DALE MCGARRIGLE

OF THE NEWS STAFF

SHOOT HIM IF HE RUNS, by Stuart Woods, 2007, G.P. Putnam, New York, 293 pages, hardcover, $25.95.

Think of this as “Stuart Woods’ Greatest Hits.”

“Shoot Him If He Runs” brings together the protagonists from all three of the part-time Mount Desert Islander’s three popular series: NYPD homicide cop-turned-lawyer Stone Barrington, small-town Florida cop-turned-CIA agent Holly Barker and Georgia politician-turned-President Will Lee.

Lee summons the other two for a particular task: he wants them to track down a loose end from previous novels – the supposedly dead CIA operative-turned-rogue Teddy Fay.

CIA consultant Stone and Holly, accompanied by his ex-partner Dino and Dino’s girlfriend, Genevieve, head for the Caribbean island of St. Mark’s, where Stone last visited in the book “Dead in the Water,” when he made both friends and enemies there.

Once there, it’s a not-so-simple matter of screening the non-native males of a certain age, in the hopes of flushing out Teddy, of whom no photos exist.

And, of course, there’s also plenty of the requisite dining, drinking and frolicking found in any Stuart Woods novel.

“Shoot Him If He Runs” is a fast-paced travelogue with healthy doses of action and dialogue thrown in. There’s never much doubt about whodunit, or how things are going to turn out, but Woods takes readers there with a whole lot of style.

JACK WILDE

SPECIAL TO THE NEWS

KEEP YOUR EAR ON THE BALL by Genevieve Petrillo, illustrated by Lea Lyon; Tilbury House Publishers, Gardiner, Maine, 2007; 32 pages, large-format hardcover, $16.95.

“Keep Your Ear on the Ball,” by Genevieve Petrillo and illustrated by Lea Lyon, is based on a true story about a boy named Davey who starts going to a new school. Davey is blind, and the kids in his class are always trying to help him do everything because they think he can’t do anything on his own.

But he always says no, and can do it himself. That is, until they have recess and he tries to play kickball with all the kids. Since he can’t see, he can’t kick the ball, and when he does, he doesn’t know where the base is. The kids all offer to kick and run for him, but he doesn’t let them.

Eventually the kids figure out that Davey doesn’t want anyone to do it for him, but to help him do it. When they do this, it makes everybody happy. Davey can play kickball, and the rest of the kids can too.

This is a good story because it shows how simple things like helping people rather than doing things for them can make people feel much better, and more appreciated. The moral is a good one and is easy to pick out.

Younger children around the age of 6 or 7 could gain a lot from this book. It would show them some basic things that could help them have better relationships with some of their friends.

Genevieve Petrillo is an elementary school teacher at School Ten in Belleville, N.J. She has been teaching for 34 years now, and she got the idea for “Keep Your Ear on the Ball” from a boy who was in her class years ago. This is her first book, and she could easily write more.

Jack Wilde is a junior at Mount View High School in Thorndike. He can be contacted on AOL Instant Messenger at PntBallAddict09.

DALE MCGARRIGLE

OF THE NEWS STAFF

ANOTHER GREEN WORLD, by Richard Grant, Vintage Books, New York, 2007, 400 pages, paperback, $15.95.

This novel by Rockport resident Grant shows what happens when youthful idealism collides with cold adult reality.

“Another Green World” spans 15 years in which the world changes dramatically.

In 1929, a group of young Americans meet during a youth summit held on a remote mountaintop in the Weimar Republic.

In 1944, at the height of World War II, a message from one of the group sets in motion events which draw these characters back together.

A group of Jewish volunteers, few of whom resemble soldiers, are recruited to go behind enemy lines and retrieve an important communique by the resistance leader known as The Fox.

The novel is much more than the chronicling of a quasi-military operation. Moving back and forth between the two time periods, Grant, an award-winning columnist and a contributing editor at Down East magazine, shows how the central characters have changed as they endure darker and darker times.

“Another Green World” is a mystical place, although not one that necessarily lends itself to happy endings. Still it will make readers question what goes on in worlds beside this natural one.

JACK WILDE

SPECIAL TO THE NEWS

AT ONE IN A PLACE CALLED MAINE by Lynn Plourde, illustrated by Leslie Mansmann; Islandport Press, New Gloucester and Frenchboro, 2007; large-format hardcover, $16.95.

“At One in a Place Called Maine” by Lynn Plourde is an almost hypnotic story about the great state of Maine. But it is more a long poem than a story because there is no plot line. It speaks in short, simple verses about some of the wonders found in Maine such as its tall mountains, its pine forests, its wildlife, and many other interesting lines about nature in Maine.

The love that Plourde has for her home state is very clear in the book. She illustrates its beauty very well with her words, and the pictures really helped keep me drawn into the words. It is really a book for any age, because the language can be enjoyed by adults as well as children, and the pictures would keep a child entertained as they listened to the words.

Lynn Plourde was born in Dexter and raised in Skowhegan. She has written more than 15 children’s books, including “Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud,” “Dino Pets,” “Teacher Appreciation Day,” “The First Feud: Between the Mountain and the Sea” and “A Mountain of Mittens.” Plourde also visits schools to work with young people and present workshops and seminars for adults. She lives in Winthrop.