Click here for our events calendar and preview upcoming events through May.
 Click here for more complete descriptions and to buy signed copies online.
Members always save 20% on event books. Click here to register!

 

PULITZER PRIZES ANNOUNCED

The Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded! Many of these books are on display in the store; and we are accepting orders for the moment when our restock arrives. We are especially delighted about the rare victory for Bellevue's small literary press trade paperback publication of TINKERS by Paul Harding ($14.95) while we also look back fondly on our events with non-fiction winners T.J. Stiles, Liaquat Ahamed, David Hoffman. Click the title links below to read more about each of the winners.

Letters, Drama and Music

Fiction - TINKERS by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press, $14.95)
Drama - NEXT TO NORMAL, music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey (Alfred Publishing, $19.95); Original Cast Recording (Ghostlight Records, 2CDs, $19.98)
History - LORDS OF FINANCE: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed (Penguin Press, $32.95 HC, $18 PB)
Biography - THE FIRST TYCOON: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles (Alfred A. Knopf, $37.50)
Poetry - VERSED by Rae Armantrout (Wesleyan University Press, $22.95)
General Nonfiction - THE DEAD HAND: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman (Doubleday, $35)
Music - VIOLIN CONCERTO by Jennifer Higdon (Lawdon Press)

Special Citation - Hank Williams for Music

We had a fantastic evening Monday with John McPhee, one of the lions of literary non-fiction and a staff writer for the New Yorker, when he read from his new book SILK PARACHUTE (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $25).  The recorded CD of the talk is worth every penny of the $7.50 pricetag.  First, McPhee read from two selections in the book, one in which he explains the game of lacrosse to a Dublin taxicab driver who was ferrying him to a match between teams from England and America; another an excerpt about fact-checkers at the New Yorker.  After the reading, journalist Seymour Hersh, seated in the first row, introduced himself as the father of Josh, who was described in glowing terms by John McPhee as one of the best fact-checkers who had ever worked for him.  Then came Donald Dell, captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team in the 1960's.  Dell described how John McPhee had hung out with him for eight months while McPhee was in the process of writing Levels of the Game. Dell's wife Carole added her recollection that she and Donald were engaged at that time, and she had a less than enthusiastic attitude toward this then-obscure staffer from the New Yorker who was always tagging along.  Finally, McPhee left us with a plug for Dear Money ($25) which will be released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in June. It's by his daughter, Martha McPhee. He assured us last night that he could already recommend it as an engrossing read!

THE ROCK BOTTOM REMAINDERS

The date is rapidly closing in on us for the arrival in town of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a literary band starring Amy Tan, Dave Barry, James McBride, and Scott Turow.  The group will make a special appearance at Washington's 9:30 Club on April 21, but first there will be an occasion to get to know them better as Sam Donaldson engages them in conversation at the Harman Center for the Arts on the night before, April 20.  Click here for tickets and more info. 

We can extend a special offer for 25 free pairs of tickets to each event. Please email us at [email protected] by noon on Saturday, April 17, to be entered into the drawing. Put "Rock Bottom" in the subject line and, in the body of the email, send us your name, phone number, and specify your availability for the concert and/or the conversation with Sam Donaldson. Winners will be notified on Saturday afternoon.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS - THE BIG READ DC

This spring in partnership with The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the DC Public Library, venues across Washington are offering events and discussions around the book A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Ernest J. Gaines. We are pleased to host two in-store events here at Politics & Prose. 

Sunday, April 25th, 5 p.m. Faith and Doubt in "A Lesson Before Dying"
with GWU English Professor Gayle Wald

Sunday, May 2nd, 5 p.m. The Anatomy of Justice in "A Lesson Before Dying" with GWU English and American Studies Professor James A. Miller

We encourage you all to read the book and join these and other discussions. You can also see more of the events included in this citywide discussion by visiting the DC Public Library website. Anyone who buys A LESSON BEFORE DYING (Vintage, $13) from us will be entitled to a 20% book group discount.

The National Endowment for the Arts has created a radio show as an introduction to the book. Listen to it by clicking here.  The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest, and funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

TRAVEL BOOK SALE

During the month of April, all travel guidebooks, travel literature, phrasebooks, and language acquisition materials are discounted 20% to Members.

In the children's department, geography books are also 20% off for Politics & Prose Members. 

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A local citizen's group - Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian Action - has formed to address safety concerns about dangerous intersections and traffic in the neighborhood. Please visit www.capa-dc.org for more information, to take a survey, to volunteer your time, and to add your comments and contributions to their useful, online, interactive map.

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During National Poetry Month, our bookseller selections will highlight poets' individual collections and books about poetry appreciation. Click here for more of our selections.

NOX by Anne Carson (New Directions, $29.95)
Call her a poet, classical scholar, opera librettist--or just Artist, Carson draws on all her personae for this project. Created as an elegy for a brother she barely knew, this scroll of photos, collage, poetry, memories, and definitions is at once a beautiful object and an eloquent, powerful effort to make coherence of a broken life. - Laurie Greer

NOT MUCH FUN: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker (Scribner, $16)
By her own admission she wrote, "verses. I cannot say poems".  Deeply felt, exquisitely constructed, fresh and colloquial - sometimes bitter, always unique - more "serious" poets could take lessons from this class act. Includes a comprehensive introduction by Stuart Y. Silverstein. - David Maritz

ROSE by Li-Young Lee (BOA Editions, $15.50)
Rose is Li-Young Lee’s first book, published in 1986.  Since then, we’ve come to expect startling juxtapositions, elegant word play, sensitive observations, and philosophical musings from his poetry, but when we first encountered him, and his vision was new to us, here was something unmistakably fresh and original.  Rose captures the essence of his poetic vision as well as any of his later works (also great).  Read “From Blossoms” on page 21 as a good example.  It begins in the everyday moment of a paper bag of peaches at a roadside stand and progresses to the transcendent eternal of “sweet impossible blossom.”  At once intensely personal and universal, Lee’s poems explore and ask questions, expanding our experience and capturing the beauty in a single moment. - Mark LaFramboise

Click here for more of our booksellers' poetry recommendations!

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The author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan will present and sign his new book, which begins a new series and introduces his fans to an entirely different pantheon of gods!

Thursday, May 6, 5 p.m.
RICK RIORDAN
The Kane Chronicles, Book One: THE RED PYRAMID (Hyperion, $17.99)
Carter and Sadie Kane are working on a research experiment with their Egyptologist father when the Egyptian god Set is unleashed, banishing Dr. Kane and forcing the children to flee.  As all the gods of Egypt awake, the Kane family is set on a dangerous quest that leads them back to a secret in the time of the pharaohs.  We will close the parking lot to provide plenty of space for a rousing good time to welcome Rick Riordan and this release of the first book in his new series! Click here for important details about advance book purchase and event details.

Thursday, May 13,  7 p.m.
NOURIEL ROUBINI
CRISIS ECONOMICS (Penguin, $27.95)
at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street, NW

Studying global history, statistics, mathematical models, and other evidence, Roubini, professor of economics at NYU’s Stern School of Business and co-author Mihm, an associate professor of economic history at the University of Georgia, were the first economists to predict the current downturn. The authors argue that economic crises are part of capitalism but are both foreseeable and preventable. Please note: Stephen Mihm will not be present for this event. Two author event admission tickets are free with $27.95 book purchase from P&P or are $12 each without the book. 

Click here to purchase the book and tickets and for more information about the event.

 

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P&P members always save 20% on our top twelve FICTION and NON-FICTION hardcover bestsellers. To purchase these books, click the titles.

FICTION

#1    BITE ME: A Love Story by Christopher Moore (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $23.99)
# 2   Solar by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese, $26.95)
# 3   The Line by Olga Grushin (Putnam, $25.95)
# 4   Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson (Random House, $25)
# 5   In the Company of Angels by Thomas E. Kennedy (Bloomsbury, $25)
# 6   Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott (Riverhead, $25.95)
# 7   The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn, $24.95)
# 8   The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear (HarperCollins, $25.99)
# 9   The Ask by Sam Lipsyte (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $25)
# 10 Anthill by E. O. Wilson (W. W. Norton, $24.95)
#11  Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Holt, $27)
#12  The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell (Knopf, $25.95)

 

NONFICTION

#1   THE BRIDGE by David Remnick
# 2  13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown by James Kwak and Simon Johnson (Pantheon, $26.95)
# 3   The Big Short by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton, $27.95)
# 4   Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon by Michael O'Brien (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27)
# 5   Christianity by Diarmaid MacCulloch (Viking, $45)
# 6   Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt (Penguin Press, $25.95)
# 7   Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court by Jeff Shesol (W.W. Norton, $27.95)
# 8   The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World . . . via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes (Broadway, $24.99) by Carl Hoffman
# 9   Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin (HarperCollins, $27.99)
# 10 George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I by Miranda Carter (Knopf, $30)
# 11 Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead by Paula Byrne
 (HarperCollins, $25.99)
# 12 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Crown, $26)

 

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These two titles were both store favorites when they were in hardcover. Click FICTION or NON-FICTION  to browse a more complete selection of recent paperback releases.

THIS CHILD WILL BE GREAT (Harper Perennial, $14.99) by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
EVERY MAN DIES ALONE (Melville House, $16.95) by Hans Fallada

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Flexi-Sketch!!
For artists and creative writers, we have 8 new sketchbooks to breathe some new energy into your experience of the spring weather! Each features 300 pages of acid-free blank sketch paper bound in a colorful double-fold soft cover. Click here for a range of sizes, colors, and prices.

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If you can't attend a talk, but would like to reserve a signed copy or a recorded author talk,
click the title links to purchase online. P&P members save 20% on these author event titles.

Thursday April 15

Jennifer Gilmore - Something Red
7 p.m. Gilmore follows her well-received Golden Country with a book that should have wide appeal in the D.C. area. Set in 1979, the novel focuses on the Goldsteins, a Washington family with left/liberal roots. As the two teenagers struggle to establish independent identities, the adults work to define themselves politically in the shifting landscape of the times.  

Friday April 16

Craig Yoe - The Great Anti-War Cartoons
7 p.m. Yoe, a historian of cartoons, has assembled a vast array of anti-war comics that span the globe and date back to the 1600s.  These comics run the gamut of emotions, from Bill Mauldin's humor to Francisque Poulbot's sorrow.  Yoe's presentation will include source material from Warren Bernard's private collection.

Saturday April 17

Carl Hoffman - The Lunatic Express
1 p.m. Hoffman, a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler, has written a hair-raising account of his six-month global trek on the world's most dangerous conveyances. He embarks on ferries that kill some 1,000 people a year, takes overcrowded commuter trains in Mumbai, traverses washed-out roads in the Amazon, and goes Greyhound from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., all the while meeting an amazing variety of people.

Aviva Goldfarb - SOS! Earth-Friendly, Kid-Pleasing Dinners for Busy Families
6 p.m. The author of The Six O'Clock Scramble offers a year of weekly menus that not only reduce the stress of getting family dinners on the table but offer more healthful and environmentally conscious diets. Goldfarb's advice includes tips on what "organic" means and when it matters; on how to eat seasonally; and on how to shop efficiently and store foods in bulk.

Sunday April 18

Erica Perl - Vintage Veronica
1 p.m. Veronica Walsh has her ideal summer job: she works at a vintage clothing store sorting the dollar-a-pound clothing and looking for heirloom chic. Overweight and socially awkward at 15, she's glad she doesn't have to deal with customers. Then two pushy sales clerks persuade her to spy on the stock boy, and life takes a risky turn.  (Ages 11-15)

Jacqueline Winspear - The Mapping of Love and Death
5 p.m. The seventh installment of the Maisie Dobbs series finds the London psychologist and investigator embroiled in a case of love and murder that leads back to 1914. Hired by the parents of a soldier who died on a French battlefield, Maisie uncovers the cause of his death, the identity of the unnamed woman he loved, and much more, including secrets of her own heart.

Monday April 19

Anchee Min - Pearl Of China
7 p.m. Min, specializing in historical novels with strong women characters (Becoming Madame Mao, The Last Empress) here tells the story of Pearl Buck. Told from the perspective of Willow Yee, Buck’s devoted friend, the narrative chronicles the many political, cultural, and romantic tensions that test the women’s friendship.

Tuesday April 20

Roger Lowenstein - The End Of Wall Street
7 p.m. The author of When Genius Failed here undertakes a detailed history of the 2008 financial crisis. With sharp profiles of banking CEOs and government regulators; lucid explanations of subprime mortgages and the spread of toxic debt; and a deep knowledge of liquidity, capital, and the history of financial markets, Lowenstein’s is a thorough and engaging study.

Wednesday April 21

Mark Kurlansky - The Eastern Stars
7 p.m. Manny Alexander, Sammy Sosa, Tony Fernández—some of the many baseball stars who hail from San Pedro in the Dominican Republic. In his multi-faceted profile of this impoverished, ethnically diverse region, the author of Cod and Salt traces the prodigious athletic talent back to the sugar industry, discussing economics, racism, and U.S.-Dominican relations.

Thursday April 22

Jeff Shesol - Supreme Power (in conversation w/ E.J. Dionne)
7 p.m. Beginning in 1935, the Supreme Court made a series of decisions that overturned much of FDR’s New Deal. In 1937 Roosevelt fought back, attempting to “pack the court” by increasing its membership to 15 and thereby circumventing its conservative majority. Shesol presents this tumultuous period as transformative for the country’s political and constitutional landscape. Shesol will be in conversation with E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post.

Friday April 23

Joelle Jolivet (illustrator) - Oops
10;30 a.m. Jolivet’s bright, colorful illustrations bring to life Jean-Luc Fromental’s story of a family racing to the airport. A mishap involving a slippery bar of soap sets off a hilarious chain of events, and the suspense builds: will they be on time for takeoff? From the best-selling illustrator of 365 Penguins.  (Ages 2-6)

Anya Kamenetz - DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education7 p.m. Dissatisfied with overpriced universities that generate more student debt than successful graduates, Kamenetz, author of Generation Debt, argues for new modes of learning. Learning networks, digital and experiential methods, and open-source models are some of the ways to harness new technology for education.

Saturday April 24

Laura Brodie - Love in a Time of Homeschooling
1 p.m. Disturbed at her ten-year-old’s increasingly unhappy experience with public school, Brodie, a professor and writer, took charge of her daughter’s education. This chronicle recounts the difficulties, joys, and lessons learned by both teacher and pupil.

Holly Lecraw - The Swimming Pool
6 p.m. A richly plotted Southern Gothic, complete with passion, murder, and mystery, LeCraw’s debut novel explores desire and guilt through the complex relations between two families. When Marcella’s marriage collapses and Cecil, her lover, is killed in a car crash, she unexpectedly finds comfort with Cecil’s son.

Sunday April 25

Chester Hartman and Gregory D. Squires - The Integration Debate
1 p.m. From “race fatigue” to “integration exhaustion,” race continues to plague American society. In their timely colloquy, Hartman, Director of Research for the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, and Squires, a professor of public policy and public administration at George Washington, explore both ongoing and emerging controversies surrounding race in education, housing, jobs, and the legal system. Joining the authors at this event will be Stefanie DeLuca, John Relman, and Roger Wilkins.

2010 Big Read with Gayle Wald - Faith and Doubt in “A Lesson Before Dying
5 p.m. Ernest Gaines’s novel stages a fascinating argument between doubt and faith. This argument unfolds in the relation between the teacher-narrator, Grant, and his antagonist, the Reverend, but it also involves the women in the novel and the imprisoned young man, Jefferson. A community discussion of skepticism and belief, the secular and the sacred, in Gaines’s award-winning book will be lead by GWU English Professor Gayle Wald, a specialist in 20th-century African American literature and culture and author of Shout, Sister, Shout!, a 2007 biography of the gospel performer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

To see the complete schedule and to purchase any of the above books, click here.

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P&P CUSTOMERS ARE ALSO INVITED TO...

Politics & Prose supplies books to the following book signing events.
Reservations and tickets should be acquired from the hosting organization.
If you can't attend a talk, but would like to purchase a signed book, call
202-364-1919 or 1-800-722-0790 or click the title links below.

Friday, April 16 - Saturday, April 24

(6 performances)
at Source Theater
1835 14th St. NW
The In Series presents
SEARCHING FOR GABRIELA
SELECTED POEMS OF GABRIELA MISTRAL (Univ. of New Mexico, $34.95)
Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin-American to win the Nobel Prize, and yet her magnificent work is not well known. Director Abel Lopez leads a spellbinding bilingual theatrical journey through her poetry, clothed in passionate words, movement and music. The original English storyline is by D.C. writer Sybil R. Williams. Information and tickets ($34-16) are available through http://www.inseries.org or by calling the Box Office at 202-204-7763.

Tuesday, April 20, 6:30 p.m.

Alliance Française de Washington
2142 Wyoming Avenue, NW 
CYRIL PEDROSA
THREE SHADOWS (First Second, $16.95)

Poignant and suspenseful, Three Shadows is a haunting story of love and grief, told in moving text and sweeping black and white artwork. Cyril Pedrosa will be presenting 20 original drawings from his album Les Trois Ombres. Another French artist Antoine Dodé will also participate in the book signing with his album Armelle.

Reservations are mandatory for this FREE event. Please call 202 234 7911 or for more info, visit www.francedc.org. This event is part of the Festival Imagé (April 16 to 25).

 

Tuesday, April 20, 7 p.m.

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
STEVE ROBERTS & DIANE REHM
FROM EVERY END OF THIS EARTH (HarperCollins, $25.99)
Immigration: Life Stories and Legal Changes
Steve Roberts has been interested in the immigrant experience his whole life. His grandparents were Eastern European Jews who settled in Bayonne, N.J. (although one grandfather took a detour as a Zionist pioneer in Israel and then lived briefly in Washington near Sixth & I), and he grew up hearing their tales of the Old Country.

In From Every End of this Earth, Roberts’ chronicles the lives of 13 immigrant families who are living the journey today that his grandparents made almost 100 years ago. He captures the difficulties of starting over among strangers and the pursuit of hope within the American dream. Roberts will speak with NPR’s Diane Rehm about his book and the ongoing debate on immigration reform. 
Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 the day of the event, or receive two (2) free tickets with the purchase of the book ($26) through Sixth & I.  Questions? Please call 202.408.3100.

Tuesday, April 20, 7:30 p.m.

National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW
JOEL SARTORE
RARE: Portraits of America's Endangered Species(National Geographic, $24)
Veteran photographer Joel Sartore offers 80 masterful images of threatened lifeforms, along with an informative review of the history and purpose of the Endangered Species Act. Step behind the camera with him as he shares the stories behind living things that may soon disappear from the world. Joel Sartore will also sign copies of Rare in the NG Headquarters Store at noon on April 20. For more information and $18 Tickets ($15 for NG Members), click here.  

Wednesday, April 21, 7:30 p.m.

National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW
DONOVAN WEBSTER
MEETING THE FAMILY: One Man's Journey Through His Human Ancestry (National Geographic, $26)
Using information about his own DNA that he obtained by participating in National Geographic's Genographic Project, writer Donovan Webster traced his family back to the first human beings. In his new National Geographic book, Meeting the Family: One Man's Journey Through His Human Ancestry, and in this presentation, he recounts his own travels in the footsteps of his ancestors from Tanzania's Rift Valley through the Middle East and Central Asia, through Europe and to North America. For more information and $18 tickets ($15 for NG members), click here.

Monday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.

Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 S. Park Ave.
Chevy Chase, MD
ANNE KORNBLUT
NOTES FROM THE CRACKED CEILING: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and What It Will Take for a Woman to Win (Crown, $25)
Washington Post White House correspondent Kornblut explores the stunning twists of the 2008 election - with revelations about the Clinton and Palin campaigns - and the political landscape for women nationwide.Her bookfeatures exclusive, in-depth interviews with Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, Janet Napolitano, and others. Please sign up in advance for this FREE event by calling the Village Center at 301-656-2797.

Wednesday, April 28, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Embassy of Australia
1601 Massachusetts Ave NW
Metro: Dupont Circle
CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS
THE SLAP (Penguin, $15)
Winner of the 2009 Commonwealth Writers Prize

When a man slaps another couple's child at a neighbourhood barbecue, the event sends unforeseeable shock waves through the lives of all who witness to it. Told from the points of view of eight people who were all present, Tsiolkas has created a remarkable and gripping portrait of love, sex, marriage, suburban ennui, and what it is to be in the middle class in modern Australia.

Christos Tsiolkas's fiction has won numerous other prizes, including The Age Fiction Prize and the Melbourne Best Writing Award. THE SLAP is his first book published in the US. 

Reception follows featuring Australian food and wines.  Photo ID and RSVP are required for admission. Email [email protected] or telephone 202-797-3025.

Thursday, April 29, 7:30 p.m.

National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW 
PICO IYER 
 
One of our most prolific and articulate writers on globalism and the new age of travel, Pico Iyer is the author of numerous acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction, including Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk, Falling off the Map, The Global Soul, and The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

Iyer will have a wide-ranging conversation on the challenges and rewards of travel in the 21st century, the nature of home, and the abiding allure of the planet’s far-flung places with Don George, an award-winning travel writer and Contributing Editor and Book Columnist for National Geographic Traveler. Book-signing will follow.

Click here for more information and for $25 tickets ($20, NG Members).

 

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CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
(20% off through 04/21/2010)

For a visual introduction to modern art, follow the SNAIL TRAIL (Frances Lincoln, $17.95).  Looking for his portrait, a deep blue snail with a colorful collage shell glides along a silver path, past works by modern masters. He finds Rothko's White Center (Yellow, Pink, and Lavender on Rose) to be neater than Jackson Pollack's Number 20, but Rothko's colors are mixed and the snail's collage colors are pure. Picasso's Maya in a Sailor Suit is too blue, but when he gets to Matisse's The Goldfish the snail realizes he's found an artist that's "just right." Jo Saxton's search for a modern masterpiece will teach young children to look at color and form while enjoying modern art.  Ages 3-6 - Dara La Porte

In April, we’re celebrating Earth Day and National Poetry Month.  Come check out our wide selection of environmentally themed books and poetry collections.

Moreover, to complement the sale on travel guides for adults, the Children's Department is offering a 20% discount to Politics & Prose Members on all geography books throughout the month of April. We have created a table display of recommended books. It's the perfect time to indulge an interest in exploring the world!

Read about - and buy - more of our favorite books for children by clicking here.

NEW IN PAPERBACK FOR PG-15 (Older Teens)

These books were some of our favorites in hardcover.
Check them out now that they have arrived in paperback!

Two Parties, One Tux (Bloomsbury, $7.99)
Mitchell Wells plods through his junior year trying to fit in, and wondering if it's worth the bother. His gay best friend, David, doesn't care.

Same Difference By Siobhan Vivian (Scholastic, $8.99)
In her grandfather's rigid home, the only two bright spots in Vidya's life are Raman, and a huge library, reserved for men, to which she secretly gains access.

King of the Screwups By K. L. Going (Graphia, $7.99)
At a summer art program, Emily meets new friends with very different lifestyles, and a handsome art teacher.

Climbing the Stairs By Padma Venkatraman (Speak, $8.99)
Liam is Mr. Popular, but to his father he's a giant screwup. After getting kicked out of the house, he goes to live with "Aunt" Pete.

Lisa Chaplin-Hobbs hosts story time for young children every Monday morning at 10:30 a.m.

For upcoming events and more from the Children and Teens' Department, click here.

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Natalie Merchant’s Poetry Album
New: Mi Ami; Anat Cohen; Lila Downs; Ana Moura
Musical Pulitzers

NATALIE MERCHANT’S POETRY ALBUM

Natalie Merchant, LEAVE YOUR SLEEP (Nonesuch, 2 CDs, $22.98)
April is National Poetry Month, and Natalie Merchant has delivered the perfect opus combining mostly Victorian and early 20th-century poetry, with a wide variety of musical settings. Celtic, early jazz, Chinese, Klezmer, reggae, and lush strings all make an appearance to frame poems by, among others, Ogden Nash, E.E. Cummings, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christina Rossetti, Edward Lear, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Robert Graves. Lesser known poets like Rachel Field, Albert Bigelow Paine, Lydia Huntley Sigourney, Nathalia Crane, William Brighty Rands, Eleanor Farjeon are represented as well. There are biographical notes on each poet in a lovely book containing the two CDs. This is a lovely project, and is perfect for poetry month - and perfect for Mother’s Day.

NEW
Anat Cohen, CLARINETWORK: LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD (Anzic, $16.98) – I love multi-reed player Anat Cohen when she’s playing the clarinet, and on this live session, there’s nothing but stellar sounds on the licorice stick. Anat honors Benny Goodman, with tunes associated with the swing master: “Lullaby of the Leaves,” “After You’ve Gone,” and “What a Little Moonlight Can Do.” She’s backed by an all-star group of Benny Green, piano; Peter Washington, bass; and Lewis Nash, drums.

Mi Ami, STEAL YOUR FACE (Thrill Jockey, $15.98) –Mi Ami is a trio (Daniel Martin-McCormick on guitar & vocals, Jacob Long on bass, and Damon Palermo on drums). Their new album combines loping, melodic bass lines with skronking, percussive guitar stabs, countertenor-like vocals, and polyrhythmic drumming. Daniel and Jacob both played in the DC band, Black Eyes; Daniel also worked here at P&P before his move out west. Mi Ami is playing live tonight, Thursday, April 15, at the Velvet Lounge on U Street. Go check the group out live, and pick up their album.

Lila Downs y la Misteriosa, EN PARIS: LIVE À FIP (World Village, $18.98) – Those who’ve seen Lila Downs in concert know what a powerhouse she is on stage. She and her crack back-up band have finally released a concert album, recorded in Paris.

Ana Moura, LEVA-ME AOS FADOS (World Village, $18.98) – The title translates to “take me to a fado house,” and Ana Moura delivers another fine album of fados, backed by the unique sounds of the traditional Portuguese guitar.

MUSIC PULITZERS
Pulitzer Prizes were awarded this week in drama to the musical, NEXT TO NORMAL (Ghostlight, Original Cast Recording, 2 CDs, $19.98), and in music to the composer Jennifer Higdon (whose “Violin Concerto,” written for Hilary Hahn, is not yet recorded). A special citation was given to Hank Williams. Listen to the recently found 1951 UNRELEASED RECORDINGS and REVEALED (both Time Life Recordings, 3 CDs, $39.98).

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