May 2021

During the 1960s and ‘70s, Polaroid was the coolest technology company on earth. Like Apple, it was an innovation machine that cranked out one must-have product after another. Led by its own visionary genius founder, Edwin Land, Polaroid grew from a 1937 garage start-up into a billion-dollar pop-culture phenomenon. This book tells the remarkable tale of Land’s one-of-a-kind invention-from Polaroid’s first instant camera to hit the market in 1948, to its meteoric rise in popularity and adoption by artists such as Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, and Chuck Close, to the company’s dramatic decline into bankruptcy in the late '90s and its unlikely resurrection in the digital age. Both an inspiring tale of American ingenuity and a cautionary business tale about the perils of companies that lose their creative edge.

I have Kirk Kirkwood to thank for this recommendation. A wonderful collection of eight short stories from memories of youth, meditations on music, and an ardent love of baseball – to dreamlike scenarios and invented jazz albums. Together, these stories challenge the boundaries between our minds and the exterior world. Occasionally, a narrator may or may not be Murakami himself. Is it memoir or fiction? The reader decides.

What you don't know about yourself can hurt you and your relationships. Witty and filled with stories, this book – while exploring one’s connections with Christian spirituality – is more about becoming wiser and more compassionate with others. We could all use a little bit more of that, no?

My high schoolers got a kick out of this easy-to-read memoir. Having taken on the role of Roger Moore’s executive assistant in 2002, Owen became the right-hand man to “James Bond,” as well as his co-author, onstage co-star and confidant. Faithfully at the icon’s side until his passing in 2017, Owen provides a unique and rare insight into life with one of the world’s most beloved actors in this affectionate and amusing book.

I’m always looking for good stories about strong women for my girls, and Shaw provides a compelling and concise look into the life of Joan of Ark. With Saint Joan, which distills many of the ideas Shaw had been exploring in earlier works on politics, religion, feminism, and creative evolution, he reached the height of his fame as a dramatist. Fascinated by the story of Joan of Arc, but unhappy with the way she had traditionally been depicted, Shaw wanted to remove “the whitewash which disfigures her beyond recognition.” He presents a realistic Joan: proud, intolerant, naïve, foolhardy, and brave – a rebel and a woman for Shaw’s time…and our own.

With one of my favorite subtitles of all time, “15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me,” this is the first book in the uproarious and heartwarming Ruby Oliver novels.

Good tweener that won the Newbery Award 40 years ago. All summer Sara Godfrey has fretted over herself, her impossible body, her terrible new haircut. One moment she's elated; the next, she's in tears. And she can’t figure out why. Maybe her wildly changing moods are tied to the sudden and unaccountable appearance of the swans, which hold the rapt attention of Charlie, Sara’s mentally handicapped brother, who she loves far more than herself these days. In fact, it will be the sudden disappearance of Charlie that will compel Sara to abandon her own small, annoying miseries and lose herself in searching for him. In her anguish, Sara turns to Joe Melby, whom she has long despised, and together they search through the dense woods and rough fields to find him. Sara knows that she will never be the same again.

An introduction to the magic of math that will engage even the most math-reluctant kid. Mathakazam! As kids work their way through each trick, they learn math concepts including calculation, multiplication, prime factors, the Nine Principal, the Binary Number System and more. Especially good for keeping math relevant during summer vacation.

Speed off on an eventful bicycle ride along the bold yellow road that cuts through town, by the sea and through the country. Ride up and around, along and through, out and down. Viva's striking graphic style is executed in just five joyous colors, and his spare, rhythmic language is infectious.

One day Benny the woodpecker awakens to the best tummy-rumbling smell ever and discovers it’s something called “waffles.” He MUST taste them! Lots of laughs as Benny has his own plan on how to get them.