Sunday, December 22, 2019

Give books for Christmas! Find a book for everyone!

I received these books from Workman Publishing for review.  They have a wide variety of books, so you can find something for everyone!


Will It Skillet? by Daniel Shumski ($14.95):  Discover a new world of cast iron cooking.  From Dan Shumski, who last applied his out of the box food loving sensibility to Will It Waffle?  Here are 53 surprising, delicious, and ingenious recipes for the cast iron skillet.

Savor the simplicity of Toast with Olive Oil and Tomato, because you just can’t achieve that perfect oil toasted crust in a toaster.  For Homemade Corn Tortillas, no special equipment required—use the pan to flatten and cook them.  (Then serve your tortillas with Single Skillet Carnitas or Charred Tomato Salsa—or make Chilaquiles.)  Take popcorn to another level with clarified butter.  Enjoy a Spinach and Feta Dip that stays warm from the residual heat of the pan.  Plus pastas that come together in one skillet—no separate boiling required!  Perfectly charred roasted vegetables, beautiful breads and pizzas, and luscious desserts from a giant chocolate chip cookie to the sophisticated Layered Crepe Torte with Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Jam.

Includes detailed information on buying, seasoning and caring for your cast iron skillet—and turning it into a nonstick kitchen workhorse.



The Book of Cards for Kids by Gail MacColl ($15.95):  The thrill of double war.  The excitement of shouting "Gin!"  Every kid knows at least a handful of card classics, and every grown up kid remembers the fun of playing them.  Here is a collection of lively card games for kids, paired with an over-sized, custom-designed set of playing cards.  From such favorites as Baby Snap, Go Fish, Concentration, and Blackjack to the less well known Chase the Ace, Racing Demon, Smudge and Frogs in the Pond; here are over 35 games for two to six players, plus Solitaire for a rainy day.  For ages 4-9. 

The book is a complete introduction for kids and a refresher for adults. It's the "everything you need to know" guide to 35 great card games for the family.  It contains the o
bjectives, rules, score keeping and favorite variations.  It also tells you how to shuffle, cut and deal.  Learn strategy, and even the art of bluffing.  There is also a glossary of card terms.

The cards are:  Big.  Bold.  Bright.  And specially designed.  The Cards for Kids deck is an oversized, durably laminated 52 card playing deck with two jokers included.  Symbols and numbers are extra large, plus each suit's background color is different. Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs:  Deal 'em!




Made by Dad by Scott Bedford ($19.95):  The Snail Soup Can Decoy to keep the candy stash safe.  The Customizable “Keep Out” Sign to deter meddlesome siblings and parents.  A Bunk Bed Communicator made from cardboard tubes (“Psst! Can you keep the snoring down?”).  Clever, whimsical, and kind of genius...here are 67 unique projects that will turn any dad with DIY leanings into a mad scientist hero that his kid(s) will adore.

No screens, no hi tech gadgetry.  Made by Dad combines the rough edged, handmade ethos of a Boy Scout manual or The Dangerous Book for Boys, with a sly sense of humor that kids love.  Scott Bedford, a creative director by day and Webby Award winning blogger by nights and weekends, wields an X-ACTO knife, magic marker and prodigious imagination to create endlessly delightful projects for his two sons.  He knows that kids like contraptions and gadgets, things that are surprising—like a chair that appears to be balanced on eggshells.  Things that are complex—like a multilevel city (with buildings, tunnels and roads) built from old boxes around the legs of a table.  And especially things with humor—like the Snappy Toast Rack, made to resemble a crocodile’s gaping mouth.


The projects are shown in full color photographs, and the instructions are illustrated in detailed line drawings that exude personality.  Some are quick and simple enough to be done in a coffee shop...others are more of an afternoon project—yielding hours and hours of rich, imaginative playtime.


Reverse Your Diabetes in 12 Weeks by George L. King, M.D. with Royce Flippin ($15.95):  A groundbreaking program to avoid, control and even reverse diabetes through diet and exercise.

The research of Dr. George King, chief scientific officer of Harvard Medical School’s Joslin Diabetes Center, is widely recognized in the medical community as the gold standard.  In Reverse Your Diabetes in 12 Weeks (previously published in hardcover as The Diabetes Reset), Dr. King transforms the center’s cutting edge research—including the discovery of brown fat and how it enhances the effects of the body’s own insulin—into a program of eight proven strategies.

Foremost is diet—but the real surprise is that the diet that actually works, a modified “rural Asian diet,” derives 70% of its calories from carbohydrates.  Dr. King disentangles the myths and confusion surrounding carbohydrates, fats, protein, and fiber, and shows why not all carbs are bad and why sugar is not the root of all evil.  Losing weight is also key, but in a very doable way—significant changes happen with a 5 to 7% reduction of body weight.  He emphasizes the importance of exercise—it increases the muscles’ glucose-absorbing ability—and gives an easy to follow program of aerobic and strength exercises.  And he shows why diabetics especially need those seven hours of sleep each night—chronic lack of sleep causes insulin resistance.

A twelve week plan shows how to put all of it into action—to take charge of blood glucose levels and significantly improve your health.




Games Magazine Junior Kids' Big Book of Games by Karen C. Anderson ($9.95):  Better for kids than television, these games possess a full share of educational virtues.  They stretch the memory, improve language skills, exercise logic and sharpen visual acumen.  Without being homework!  The Games Magazine Junior Kids' Big Book of Games spills over with eyeball benders, scrambled comics, riddle searches, logic defiers, memory tests, connect the dots, out of orders, mazes, crisscrosses, rebuses and more.  Grouped into five categories:  Picture Puzzles, Word Play, Games & Trivia, Mystery-Logic-&-Numbers and a special send off section appropriately titled "Big Bad Toughies".  The collection challenges readers with over 125 games (answers included, of course).  Ingeniously conceived and delightfully illustrated, the Games Magazine Junior Kids' Big Book of Games promises entertainment for a year of rainy days or interminable drives in the car.  And it proves, finally, that kids can never be too smart for their own good.  Selection of the Book of the Month Club.  Suitable for ages 6-12.


The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins ($24.95):  The Silver Palate Cookbook is the beloved classic that brings a new passion for food and entertaining into American homes.  Its 350 flawlessly seasoned, stand out dishes make every occasion special, and its recipes, featuring vibrant, pure ingredients, are a pleasure to cook.  Brimming with kitchen wisdom, cooking tips, information about domestic and imported ingredients, menus, quotes and lore, this timeless book feels as fresh and exciting as the day it was first published.  Every reader will fall in love with cooking all over again.  This twenty fifth anniversary edition is enriched with full color photographs throughout.


Generation T 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt by Megan Nicolay ($15.95):  Make it yours.  This inspirational guide with DIY attitude has everything you need to know about the world’s great T-shirt.  How to cut it, sew it, deconstruct it, reconstruct it, and best of all, transform it.  It features more than 100 projects (plus 200 variations) for customized tees, tank tops, tube tops, T-skirts—even handbags, a patchwork blanket, iPod cozies, leg warmers and more.  Not a DIY expert?  Not to worry. More than one third of the projects are no sew, meaning anyone who can wield a pair of scissors can put a personal stamp on her wardrobe.  But the sewing basics are here too:   backstitch and whipstitch, gather and ruche, appliqué and drawstrings.  And the mission statement for Generation T is: "Ask not what your T-shirt can do for you, ask what you can do for your T-shirt.  And then Do It Yourself!


The Joy of Origami by Margaret VanSicklen ($16.95):  The origami book, reinvented.  From Margaret van Sicklen, author of the Origami Page A Day Calendar and a tireless proselytizer for her craft, The Joy of Origami brings a delightfully fresh twist to the ancient art of paper folding.  Traditional in spirit—she reaches back to origami’s original aim, as a way to share unique gifts with friends and family—yet contemporary in look and feel, with 100 sheets of paper featuring bold, often whimsical patterns specially designed to complement the models.  It’s a jazzy, essential book for every origami hobbyist, whether an old hand at folding or new to the craft.

The 57 models range in difficulty from a simple Elephant in Pajamas to a more challenging Tyrannosaurus Rex.  There are models for special occasions (Stars and Stripes Pinwheel), action models (the Foxy Puppet), models for kids (One Trick Pony) and models for friends (the Kissing Cranes).  The Everyday Paper section includes models using found paper.  It shows you four cool ways to fold a dollar bill, an awesome newspaper baseball mitt, and fun ways to turn unwanted business cards into origami creatures.

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