YOUNG BOYS COMING OF AGE
****
The Blue Star
By Tony Earley
We first met 10-year-old Jim Glass, raised in Depression-era
Aliceville, North Carolina, in Earley's Jim the Boy (2000). Now he
is a high school senior, in love, and considering joining the army. PAGE
30
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
****
Dogface
By Jeff Garigliano
Teens at a fraudulent rehabilitation "camp" for
delinquent adolescents attempt revenge and, ultimately, freedom. PAGE 37
****
The Flowers
By Dagoberto Gilb
As racial conflict and violence simmer around a smart, tough
Mexican-American teenager, he tries to figure out how to determine right
and wrong in a morally gray world. PAGE 32
POLITICAL CHANGE
****
Freedom for the Thought We Hate
A Biography of the First Amendment
By Anthony Lewis
Lewis, a constitutional law expert and Pulitzer Prize-winning legal
affairs writer, tells the story of freedom of speech. PAGE 52
****
Chasing the Flame
Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World
By Samantha Power
The author of the Pulitzer Prize--winning A Problem from Hell
(2002) recounts the life of the former UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights. PAGE 59
RADICALS AND REGULARS
****
My Revolutions
By Hari Kunzru
A former radical and Vietnam War protestor lives the bourgeois
life--until a figure from his past returns. PAGE 41
****
A Person of Interest
By Susan Choi
A Chinese emigre and professor in the Midwest comes under suspicion
when a mail bomb explodes in the office next door. PAGE 34
CRIME STANDOUTS
****
L.A. Outlaws
By T. Jefferson Parker
Suzanne Jones, a mother of three, transforms into Allison Murrieta
at night, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. PAGE 47
****
The Appeal
By John Grisham
When a corporation loses a $41 million settlement, the CEO will do
whatever it takes to win the appeal. PAGE 48
****
The Silver Swan
By Benjamin Black
A sequel to Christine Falls (**** SELECTION May/June 2007), which
introduced readers to pathologist Garret Quirke. Benjamin Black is
actually John Banville, author of The Sea (***** SELECTION Jan/Feb
2006). PAGE 50
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
****
How the Dead Dream
By Lydia Millet
FICTION: After a real estate developer suffers a personal tragedy
and his latest project causes environmental damage, he copes with his
grief and guilt by breaking into zoos and sleeping near endangered
species. PAGE 39
****
The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw
One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird
By Bruce Barcott
NONFICTION: A dam built by the Belizean government threatened the
scarlet macaw with extinction. Sharon Matola was designated an enemy of
the people for her protest against the government. PAGE 53
AFRICAN AMERICAN INTEREST
****
Song Yet Sung
By James McBride
In 1850, a young runaway slave is hunted down, shot in the head,
and imprisoned by a notorious slave trader. She suffers hallucinations
of a distant future (the early 21st century), and soon attempts her
escape. By the author of The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute
to His White Mother. PAGE 41
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
***
A Father's Law
By Richard Wright
This unfinished novel by the author of Native Son (1940) and Black
Boy (1945) has now been published to commemorate the centenary of
Wright's birth. PAGE 45
COPYRIGHT 2008 Bookmarks Publishing
LLC Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Copyright 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights
reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.