Long-time Amherst resident, poet, artist, & author of the delightful children's book, Four in All, our Nina Payne has recently published a new book, Summertime Waltz.   Richly & imaginatively illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska, the book is a child's poetic evocation of the end of a beautiful summer evening —"Lovely the lateness in summertime darkening...."   (2005)

We are pleased to announce the publication of an even newer book (see below) by Lisa Papademitriou—M or F?   With Christopher Tebbetts, Papademitriou has written a novel for teens about the problems they face in our brave new queer world (Henry James, where are you now?).   Papademetriou, who lives in Northampton, was an editor at Scholastic, Inc., & has worked in an editorial capacity at 17th Street Productions, HarperCollins Publishers, & Disney Press.   She has written over thirty books for young readers.   (2005)

Northampton resident, Lisa Papademitriou's new book, Sixth-grade Glommers, Norks, & Me, is a fresh & funny novel about the traumas of sixth-grade friendships, crushes, & the process of discovering who you are.   As Allie Kimball starts sixth grade, she discovers that middle school is a very different world, populated with glommers—those girls who cling to each other in groups; norks—a combination of a nerd & a dork; & worst of all, squashes—crushes that make you feel like your heart has been stepped on.   (2005; paper, 2006)

Prolific Lisa Papademitriou's new book, Rani in the Mermaid Lagoon, is about another outsider:   Rani doesn't fit in.   Ever since she had to cut off her wings to save Mother Dove, she doesn’t feel like she belongs with the water talent fairies.   In fact, without wings, she doesn’t feel like she belongs with any fairies at all.   Rani sets off on a perilous journey to find a home, a journey that leads her underwater, deep into the lagoon, where the mermaids live.   Maybe there Rani will discover who her true friends are!   (2006)

Another new, weird & wonderful book by Lisa Papademitriou.   The Wizard, the Witch & Two Girls from Jersey tells the story of mortal enemies Veronica Lopez & Heather Simms who get hit by a bar code scanner while fighting over the last copy of Queen of Twilight.   It takes them a moment to realize that they aren’t in a New Jersey bookstore anymore.   In fact, they’re in the novel.   Too bad they don’t realize it until after they accidentally kill the book’s heroine, Princess Arabelle, aka “The One”.   Only The One can restore light and peace to the land of Galma, long held in thrall to the evil Twilight Queen.   Now Vero & Heather have no choice but to try to save Galma from the Twilight Queen.   But can the two girls find their way to the end of the story & home again without destroying Galma—or killing each other?   (2006)

By Jenny Perlin, who teaches at Mount Holyoke & the Five Colleges, Perserverance & How to Develop It takes the reader on a journey through obsession, the drive for success, 1915 self-help tricks, & demonstrations at the Ford Motor Company.   It is based on Perlin’s 16mm film, inspired by the 1915 best-seller of the same name.   This publication contains an essay, film stills, interviews with the film’s main characters & excerpts from the book that started it all.   Perlin exhibits her work in the U.S. & internationally.   Her film, video, & installation projects include Possible Models, Associated, Sight Reading, Schumann, View from Elsewhere, Review, Washing, & Transcript, among others.   (2006)

Alex Phillips, who teaches creative writing at the University of Massachusetts, has a new poetry chapbook—Under A Paper Trellis.   His work is courageous & vertiginous by turns & presents a picture of the world projected through desire, human inclination, & the hope of discovery.   (2006)

Nancy Pick, Shutesbury resident, is author of The Rarest of the Rare: Stories Behind the Treasures at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Picked by Discover magazine as one of the 20 best science books of 2004, it tells the fascinating stories behind the extinct butterflies, rare birds, lost plants, dazzling meteorites, & other scientific & historic specimens that fill the museum's halls. You'll learn about the painting that catches Audubon in a shameful lie, the sand dollar collected by Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle, & dozens of other treasures in this surprising, informative, & often amusing tour of the natural world.   (2004)

Nancy Pick, together with photographer Frank Ward is author of a new book, Curious Footprints : Professor Hitchcock's Dinosaur Tracks   Few people realize that Amherst College holds the world’s largest collection of dinosaur tracks.   Pick's new book explores how an evangelical minister named Edward Hitchcock assembled that collection in the mid-1800s, while arguing that the tracks were made not by dinosaurs but by gigantic ancient birds.   It combines a charming biographical sketch of Hitchcock, written by Pick, with Ward’s stunning color photographs of the college’s broader natural history collections.   In his images, Ward captures the humor in a pair of dried pufferfish & the mystery in a shrouded skeleton of a gibbon.   (2006)

Stephen Platt, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, has just published a new book, Provincial Patriots: The Hunanese & Modern China.   Paul Cohen of Harvard University wrote, “For over a century, Hunan occupied a special place in Chinese history, as a suppressor of rebellion, a source of prominent provincial officials in the post-Taiping era, a leading center of late Qing reform, a major contributor to the 1911 revolution, & a supplier of top leaders in the China of Mao.   In this rich intellectual history, Stephen Platt, for the first time, ties these disparate contributions together in a coherent narrative, paying special attention to the shaping role of the Hunanese thinker Wang Fuzhi.   Engagingly written, Provincial Patriots presents Hunan not as a case study of modern Chinese history but as a challenge to the standard narrative of this history.”   Event scheduled!   (2007)