Phillip Parker's The National Tour of the USS Constitution 1931-1934, is a brief and engaging summary of the restoration and subsequent tour of the frigate USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides." The Constitution was built in 1794, had a distinguished career and is today the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat.

There were few women in professional roles in major corporations when Elaine Koyama started her career in in 1976. One of her few role models in her early career was the TV character, Mary Richards, from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, whose career was centered in Minneapolis, just as Elaine’s would be. “I figured if Mary Richards could do it, so could I.” 

A good story well-told does not have age guidelines for its audience. Fire Pony is written for a middle school audience, the protagonist is an 11 year old girl, but even though I am more than a half century older than the intended demographic for this book, I found it to be a real page-turner that I found myself picking up whenever I had a few moments to myself.

How could I have gotten through an English major without reading any Austen? We are considering celebrating Jane Austen Day in September at This House of Books, so now is my chance to correct this omission. I went to the bookstore and added a copy of Austen's 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice, to my personal library.

As we go into Poetry Month, I want to share a little about a form that is new to me: American Sentences -- a North American version of the Japanese haiku. These are one line poems that consist of seventeen syllables.