The James Logan Courier

Note: Each week during the school year, The Courier spotlights books newly arrived, or expected to arrive, in the James Logan Media Center.

Samurai Shortstop by Alan M. Gratz
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Dial (May 18, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0803730756
ISBN-13: 978-0803730755

From the publisher:
Tokyo, 1890. Toyo is caught up in the competitive world of boarding school, and must prove himself to make the team in a new sport called besuboru. But he grieves for his uncle, a samurai who sacrificed himself for his beliefs, at a time when most of Japan is eager to shed ancient traditions. It’s only when his father decides to teach him the way of the samurai that Toyo grows to better understand his uncle and father. And to his surprise, the warrior training guides him to excel at baseball, a sport his father despises as yet another modern Western menace.

By Christine Spolar
Chicago Tribune (MCT)

BARCELONA, Spain — Books are big business in Barcelona, the publishing capital of Spain and an intellectual port for writers exploring the political shadows and sorrows of this country's last century.

So when the world-renowned Frankfurt Book Fair asked to highlight the cultural influences of Barcelona, and specifically the Catalan culture, it was widely expected that literary stars across the region would embrace the distinction.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service (MCT)

Here are the best-sellers for the week that ended Saturday, Aug. 18, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by Cahners Publishing Co., a division of Reed Elsevier, USA. (c) 2007 by Reed Elsevier, USA)

HARDCOVER FICTION
1. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Khaled Hosseini. Riverhead, $25.95
Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 13
2. Play Dirty. Sandra Brown. Simon & Schuster, $26.95
Last Week: –; Weeks on List: 1
3. Force of Nature. Suzanne Brockmann. Ballantine, $21.95
Last Week: –; Weeks on List: 1
4. The Quickie. James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Little, Brown, $27.99
Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 7
5. The Secret Servant. Daniel Silva. Putnam, $25.95
Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 4
6. Loving Frank. Nancy Horan. Ballantine, $23.95
Last Week: –; Weeks on List: 1
7. The Tin Roof Blowdown. James Lee Burke. Simon & Schuster, $26
Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 5
8. Sandworms of Dune. Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. Tor, $27.95
Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2
9. Spook Country. William Gibson. Putnam, $25.95
Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 2
10. Devil May Cry. Sherrilyn Kenyon. St. Martin's, $19.95
Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 2

Courier Staff Report

Students, as many as 3940 of them, flocked back to the James Logan campus Wednesday, for the start of the 2007-2008 school year, greeted by staff and scheduling difficulties.

Computer and printing problems led school administrators to abandon plans for teachers to hand out student schedules. Instead they set up distribution stations around campus. Principal Don Montoya announced the new process via email and the school's public address system minutes before the school day began.

All the school's buses were late due to traffic snarls resulting from a major accident, Montoya said.

"Today may be more challenging than we are used to...but working together we will accomplish all that needs to be accomplished and the quality education we provide at the Home of the Colts will begin."

From wikipedia:
Count Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (August 29, 1862 - May 6, 1949) was a Belgian poet, playwright, and essayist writing in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life.

Count Maurice Maeterlinck was born in Ghent, Belgium to a wealthy, French-speaking family. He wrote poems and short novels during his studies, which he destroyed later; only fragments are left.

Read Our Friend the Dog by Maurice Maeterlinck, one of 11 of his works available free from Project Gutenberg.