Children & YA | Chapter 16

The Cat in the Rhinestone Suit

August 29, 2012

“Comical mixed-media illustrations emphasize the story’s Wild West zaniness, a letterpress font highlights the rhyme scheme and the feel of yesteryear, and amusing fictional photographs on the endpapers offer more details. A rousing addition to storytimes and folktale studies.”

— Angela Leeper, Booklist

Eye of the Sword

August 29, 2012

“Karyn Henley’s novel starts with a jolt, grabs the reader by the collar, and doesn’t slow down one minute. This author infuses her text with imagery, suspense, and a cast that will appeal to all ages.”

— Kathi Appelt, author of The Underneath

Living in Dangerous Times

In Julianna Baggott’s post-apocalyptic novel, Pure, children struggle to save a world destroyed by adults

By Sarah Norris | August 14, 2012

August 14, 2012 Julianna Baggott’s Pure is a futuristic blend of fairy tale and science fiction reminiscent of George Orwell’s classic 1984. The first in a planned trilogy, this beautiful, startlingly inventive, dystopian novel has been optioned by Fox 2000 and the lead producer of the Twilight movies, and within a few chapters it’s easy to see why. The cinematic setting vividly described in the book’s opening is a post-apocalyptic world charred by detonations. Survivors are divided into two camps: the so-called “Pures,” who have been cherry-picked to live safely within the Dome, a bubble immune to future attacks and disasters, and those left to fend for themselves on the outside. Baggott will discuss Pure at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

The Lord God Bird

John Corey Whaley’s award-winning debut novel features a rare bird, teenaged angst, religious mania, and lost children

By Lyda Phillips | August 7, 2012

August 7, 2012 John Corey Whaley’s Where Things Come Back is a curiously indefinable novel of youth and wonder, fear and loss, and the triumph of unflinching emotional honesty. Whaley will discuss Where Things Come Back at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

Bidding Artemis Farewell

After eleven years, hitting the bestseller lists with nearly every volume, Eoin Colfer brings the Artemis Fowl saga to a close

By Lyda Phillips | July 10, 2012

July 10, 2012 Eoin Colfer burst onto the middle-grade fantasy scene in 2001 with Artemis Fowl, a high-energy thriller starring a young criminal mastermind from an aristocratic Irish family, who kidnaps a ferocious fairy cop and holds her for ransom. Now the series comes to an end with its eighth installment, The Last Guardian. Colfer will discuss the culmination of his bestselling series on July 18 at 4 p.m. at the Nashville Public Library, as part of the Salon@615 series. The event is free and open to the public.

Bright Beads on a Thread

For May Justus, the late children’s author from East Tennessee, folksongs were inextricably linked to storytelling

By Susannah Felts | June 28, 2012

June 28, 2012 A devoted teacher of Appalachian children and the author of more than sixty books for children, May Justus rarely traveled from her home in East Tennessee. But her books, written over half a century, were read widely and reviewed in the major media, awarded prizes, and collected in libraries. Now the Tennessee Folklore Society and Jubilee Community Arts of Knoxville have released May Justus: The Carawan Recordings, a collection of traditional mountain ballads sung by Justus. The recordings help cement Justus’s legacy as an Appalachian folk hero, and they highlight her connection to the famous Highlander Folk School and its contribution to the protest movements of the 1960s.

Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones

By Dolly Parton with Holly George-Warren, curated by Rebecca Seaver
Ten Speed Press
336 pages
$50

“Featuring behind-the-scenes stories from Dolly Parton’s life and career, and the largest reveal of her private costume archive, this gorgeously photographed book spotlights her most unforgettable looks from the 1960s to now.”

~ the publisher