In his debut novel, the author introduces readers to his bass-playing FBI agent, Gus Wheeler, who’s in the prime of his career, working as a field agent in Boston and pursuing his musical interests in a touring band. His newest case involves two longtime friends, murdered in quick succession in (fictional) Kendalton, Massachusetts. Gus and […]
After Ellis’ best friend, Lora, disappears from Clearwood Home for Orphans, the only clue is Lora’s bookmark, upon which she’d written the phrase “The Forests of the Night.” Soon after, Ellis is assigned as guardian to new resident Pip, who doesn’t speak. Both girls feel a strong connection to the massive Ghost Tree—the fossilized remains […]
Despite being an “economic powerhouse,” the United States “has managed to lose much of its manufacturing prowess,” and most low-tech production has taken flight to other countries like China, observes Olsen. We cannot simply accept an economy that runs singularly on services, he asserts. “We need to make more of our own things.” Much of […]
This exuberant rhyming ode to reading is primed to get kids excited about the wonders awaiting them between the pages of a book. As the authors wisely point out, books are perfect anytime, anywhere—and they’re for everyone. Readers are encouraged to give books as gifts, to share them with friends and family, and even to […]
Kwan lives on a quiet mountainside in 1941. Whether his family eats depends on what his father, a woodcarver, and his mother, a painter, can sell at the farmers market. After Kwan overhears his parents worrying over the lack of food in their onggi pot, he ignores their warnings to stay away from Suka’s Farm […]
In some ways, the author’s childhood was like one long summer at camp—he and his seven siblings were raised on a sprawling 84-acre Community Conservation Corps–built park property his parents bought at the end of the Depression and rehabilitated over the course of the 1940s. The seventh of eight children, Antil enjoyed an idyllic upbringing […]
Emma Moskowitz has a lot going for her—she’s a licensed marriage and family therapist who’s just turned in the first draft of a book on maintaining healthy relationships; she has a successful YouTube channel; she lives in a very nice Los Angeles apartment; and she’s happily planning her wedding to Ryan, a man she loves. […]
Kinsey’s taut novel tells a straightforward story, but it’s the voice that stands out most. The note of regret its narrator takes when recalling a woman named Asha hints that the story we’re about to hear won’t be a happy one. “I was afraid if I thought about her, her voice would wake up on […]
The story begins by likening words to people: specifically, the way each word is unique and lovely just the way it is. Every word does something no other word can, and when different words meet, “Words are like kids / Who see each other / And begin to play.” The author underscores the anxiety words […]
Alex and his mother (both portrayed with pale skin), along with their dog, Nico, sometimes go on adventures together—but often, “Mommy…wants to play with us but her body can’t.” Over a week, Mom experiences a new symptom each day—her specific illness isn’t disclosed—which Alex then explains to Nico, using easy-to-understand similes: “Mama can’t hike with […]