Every Body Yoga by Jessamyn Stanley

Jessamyn Stanley is known for her fresh Instagram account, posting pictures of herself in all kinds of yoga asanas.  While this might not seem revolutionary to most, Jessamyn isn't your typical yoga practitioner - waifish and white.  She's a big black lady who can twist into the most epic asanas I've ever seen.

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 I've been waiting for this book for a while, because I love yoga and I love seeing Jessamyn's Insta and because we need it.  Yoga is good for most people - I know that it works for me.  I'm more flexible, stronger, and more healthy mentally when I'm practicing on the regular and Jessamyn hits on those points in this book.  But the more important message here is that EVERY BODY can do yoga.  You don't have to get in shape to then try to get in shape.  So many of the messages coming from yoga, outright and subliminally are that you have to be skinny and in shape to do yoga and it's not true.  Jessmyn talks about her life and how she got to where she was and how she came into her practice and what that did for her.  The book is also a solid beginner's guide to practicing yoga.  Jessamyn covers basic asanas or poses, modifications, and also puts together some simple sequences to practice. I love the models in this book.  They are diverse bodies - different sizes and shapes rocking different asanas.  I will definitely be purchasing this for the library and putting it into the hands of several of my friends and patrons.

Professor Astro Cat's Atomic Adventure

Professor Astro Cat’s Atomic Adventure by Dr. Walliman, illustrated by Ben Newman is an illustrated exploration of physics. This publication is impeccably timed with education’s push for more STEM studies as well as the Common Core’s focus on informational texts. The space-suited Professor Astro Cat leads readers through basic physics theories that range from rainbows to dark matter. While the topics may seem at times overly complicated, Walliman makes the information easily accessible. This, in fact, would be a good physics primer for both children and adults. Walliman’s narrative pairs well with Newman’s illustrations which are reminiscent of Richard Scarry’s Busy Town. The simple characters are painted with vibrant colors making every page pop. While Professor Astro Cat doesn’t have the hands-on appeal of the Scientists in the Field series, it’s an invaluable resource, as it gives an thorough overview of a subject that many find abstract and confusing. A great addition to any elementary or public library.

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Girls: Let's Sew by DK Publishing

Let's Sew is a beginner sewing book aimed at young girls. The projects are all very simple, appearing to be around the same level of difficulty. DK has done a great job designing this book. There are ample examples and diagrams showing how to do each step of the process, and the pictures are very eye-catching and colorful. I think this is great text FOR GIRLS to learn how to sew. And this is my beef. Everyone should learn how to sew, especially the basic stitches. Knowledge of sewing can engender creativity, save money, and overall be generally helpful. There's no reason why this book couldn't have included projects that would appeal to both boys and girls. Since we're encouraging girls to pursue STEM projects, we should also be encouraging boys to pursue creative pursuits as well.

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Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars

How can you resist a title like that? Prison Ramen is a work of love - love of camaraderie and eating good food (or as good as you can make it in prison). Interspersed between creative recipes are little anecdotes about prison life written by various inmates as well as celebrities who've spent time behind bars, including Shia LeBoeuf, Slash, and Danny Trejo. I'll admit that I haven't had the time to make any of the recipes, but they do sound appealing. This would be a great addition to a library cookbook collection. I can see teens and college students picking this up for the recipes. Because really, who doesn't love ramen?

Chocolate: Sweet Science and Dark Secrets of the World's Favorite Treat

Picture this: you have in your hand a candy bar. It's a dark chocolate, sea salt Lindt bar, with smooth sweet chocolate with just a hint of bitter and a hint of salt. Perfection in a candy bar, right? But how did this bar get to be made? Where did the chocolate come from? That's the premise for Chocolate: Sweet Science & Dark Secrets of the World's Favorite Treat. In this relatively short nonfiction, Kay Frydenborg outlines the history of chocolate, from its Mesoamerican origins to its current snack status. She details the process by which chocolate is made and how technology has helped to shape the flavor of the chocolate we know today. She also explores the cacao market today and the steps that are being taken to ensure the future of chocolate.

Once we put the dust jacket on our copy, it doesn't look nearly as much like a candy bar as this image does.

This book, like most books, has its ups and downs. Frydenborg's prose is best whens she's exploring the lives of those connected with the chocolate industry. Her retelling of Hershey's rise and Lyndel Meinhardt's Amazon research trip were the highlights of the book. The personal tales flow and are relatable and interesting, unlike some of the chapters of facts and statistics which read like a textbook. I did learn a great deal about chocolate and about the history of chocolate from the text, but I was thankful that it was short. I do think that this might have been better written if it had focused on the faces behind the chocolate industry (much like a Scientists in the Field book ), not to mention if it had been more closely copy-edited. The text was riddled with errors - many letter hs were replaced with > and ek replaced with fi. It was distracting, and I hope that these are corrected in future printings. I would recommend this to tween and teen readers who grew up with Scientists in the Field and are looking for something more.