Fine Print: Summer 2016

Fine Print: Summer 2016

Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book)
By Julie Siegel Falatko ’93, illustrated by Tim Miller
Viking Children’s Books

Snappsy the alligator is having a normal day when a pesky narrator steps in to spice up the story. Is Snappsy reading a book ... or is he making crafty plans? Is Snappsy on his way to the grocery store ... or is he prowling the forest for defenseless birds and fuzzy bunnies? Is Snappsy innocently shopping for a party ... or is he obsessed with snack foods that start with the letter P? What’s the truth? An irreverent look at storytelling, friendship and creative differences, Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book) is Julie Siegel Falatko ’93’s debut book.

The Art of Instant Message: Be Yourself, Be Confident, Be Successful Communicating Personality
By Keith Grafman ’06
Rainbow Books, Inc.

Many single people experience anxiety, have insecurities and are reluctant to engage themselves in online dating. Keith Grafman ’06 believes success lies in learning to maintain balance and express authenticity in communications. The Art of Instant Message was written to help sincere people begin the process of forming a long-term, committed relationship.

The Fighting 30th Division: They Called Them Roosevelt’s SS
By David Hilborn ’93, Martin King and Michael Collins
Casemate Publishing

In World War I, the 30th Infantry Division earned more Medals of Honor than any other American division. In World War II, it spent more consecutive days in combat than almost any other outfit. Recruited mainly from the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee, they were one of the hardest-fighting units the U.S. ever fielded in Europe, earning five battle stars in the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe campaigns. Their U.S. Army nickname was the “Old Hickory” Division. But after encountering them on the battlefield, the Germans themselves came to call them “Roosevelt’s SS.” The Fighting 30th Division is a combat chronicle of this illustrious division that takes the reader right to the heart of the fighting through the eyes of those who were actually there. The last remaining veterans of the 30th Division and attached units who saw the action firsthand relate their remarkable experiences here for the first, and probably the last, time.

Heat & Light
By Jennifer Haigh ’90
HarperCollins

Author Jennifer Haigh ’90 returns to the Pennsylvania town at the center of her iconic novel Baker Towers in this ambitious, achingly human story of modern America and the conflicting forces at its heart. Forty years ago, Bakerton coal fueled the country. Then the mines closed. Now Bakerton has been granted a surprise third act: It sits squarely atop the Marcellus Shale, a massive deposit of natural gas. To drill or not to drill? Prison guard Rich Devlin leases his mineral rights to finance his dream of farming. He doesn’t count on the truck traffic and nonstop noise, his brother’s skepticism or the paranoia of his wife, Shelby, who insists the water smells strange and is poisoning their frail daughter. Meanwhile his neighbors, organic dairy farmers Mack and Rena, hold out against the drilling—until a passionate environmental activist disrupts their lives. Told through a cast of characters whose lives are increasingly bound by the opposing interests that underpin the national debate, Heat & Light depicts a community blessed and cursed by its natural resources.

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Published July 12, 2016