Somebody’s Daughter by Marie Myung-Ok Lee is the story of nineteen year old Sarah who was adopted from Korea by a Minnesota couple who told her that her birth parents had been killed in a car crash. Sarah travels to Seoul for a year long study of the Korean language. While there, she discovers that her birth parents may still be alive, and begins a search for her birth mother. In alternating chapters, we learn her birthmother’s sad story. Through her Korean-American boyfriend, Sarah is introduced to the people and customs of a country where she was born but feels foreign to her. Marie Lee introduces us to the rural and urban landscape and the people who try to preserve tradition in the face of major changes.

The wait is over! Eldest is finally here! After the amazing success of Eragon by Christopher Paolini kids and teens have been waiting for what seems like forever for the sequel. You can meet Christopher at the Arborland Borders store on Wednesday, August 31 @ 7:00 PM.

On September 2, 2005, the Private Eye Writers of America will announce the winners of their 24th annual Shamus awards in Chicago. Sara Paretsky will be award awarded PWA’s 2005 Life Achievement Award.

Nominees and their categories for this year are:

Best P.I. Novel     

Leonard Chang    Fade to Clear
Robert Ferrigno    The Wake-up

Vacations are the perfect time to sit back and read, and my vacation last week was no exception. The family cottage in the Les Cheneaux Islands (think outhouses and walking a half mile for drinking water) was lovely, even if my family wasn't, and when we weren't swimming or bickering, we were reading.

My father read Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen and highly recommends it as a funny and clever thriller. He also read A Cold Day in Paradise, a UP mystery by Steve Hamilton that won an Edgar Award. (More adult, teen and kids books after the break!)

In 1963, Korean War vet James Lyons disappeared. Forty-some years later his bones are uncovered during the excavation of land in preparation for a shopping center. Medical examiner Jake Rosen, a bit of a fashion slob but a forensic genius, is called in to investigate. Soon he’s paired with Philomena “Manny” Manfeda, an attorney for the Lyons family in a comedic thriller/mystery. Husband-wife authors, Michael Baden and Linda Kenney know from whence they write their debut mystery -– Baden was a former New York City chief medical examiner and Kenney can be seen on CNN and Court TV in her role as legal commentator.

Kate Klise, part of the sister team who have written such silly favorites as Regarding the Fountain and Regarding the Sink, has recently struck out on her own and published a more dramatic story called Deliver Us From Normal. It is the story of Charlie Harrisong, one of five kids in a crazy, disorderly family, growing up in Normal, Illinois. But Charlie thinks his family is anything but normal. After a horrible incident involving his older sister running for school president, the family takes off in the middle of the night for the Deep South in an adventure that will help Charlie really understand his family.

Join Miz Mozetta as she jitterbugs with a new generation. This beautifully illustrated Corretta Scott King Honor book celebrates the heyday of Jazz to a rhythm young readers will enjoy.

The August 19th edition of Stateside featured books about Michigan outdoors including novels, narratives and short stories. Literary critic Keith Taylor read passages from one of the most highly regarded novels of early Michigan, Loon Feather by Iola Fuller. It is the story of an Indian girl destined to grow up with the incompatible traditions of her own people and of the white traders on Mackinac Island. This sensitive and accurate portrayal of Native American culture won her the Hopwood Award as well as ongoing popularity among library patrons.

Robert Traver’s Trout Madness was another of Taylor’s favorites and, by his estimation, a better book than Traver’s more famous work, Anatomy of a Murder. Read them both and let us know whether you agree with Taylor.

Betty M. Adelson is the author of The Lives of Dwarfs: Their Journey from Public Curiosity toward Social Liberation

In the preface to the book she writes:

“Ever since my daughter Anna was born thirty years ago with achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism, I have recognized the need for a book about the lives of dwarfs. At that time I eagerly searched the literature and found only some specialized medical articles that were not very helpful, and sometimes alarming. Subsequently, I came upon books with titles like Freaks, Human Oddities, or Victorian Grotesque: their inadequacies and biases strengthened my resolve to offer a truer narrative to dwarfs and their families and to a society that had all too often been unwelcoming and uncomprehending. The work would be a social history that described the presence of dwarfs in other eras, in mythology and the arts, but one that would also cast light on the lives of dwarfs today and be informed by my own and others’ personal experiences.

Tasha Tudor, one of the most famous and acclaimed children’s author/illustrators in the world will be 90 years old on August 28, 2005. Some favorite books of hers are Corgiville Fair, Take Joy! The Tasha Tudor Christmas Book, A is for Annabelle and Becky’s Christmas. Stay well Tasha Tudor and Happy Birthday!!