Introduction to SCORE!
Saturday, June 09, 2007 at 01:00 pm- 3:00 pm


Come to BookEnds as we team up with our neighbors, the educators from SCORE! We will be selling six of their workbooks, and we will also hold a raffle. The manager from the Winchester SCORE! will talk about their program, giving examples of their teaching style and their approach to tutoring. ...More

BookEnds’ Book Group
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Please join us for a discussion of Debra Galant’s Rattled. To welcome in summer, this selection is a little lighter than some of our past books. A former columnist for The New York Times, Galant has spun a humorous tale about suburban New Jersey and a face-off between the new suburban chic and the native old-timers.

BookEnds’ Book Group
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at 07:00 pm - 8:00 pm


Please join us for a discussion of Marti Leimbach's Daniel Isn't Talking. Set in London, it is a story of an American mother and the effects her son's diagnosis of autism has on her family. Told with humor and poignancy, the novel chronicles the emotions of a mother who loves her children desperately but urgently wants to find a way to pull her son out of his symptoms. ...More

Dede writes: In The New Yorkers (0374221839) by Cathleen Schine, the New Yorkers in question are really the dogs. Beatrice is an aging, loveable pit bull-mix rescue dog owned by a shy music teacher. Howdy, a puppy, changes the lives of at least five people in a block-long neighborhood on the Upper West Side. Better behaved than the Marley of bestseller fame and patient with their owners, Beatrice and Howdy tow their hapless humans out of depression, indecision and ennui into what seems like the magical light of Manhattan. Not a bit sentimental, this is an elegant novel....More

Nicole Mones is a well-known food writer. In her latest novel, The Last Chinese Chef (0618619666), she tells a story within a story. The subtle and layered history of Chinese cuisine in the Imperial Court—almost lost under Mao’s restrictions—is interwoven with a delicate love story between Maggie, an American journalist and Sam, a Chinese-American chef. Sam’s very elderly honorary Uncles, colleagues of his famous grandfather who reigned in the Imperial kitchens, judge how hard he is working by counting the burns on his arms and urging him to learn all that they can teach him before their precious knowledge is lost with their passing. One of the excellent reviews of his book cautions the reader not to read it when hungry!...More

Changing Light (0375424512) is the first novel by Nora Gallagher, a respected writer of non-fiction. Set in New Mexico in the summer of 1945 at the time of the Manhattan Project, it is a story of profound moral choices. Eleanor, a promising young painter from New York, has fled her smothering marriage to a controlling older painter. Released from his dominance, she can once again work in the beauty, light and solitude of the desert. She rescues Leo, who has collapsed in an arroyo near her house. We learn that Leo is a Czech physicist, suffering from radiation poisoning from an accident at a lab in Los Alamos. Their short, poignant love affair changes their lives. I think this is one of the very best novels of the year. ...More

Alice writes: June is the start of summer, and, to me, summer means camp. In the spirit of overnight camp nostalgia, journalist Josh Wolk has written a memoir titled Cabin Pressure (1401302602) in which he chronicles his return to camp the summer before his marriage. This book appeals both to the dreamers of childhoods spent swimming in lakes and to readers who ever longed not to commit to adulthood but to revel in childhood pleasures. In his account of his eight-week stint as a counselor at “Camp Eastwind” in Maine, he takes the reader on a romp through male adolescence. In returning to his childhood playground, he slides back into a teenage mentality—struggling with peer pressure, comparing himself to the extreme-sports counselor he knew as a kid, not showering and challenging campers to beat him at backgammon—but leaves with a greater appreciation for what lies ahead. This book was both funny and a great trip down memory lane....More

Last month, I extolled on the greatness of Khaled Hosseini’s new book, A Thousand Splendid Suns (1594489505). This month, the critics are backing up my claims, saying it is equally as good as his debut novel, The Kite Runner (1594480001). Again it is a journey through Afghanistan’s troubled history, beginning with the Russian occupation and ending with the fall of the Taliban. A powerful, harrowing tale set primarily in Kabul, the story follows two women from their childhoods and into their marriage to the same man, Rasheed. Mariam, the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man, is forced to marry him at a young age. A few years later Laila, threatened by a fate that is likely to be prostitution or starvation, has to make the choiceless choice of becoming his second wife. Through a portrait of this household, Hosseini leads us through the country’s insufferable leadership changes that parallel a personal story of struggle. ...More

Last month, I extolled on the greatness of Khaled Hosseini’s new book, A Thousand Splendid Suns (1594489505). This month, the critics are backing up my claims, saying it is equally as good as his debut novel, The Kite Runner (1594480001). Again it is a journey through Afghanistan’s troubled history, beginning with the Russian occupation and ending with the fall of the Taliban. A powerful, harrowing tale set primarily in Kabul, the story follows two women from their childhoods and into their marriage to the same man, Rasheed. Mariam, the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man, is forced to marry him at a young age. A few years later Laila, threatened by a fate that is likely to be prostitution or starvation, has to make the choiceless choice of becoming his second wife. Through a portrait of this household, Hosseini leads us through the country’s insufferable leadership changes that parallel a personal story of struggle. ...More

BookEnds’ Book Group
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Please join us for a discussion of Debra Galant’s Rattled. To welcome in summer, this selection is a little lighter than some of our past books. A former columnist for The New York Times, Galant has spun a humorous tale about suburban New Jersey and a face-off between the new suburban chic and the native old-timers.

Gretchen, our long lost bookseller, writes: For a summer chiller or two, try these paperback thrillers…First, a classic: Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile (0425200469). A honeymoon cruise down the Nile, a crime of passion and a suspect with an airtight alibi—can the master detective Hercule Poirot crack this case? Good English fun. ...More

On to modern day California…I suggest Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer (0446616451). A legal thriller, it throws a bunch of nasty plot curves to foil the reader. Bev, our manager, heartily recommends this book!...More

Next, you should cross the country to New England. A Drink Before the War (0380726238) introduced Dennis Lehane to mystery fans. This explosive novel centers on Boston politicians who hire private investigators, Kenzie and Gennaro, to solve what proves to be no ordinary crime. ...More

Lastly, I recommend a guaranteed scare-you-to-death psychological novel from Minette Walters. The Dark Room (0307277097) focuses on a woman suffering from amnesia who finds she is the prime suspect in two murders. How she pieces together memories to prove her innocence makes for a gritty, engrossing and intelligent thriller....More

Pat writes: Together (0375843396) is a wonderful picture book by Jane Simmons about friendship. Mousse and Nut have a great time walking, playing and laughing together. Everyday is wonderful until they realize that there are some things they just can’t do together. Thinking that they can no longer be friends because of their differences, Mousse and Nut eventually find that we are all different in different ways, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t be friends....More

Norma Fox Mazer’s Has Anyone Seen My Emily Greene? (0763613843) is a charming book with lyrical text. It’s time for lunch, and Emily Greene is nowhere to be found. Her father searches for her throughout the house. Playing hide-and-seek from Dad, Emily is not to be found, unless you carefully look on every page. Illustrated by Christine Davenier, this picture book is a good choice for Father’s Day and is just right for children three years and older....More

With clear, colorful illustrations and simple text, How to Catch a Star (0399242864) is a perfect read-aloud for a young one. Written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers (author of the charming Lost and Found (0399245030)), this picture book follows a boy that loved stars so much that he decided to catch one of his very own. When he tires of trying to figure out how to get his star, he takes a walk on the beach and discovers what he is truly seeking. ...More

Searching for the right gift for a young student? The end of the school year is always a challenge. Eileen Spinelli’s Someday (0803729413) is about a little girl daydreaming about what she will become “someday.” “I’ll be a scientist and travel to the south pole;” “I’ll be an artist and wear a blue smock;” “I’ll dig dinosaur bones, deep in a field, but tonight I’ll sleep in the bottom bunk with my brother because he is afraid of monsters.” The stylish art and whimsical text make this a perfect end-of-school-year gift....More

Summer is filled with many adventures, and Mike Lupica’s Summer Ball (0399244875) is about the adventures of Danny Walker at basketball camp. In a sequel to Travel Team (0142404624), Danny meets his old rivals once again. Although Danny is a terrific player, his disadvantage is his height. Can he really do well in this tall man’s game? The best players in the country are there, and Danny wonders if he can really make the grade. Good for middle grade students, especially boys. ...More

Summer is filled with many adventures, and Mike Lupica’s Summer Ball (0399244875) is about the adventures of Danny Walker at basketball camp. In a sequel to Travel Team (0142404624), Danny meets his old rivals once again. Although Danny is a terrific player, his disadvantage is his height. Can he really do well in this tall man’s game? The best players in the country are there, and Danny wonders if he can really make the grade. Good for middle grade students, especially boys. ...More

Marilyn writes: In Christina Askounis’ The Dream of the Stone (1416911871), 15-year-old Sarah Lucas finds herself being followed by a stranger and given cryptic advice by an old woman who mysteriously appears and then vanishes. Then she receives a gleaming stone in the mail, with a universe of tiny stars suspended in its depths. At first, there’s no one to turn to. Her parents have died in a freak plane crash, and her brilliant older brother has disappeared from the top secret research institute for which he’s been working. Then she meets Angel, a half-gypsy stable boy, and together they begin an incredible journey. Student reviewer Emma, aged 13, says, “This was a great book. All the ideas were really creative, and I urge you to read it.” Stephanie, also aged 13, tells us that she “enjoyed this riveting novel because it is suspenseful and exciting, passionate and mysterious.” Recommended for ages 12 and up....More

H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education (1416935711) by Mark Walden follows the adventures of Otto Malpense. Though he is only 13 years-old, he has managed to run the orphanage where he lives and trick the most powerful man in the country. Otto is one of the students who has been selected for the incoming class at H.I.V.E. Kidnapped and brought to a secluded island inside a seemingly active volcano, Otto and the new friends he has made—a martial arts expert, a world famous diamond thief, and a spunky computer genius—will try to achieve what no one has before. They’re planning to escape from the island. This is a fun book for kids aged 10 and older, and parents reading to children will enjoy the cartoon-like, over-the-top villainy that is reminiscent of James Bond and Austin Powers....More