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Bee & Me debuted at #15 in the Children’s Illustrated Category of the Independent Bookstores Bestseller list for November 6-13, 2008.

The listing is based on reporting from many
hundreds of independent bookstores across the United States.

Bee & Me (Accord Publishing, LLC, $16.99) is the fantastic new storybook that everyone is buzZz-ing about! From author Elle J. McGuinness and illustrator Heather Brown, Bee & Me is an entrancing book that features vibrant full color illustrations introduced by the innovative technique of Ani-motion, created by Accord designers Jeff Cole and Katarina Ford. Bee & Me is the first book to feature Ani-motion applied in full color, providing the visually arresting Ani-motion panels in almost every spread to enhance the action and immediacy of the story.

Book Review: Mass Historia
Fiction Book Reviews

Emmy award winning comedy writer Chris Regan has turned his considerable talents to past events and come out with a winner in this uproarious look at 365 days in history. Embellishing facts with liberal doses of light humor, history has never been more entertaining as demonstrated by the January 4 entry celebrating Utah’s statehood that explains how Utah became the forty-fifth state which coincidentally, was the average number of wives enjoyed by most Utah men at the time. Then learn about the army suppression of an uprising of a hoard of Donnie Osmond groupies and the five top Mormon fun facts.

Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen has been chosen by NPR food writer Susie Chang as one of the Best Cookbooks of 2008.

An interview with Susie about her selections is tentatively scheduled for Weekend Edition the weekend of November 22, with two recipes and images from the book planned for npr.org.

• Secrets of the Red Lantern will also be on the year’s top cookbook lists of the Chicago Tribune and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Overflowing with sumptuous but simply prepared dishes that have been passed down through generations of the Nguyen family, Secrets of the Red Lantern is part Vietnamese cookbook and part family memoir.

More than 275 traditional Vietnamese recipes are presented alongside a visual narrative of food and family photographs that follows the family's escape from war-torn Vietnam to the successful founding of the Red Lantern restaurant.

Knives Cooks Love Review

As Emeril Lagasse writes in the book's foreword, knives are the most highly valued cooking tool in a chef's possession, and yet they are often the least discussed in the kitchen. This book, produced by Sur La Table, pulls the cloak back on that tool to provide a wonderfully coherent, easy-to-follow guide to selecting knives, maintaining them and, as you might guess, using them properly. Even better, they pair those instructions along with recipes that you can make immediately after learning each new cut, chop or slice.

Knives Cooks Love: Selection. Care. Techniques. Recipes. focuses on this most versatile tool in the kitchen and provides tantalizing recipes allowing you to practice and perfect techniques. Consider this Knives 101—lessons on everything you need to know to make your experiences behind the blade more straightforward, efficient, and enjoyable.

Knives Cooks Love: Selection. Care. Techniques. Recipes. by Sur La Table with Sarah Jay is reviewed in the 11/15/08 edition of Library Journal:

Most home cooks tend to be protective of their knives and often claim to be highly knowledgeable of the knife world. This book from Sur La Table and food writer Jay is slightly obsessive; it goes into shocking detail about each type of knife from the few countries that produce the best of the best. There is the obligatory section, "A Blade for Every Purpose," that describes each type of knife and its possible uses, which is the best part of the book. Another helpful portion addresses how to buy a knife, which has comprehensive explanations on such weighty points as blade anatomy and blade material. The lay reader will like the simple sections on how to chop, peel, and dice a variety of foods. The recipes that are included are basic for the most part and slightly uninspiring (e.g., mango-cucumber salsa). Recommended for academic libraries with a large collection of culinary arts materials.—Claire A. Schaper, Morgantown, WV

Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart
by Pauline Nguyen has been named Best Asian Cookbook of 2008 by epicurious.com:

BEST ASIAN
Secrets of the Red Lantern
by Pauline Nguyen (Andrews McMeel Publishing)
Recipe to try: Salt and Pepper Tofu

Whether you want amazingly accessible Vietnamese recipes or just a good, honest family story with food, this Sydney restaurateur delivers. Her family memoir is a great tale of what immigrants both give up and gain in choosing (or not) to pack up and try another country, and if it's not always pretty, it is inspiring, especially with both vintage photos and pictures of the contemporary food Nguyen creates. The book is so beautiful you can almost taste the braised duck with ginger and scallions or the banana fritters.

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/howtocook/cookbooks/bestof2008

Secrets of the Red Lantern
Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart

by Pauline Nguyen, with recipes by Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen

Overflowing with sumptuous but simply prepared dishes that have been passed down through generations of the Nguyen family, Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart is part Vietnamese cookbook and part family memoir.

More than 275 traditional Vietnamese recipes are presented alongside a visual narrative of food and family photos that follows the family's escape from war-torn Vietnam to the founding of the Red Lantern restaurant in Sydney, Australia.

At the heart of each recipe is the power of food to elevate and transform. From a recipe of Cari De that sparks a memory to the distinctly bitter melon soup that says, "I'm sorry," Secrets of the Red Lantern shares the rich culinary heritage of the Nguyen family and their personal story of reconciliation and success.

Recipes such as Bun Rieu (Crab and Tomato Soup with Vermicelli Noodles), Goi Du Du (Green Papaya Salad with Prawns and Pork), and Che Khoai Mon (Black Sticky Rice with Taro) unlock the family's secrets and see the family persevere through homesickness, heartache, and the upheavals of change to finally experience growth and celebration. The result is a beautiful journey through Vietnamese history, culture, and tradition that cooks everywhere will embrace.

Food & Wine magazine’s “Best of the Best” cookbooks feature in the June 2009 issue will include

The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table with Cindy Mushet

and

Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart by Pauline Nguyen with recipes by Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen







Food & Wine magazine’s “Best of the Best” cookbooks feature in the June 2009 issue will include

The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table with Cindy Mushet

and

Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart
by Pauline Nguyen with recipes by Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen

The editors of AOL Food included The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table with Cindy Mushet on their list of the Best Cookbooks of 2008:

http://food.aol.com/holidays/most-sought-after-cookbooks

The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet

Cindy Mushet, a pastry chef at the legendary Chez Panisse and a culinary instructor at Le Cordon Bleu in Los Angeles, reveals the science behind baking in a language the home cook can understand. Take the time to read through the Baker's Pantry, which provides useful tips.

Recipes to try: Baci Tart with Frangelico Cream and Herbed Chicken Pot Pie

Good Morning America food editor Sara Moulton’s picks for
Best Cookbook of the Year included Knives Cooks Love: Selection. Care. Techniques. Recipes. by Sur La Table with Sarah Jay.

The segment aired 12/23:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/HolidayTheme/story?id=6511192&page=1

No Laughing Matter By JIM MCTAGUE
Cartoonist and blogger Scott Adams is outspoken about economics, politics and more -- but tight-lipped about Dilbert, hero to cubicle jockeys.

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THE ECONOMY COULDN'T POSSIBLY get worse comes this disturbing news: Dilbert's mismanaged high-tech company is foundering, jeopardizing the lovable cartoon character's oppressive but steady job as an electrical engineer in a stuffy cubicle, where he's manufactured laughs about illogical and inhumane corporate managers for nearly 20 years.

Barron's won't divulge the climax of the current plot. During a recent interview, Dilbert's creator, Scott Adams, asked that we merely hint at what lies ahead for the cylinder-headed nerd with the upturned, clip-on tie. But read the daily Dilberts carefully over the next few days or weeks; clues abound and they don't point to a happy conclusion.

That's fitting because, as Adams notes in Dilbert 2.0, his $85, 576-page 20th-anniversary collection of 4,000 of his more than 8,000 cartoon strips (plus a DVD): "Dilbert is most popular when the workplace is at its worse." In fact, the strip, a window on workplace absurdity, took off during the downsizing binge of the early 1990s. In one memorable sequence from that period, Dilbert competes with a monkey to keep his engineering job. Dilbert wins, but his victory jig is short-circuited by his pointy-haired boss' decision to place the monkey on the upper-management fast track. Sounds like a telling commentary on the corporate world of 21st century's first decade, too.

Adams' current strips and very funny blog (http://www.dilbert.com/blog/), which often feature the cartoonist's insightful economic and stock-market commentaries, provide more hints about Dilbert's fate. A Dec. 12 blog argues that the recession is anything but temporary: "I think we are on the verge of a change as profound as the Industrial Revolution. Society will have to retool its expectations to meet the reality that there just won't be enough money to provide necessary services if we insist on consuming in an inefficient way."

One clue about Dilbert's fate appeared on Dec. 13 in newspapers around the world (Dilbert is published in 70 countries and 25 languages) in what turned out to be one of the most popular episodes in the strip's history: A financial adviser recommends that Dilbert's pointy-haired boss invest all of the company's funds in sick livestock. Don't buy just one sick cow, the adviser urges; buy an entire herd, because by aggregating sick cows, the risk goes away. "It's called math," the adviser adds, in a send-up of the asset-backed securitizations that have helped topple the global economy.

The financial adviser, by the way, is a malicious canine. In his blogs, Adams is equally unkind to real advisers and money managers. In his view, formed long before the disrobing of Bernie Madoff, they're always conniving to steal investors' money. Perhaps this depiction is payback: Adams lost a bundle following advice during the tech bubble, which also convinced him that investing in individual stocks and "professionally managed" funds is a losers' game. His advisers put half of his portfolio into WorldCom, Enron and other sure things and lost 40% of his invested cash, he says. He managed the other half and lost 20% in the tech wreck.

"Most of the investments I made in individual stocks went bad because managements were lying. They are the source of the information for the markets." His conclusion: "It is even dumber to pay an expert to talk to the liar for you and charge you 1% of your portfolio." Some folks who bought funds of funds that invested with Madoff surely would agree.