books

Good books for teens and grade-schoolers

By KAREN MACPHERSON, Scripps Howard News Service

Is your child or teen looking for a good novel to read? Check out one of these new books:

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Bio of Michelle Obama is dry but informative

By L.A. JOHNSON, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Writing a lively page-turning biography about Michelle Obama is difficult when the subject won't cooperate.

That's why Liza Mundy's effort is chock full of facts but at times reads more like a textbook or term paper than an illuminating, you-are-there bio.

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Four score and more books out for Lincoln celebration

By BOB HOOVER, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"He said he felt like a little boy who had stubbed his toe in the dark. He said that he was too old to cry, but it hurt too much to laugh." -- Adlai Stevenson, quoting Abraham Lincoln, after losing the presidential election to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.

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The Clown Prince of Crime now gets a graphic novel

By ANDREW A. SMITH, Scripps Howard News Service

He's been played by Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger. He's the principal foe of the world's most popular action hero, and has been around since 1940. His origins may or may not include the movie "The Man Who Laughs," a red hood, self-mutilation or a dump in a toxic chemical vat -- his past, he says, is multiple choice.

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Talking with young-adult-novel writer John Green

By KAREN MACPHERSON, Scripps Howard News Service

If you think young-adult novels are just for teen-agers, you haven't read John Green's books.

Since 2005, Green, 31, has published three novels featuring quirky, likable protagonists trying to figure out who they are in the midst of challenging circumstances.

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George Hamilton's a survivor with savoir faire

By EDWARD GUTHMANN, San Francisco Chronicle

SAN FRANCISCO -- George Hamilton doesn't care if people call him a dandy, a twit, an aging roue. He doesn't care if they look at him and see only the suntan and the Jay Gatsby clothes, and forget that he's been a working actor for 50 years.

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Kull is back..

By ANDREW A. SMITH, Scripps Howard News Service

Everyone's heard of Conan, which tends to overshadow creator Robert E. Howard's other major barbarian character: Kull the Conqueror. Dark Horse's Arvid Nelson intends to change that with "Kull" No. 1, out this month.

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Combining art and science to create books about nature

By KAREN MACPHERSON, Scripps Howard News Service

As a child, Steve Jenkins always dreamed of being a scientist. After all, his father was a physics professor and astronomer, and Jenkins himself spent much of his childhood immersed in the natural world, making notes and drawings of his discoveries.

When Jenkins, 56, entered North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., however, he decided to switch his major from science to art.

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Check out the 2009 edition of 'Guinness World Records'

By COLETTE BANCROFT, St. Petersburg Times

"GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2009." Compiled by Guinness World Records. Guinness, 288 pages, $28.95.

The newly published "Guinness World Records 2009" features about 60 percent new or updated records, colorful magazine-style design, a holographic cover and a pair of 3-D glasses for viewing more than 20 3-D photos.

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Top five presidential moments in comics

By ANDREW A. SMITH, Scripps Howard News Service

The extraordinary 2008 campaign is finally wrapping up, after what seems like 5 million years. It's not just true of the real world; presidential politics have often played important roles in the comics, too.

Let's take a look at my top five presidential moments of yesteryear:

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