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.
The Bank Job. This film portrays a real
bank robbery that took place in 1971 in