Review of "Food Alphabet," by David Drew

 Review of

Food Alphabet, by David Drew ISBN13: 9780433037286

Five out of five stars

Alphabet and food education combined

 This is an excellent book for the child in the early years of elementary school. It is a combination of science lesson and learning the alphabet. For each letter of the alphabet there is an image of a type of food where the first letter of the food is that specific letter. While the explanations of the foods are short, they contain enough information so that the reader will acquire a basic understanding of that specific item.

 While many staples like rice and bread are covered, items that the reader may not have experienced before also appear. For example, there is the avocado, veggieburger and quesadilla. Most children will be interested in learning the ingredients in peanut butter.

 Large enough to be seen from some distance, the images and text in this book make it ideal for being read to groups of children. Very educational.

Review of "Buchanan’s Big Fight," by Jonas Ward

 Review of

Buchanan’s Big Fight, by Jonas Ward

Five out of five stars

Coco fights for the western championship

 Buchanan is known for not having ties to many people, he has his “adopted” children and the prizefighter Coco Bean and nothing else. In this story, he is smitten by not one, but two women. One of which is a member of the British aristocracy and the other runs a gambling hall in Denver.

 Fight promoter Charlie Emory is trying to set up a fight between Coco Bean and Dan Ford, a giant fighter considered the best in the east. The fight is to take place in Denver and the expectations for interest and revenue are enormous. A group of British aristocrats are in the area with their goal being observers of the fight. The Duke of Cumberland is himself a reasonably talented fighter and is an avid photographer. He is accompanied by his wife the Duchess and his sister Lady Caroline. Despite being of royal vintage, the three British are very down-to-earth, and Buchanan and Lady Caroline hit it off very well.

 In the midst of their first meeting, they are robbed by the ruthless Cutler gang, they take all their money and the jewels from the ladies. The gang is made up a group of unrepentant Confederates that believe that they can rob their way back to prominence in the south. While they are willing to kill, they do have standards and do not commit any violence or rudeness that is not necessary.

 All of this takes place in the first few pages, opening a novel that is full of suspense and ends with a climactic battle. During that time, Coco trains for the fight with Buchanan’s help and they meet Madame Velvet, the owner/proprietor of a gambling hall/saloon in Denver. It is said that she runs the most honest house in the city.

 The action and dialog is generally standard Buchanan, although he is much more attentive to the ladies than usual. Being a woman of the west, Madame Velvet is more his style, and he responds to her. Therefore, this is an unusual Buchanan story, while you certainly expect Coco to win the fight, until the end, you do not know if Buchanan is going to get the girl and if so, which one.

Review of "Three Friends Together," by Hiawyn Oram

 Review of

Three Friends Together, by Hiawyn Oram ISBN 0763567396

Five out of five stars

The value of always inclusive friendship

 Little Penguin, Wally the Whale and Slippy the Seal are friends that often play together. However, when this story opens Little Penguin encounters Slippy and they decide to play together. Wally sees them and feels very sad at being left out. The next day it is Penguin encountering Wally while swimming and Slippy is left sitting on the rocks feeling left out. Finally, on the third day Slippy had joined Wally in swimming and diving together in the water, leaving Penguin alone on the ice flow feeling sad.

 Finally, there is a meeting and all three realize that it is far more fun when they all play together, and they apologize to each other for leaving one out. From that point on, they always make sure that all three friends were part of the play group.

 This is a simple but important lesson about how it feels to be left out of a playgroup of friends. It demonstrates that if you can be in it can also be your turn to be out. With the large size of the text as well as the images, this is a book that can be understood from some distance. Making it ideal for readings to large groups of students. The level of the text is that of the early elementary school student.

Review of "Over the Rockies With the Air Mail," by Franklin W. Dixon

 Review of

Over the Rockies With the Air Mail, by Franklin W. Dixon

Four out of five stars

Very much an early century YA adventure

 First published in 1927, this book is very much in the vernacular of adventure stories of the early quarter of the twentieth century. The dangers posed to the hero, aviation pioneer Ted Scott are constant and way over the top. It opens in the midst of a massive blizzard with white-out conditions. Scott is approached by a physician that is desperate to fly to a medical emergency and the only way there is by air. At first, Scott refuses, considering it suicide. Yet, when he learns that a life is in danger, he relents and flies over rough country where there are peaks and visibility almost non-existent.

 In true heroic adventure style, when it is discovered that he must land immediately due to lack of fuel, Scott conducts a semi-crash landing. He ends up colliding with a haystack that cushions their landing. By following a fence, Scott and his passenger find assistance and the life is saved.

 In the standard style of stories by the house name Franklin W. Dixon, Scott is knocked out a couple of times and ends up crashing another plane, this time in the wilderness of the Rockies. While he and his passenger manage to survive uninjured and even maintain control of their weapons, the coincidences pile up to the point of absurdity. They survive an attack by a grizzly bear by of all things running it off a cliff, shoot the head off a rattlesnake in mid-strike and are rescued by a wilderness expedition led by a romantic rival.

 If you read this book with any other mindset than one of analyzing it outside the context of the YA adventures of the time, you will likely utter a few derisive ha-has. However, if you can keep the proper historical context, it can be enjoyed.

Review of "The Medic: Life and Death in the Last Days of WWII," by Leo Litwak

 Review of

The Medic: Life and Death in the Last Days of WWII, by Leo Litwak, ISBN 1565123050

Five out of five stars

War from the perspective of the frontline medic

 Litwak taught English literature at San Francisco State University for over thirty years, which explains the high quality of the prose in this book. During World War II he was a medic in the U. S. Army, in the front lines during the move into Germany until his unit met with Russian forces coming from the East.

 The recounting of his experiences demonstrate that there were truly all kinds of personalities in the Army. Everything from a man that fought on the side of the International Brigades in the Civil War in Spain to men that simply didn’t care about much of anything. Concerned only with moving towards the war ending with the least possible inconvenience. If that meant shooting surrendering Germans, then so be it.

 Within Litwak’s wartime experiences, there are two that stand out and are repeated several times. One is a German rocket attack that eviscerates one and blows the leg off another of his buddies. Both are killed. He comes back to that event several times. The other is about an experience when he is on leave in Paris. While there, he meets an apparently shy young woman named Marishka. After a bit of hard-to-get maneuvering, they do end up in a pay-for-play arrangement. She is mentioned several times after that and when the war is over and Litwak is being discharged, he goes back to Paris to search for her.

 The war in Europe was brutal and it changed the people dramatically. Yet, even within the carnage and inhumanity, many aspects of humanity remain. There is the need to remain human, to some that need is little more than carnal, yet to many others, it means basic acts of kindness shown to people that may not survive without it. Both are present in this book.

Review of "Stonewall Jackson’s Elbow," by John Billheimer

 Review of

Stonewall Jackson’s Elbow, by John Billheimer, ISBN 1594144621

Five out of five stars

A mystery surrounding genuine fakes

  Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was born in West Virginia and is still considered one of the best generals the United States ever produced. He was accidentally shot by his own troops, which led to the amputation of his left arm. He died eight days later, and his left arm was not part of the burial.

 The main premise of this book is that J. Burton Caldwell was the president of the First National Bank of Contrary, West Virginia and after his death, auditors discovered that three-quarters of a billion dollars was missing. Since Caldwell lived frugally, there are no clues as to what he might have done with the missing money. Caldwell was a bit of a joker, so he had funded a Museum of Fakes and Frauds in Contrary. One of the attractions was what was supposedly the left elbow of General Jackson. That is really the only mention of this particular item, and it has nothing to do with the fundamental plot.

 Owen Allison is a civil engineer that has moved back to West Virginia from the west coast after his divorce. He works on a consultant basis evaluating traffic accidents for the county and he is friends with the sheriff Thad Reader. Allison is also the pseudo guardian of a boy named Jeb Stuart and the story opens with the two of them attending an FDIC liquidation auction of the items in the museum. Their interest is in the boxes of baseball trading cards.

 When one of the winning bidders is found dead at a traffic accident, Reader calls Allison to consult. Her purchases were not found and as the investigation continues, they discover that even some of the forgeries have value and that some that are labeled as forgeries are not. The plot thickens mightily when it turns out that some of the major players are not what they claim to be.

 There is also significant mention of the Oxycontin drug epidemic in West Virginia, it forms the basis for a significant sub-plot to the story. When there are attempts on Allison’s life, it is clear to all that there are very high stakes, much greater than the several thousand dollars of what appears to be the value of the items in the museum.

 The story is very entertaining, with some unusual supporting characters. Of special interest is a man named Underdunck, he makes his living forging signatures on items such as baseball cards. He is of course an expert at spotting forgeries done by others. He does provide valuable assistance in the effort to identify fakes and creates some to be used as distractors of the opposition.

 This is a convoluted mystery with several distractors along the way. The villains turn out to be well hidden in plain sight, eventually exposed, but not after some complex pursuit of the facts and fiction. It is an enjoyable story.

Review of "Black Panther: The Ultimate Guide," by Stephen Wiacek

 Review of

Black Panther: The Ultimate Guide, by Stephen Wiacek, ISBN 9780241300817

Five out of five stars

Detailed history of a changeable character

 Marvel broke significant new ground in comic book history in 1966 when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby  introduced the new character of Black Panther. He had black skin and was from the fictional country known as Wakanda in Africa. Furthermore, he was the ruler of that country and it possessed advanced technology that the European based countries did not. He was also a physically powerful and extremely intelligent man. Characteristics of a black person that were not often found in popular fiction at the time.

 From the original context of the character, there have been many changes in Black Panther’s position as well as in his country of Wakanda. He has been a member of many groups of heroes, fighting off the villains and on occasion fighting those that have taken over Wakanda by force. Black Panther has married a superhuman, only to have that marriage annulled and there have been many instances of multiple universes and the questionable necessity of the deaths of entire planet Earths.

 With so much that has changed over time, it is extremely difficult to follow the multiple storylines. Therefore, this book is extremely valuable in filling that void. As the subtitle implies, it is a definitive guide to all of the plot machinations that have taken place in the evolution of the Black Panther storylines. If you were like me and confused concerning the complications of the character’s role in the Marvel Universe, this book will clear up nearly all of your uncertainty.