At the tail end of 1981, Billy Tarwater gets disquieting news: his wife Cynthia reports noticing a car following her while she was driving with the couple’s two young kids. They worry this potential stalker may have links to Cynthia’s abduction 18 years earlier, when the then-teen girl narrowly escaped a killer’s clutches. Billy helped […]
Fifteen months after cult leader Patrick Nye ended his group’s hostage-taking at a theatrical gala by detonating bombs that killed 43 people, the case is ready to go to trial—with one hitch. John Horner, a senior advocate to the Crown Prosecution Service, needs someone to comb through the material that’s been excluded from the mountain […]
Confining his selections to athletes active at the beginning of 2024, Buckley dishes up an alphabetically arranged gallery of greats and potential greats that is thoroughly diverse in terms of age, race, nationality, gender, and sport. Some, such as LeBron James and Aaron Judge, will be familiar even to nonsports fans, but there are plenty […]
In the 1970s, American women had very little control over their financial lives. After marriage, they frequently needed their husbands to help them establish lines of credit, and before marriage and after divorce, they were often denied access to credit for things like mortgages and loans. Hoping to create a space “where everyone felt welcome,” […]
Eleventh grader Jordan is struggling in the wake of his mother’s death from cancer. He’s also being bullied at school for being a small, quiet boy. His father sold their old house and moved them into an apartment after their loss, a change Jordan has found upsetting and destabilizing. He copes by reading his mother’s […]
Currie-McGhee’s account unfolds in chronological order from her subject’s origins as a talented child baller to being the WNBA’s No. 1 draft pick in 2024. Along the way, readers learn about her life in high school and college and her pro career so far. Clark has been clearly focused on her goal of playing professionally […]
Before the summer when his life fell apart, high schooler Kai Lum’s biggest worry was balancing school with on-the-job training to support his ambition of becoming a chef. Now he’s got a bipolar diagnosis, psychiatrist appointments to keep up with, a family that’s crowding him with worry, new meds that come with a host of […]
Allen opens by describing how AI’s increasing prevalence has created new jobs and altered existing ones—for example, by automating many repetitive tasks. At the same time, AI is requiring people to develop new skills in areas such as writing, legislation, ethics, and machine-learning engineering. Five subsequent chapters go into more detail about the impact of […]
Linden High student athletes must follow a strict code of conduct or face being benched or suspended. Varsity volleyball player Macy has been on the starting lineup all season, but after she injured her ankle, the coach moved new student Alliyah into the starting spot for the playoff matches. One evening after a game, Alliyah […]
A young Black child watches new neighbors move into the house across the street. Along with all the moving boxes, the youngster spots a light-skinned, red-headed child wearing a bright green froggy hat. As the vivid illustrations clearly chart the budding bond between these two, the words illuminate the ups and downs of forging friendship. […]