Recent finds at BookCloseouts

Some old and new favorites at BookCloseouts, in no particular order, with the reminder that none of the links in this post are affiliate links.  But I will share the latest $5 off coupon (good until December 31, 2008): coupon number/code: Longfellow; password: bookcloseouts.com

Oh, Rats!: The Story of Rats and People by Albert Marrin, illustrated by C.B. Morgan; hardcover picture book by the well-known children’s nonfiction writer featuring a rather different view of world history. Originally $16.99; 16 copies left at BCO for $7.99 each. If you loved Robert Sullivan’s Rats and your kids enjoyed Mark Kurlansky’s The Cod’s Tale, then Oh, Rats! is for you. Read more about Marrin’s Oh, Rats at Amazon.

Beware, Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer, from her Young Royals series.  BCO has 100 copies available at $2.99 each. More here on the book.

Nine Days a Queen: The Short Life And Reign Of Lady Jane Grey by Ann Rinaldi. Available at BCO as mass market paperback ($1.99), library bound edition ($5.99), and hardcover edition ($5.99).  I bought Beware, Princess Elizabeth and the Nine Days paperback for Laura, who’s keen on historical fiction.  More on Nine Days here at Amazon.

The World’s Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World’s Religions, edited by Philip Novak with a foreword by Huston Smith.  I’ve had this on my wish list for a while, and decided to buy it when it turned up at BCO.  One of the categories in the speech arts division at our music/performing arts festival is a sacred text reading, so it will be a useful resource for the festival as well as for our history and religion studies.  More on the title at Amazon.

An Unlikely Friendship: A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley by Ann Rinaldi, about the friendship of young Mary Todd and a former slave who purchased her freedom to become a dressmaker; available as a hardcover for $6.99 (previous link) and scratch and dent hardcover for $4.25.  More on the book at Amazon

Paths of Desire: The Passions of a Suburban Gardener by Dominique Browning; in paperback for $4.99, in hardcover for $9.99.  After discovering Ms. Browning’s Around the House and in the Garden earlier this summer (part of BCO’s gardening sale for $1.99), I became an ardent fan of her moving, insightful, lyrical writing. And you don’t need to live in the suburbs or garden much to appreciate Paths of Desire.

Tottering In My Garden: A Gardener’s Memoir by Midge Ellis Keeble ($2.99); Mrs. Keeble is a long-time Ontario gardener who rather fell into gardening as a young mother, with great success.  Because her husband Gordon, who died in 2006, was the one-time chairman and CEO of CTV, Mrs. Keeble was able to hire a good deal of help in building all of her gardens.  But still lots to learn, and to enjoy, in this book.

And I’d be remiss not to mention a math/science title that JoVE mentioned recently at her blog Tricotomania:

First You Build a Cloud: And Other Reflections on Physics as a Way of Life by K.C.  Cole (BCO also has a good supply of her Mind Over Matter).  JoVE’s review of First You Build a Cloud.

And a few titles no longer at BCO but worth tracking down:

How Little Lori Visited Times Square by Amos Vogel, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. While this one isn’t at BCO any more, it’s well worth finding at the library, especially for families who live in or love New York. I remembering borrowing this from the Bloomingdale branch, several miles north of Times Square, more than once. And while Little Lori is gone, BCO has several dozen Maurice Sendak books available (just search with his name), from to Little Bear and Chicken Soup with Rice to What Do You, Dear? and What Do You Say, Dear?

CookWise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed by Shirley Corriher.  If you love to cook or enjoy kitchen science and kitchen chemistry with the kids, you want this book on your shelf. And if you’re a Shirley Corriher fan (or need a holiday gift for the baker in your life), you’ll be happy to know that she has a new title, BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking, coming out in October