions in the U.S. justice system from more than forty authors, including Thomas Frisbie, Randy Garrett and Alex Kotlowitz.

Joanne Koch
STARDUST
Published by Dramatic Publishing Company, www.dramaticpublishing.com
ISBN: 978-1-58342-612-8
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In Stardust, two young people—one trusting, introspective and blind, the other suspicious, defensive and sighted—share a moment of intimacy and conflict while awaiting signs of life in outer space. This drama by Joanne Koch, author of 16 plays and musicals produced around the country, won the Nantucket Short Play Competition and was deemed by its literary manager as “one of the very best treatments of high-school age issues that I have read.”

Andrew Kantar
Deadly Voyage: The S.S. Daniel J. Morrell Tragedy
Michigan State University Press: www.msupress.msu.edu
ISBN: 0-87013-863-4
$16.95, 136 pages, juvenile nonfiction
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Deadly Voyage, intended for young adults, is the harrowing story of one of the worst shipwrecks in Great Lakes history. In 1966 the S.S. Daniel J. Morrell was caught in a deadly storm on Lake Huron that split the freighter in two. Twenty-eight men died in the tragedy, but one sailor, Dennis Hale, miraculously survived, clinging to a life raft for 38 hours. Map, photographs, bibliography.

". . . a vital addition to any collection of Great Lakes maritime books."

Donna Latham
Amazing Biome Projects You Can Build Yourself
Nomad Press
ISBN: 9781934670392
$15.95, for ages 9 and older

Kids willl wander through forests, sizzle in deserts, shiver in the tundra, plunge beneath the seas to explore coral reefs, and slog through marshy waters. Along the way, kids will encounter flora and fauna adapted for survival in each unique climate zone. They'll learn about gnarly krumholz trees, bioluminescent sea creatures, camouflage, carnivorous plants, and blubbery marine critters. In each biome, people who use science in their jobs are highlighted, whether at the site of a disastrous oil spill or an oh-so-cool mastodon dig.

James Plath
Historic Photos of Ernest Hemingway
Turner Publishing Co.
ISBN-10 1596525169, ISBN-13 978-1596525160
$39.95, hardcover, 216 pp.
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From the 1920s until his death in 1961, "Papa" Hemingway was a larger-than-life literary figure whose everyday exploits became legendary. He was a friend of celebrities, a war correspondent, journalist, renowned big-game hunter, record-setting saltwater angler, and hard-drinking brawler whose reputation preceded him. This coffee table biography of Ernest Hemingway features 200 photos, with preface, four chapters, and captions.

John W. Mauck
The Healing of Jabez: How God Uses Pain to Bring Healing
Credo House Publishers
ISBN: 978-1-935391-29-6
Hardcover, 96 pages
website: www.thehealingofjabez.com
Amazon.com

Author John Mauck takes the renowned story of Jabez and transforms it into a plan for healing. As Mauck reveals six healing steps to unlock God’s healing, we find ourselves being led to Jesus Christ. Mauck explores similarities between Jabez and Jesus to show how Jesus personified the healing power that Jabez experienced. Realizing the traits that both shared helps us to know Jesus.

Carol Fisher Saller    www.subversivecopyeditor.com
The Subversive Copy Editor
University of Chicago Press
ISBN-13: 978-0226734255; ISBN-10: 0226734250
Paperback $13.00, Cloth $30.00, 152 pp., 8 x 5 inches

"An entertaining trip."
     —Thomas Frisbie, Chicago Sun-Times

"Wisdom that applies to just about anyone."
    —Robert Loerzel, Time Out Chicago

"An insider’s book to cure writers . . . while shoring up editors. . . . Good advice."
     —William Safire, New York Times

"An ideal complement to any style guide . . . full of ed-head laughs."
     —Publishers Weekly

Michael Argetsinger
Foreword by Roger Penske   
Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed
David Bull Publishing
ISBN-13: 978 1 935007 02 9
344 pages, $39.95
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To a generation of fans in the 1960s and 1970s, Mark Donohue embodied a new, uniquely American spirit in motor racing. Donohue was not only blindingly fast—he was also smart, with a background in engineering and a unique talent for setting up a racecar. Together with his like-minded team owner, Roger Penske, he brought a new level of sophistication to racing.

Robert O. Harder     www.robertoharder.com
FLYING FROM THE BLACK HOLE
The B-52 Navigator-Bombardiers of Vietnam
Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 978-1-59114-359-8
Hardcover, 336 pp., 30 b/w photos & illustrations, 6" x 9", $34.95 (AUSA)
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U.S. Air Force navigators and bombardiers have long labored under the shadow of pilots, their contributions misunderstood or simply unknown to the public. This was especially the case with the B-52's non-pilot, officer aircrewmen in the Vietnam War. Here, one of their own reveals who these men were and what they did down in the "Black Hole." It is the only work to detail the B-52 air war in Vietnam from the perspective of a navigator-bombardier.

Rosina Neginsky
JUGGLER
A Bilingual English-Russian Edition of Poems
University Press of the South
ISBN: 1-931948-77-1
amazon.com

A magnificent book of poetry, in which the author explores love, hatred, sorrow, beauty and ugliness in our lives. Fundamental for Russian Studies.

". . . Rosina Neginsky reminds readers that we are also artists, for her works summon our responsibility."

—ETHAN LEWIS, Professor of English, University of Illinois

Arnie Bernstein     www.arniebernstein.com
Bath Massacre: America’s First School Bombing
University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 978-0-472-03346-1

On May 18, 1927, in Bath, Michigan, Andrew Kehoe set off explosives concealed in the basement of the local school. Thirty-eight children and six adults died, including Kehoe, who blew himself apart setting off dynamite in his truck. With modern stories of school violence and suicide bombers, Bath Massacre reminds us that large-scale murder is nothing new.

Florence Parry Heide  
THE ONE AND ONLY MARIGOLD
Schwartz & Wade (Random House Children’s Books)
ISBN-13: 978-0-375-84031-9
hardcover | $16.99 | $19.99 Can. | 40 pages | Ages 4–8
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From renowned author Florence Parry Heide comes four connected stories about Marigold: one clever, complicated, and hilarious little girl. In these tales, Marigold buys a new coat (don’t worry, she still wears the old one to bed; she’s a very loyal person), plays a great trick (involving a Special Surprise Treasure Stand and some worms), and much more. Jill McElmurry’s vibrant and expressive illustrations of Marigold’s escapades bring the one and only Marigold to life.

Margaret McMullan     www.margaretmcmullan.com  
CASHAY
Houghton Mifflin Company
ISBN-13: 9780547076560; ISBN-10: 0547076568
Young Adult (12+); Grades 7+
hardcover, $15.00

"A beautifully written, touching and powerful story you won't be able to put down."

A Chicago Public Library Spring 2009 Teen Book Pick, Cashay is McMullan’s 5th novel about an African-American girl who copes with the death of her sister in a drive-by shooting.

In her fourteen years living in a Chicago housing project, Cashay has never ridden in a taxi cab, seen the city lit up at night, or set foot in a museum. She gets her family by on a couple of dollars and food stamps every week.

Gail Lukasik     www.gaillukasik.com
DEATH'S DOOR: A Leigh Girard Mystery
Five Star/Cengage/Gale
ISBN-13: 9781594147142
hardcover, 306 pages, $25.95
purchase online:   amazon.com    barnesandnoble.com

A killer is targeting young blond women, leaving their strangled bodies along the desolate Mink River in Door County Wisconsin. Reporter Leigh Girard’s investigation into the murders lures her into a bizarre correspondence with the killer. His letters taunt Leigh with cryptic literary clues that hint at his identity. Leigh races against time to crack the killer’s code, before he kills again.