Lots of new books hitting the shelves

By Laurie Hertzel

My gosh, you writers are busy. Lots of news, so let's just get right to it.

• "Angel Animals: Book of Inspiration" by Allen and Linda Anderson of Minneapolis has been published by New World Library. Their book celebrates the connection between humans and animals in stories from people all over the country.

• Neal Karlen's book "The Story of Yiddish: How a Mish-Mosh of Languages Saved the Jews," is out in paperback with Harper.

• George Rabasa's novel "The Wonder Singer" is out in paperback, published by Unbridled Books. To celebrate, Rabasa will be at Open Book at 7 p.m. June 9 with soprano Jennifer Baldwin-Peden.

• Two recent Minnesota Book Award winners are available in paperback. "The Plague of Doves" by Louise Erdrich -- also a Pulitzer finalist -- is out in paperback with Harper Perennial. And Catherine Friend's "The Compassionate Carnivore" is out in paperback with Da Capo Press.

• Nodin Press has published a compendium of baseball pieces. "Minnesotans in Baseball" was edited by Stew Thornley and contains pieces about Charles Albert "Chief" Bender, Halsey Hall, Harmon Killebrew and many others.

• "The Gravity of Flesh," poems by Jill Breckenridge, has been published by Nodin Press. Breckenridge, of Minneapolis, is a former director of the Loft Literary Center and has published two other books.

• "Superior Artisans: In Praise of Hands" by Cameron Norman has been published by Butter Moon Arts of Hovland, Minn. The collection of photographs pays tribute to many of the artists, writers and artisans who live along Minnesota's North Shore -- basketmakers, weavers and maple syrup producers. The foreword is by children's book author and illustrator Betsy Bowen, who calls herself "woodblock printer, puppeteer."