{"id":1466,"date":"2018-12-31T17:23:43","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T17:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1466"},"modified":"2018-12-31T17:23:43","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T17:23:43","slug":"lone-star-reviewsmichelle-newby-nbcc-130","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1466","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star ReviewsMichelle Newby, NBCC,"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Contributing Editor<\/span><\/h1>\n
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Lee & Low Books<\/p>\n

Hardcover, (978-1-6201-4286-8), 32 pgs., $18.95; August 7, 2018<\/p>\n

Bookjoy, Wordjoy is the newest collection of poetry for children<\/span> from Pat Mora,<\/span> recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Institute of Letters and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Texas at El Paso, among many distinctions. Especially in Texas, y\u2019all may know her best as the founder of Children\u2019s Day, Book Day (in Spanish, El d\u00eda de los ni\u00f1os, El d\u00eda de los libros<\/span>), which celebrated its twenty-second anniversary this year.<\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Col\u00f3n\u2019s<\/span> whimsical, joyful illustrations are inspired by Mora\u2019s poems and Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo.<\/span> The colors are rich but muted, reminding me of a child\u2019s colored map pencils. One of my favorites in this book is a boy attempting to capture words with a butterfly net as they cavort through the air:<\/p>\n

words that move, like wiggle<\/p>\n

that have a brown scent, cinnamon<\/p>\n

that sweetly stretch, car-a-mel<\/p>\n

hard words, brick<\/p>\n

soft words, lullaby<\/p>\n

Mora describes \u201cbookjoy\u201d as the fun of reading and \u201cwordjoy\u201d as the fun of writing \u2014 listening to words, combining them and playing with them.\u00a0 >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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Beach Lane Books<\/p>\n

Hardcover, 978-1-4814-6561-8 (also available as an e-book), 48 pgs., $17.99<\/p>\n

September 25, 2018<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Barbara Jordan talked, we listened.\u201d \u2014Former President of the United States, Bill Clinton<\/p>\n

The late Honorable Barbara Jordan grew up in Houston\u2019s Fifth Ward.<\/span> \u201cShe may have looked like other kids \u2026 acted like other kids,\u201d Chris Barton writes. \u201cBut she sure didn\u2019t sound like other kids. Not with that voice of hers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Y\u2019all remember that voice, yes? Sounded like the voice of God, deep and rich, sounded like the voice of moral authority, the voice of profoundly felt convictions. \u201cThat big, bold, booming, crisp, clear, confident voice,\u201d in Barton\u2019s words. \u201cIt caused folks to sit right up, stand up straight, and take notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan<\/span><\/a><\/span> is the new picture book from Austinite Chris Barton, author of the best-selling Shark vs. Train,<\/span> Sibert Honor\u2013winning The Day-Glo Brothers,<\/span> and Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List books The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch<\/span> (2016\u201317) and Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson\u2019s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions<\/span> (2017\u201318).<\/p>\n

When I spoke with Barton a few weeks ago, he called Jordan \u201ca true Texas hero\u201d whose career in the Texas Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and on the faculty of the LBJ School of Public Affairs \u201cset a shining example of how to take a natural gift and put it to use for the benefit of one\u2019s community, state, and nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The phrase \u201cWhat do you do with a voice like that?\u201d is a refrain throughout the book.\u00a0 >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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FICTION<\/p>\n

Pat Dunlap Evans<\/span><\/p>\n

Out and In: A Novel<\/span><\/p>\n

A. M. Chai Literary<\/p>\n

Paperback, 978-0-9968822-2-4; 316 pages, $11.99; April 2016<\/p>\n

Austin author Pat Dunlap Evans had specific goals in mind<\/span> when she penned this book, her second: \u201cI wanted to try my hand at a page-turner mystery with a female protagonist. I also wanted to use my long-ago experiences as an NFL wife as a backdrop for a novel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her mystery-thriller Out and In<\/span> succeeds on those fronts, and on other fronts as well.<\/p>\n

The well-written tale starts quickly and with a bang: a Dallas arts society maven, Marie Donovan, is charged with capital murder and jailed after a famed opera orchestra conductor, Luca Scarlatti, is found dead. Scarlatti, the maestro of the Metroplex Opera, has been shot with Marie\u2019s gun and stabbed with one of her long hairpins, which has a nerve agent on it. Meanwhile, some of Marie\u2019s clothes have gunshot residue. And it is well known that she and the lecherous Scarlatti did get along. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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BIOGRAPHY\/ POLITICS & GOVERNMENT<\/p>\n

Kyle Longley<\/span><\/p>\n

LBJ\u2019s 1968: Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America’s Year of Upheaval<\/span><\/p>\n

Cambridge University Press<\/p>\n

Hardcover, 978-1-1071-9303-1, (also available as an e-book), 374 pgs., $29.99; February 22, 2018<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Dr. Chris Manno<\/span><\/p>\n

Longley\u2019s narrative LBJ\u2019s 1968 is so compelling from page one<\/span> that by chapter three the reader has to stop to remember that it\u2019s not actually about President Lyndon B. Johnson. Rather, the text is a riveting and, in many places horrifying, account of the year 1968 as Johnson wrestled with, in his own words, \u201cthat bitch of a war on the other side of the world\u201d while struggling to lead a nation torn apart by antiwar and civil-rights protests and riots. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n

>> archive<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

New children\u2019s books from three Texas authors<\/h1>\n

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Penguin & Tiny Shrimp Don\u2019t Do Bedtime<\/span> by Cate Berry<\/span> of Austin (Harper Collins, $17.99 hardcover, illustrated by Charles Santoso<\/span>) is not a book about bedtime. Of course it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a book about fireworks, running from lions, flying hot air balloons, sailing shark-infested waters. It\u2019s a book about songs and corny jokes and staying up late until the hippo yawns. And everyone gets sleepy. And zzzzzzz.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not a book about bedtime.<\/p>\n

Bears Make the Best Reading Buddies<\/span> by Carmen Oliver<\/span> of Round Rock (Capstone, $14.95 hardcover, illustrated by Jean Claude<\/span>) finds Alelaide wanting to bring Bear to school.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Fitz-Pea is assigning everyone in class a reading buddy. Adelaide sets out to convince the teacher that she already has a reading buddy, Bear, and that bears make the best reading buddies.<\/p>\n

She makes a strong case, but is it enough to convince Mrs. Fitz-Pea?<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s West Texas Snow<\/span> by Callie Metler-Smith<\/span> of Stamford (Clear Fork Publishing, $17.99 hardcover, illustrated by Christee Curran-Bauer<\/span>) is a story about Ben, who lives in West Texas.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot that Ben likes about West Texas, such as eating watermelon and fishing for catfish, but he really wishes it would snow.<\/p>\n

Pop takes him into a field and they plow and plant cotton and wait for it to grow. Ben waits and waits and waits, and finally, one day, the field is full of soft \u201csnow\u201d \u2014 well, at least the West Texas version.<\/p>\n

Berry, Oliver and Metler-Smith will speak at this weekend\u2019s West Texas Book Festival <\/span>in Abilene, discussing \u201cWriting and Publishing Children\u2019s Books\u201d at 10:30 a.m. Saturday (Oct. 20) at the Abilene Woman\u2019s Club. For a complete festival schedule, go to the Abilene Public Library website<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Political biography: <\/span>Speaker Jim Wright: Power, Scandal, and the Birth of Modern Politics<\/span> is a comprehensive, even-handed 400-page political biography of the Fort Worth congressman who rose through the ranks to become Speaker of the House, only to be forced to resign in 1989 after a partisan ethics investigation (University of Texas Press, $35 hardcover).<\/p>\n

Author J. Brooks Flippen<\/span> interviewed Wright extensively before his death in 2015 and was granted access to his personal diaries in preparing his narrative on Wright\u2019s long, productive and controversial career, including twelve years as majority leader and Speaker.<\/p>\n

The biography is divided into four parts: The Rise of a Politician (up to 1954); Congress in an Age of Tradition (1954\u201368); Leadership in an Age of Dynamism (1968\u201380); and Victory and Defeat in the Age of Reagan (1980\u20132015).<\/p>\n

\u201cTo understand Jim Wright in all his complexity, with all his flaws and mistakes, all his strengths and triumphs,\u201d Flippen writes, \u201cis to understand much of the American past and the politicians who guided it. The story of Jim Wright, whether a tragedy or triumph, is a story of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> writes about Texas books and authors. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

>> <\/span>Check out his previous Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Lit<\/a><\/span>erary Life<\/span><\/h1>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contributing Editor Lee & Low Books Hardcover, (978-1-6201-4286-8), 32 pgs., $18.95; August 7, 2018 Bookjoy, Wordjoy is the newest collection of poetry for children from Pat Mora, recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Institute of Letters and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Texas at El Paso, among many distinctions. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}