7 Innings to Extraordinary Kids
Rafe Esquith, who has taught at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Los Angeles since 1984, inspires young students—all from a poor, immigrant community—to become extraordinary students and citizens.
Cajun Country
Here's your plan for today: Grab the intriguingly thick paperback book "Louisiana Rambles: Exploring America's Cajun and Creole Heartland" by Ian McNulty.
A Seductive Antidote
"There is nothing for you here, Mina. Come with me." The immortal count beckons the unhappily married Mina Murray Harker in "Dracula in Love" by Karen Essex.
What's on My Nightstand?
I've always loved to read. Reading invites us into another world populated with alternate possibilities. Whether we read for recreation or to deepen our knowledge of a particular subject, we can count on reading to give us a new perspective.
Ghostly Tales
"The Haunting of Mississippi" by Barbara Sillery sucked me right in to Mississippi's rich, haunted history. Sillery eloquently describes the settings of her stories, so I could easily visualize each of the places she writes about.
Curious Louise
Louise Borden was looking through a copy of Publisher's Weekly in 1995 when she learned a curious fact. A short article mentioned that children's authors H.A. Rey and Margret Rey had escaped the Nazi occupation of France on bicycle carrying the first manuscripts of what would be "Curious George."
Parenting Advice with a Side of Anxiety
"Parenting for Peace: Raising the Next Generation of Peacemakers" by Dr. Marcy Axness offers a fascinating look into new research ranging from brain chemistry to human growth and development.
It's Not Too Late to Plant
For those who have been thinking "I'd like to start an organic garden this year," it's not too late. Lots of folks plant during the first week in May.
Coming Home
"Alligator Lake" is another in a string of roughly historic race novels by white people that claims to be another "The Help." I wasn't prepared to like Colorado nursing professor Lynne Bryant's novel about another white woman coming back home to Mississippi to confront our demons. But the book—about race conflicts in the 1980s—deals with mixed-race love and the response to it in a smart and revealing way.
Running for Their Lives
With his first book, Mississippian Bobby Cole delivers a fast-paced thriller that pits a man and his daughter against a group of truly sadistic thugs in a night-long wilderness chase.
What's on My Nightstand?
"11-22-63" by Stephen King (Scribner, 2011, $35). Stephen King is far more than a "horror writer." He's an excellent author who can tell a brilliant story. I loved "Under the Dome," and "11-22-63" has been just as captivating.
The Unofficial SPQ Glossary
Visualize the Sweet Potato Queens—smiling women throwing beads from a queenly float wearing costumes covered in green and pink sequins, spangles, and fringe; long, curling, glossy red hair; sparkling tiaras; and pink majorette boots during the Zippity Doo Dah Parade.
One for the Guys
The idea behind this review was twofold—to get a man's perspective on the latest Sweet Potato Queen book and to do a bit of a combo review of "The Dummy Line," a novel by Mississippian Bobby Cole whom Browne's husband, Kyle Jennings, represents.
The Magic of Jade
When I met Gerard Helferich last fall, he handed me a piece of jade. The dark green disk, carved in the shape of an ear, was about an inch and a half high. As we spoke about his book, "Stone of Kings: In Search of the Lost Jade of the Maya" (Lyons Press, 2011, $24.95), I held the stone, methodically rubbing my thumb over its smooth surface.
Grace and Humor
In my over-50 yoga class, I frequently see people frustrated by their inability to get a pose "right." I gently remind them that they're not 20-somethings any more and, usually, they laugh at themselves for trying so hard and relax a bit. After 50, bodies just don't respond like they used to.