Last spring, graphic novelist Jeffrey Brown found that the Force was indeed with him when his small humor book,

Darth Vader and Son, took the book world by storm. The hilarious reimagining of Darth Vader as a dad like any other (except with all the baggage of being the Dark Lord of the Sith) and taking an active role in son Luke's upbringing, combined with Brown's witty cartoon illustrations, remains a bestseller today.

With all the success, could a sequel be far behind? As it turns out, no, which brings us to the just-published

Vader's Little Princess. Darth Vader - leader of the Galactic Empire - now faces the trials, joys, and mood swings of raising his daughter Leia as she grows from a sweet little girl into a rebellious teenager. As with the first book, Brown weaves classic Star Wars moments into the text while putting Vader's parenting skills hilariously to the test. A great gift for parents new and old and, of course, Star Wars fans.

Every Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review publishes short reviews of new books, in hardcover or paperback, recommended by a Northern California independent bookstore. This is a recent list from the staff at Readers' Books in Sonoma, CA.
Mary Coin by Marisa Silver. This brilliant novel about perspective takes us inside the haunting Dorothea Lange dust bowl photo, the Migrant Mother, a woman the author dubs Mary Coin. We follow her imagined life from three points of view and in the end we have to rethink everything we ever "knew" about anyone.
 
A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee.  When Ben and Helen Armstead's marriage disintegrates, Helen finds a new career in a New York PR firm that specializes in managing corporate and political embarrassments. It would be too simple to say that this is a book about forgiveness, but that's its overarching message. It has wonderfully observed characters and you fall in love with them, warts and all.
 
The Humanity Project by Jean Thompson. This bittersweet book, set in the idyllic backdrop of Marin and Sonoma counties, deals with real people who have lost jobs, homes, marriages, souls, and dreams in the recent downturn. It is about putting together the missing pieces in life, and reading it makes you feel whole again.
 
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.  Two supernatural beings from diametrically opposed cultures meet in nineteenth century New York and help each other assimilate. A charming, out of this world, love story.
 
The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande.  The author's childhood was spent in Guerrero, the poorest state in Mexico under unbelievably abysmal conditions. Her simple, honest account of how her family was literally torn apart by poverty and the quest for a better, safer life in the United States should be required reading for all members of Congress and anyone who wants to understand the plight of the undocumented.
 
Cooked by Michael Pollan. The author of The Omnivore's Dilemma takes us inside his kitchen where he identifies four classical elements - fire, water, air, and earth - and uses them to create a kind of cooking astrology of his own.  The cook, in his poetic view, stands poised between nature and culture. We eat, therefore we are. I can't tell you how nourishing this book is.
 
The Great Animal Orchestra by Bernie Krause. Long before there was hip hop and elevator music, there were the natural sounds of the universe. Insects, animals, even trees make their own special, delightful song. Sadly, we humans are hard at work muffling that sound, chipping away at it as more species, day by day, go extinct. This book will get you to wake up and listen again to the natural world; in that sense it is a blessing.
 
Those Angry Days by Lynne Olson. We look back now at World War II as "the good war" and remember with nostalgia how united we all were, but Lynne Olson's book underscores just how polarized we were before Pearl Harbor. From 1939 to 1941, the distance between the Roosevelt faction, those who wanted to help the Allies, and the isolationists, led by Charles Lindbergh, could not have been greater. This is a remarkable look at the truth about American history and how it operates.