Even before the debut of The Tiger’s Wife, Téa Obreht’s freshman novel, the young author was getting literary accolades. Last year, at just 24 years of age, Obreht was named as one of The New Yorker‘s 20 under 40. At the tender age of 23, The Atlantic included her short story The Laugh in their Fiction Issue. This media buzz built up very high expectations for Obreht to deliver a stunning first novel, and judging by most early critical reviews, the young writer has succeeded. The Tiger’s Wife, which will be released on March 8, takes place in an unspecified war-torn Eastern European country, where young doctor Natalia Stefanovi learns of her beloved grandfather’s death. Natalia delves into the circumstances of her grandfather’s passing and reflects on his many mythical stories, including one about a tiger escaping the zoo in 1941 and the deaf-mute that develops a friendship with the beast. By and large, critics have been charmed by Obreht’s rising talent. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly calls the Belgrade-born author a “Balkan Scheherazade” and describes her literary voice as “so enchanting that the mesmerized reader wants her never to stop.” Read more…

Today marks the 107th birthday of Dr. Seuss, the beloved author of numerous touchstones of children’s literature such as Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop and Horton Hears a Who!. Born Theodor Seuss Geisel in 1904, the writer and illustrator passed away in 1991, but the birthday of this scion of children’s books continues to be celebrated with Read Across America Day, a program created by National Education Association (NEA) in 1998. Throughout the nation, children, educators, librarians and people from all walks of life, will participate in reading activities to get kids excited about books. According to the NEA’s website: “Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers. Research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school.” Read more…

Picture books, such as 2011 Caldecott Medal winner "A Sick Day for Amos McGee" can help children understand important values.

As mentioned in a previous post here at In the Stax, many parents are pushing their children to read chapter books at very early ages, in order to achieve an academic edge. So, if your first grader still enjoys reading picture books, does that mean she is falling behind? “Kids are in nursery school, and their parents are already worried about getting them into college,” says philosophy professor Thomas Wartenberg in an interview with The Seattle Times. “I understand the problem.” But, if your child’s teacher confirms she is reading at grade level, Wartenberg doesn’t think her preference for picture books is cause for concern. The professor, who teaches at Mount Holyoke College and has written Big Ideas for Little Kids: Teaching Philosophy Through Children’s Literature (Rowman and Littlefield Education, 164pgs) believes picture books can be great educational tools. Read more…

Romance is in the air as Valentine’s Day quickly approaches, and the subject matter of Lana Citron’s new book A Compendium of Kisses (Harlequin, 224pgs) couldn’t be more appropriate. The British actress and author has compiled numerous facts, stories and quotes about locking lips and discusses the kiss in all its forms, from an expression of eroticism to its role in politics and religious ceremonies. A short story Citron wrote years ago about a woman saving kisses in jars, and later an art installation she created exhibiting labeled kisses in glass containers inspired her to write the book. “It was almost like opening a Pandora’s chest and just being overwhelmed by all the different ways a kiss is expressed, the meanings attached to it and the things it symbolizes,” she explains in an interview with Reuters. “I fell in love with it, I really did. I was submerged in the world of kisses for a year and came out of it with a book.”

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At the invitation of The New York Review of Books Blog to discuss the Coen brothers’ latest incarnation of True Grit, authors Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana read the original novel by Charles Portis and viewed Henry Hathaway’s 1969 film featuring John Wayne, along with screening the latest movie starring Jeff Bridges. After reviewing all the material, McMurtry and Ossana agreed that the main theme of True Grit in all its incarnations, is loyalty. Set in 1880′s Arkansas, Rooster Cogburn, a curmudgeonly bounty hunter, is pestered by 14-year-old Mattie Ross into helping her avenge her father’s death. As they venture into dangerous Indian Territory on their search for the killer, Tom Chaney, they find an ally in La Boeuf, a Texas Ranger. This story shows that loyalty “doesn’t prevent disagreement, or out-and-out fights, but it is often the coat love wears—a tattered and ragged coat, as in this fine movie—but maybe, just maybe, the best thing we have.” Read more…

The recently released picture book Pretty Penny Sets Up Shop (Random House Books for Young Readers, 40pgs) helps teach young children the basics of money management with a straight forward, and entertaining, approach. The book’s author and illustrator, Devon Kinch, struggled to put her financial house in order before beginning graduate work in graphic design at the School of Visual Arts. The experience of rehabilitating her finances and eliminating debt inspired the idea for the Pretty Penny series, which became the subject of her graduate thesis. Six-year-old Penny is a little girl with very big ideas. “My childhood heroines were Punky Brewster, Pippi Longstocking and Annie. All three were smart, edgy, and fearlessly independent young girls,” writes Kinch in an article for The Children’s Book Review. “I wanted Penny to embody the spirit of my childhood idols, but be very much a modern girl of today…She is a true mini-entrepreneur: passionate and resourceful.” Read more…

Yesterday, News Corp. launched The Daily, the very first newspaper exclusive to the iPad. The media company helmed by Rupert Murdoch, spent $30m developing the app, which users can subscribe to for 99 cents per week or $39.99 per year. Verizon has partnered with News Corp. to sponsor the newspaper’s launch, so right now readers will get the first two weeks free. A team of reporters from New York and Los Angeles, supported by freelance writers, will produce the digital newspaper. Each issue will have about 100 iPad pages that offer articles on news, entertainment, culture, opinion, gossip, sports and tech. Every page can be viewed vertically or horizontally and features interactive elements like video or 360-degree panoramic photos that readers can scroll around. Read more…

When The King’s Speech racked up 12 Oscar noms on Tuesday, the acting talents of Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter were widely lauded. But it is the crux of the real-life relationship between King George VI of England and speech therapist Lionel Logue, that provides the actors with the basis for their compelling performances. Lionel’s grandson, Mark, inherited his grandfather’s archive of the work he did with the British monarch and the friendship they developed, and worked with author Peter Conradi to write The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy a companion book to the movie. What is not shown in the film is the longevity of the friendship between these two men, which began when Australian-born elocution instructor Lionel started work with the Royal to overcome his stutter. The two remained friends for the rest of their lives, and the collection of hundreds of letters between Lionel, George VI and his wife Elizabeth chronicle a long term bond. “The content of the letters between them is incredibly friendly as you’d expect between two friends,” Mark Logue tells CNN.com. “But there is a kind of etiquette that Lionel still abides by,” always opening letters with “your Royal Highness.” Read more…

The recent release of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, written by Yale law professor Amy Chua, has caused quite a stir with the media and a swath of American parents who have taken issue with her rigid approach to motherhood. Chua, who chose to raise her two daughters the Chinese way, expected nothing less than academic perfection from her children and banned participation in sleep overs, video games and school plays so that the girls could spend arduous hours practicing their musical instruments. There is no arguing this mother got results, her daughters, now 15 and 18, are straight A students and the oldest has performed at Carnegie Hall. Yet, Journalists and parents have criticized Chua for being cruel and unnecessarily strict, amid grumbles about calling social services. In interviews, Chua has explained that the book was supposed to be funny, she intended it to be a sort of satire of her experience with motherhood, and admits that was less of a slave-driver in real life. Somehow, knowing this does not make reading about her screaming rants at her children any less unpleasant for some. But that is here in the U.S., how are her methods viewed in China? Read more…

Eva Gabrielsson, author Stieg Larsson’s long time partner, is confident that she can complete the fourth installment of the Millennium series. “I am able to finish it … Steig and I often wrote together,” she tells AFP. Though she qualified this statement by explaining the Larsson family must first grant her the intellectual rights to the series before she will begin work. Larsson had written more than 200 pages of the fourth book before his heart attack in 2004, and Gabrielsson is in possession of this manuscript, though all rights to the series are currently owned by his father and brother. She refused to reveal any plot details of the book, except to admit that “Lisbeth little by little frees herself from her ghosts and her enemies.”

Millions of fans are thrilled at the prospect of a new Millennium book, and are anxious to set their eyes on Larsson’s last words about Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Though if this new installment is written and fails to meet audience expectations, it could become a disappointing chapter in an already checkered legacy. Would it be better to leave well enough alone and let the first three books stand on their own? Read more…