"You cannot open a book without learning something.”
--Confucius
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by Graham Salisbury
by Sonia Dourlot
Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9781554074839 Dourlot's galley of arthropods is a visually arresting introduction to insects and spiders. Dourlot is a photographer by trade, and his craft distinguishes the volume's outstanding design element: a full-page color image of the critter, magnified several times life-size to enhance its monsterlike appearance, and depicted as if set on mounting paper. The image is faced by a page of descriptive data, the etymologies of scientific and common names, and a sidebar of a fun fact or folk story associated with the insect, so the layout gives the effect of looking like the lab book of an enthusiastic collector. Certainly Dourlot's fascination enlivens a text that both marvels about a creature's life cycle and behavior and appreciates its contribution in both sound and sight to the overall natural landscape. And while some of Dourlot's 114 creatures do not range in North America, according to her information, many are commonly found here, such as the crowd-pleasing ladybug and the crowd-screaming cockroach. Durable both physically and in content, Dourlot's striking tome promises active library usage.--Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2009 Booklist
by Joseph Wallace.
Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9781439160053 Based on the true story of a lady pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in exhibition play, this debut novel from nonfiction author Wallace (Grand Old Game) is a diverting sports tale. In 1923, 18-year-old New Yorker Ruby Lee Thomas is forced to raise her two small nieces, Amanda and Allie, after the 1918 Spanish influenza devastates her family. Blessed (or cursed) with elongated arms that make for blazing fastballs, the southpaw is hired by the Fantasyland Circus Sideshow as "Diamond Ruby." The Jewish pitcher draws the violent attention of the Klan, but also the admiration of Babe Ruth (a pitcher early in his career), who teaches her a few new throws, and boxing champion Jack Dempsey. The Brooklyn Typhoons eventually sign Ruby to pitch, where her amazing feats stir trouble with a charismatic gangster angling to fix her games; subsequent clashes and close calls with Prohibition-era hoodlums generate as much drama as her distinctive baseball prowess. Sharply sketched, convincing historical characters like Ruth and Dempsey add to the considerable appeal of Wallace's gritty but fun period baseball tale. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781439160053 As a girl, Ruby Thomas faces torment over her unusually long arms. After losing most of her family to the 1918 flu epidemic, a 13-year-old Ruby is determined to protect her two nieces. With little help from her older brother, now a broken man, Ruby uses those long arms, first to kill squirrels to feed the family and then to become part of a carny show throwing fast balls as 17-year-old Diamond Ruby. It's a hard life, and it gets harder when rum runners and gamblers take over. Even as she makes a career for herself on a minor league team, Ruby is dogged by greed and corruption. Her determined love for her family, help from some unlikely friends, and a critical throw finally give her the break she has earned. Verdict Ruby is a keeper-a believable heroine living in a fully re-created New York world of baseball and Prohibition. There are echoes of Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but this story holds its own, allowing Diamond Ruby her place as a literary gem. This debut novel by a baseball historian may also appeal to YA readers.-Jan Blodgett, Davidson, NC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
