Book reviews: 'Right Fresh From Heaven' and 'Black Mamba Boy'

Reading this biography of John Chapman, America's most famous planter of apple orchards, is a bit like finding yourself next to Cliff Clavin, that "Cheers" storehouse of information variously trivial, fascinating and having no discernible bearing on the topic. Means has done an immense amount of research into a folk hero who left almost no record by his own hand, and generously shares it with the reader. To show how Chapman wasn't cowed by poor weather, Means quotes extensively from a "meticulous diary" of a Quaker farmer, noting conditions during one of Chapman's hikes as a lad. "On the eighth, a 'Sharp frost;' and on the eighteenth, 'white frost.' " We get it. Means ponders whether Johnny Appleseed was a planter of apple trees or "something else, larger and more metaphorical: the nursemaid of western expansion, a frontier Saint Francis, the patron saint of pioneer sinners?" Means continues this speculation amid digressions that, while interesting in and of themselves, distract from the main character. So it's surprising to encounter on the final page this bold statement: "By our modern definitions, John Chapman almost certainly was insane." Sounds like the starting point for a tightly focused biography of one of America's more intriguing characters, which someone may someday write.

It's 1935. The winds of another world war are stirring in Europe and much of the world. But in the busy seaport of Aden, Yemen, Jama, a poor, but bright 11-year-old boy, leads what is for him an idyllic existence. He roams the town's bustling streets with Shidane and Abdi, his two best friends, getting into all sorts of adventures. But that life comes to an abrupt end when Jama has a falling-out with his two friends and, even worse, his beautiful but troubled mother, Ambaro, takes sick and dies.

Living with relatives he doesn't like and who don't like him, he decides to try and find his father, who is working for the British as a driver north of Yemen. Thus begins a journey to manhood, in which Jama will discover the ravages of war, lose many good friends and see too many examples of man's inhumanity to man. He also will experience the kindness of strangers, find out about other cultures and learn about love. Mohamed weaves a thoughtful and thought-provoking tale in her first novel. It won't be her last.