TOUCH AND GO

From Lewin (Fair!, 1997, etc.), a memorable assortment of anecdotes and encounters that weren’t, for one reason or another, picture-book material. At a page or two each, they never form a connected narrative, but make vivid, stand-alone verbal snapshots, “taken” in Botswana, Egypt, Norway, and other exotic places: witnessing the killing and butchering of a wildebeest in the Kalahari; nervously pushing a truck over a submerged bridge past the “DANGER—CROCODILES” sign; laughing as a caribou deliberately spooks a group of hikers in Alaska, then turning to see a grizzly not 50 feet away; visiting a brawling Egyptian camel market; renting a jeep from the king of Ranthambor, India; vainly trying to stop the fire from smoking in a reindeer-hide tepee 125 miles above the Arctic Circle. Illustrated with a glossy section of watercolor sketches and full-color photos, these vignettes are written with an eye for arresting detail, plus the offhand humor that made Lewin’s memoir, I Was a Teenage Professional Wrestler (1993) such a delight. (Memoir. 10-12)