And for more books by Big Red authors, peruse our previous round-ups<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ben Shattuck \u201909, BFA \u201908<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWistful and meditative, sparked by lovely prose,\u201d says Kirkus<\/em> of this nonfiction work<\/a> by Shattuck, an artist and the director of a writer\u2019s residency program in Maine. In a collection of essays subtitled In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau<\/em>, Shattuck retraces walks taken by the 19th-century philosopher and naturalist, best known for his writing about the simple life on Massachusetts\u2019s Walden Pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShellacked in rain, like rubies nestled in enormous sienna carpets, wild cranberries appeared in the boggy ground between the hills outside Provincetown,\u201d the AAP alum writes of a Cape Cod outing. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019d made it in two days. The rain sounds like oil sizzling in a pan<\/em>, I wrote in my journal. I untied the shoes from my backpack, slipped them onto my blistered feet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n An indie best seller in New England, Six Walks<\/em> was on seasonal \u201cbest-of\u201d and \u201cmust-read\u201d lists in the New York Times<\/em>, Wall Street Journal<\/em>, and Town & Country<\/em>. It boasts a blurb from \u201cParks and Recreation\u201d actor and outdoor aficionado Nick Offerman, who calls it \u201ca gorgeous reminder that walking is the most radical form of locomotion nowadays.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shirley Reva Levine Vernick \u201983<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This young adult novel<\/a> is based on the real experiences of Jewish refugees in Victorian London\u2014an era marked by antisemitism and xenophobia\u2014during the murder spree of Jack the Ripper. It follows a modern-day teen named Abe, who\u2019s brooding about being rejected by his longtime crush when a fortune teller predicts he may be able to save a life, and he\u2019s magically transported back in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working with his crush, Mitzy\u2014who has also been whisked into the past\u2014they struggle with anti-Jewish bigotry while trying to learn how the prophecy that sent them to the 19th century is connected to the Ripper\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n<\/div> “This quick page-turner will captivate young readers,\u201d says School Library Journal<\/em>. \u201cVernick mixes fantasy, a bit of mystery, and historical fiction to bring middle school readers a story of Jewish life in London’s East End in the late 1880s.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Human Ecology alum\u2019s previous YA novel is also a historical tale inspired by real events. Set during World War II, The Sky We Shared<\/em><\/a> <\/em>alternates between the perspectives of two girls, one in the U.S. and the other in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lolly Tai \u201977<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Subtitled Designing Nature-Based Risky Play for Children<\/em>, Tai\u2019s volume<\/a> describes efforts by landscape architects to create spaces in natural landscapes that are not actually hazardous, but \u201cexciting, thrilling, and challenging.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n It focuses on three projects in the U.S. and two abroad, including sites on New York\u2019s Governors Island and in Berkeley, CA, and Atlanta, GA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n A professor of landscape architecture at Temple University (whose press published the book), Tai explores the backgrounds, design processes, and visitor experiences of the spaces, with myriad images and diagrams, and discusses the benefits to kids of engaging in this genre of play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLolly Tai\u2019s Letting Play Bloom<\/em> pulls back the curtain on designing for risky play\u2014and moves the conversation from why to how,\u201d Erin Marteal, MPS \u201910, executive director of the Ithaca Children\u2019s Garden, says in a blurb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tai\u2019s previous works include The Magic of Children’s Gardens: Inspiring Through Creative Design<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James Ross \u201975, JD \u201982<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The second book<\/a> in Ross\u2019s Coldwater<\/em> mystery series continues the crime-solving adventures of the Morgan brothers\u2014one an attorney, the other the sheriff in their small Upstate New York hometown, which shares a lake with Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first volume, Coldwater Revenge<\/em>\u2014which Kirkus<\/em> praised as an \u201catmospheric thriller\u201d\u2014brought the brothers together to investigate the murder of a local man whose body was found in the lake. Their new case involves a trio of unexplained deaths, including that of their own lawman father, and the smuggling of \u201990s-era weapons from a nearby Army base.<\/p>\n<\/div> And as if those travails weren\u2019t fraught enough: their investigation puts them into conflict with their grieving mother, and the two brothers develop a romantic interest in the same woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Based in Wyoming, Ross has published short fiction in literary journals and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His debut novel, 2020\u2019s Hunting Teddy Roosevelt<\/em>, follows the former president on an African safari in which he\u2019s in danger of becoming the prey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eve Vavagiakis ’14, PhD ’21<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Published by MIT Kids Press, this picture book<\/a> colorfully explores \u201ctiny particles in a big universe\u201d as it breaks down complex scientific concepts for an audience of second- to fourth-graders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It features text by Vavagiakis\u2014a postdoc<\/a> in astronomy and astrophysics on the Hill\u2014and eye-popping digital illustrations by her mother, artist Ilze Lemesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am a fermion that can hardly be traced<\/em>,\u201d says one colorful spread depicting a quartet of funky, cat-like creatures dancing in space. \u201cI come in flavors, but not ones you can taste.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kirkus<\/em> calls the book a \u201cwhimsical initiation into the wonders and features of a neutrino particle\u201d and a \u201cpoetic, gently humorous introduction to the world of neutrino physics.\u201d In addition to offering an inclusive perspective\u2014depicting kids and scientists of different races and genders\u2014it includes an appendix that goes into a deeper but age-appropriate dive into the science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Says Publishers Weekly<\/em>: \u201cUnabashedly tackling a complex subject, this STEM read is sure to inspire curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alejandro Colindres Fra\u00f1\u00f3 \u201994<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A former food science major in CALS who holds an MBA from Northwestern, Fra\u00f1\u00f3 is a veteran food and beverage executive in the U.S. and abroad. In this self-help guide<\/a> to professional advancement, he offers \u201c13 principles to drive career success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He lays out those principles under a three-part framework: \u201cshape your mindset,\u201d \u201cbuild your brand,\u201d and \u201cbe the driver.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The book is geared toward both early career workers and those with more experience who are seeking growth.<\/p>\n<\/div> \u201cTo grow in our career, we need the right mindset, and wanting more is the first step in shaping our mindset,\u201d he writes in the introduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is an acknowledgement that we still have many yards to go to reach the goal line. However, many people do not actively want more \u2026 The danger is that by not wanting more, people fall into a trap of stagnation: career inertia. When they don\u2019t want more, their journey is pretty much done, and they prematurely reach their end goal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>Classic by a Cornellian<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Melissa Bank, MFA \u201988<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bank, who passed away in August 2022 at age 61, made a literary smash\u2014and tapped into the era\u2019s \u201cchick lit\u201d zeitgeist\u2014in 1999 with this New York Times<\/em> bestselling collection<\/a> of seven interlinked short stories, which Entertainment Weekly<\/em> dubbed a \u201cswinging, funny, and tender study of contemporary relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n (As the Times<\/em> observed in an obituary<\/a>, the book emerged around the heyday of such cultural touchstones as \u201cAlly McBeal,\u201d \u201cSex and the City,\u201d and Bridget Jones\u2019s Diary<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n The title tale\u2014inspired by now-infamous dating advice books of the era like The Rules<\/em>\u2014follows a woman who hits it off with a fellow guest at a wedding. But their relationship goes off the rails when she tries to stick to the \u201cplay hard to get\u201d formula laid out in How to Meet and Marry Mr. Right<\/em>. Two of the book\u2019s other stories were adapted into the 2007 romcom Suburban Girl<\/em>, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bank went on to pen the 2005 novel The Wonder Spot<\/em><\/a>, about a young woman from suburban Pennsylvania seeking romance and career success in New York City, and was at work on another at the time of her death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/SixWalks_cover-A.jpg\")
<\/figure>Six Walks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nRipped Away<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>Letting Play Bloom<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nColdwater Confession<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>I’m a Neutrino<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe Road to Champagne<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/09\/girls-guide-A.jpg\")
<\/figure>The Girls\u2019 Guide to Hunting and Fishing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n