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Author M.T. Anderson appearing in Newark, September 14th

Written on: August 17th, 2009 in News

Best-selling children’s author M.T. Anderson is coming to Delaware on Monday, September 14, and he better be ready for some challenging geography questions from his elementary school-aged readers.

Anderson’s upcoming book, Jasper Dash and the Flame Pits of Delaware, features a highly fictionalized version of the First State in which the intrepid hero and his pals discover a hidden mountain range in exotic and mysterious lands near Ogletown. (There’s also something about Delaware being “cut off from the civilized world for untold years.”)

“We’re expecting a lively Q & A session,” said Annie Norman, director of Delaware Division of Libraries, which is sponsoring Anderson’s appearance. “M.T. Anderson is one of the most popular writers for children and young adults. This will be a great opportunity for young readers to learn more about his work, hear how he develops his ideas, and find out why he picked Delaware as the setting for this book!”

“Off the Page: An Afternoon with M.T. Anderson” will be held at the Trabant University Center Theatre on Main Street in Newark, at 4:30 p.m. Anderson’s presentation will include remarks, a Q&A session, and book signing.

M.T. Anderson is the author of Whales on Stilts; The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen; The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, which won the National Book Award; The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II, The Kingdom on the Waves, which is a 2009 Printz Honor Book; The Game of Sunken Places; Burger Wuss; Thirsty; and Feed, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book, and the winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Young Adults. He lives in Vermont and Boston, Massachusetts.

Anderson’s appearance is sponsored by Delaware Division of Libraries, Delaware Center for the Book in collaboration with the Education Resource Center (a division of the Delaware Center for Teacher Education), the IRA Student Literacy Council of UD, the Reading Council of Northern Delaware, and the Delaware School Library Media Association.

Sunday Books

Written on: August 17th, 2009 in Reviews

As ever, the Sunday New York Times Book Review is the best place to go to plan your next reading adventure. There are some fascinating-sounding titles discussed in the most current issue, as well as early warnings on a couple of duds.

That Old Cape Magic, by Richard Russo is a family dramedy with Russo’s signature rendering of human frailty and failings.

Snakehead, by Patrick Keefe, is a gripping investigation into human trafficking and the Chinese underworld. The author was recently interviewed on NPR and you can listen to it here

To Heaven By Water, by Justin Cartwright. You can read reviews from Kirkus and Library Journal at the NoveList site, with your Delaware Library Card ID and PIN. Although the author has been well-reviewed in the past, there’s a general consensus, from the New York Times book critic to Library Thing reviewers that this is not an especially good read

The Match King, by Frank Partnoy which shows that slick, too good to be true financial promises have been taking people in long before Bernard Madoff came along. The Economist published a review of this book in April, which you can read here