Comedian and musician “Weird Al” Yankovic has been entertaining audiences for almost 30 years with his musical parodies, amassing dozens of gold and platinum albums and winning three Grammy awards. Earlier this month, the performer explored a new creative outlet with the release of his first children’s book When I Grow Up, which debuted at #4 on the New York Times Bestsellers list. Written by Yankovic, who dropped the “Weird” moniker for the book cover, and illustrated by Wes Hargis, the picture book follows the musings of 8-year-old Billy after his teacher asks him what he wants to be when he grows up. Billy considers some very unique careers, such as a lathe operator for X-14 rocket parts, a world famous Twinkie cooking French chef, and a gorilla masseuse. The story is told with Yankovic’s trademark offbeat humor, but it does have a heartfelt message at it’s core. “You don’t need to be defined by your job,” Yankovic explains in a interview with NPR. “You can really kind of follow your muse.” 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…

By Eleanor Brown
Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam | 336pgs
Release Date: January 20, 2011

Summary:
Sisterly love comes to the fore in Eleanor Brown’s debut novel The Weird Sisters. When their mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, three sisters unite at their childhood home to help care for her. The girls, all named after Shakespearean characters by their father, a Bard scholar, each bring their own personal baggage back to their mid-western homestead. The oldest sister, Rose (named after Rosalind in As You Like It) has remained in their small town of Barnwell, pursuing a career as college math professor. But, the comfortable, structured life she has carefully built becomes threatened when her fiancé is offered a job in England. Middle sister Bean (named after Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew) is escaping a disastrous life in New York, where she was recently fired from her job and accused of embezzlement. Baby sister Cordy (named after Cordelia in King Lear) has been living a free-spirited vagabond life, until she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, without any real idea of where to settle down or how to raise a family. Dealing with their ailing mother, their eccentric father who communicates primarily in Shakespearean verse, and their own inner turmoil brings the sisters closer together and cements not just love, but a genuine liking and respect for one another. 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…

By Angela Balcita
Harper Perennial | 240pgs
Release Date: February 1, 2011

Summary:
Angela Balcita’s sweet and amusing biography about life and love Moonface: A True Romance, arrives as many minds turn to romance in anticipation of Valentine’s Day. Yet, her story is anything but a fairytale romance. Suffering kidney failure in her late teens, Balcita was already dealing with the complications of her first kidney transplant, donated by her brother, when she met Chris Doyle in her junior year of college. As it became apparent that she would need another kidney, Doyle selflessly volunteered to be a donor, though their relationship was still new. This was the beginning of a deep love affair that has lasted 14 years and produced two-year-old daughter, Nico. “My big feeling was like we were transcending something magical – we were being united. I saw it as very emotional and spiritual, this gift,” Balcita expresses in an interview with USA Today. Doyle, now the author’s husband, has been her champion and cheerleader, helping her through illness and pain (she would eventually need an third transplant), and focusing their lives on a positive future. The couple’s coping mechanism of wit and humor is evident in the books narrative, and helps to craft an inspiring testimony of love’s endurance. 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…