Costco Connection - July 2008

book
The engaging in fantasy and r eal life ^previews
JUVENILE

Encyclopedia Mythologica: Fairies and climbing in the Swiss Alps with his beautiful Magical Creatures, by Matthew Reinhart wife, Emma, when she is killed falling into a and Robert Sabuda. The first in a new series hidden crevasse. Twenty-four hours later, by two world-class pop-up masters gives read- Jonathan receives an envelope addressed to his ers a peek inside the fairy realm. Meet wife containing two baggage-claim tickets. He Shakespeare’s Queen Titania, springing up discovers that his only chance to survive the with her silver wings aflutter. Further along, a intrigue following him lies in uncovering magical tree spreads its branches to reveal a the devastating truth behind the secret his face within its foliage, while flowers unfold wife kept from him. and rearrange their petals, turning into flower fairies. This breathtaking 3-D book will hold Damage Control, by J.A. Jance. Sheriff Joanna people of all ages in its spell. Brady is the sleep-deprived mother of a newborn. Brady naps during town meetings, and setting out on an adventure. Cards in the adult she is drowning in paperwork, but nothing will decks have a detailed map on one side and local stop her from doing her job. First, a young secrets on the other. The decks for kids also woman whose ex-boyfriend has been harassing include transportation information and Web her shoots to kill. But the dead man is the sites for local attractions. wrong man. Then a car plows through a retaining wall and plunges off the side of a mountain, and Joanna needs to find out whether it was an accident or something more sinister.

JIM FAGIOLO

The Sports Book and The Human Body Book, from DK Publishing. In the grand tradition of Dorling Kindersley, these two books are lavishly illustrated, filled with facts and provide endless information on their subjects. Sports buffs will appreciate learning rules and game-winning strategies for more than 200 sports, including 35 Summer Olympics events. For kids interested in bodies and how they work—and who aren’t ready to dig into Gray’s Anatomy—there’s no better reference than The Human Body Book.

FICTION

Rules of Deception, by Christopher Reich. Dr. Jonathan Ransom, world-class mountaineer and surgeon for Doctors Without Borders, is

NONFICTION City Walks and City Walks with Kids, from Chronicle Books. If your travels take you to New York City, Paris or Washington, D.C., Chronicle’s City Walks decks will keep kids and adults happy. Exploring a city is as easy as picking one of the 50 cards from the deck and then

Moving Forward: Taking the Lead in Your Life, by Dave Pelzer. Readers know Pelzer from his poignant books A Child Called It, The Lost Boy and others, which showcase his resilience and perseverance through terrible sadness. In this book, he walks readers through the process of learning how to turn the experience gained from past hurts into the power to live a better life and help others to do the same, using his trademark wisdom, support and tough love.—Valerie Ryan

dvd previews

London. It centers on Terry Leather (Jason

Statham), a car dealer who is trying to leave behind his dodgy past to raise a family. Leather always avoided major-league scams, but when Martine Love (Saffron Burrows), a beautiful model from his old neighborhood, offers him a lead on a “foolproof” bank hit on London’s Baker Street, Leather sees it as the opportunity of a lifetime. Love targets a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewelry. But Leather and his crew don’t realize the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets. These secrets thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal that spans London’s criminal underworld, the highest echelons of the British government and the royal family itself.

PARAMOUNT HOME EN TERTAINMENT

Definitely, Maybe. As Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds), a 30-something going through a divorce, tries to answer a series of questions from his 10-year-old daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin), about his life before marriage, he has to think through it all again. As he tries to tell her a PG-rated version of his life, Maya helps him understand that it’s definitely never too late to go back, and maybe even possible to find a happy ending.

Also look for Drillbit Taylor, 10,000 BC and Vantage Point, as well as other movies and TV series.—Will Fifield

Seeing is believing, right?

FROM THE REALM of fantasy to the pain and pleasure of romance to chilling real-life stories of high-profile crime, the DVDs available this month at Costco and costco.com have something for everyone.

The Spiderwick Chronicles. What if magical creatures lived around us but somehow remained invisible? Such is the case in this film. Arthur Spiderwick, a turn-of-the-century naturalist, observed sprites, goblins, hobgoblins, ogres and trolls at work and documented their existence in his field guide. The film picks up the story 80 years later, when the Graces, descendants of the Spiderwick family, move into his rundown estate. Twin brothers Simon and Jared (Freddie Highmore), along with their sister, Mallory (Sarah Bolger), are pulled into an alternate—and very dangerous—reality.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a tale of magical creatures that influence our world.

21. Adapted from Ben Mezrich’s book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I. T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, this movie portrays Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess), a shy but gifted M.I. T. student who can’t afford to continue his education. When he is invited to join a clandestine group of the school’s most brilliant students who spend weekends in Las Vegas armed with fake identi-ties and the know-how to turn the odds at blackjack in their favor, he sees a possible solution to his financial problems. But it comes with certain risks.