Scott Simon writes openly and lovingly about the adoption process that he and his wife went through in order to bring their two daughters home from China in Baby, We Were Meant For Each Other: In Praise of Adoption (Random House, 180pgs). The author, known on the airwaves as the host of NPR’s Weekend Edition, and his wife Caroline, had tried for years to conceive before deciding to adopt a child from overseas. Simon tells of their first “adopto-tourism” trip to China, anxiously seeing the sights with a group of adoptive parents, nervously waiting for the big moment when they’ll finally meet their child. The fulfillment of a dream, becoming parents, is both joyful and terrifying. At first sight, they immediately fall in love with the little girl they name Elise, though the euphoria is tempered with moments of panic and fear. “What have we done? What were we thinking? We’ve ripped a baby away from the only place she’s ever known, to bring her some place on the other side of the world that might as well be the moon. What kind of people are we?”
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By Abigail Pogrebin
Doubleday ©2009 | Hardcover 288pgs

Journalist and identical twin Abigail Pogrebin offers a fascinating glimpse into the relationship between twins and how it impacts the need for individuality in One and the Same: My Life as an Identical Twin and What I’ve Learned About Everyone’s Struggle to Be Singular. Twins, especially identical twins, are often seen as special, at times almost a novelty, in our society. The duo is bestowed with a unique “star power” that draws levels of attention few singletons experience. Such was especially true for Abigail and sister Robin who grew up loving to sing and perform, excelling academically (both graduating from Yale), and achieving successful careers in journalism.
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By Brady Udall
W. W. Norton & Company | 602pgs
Release Date: May 3, 2010

Golden Richards struggles with indecision and loneliness while surrounded by his four wives and 28 children in The Lonely Polygamist, Brady Udall’s second novel. The Mormon patriarch is under tremendous strain as he divides his time between his family’s three separate households in remote Utah and tries to keep his failing construction business afloat, all while grieving over the death of his young daughter. In an effort to support his family, he goes against his religious beliefs and takes a contacting job building a brothel in Nevada, though he glosses over the truth with his family and tells them it is a retirement home. Richards may have a “God-given patriarchal authority”, yet he constantly struggles to keep up with the demands of his wives, and further complicates his life when he develops romantic feelings for a woman he meets at the construction site. Udall’s story of a man in crisis and a family in chaos encompasses the tragic and comedic elements of real life, with an ultimate message of love and redemption.
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By Brooke Newman
Harmony | 320pgs
Release Date: March 30, 2010

Brooke Newman recounts the true story of the unusual, yet enduring friendship between her father, James and his African-American housekeeper Jenniemae, in Jenniemae & James: A Memoir in Black and White. James Newman was a brilliant and distinguished mathematician, well known for defining the “googol” (google) concept in math and authoring the important work The World of Mathematics. In contrast, Jenniemae Harrington was a poor, uneducated, heavy-set woman, who though deeply religious, loved to play the lottery with numbers that came to her in dreams. During the ’40’s and ’50’s, the unlikely pair bonded through their sharp minds and shared love of numbers. As racial tensions rose throughout the country, planting the seeds for the Civil Rights Movement, household tensions grew due to James’ infidelities and his wife’s emotional problems. Through it all, Jenniemae became a steady, loving force in the home. This bi-racial friendship may have been outside the cultural norm of the time, yet it blossomed into a wellspring of calm, caring and loyalty for Jenniemae, James, and his family.
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By Kelly Corrigan
Hyperion | 96pgs
Release Date: March 2, 2010

Addressing her children, Kelly Corrigan writes a tender, richly intimate missive on the challenges and joys of parenthood in her new book Lift. With humor and thoughtfulness, the author intertwines the real-life stories of three adults’ experiences with the peaks and pitfalls of raising children. The book title, taken from a hang gliding term, describes the technique in which a glider must fly deliberately into turbulent air, in order to avoid losing altitude. Corrigan chose this term to symbolize the challenging, sometimes rough and chaotic, ride of parenting. She highlights the complexity of this role with honesty and tenderness. Though parents may fall short in their duties at times, Lift serves as a reminder of the importance and rewards of child rearing.
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In 1940, high school students, Linda Porte and Woodland Drake, were introduced by mutual friends during a study session at the Millicent Library in Fairhaven, MA. As the library was closing Linda became upset that she would not be able to finish her report. The book she needed, a guide to Fairhaven, was a reference book and could not be checked out. During the group’s walk home, she again expressed her disappointment at not having the book, and Woodland surprised her by pulling it out of his jacket. This act of “unofficial borrowing” would spark a lifetime of love, with a marriage that lasted 64 years and four children. Their son, Paul Drake, himself a librarian at the University of Guam, recently recounted his parent’s love story to the Standard-Times. Incredibly the couple had held on to the book for the rest of their lives, but after they both passed away (Linda in 2007 and Woodland in 2009), Paul felt it was time to finally return it to its rightful owner.
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By Reif Larsen
The Penguin Press HC ©2009 | Hardcover 400pgs

T. S. Spivet, a 12 year old map making virtuoso, embarks on a strange, yet exciting, cross-country trek in The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet. After receiving the surprising news that he has won the Smithsonian’s coveted Baird Award, he leaves the quiet Coppertop Ranch under cover of darkness; a short farewell note stuffed in the cookie jar. His plan is to ride the rails hobo-style, from his home in Montana all the way to the gleaming streets of Washington D.C., and attend the Baird Award ceremony. Equipped with his essential cartographic tools, a few good luck charms and a mysterious notebook filched from his mother’s study, T.S. leaves behind his disjointed family. “I did not belong here,” he thought. “I was not a creature of the high country.”
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By Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Atria | 320pgs
Release Date: December 15, 2009

Nanny Returns, the much-anticipated sequel to the The Nanny Diaries, picks up twelve years after the original hit novel left off. Nan and her husband, “Harvard Hottie” Ryan, have returned to New York after a long period of living abroad to begin a new life. Amid the chaos of starting a business, renovating their home and adjusting to a new position at a pretentious private school, Nan re-connects with Grayer X, and his younger brother Stilton. To placate their feelings of abandonment at her departure over a decade ago, she vows to help the boys through their parents’ nasty divorce. As she is again sucked into the X family’s vicious society of privilege and power, she witnesses the damage that this life has done to the boys. These realizations, along with Ryan’s push to start a family, make Nan question whether or not she has the stomach for motherhood.

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