REQUIRED READING
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce, illustrated by Joe Berger (Candlewick)
Forty-eight years after Ian Fleming’s “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” was published, in flies a sequel. British author Cottrell Boyce, a father of seven, tells Required Reading that when he told his kids he was asked to write it, “The whoops and cheers were so loud, I couldn’t think. They literally ran off and brought me a pen and a pad and a cup of tea and said, ‘Get going.’ ” In this one, the Tooting family is traveling around the world in an old fixer-upper camper van in which inventive Dad puts a junky engine that once belonged to Chitty. The motor wants its old body back, and the Tootings try to help. Worth the wait.
The Girl Next Door
by Brad Parks (Minotaur)
In Parks’ third adventure of wisecracking Newark Eagle-examiner investigative reporter Carter Ross, our hero finds his latest story on the pages of his own paper — the obituary pages. Ross reads of the hit-and-run death of Nancy Marino, struck while delivering the Eagle-examiner, but when he delves into the case, it’s apparent this was no accident. Among Nancy’s enemies: Ross’ publisher. Not surprisingly, his investigation leads the unflappable reporter into hot water.
Alice’s Piano
The Life of Alice Herz-sommer
by Melissa Müller and Reinhard Piechocki (St. Martin’s)
Not only did she survive the Holocaust, but Herz-sommer is still living, 67 years later, at age 108. What saved her? Music, authors Müller and Reinhard explain. The well-known Czech pianist spent two years in Theresienstadt, where her performances gave prisoners a few minutes of respite. A lifelong optimist, she tells the writers that she never gave up hope. Herz-Sommer now lives in London, where she plays daily, just as she has done for the past 100 years.
Helsinki White
by James Thompson (Putnam)
In his dozen years of living in Finland, Kentucky born-and-bred Thompson has absorbed enough cold, dark atmosphere for a spot on the roster of top Nordic crime writers — Mankell, Nesbø, Indrioason and the like. He’s back with Inspector Kari Vaara, who just days after his wife gives birth, is diagnosed with a brain tumor — and is blackmailed into leading a secretive police unit to target terrorists, drug lords, mobsters and more. This against a backdrop of xenophobia and violence rattling Finnish society.
The One
The Life and Music of James Brown
by R.J. Smith (Gotham)
“The One” has a double meaning. Musically, it’s on the upbeat — ONE two THREE four — that provided Brown with his signature funk. And, of course, there is only one James Brown. Smith, who writes lovingly about the Godfather of Soul without ignoring his faults, controversies (such as backing Nixon) and contradictions. He details Brown’s Georgia childhood, where he grew up in a brothel his aunt owned. And he shows that Brown, a perfectionist onstage who would play 350 shows a year, really was the Hardest Working Man in Show Business.