The Dylanologists
Adventures in the Land of Bob
by David Kinney (Simon & Schuster)
The tomes they are a-changin’. While there are countless books about Bob Dylan’s life and music, Kinney approaches Dylan from a different angle — the followers, scholars and kooks. One couple runs a Dylan-themed eatery in his Hibbing, Minn., hometown. Ed Weberman notoriously went through the singer’s trash. Others are just fanatical collectors and Dylan completists, collecting set lists like rare coins.
John Quincy Adams
American Visionary
by Fred Kaplan (Harper)
Adams family values. According to Kaplan’s bio of our sixth president, this is a paradox. Known best as the son of the father he revered — second president John Adams — No. 6’s success in emulating No. 2 was also his downfall. That’s because members of the Adams family were notorious for putting moral values ahead of public opinion — a stance that translated into pair of wildly unpopular presidencies. It was only after his (single) presidential term that the younger Adams was able to give his family’s values a strong voice — as a congressman in the 1830s and 1840s who courageously spoke out against slavery.
The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra
by Chris Raschka (Candlewick Press)
The idea of a picture-book biography of out-there jazzman Sun Ra for kids is a delight. And Raschka lives up to the high bar he set with his 1997 book “Charlie Parker Played Be Bop.” For the uninitiated, Sun Ra, born in 1914, claimed he was from another planet. Raschka’s colorful, impressionistic illustrations are like bits of jazz on the page.
Sergeant Stubby
How a Stray Dog and His Best Friend Helped Win World War I and Stole the Heart of a Nation
by Ann Bausum (National Geographic)
Shut off the cat videos! Stubby the stray dog served on battlefield in World War I and helped improve morale on the homefront. Bausum (“Freedom Riders”) delivers the marvelous mutt’s story in a new book commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Great War. The commissioned Connecticut canine even captured a German soldier. “Stubby the War Dog,” a companion volume about the heroic hound, is available for children.
The Hidden Child
by Camila Lackberg (Pegasus)
What could be darker than Nordic crime fiction? Nordic noir with Nazi war criminals! The latest thriller from Sweden’s Lackberg (“Ice Princess”) brings back quirky couple Patrik Hedstrom and Erica Falck. As an old Nazi medal hidden in her late mother’s possessions gets feisty Falck asking questions, people start to wind up dead. Hubby Hedstrom has no choice but to get involved. He soon realizes that this mystery might involve not only his wife’s family history, but also his own. Both stray dogs and Salsa dancing take a role. Still, you might want to think twice about reading this at home alone at night.