Jamie Lee Curtis (copy)

Celebrities who write children’s books often create one quality book for the public. It is a rare occasion when they produce two or more. Bill Cosby was successful in the 90s with his Little Bill series. Then there was Madonna who wrote The English Roses. Publishers were gung-ho and translated it into 30 different languages with distribution in over a hundred countries all before the public read it. This venture was a huge waste of trees.

In the world of children’s books, one celebrity stands out. Jamie Lee Curtis has produced eight quality books to help toddlers become curious, smart and strong children. Each book takes an underlying theme such as empowerment, self control, self awareness, imagination and loss, self esteem, and family and belonging. Don’t let these “new age” words scare you away.

The books were written over a 15 year period when her children were young. Beginning in 1993 with When I was Little: A Four-Year-Old's Memoir Of Her Youth, she said her four-year-old was bragging about her accomplishments. Curtis knew this little human experience would make a great book.

She followed it in 1996 with Tell Me Again: About the Night I was Born. The story put a different slant on the favorite “day I was born” tale because both Curtis children were adopted. Some of the words go, “Tell me again about the first night you were my mommy and you sang the lullaby your mommy sang to you.” The adoption community loves the book and her work began to become noticed through them.

Her audience grew with each successful book and in 2008 she released Books to Grow By Treasury. It is a compilation of four books, When I was Little, I’m Gonna Like Me, Is There Really a Human Race? and Where Do Balloons Go? with a CD read by Curtis.

The Eight Books to Grow By series is excellent if you have preschoolers. The illustrator, Laura Cornell, puts a little funk in the mixture with her curly-cues and vibrant water colors. Kids will take their time pointing out the little funnies that appear throughout her work. In When I was Little the children are laying side-by-side during naptime as one boy looks angry at his neighbor whose foot dangles on his cot. The Cornell/Curtis matchup is a hoot in all these books.

Would my life be any different if I had grown up with these books? I don’t know, but I bet I would smile more.

Jamie Lee Curtis (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2010/04/jamie-lee-curtis-copy.html

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (copy)

Henrietta didn’t feel right. She wasn’t exactly sure what was wrong but she had a little knot in her lower abdomen. She had no problem with the pregnancy and birth of her fifth child six months earlier, but this knot was new. As her body returned to its normal size the small lump remained.

At her next check up, Henrietta told the doctor she felt a little lump. During the pelvic examine the doctor found a most unusual nodule. It was rounded like a marble with a shiny purple color. The doctor noted on her chart, “like grape Jello.” Henrietta was right. There was something growing in her stomach.

The year was 1951 and Henrietta’s biopsy was malignant. She rode the bus to John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore the following week for radium surgery. She did not tell her family she had cancer. Instead she acted like she was off for a weekend with friends.

Before the doctor administered the radium he did a favor for a colleague. George Gey (pronounced Guy) was trying to grow human cells. His office, located in the basement at Hopkins, looked like an industrial kitchen except for the Bunsen burners and large freezers lining the walls full of “blood, placentas, tumor samples, and dead mice.”

Gey discovered Henrietta’s cells, from her first biopsy, lived through the night and split and multiplied over the weekend. This was not unusual. He had cells that reacted the same way but died by the end of the work week. On a hunch, Gey asked Henrietta’s doctors for more cells just in case this multiplying effect which was still occurring after five days turned into his “immortal” human cell.

Gey was handed a small cup labeled, Henrietta Lacks, full of cancer cells still warm from her body. Those cells became known as HeLa cells and are still growing in mass quantity today. The book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, states that if the microscopic cells grown from Henrietta’s original cells were placed side by side they would wrap around the earth three times.

Rebecca Skloot, teacher of creative writing at the University of Memphis, has written a highly readable nonfiction book. Readers will not get bogged down in techy terminology and boring shop talk, this book is pure nonfiction fascination. Unfortunately, Henrietta died within a year but her cells continue to advance science in areas such as gene mapping, in vitro fertilization and cloning.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2010/04/immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks-copy.html

Beep! Beep! Book Stop!

"A story untold could be the one that kills you."

~ Pat Conroy

In honor Of Pat Conroy's South of Broad release in paperback, I found a couple of snippets to get you excited about his book.

From the first line: It was my father who called the city the Mansion on the River.

Last lines: "Yes, that is it: anything can happen. Yes."

It is up to you to read the middle! ;D

Fiction:

South of Broad (2009)
My Losing Season (2002)
Beach Music (1995)
The Prince of Tides (1986)
The Lords of Discipline (1980)
The Great Santini (1976)
The Water Is Wide (1972)
The Boo (1970)

Nonfiction:

The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life (1999)

I am currently participating in a blog tour for this book! Please visit Lisa at TLC for more information on the book and other bloggers' reviews!

Beep! Beep! Book Stop!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2010/04/in-honor-of-pat-conroys-new-book-south.html

One Night of Madness (copy)

Attala County, Mississippi, drew national attention in 1950 for a horrible slaughter and the bloodhound assisted manhunt that followed. Afterwards, time passed and the events were forgotten.

Out of the tragedy rose one bright occurrence. A young reporter working for The Kosciusko Star-Herald snapped a picture that would continue on to win America’s Best Journalistic Photograph awarded by the National Press Photographers Association.

The picture depicts two men spread eagle on a hard dirt surface of someone’s farm. In the middle of the picture is a man dangling a cigarette from his close-lipped mouth, wearing prison stripped pants and holding two revolvers at the ready. The man laying in the front is being frisked by an officer while two men are frisking the other suspect.

That young reporter who happened to be married to the newspaper editor’s daughter took the famous shot which was lovingly placed in a scrapbook to highlight his accomplishment. With the picture as centerpiece, the scrapbook became filled with news items from all over the U.S. reporting on the event. It soon out grew the family photo keepsake and the material was moved to a 30 x 30 inch book used in the newspaper business as a page layout.

For as long as he can remember, Stokes McMillan knew an aura of pride surrounded the huge scrapbook. It was brought out from under the bed on special occasions and the family gathered to listen quietly as a proud Mrs. McMillan retold the story. He, himself, had pulled the book out and flipped through the pages on many an afternoon, but he never took the time to read the articles. Finally, Stokes became a family man and the scrapbook was relocated to the darkness under his own bed.

It took a request from his son to finally make him read the articles. His son was going to college and asked his dad for a poster size copy of the photograph for his dorm room. Stokes got the picture and some others taken by his dad on that fateful day and had them blown up. While waiting around he figured he better read the articles for details when giving the presents.

Stokes became fascinated by the newspaper accounts and felt there was a book waiting to be written. One Night of Madness is written in Truman Capote style where literary license is used to move the story forward. One can purchase the book through his website www.stokesmcmillan.com.

One Night of Madness (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2010/04/one-night-of-madness-copy.html

Give My Poor Heart Ease (copy)

“I got the blues this week. Down in my back, I have found no relief.” These are lyrics for my new song “Low-Down Back Blues.” Yes, I am having a little back trouble this week and it is fitting that I talk about Give My Poor Heart Ease by William Ferris.

From the first lines to the last, this book is excellent! Why, you may ask? Well, I don’t want to gush, but it has every element known to the blues genre within 302 written pages including an hour long DVD of original content, an hour’s worth of original music on CD, original photographs, and illustrations. It is a truly complete package.

Ferris begins with a nine page introduction that should be the basis of his autobiography. He grew up in the country outside of Vicksburg in the 40s and 50s. From an early age, he was fascinated by the music he heard played or sung by his neighbors. This developed into a passion for all things Southern especially blues music. He was not alone either. His older brother Grey shared the excitement.

While attending college, Grey talked his brother into interviewing with film and recorder the locals as they sang or preached. This is the beginning of his DVD. Filmed all in 1968, the home movies are gritty black and white productions full of unscripted moments such as the Reverend Isaac Thomas who sings his sermon instead of orating at the Rose Hill Church, a baptism in the Mississippi where the flock enters the water in pairs, and prisoners singing work chants while chopping wood at Parchman Penitentiary. Listeners will recognize the familiar sing-song of railroad workers in the Coen Brothers’ movie, O Brother, Where Art Though?


These amateur beginnings served Ferris well as he became a folklorist and set out to record and interview all the blues artists in Mississippi. In 1970 he came to the hill country of Tate County to interview an opinionated man named Otha Turner. Otha opened his home to Ferris and taught him how to make his own fife.

He made Napoleon Strickland’s first cane, too. Otha said, “He took it up hisself after he heard me blow a piece. And now Napoleon can really blow a cane.” On page 73 is a picture of Otha holding his legacy, Sharde Turner, a current student and recipient of the Edna Teasler Scholarship at Northwest. One can hear Napoleon performing “Somebody Knocking on My Door” on the CD, too.

These are merely examples of one man’s passionate opus to the blues.

Give My Poor Heart Ease (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2010/04/give-my-poor-heart-ease-copy.html