The meanings of "up" are conveyed with merry verse and illustrations in a happy book that celebrates the joy of life.

The meanings of "up" are conveyed with merry verse and illustrations in a happy book that celebrates the joy of life.

Rhymed text and illustrations introduce the many meanings of "up."

Theodor Seuss Geisel--known worldwide as the beloved children's author Dr. Seuss--produced a body of work that spans more than 70 years. Though most often associated with children's books, he frequently contributed cartoons and humorous essays to popular magazines, produced effective and memorable advertising campaigns ("Quick, Henry, the Flit!"), and won Oscars and Emmys for motion picture productions, animated shorts, and features. As founder and president of Beginner Books, his influence on children's book publishing was revolutionary, especially in the field of elementary readers. Geisel's prolific career--he wrote or contributed illustrations to more than 75 books, most of which have been reprinted repeatedly and translated worldwide--and his predilection for made-up creatures make this joint bibliography and iconography especially useful to readers and researchers. The exhaustive bibliography is arranged chronologically, providing full bibliographic information, including translations as they appear, reissue information, and descriptions of the binding. The iconography links more than 900 fictional names, places and terms to the works in which they appear. For the reader seeking a first edition of Quomodo Invidiosulus Nomine Grinchus Christi Natalem Abrogaverit (How the Grinch Stole Christmas! translated into Latin) or hoping to identify "abrasion-contusions" (race cars in If I Ran the Circus!), this work promises as much discovery as a walk down Mulberry Street.

Mann Gulch, Montana, 1949. Sixteen men ventured into hell to fight a raging wildfire; only three came out alive. Searing the fire into the nation’s consciousness, Norman Maclean chronicled the Mann Gulch tragedy in his award-winning book Young Men and Fire. Still, the silence of the victims’ families robbed Maclean’s account of an essential personal dimension. Shifting the focus from the fire to the men who fought it, Mark Matthews now provides that perspective. Not until 1999—the fiftieth anniversary of the fire—did people begin to talk openly about Mann Gulch. Matthews has garnered those thoughts to reveal how devastating the fire was to the firefighters’ family members, coworkers, and friends. In retelling the story of Mann Gulch, he draws on the testimony of the three survivors—including never-before-published insights from the last living member of the team—and interviews with former smoke jumpers of that era. The result is a moment-by-moment, heart-stopping re-creation of events. The Mann Gulch tragedy provoked the Forest Service to develop safety equipment and training programs, but fighting wildfires is still a perilous job. Matthews’ stirring account renews our respect for one of nature’s primal forces. A heartbreakingly human story, it still haunts a firefighting community—and keeps today’s firefighters forever on guard.

The definitive, fascinating, all-reaching biography of Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss is a classic American icon. Whimsical and wonderful, his work has defined our childhoods and the childhoods of our own children. The silly, simple rhymes are a bottomless well of magic, his illustrations timeless favorites because, quite simply, he makes us laugh. The Grinch, the Cat in the Hat, Horton, and so many more, are his troupe of beloved, and uniquely Seussian, creations. Theodor Geisel, however, had a second, more radical side. It is there that the allure and fasciation of his Dr. Seuss alter ego begins. He had a successful career as an advertising man and then as a political cartoonist, his personal convictions appearing, not always subtly, throughout his books—remember the environmentalist of The Lorax? Geisel was a complicated man on an important mission. He introduced generations to the wonders of reading while teaching young people about empathy and how to treat others well. Agonizing over word choices and rhymes, touching up drawings sometimes for years, he upheld a rigorous standard of perfection for his work. Geisel took his responsibility as a writer for children seriously, talking down to no reader, no matter how small. And with classics like Green Eggs and Ham, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Geisel delighted them while they learned. Suddenly, reading became fun. Coming right off the heels of George Lucas and bestselling Jim Henson, Brian Jay Jones is quickly developing a reputation as a master biographer of the creative geniuses of our time.

As St. Patrick’s Day nears, a retired FBI agent must solve a sinful crime near a small-town convent: “[An] engrossing murder case . . . enjoyable” (Publishers Weekly). Her childhood friends wanted careers, but Brigit Ann Reilly spent her youth looking forward to her wedding—her wedding to God. When she finally gets to don the habit, her new order sends her to Maryville, where a former sister is poised to become Rome’s first Irish-American saint. Brigit has no time to worry about Vatican politics. She’s about to become a martyr herself. Brigit is found dead in the basement of her local library, her corpse swarming with ten poisonous water moccasins. When ex-FBI investigator Gregor Demarkian hears of her death, he is puzzled by two things: Water moccasins are not native to upstate New York, and Brigit died of hemlock poisoning, not the snakes’ venom. As Maryville whips itself into a pious frenzy in search of evidence for its hometown hero’s sainthood, Demarkian will attempt his own miracle by finding justice for the murdered young nun.