Casey and Kyle McCray’s marriage seemed like storybook material. They began as childhood friends in Potsdam, New York, moved on to a teenage romance, and married young. For 21 years, they saw themselves as a solid team. But as this novel opens, they’re on opposite ends of the country—Kyle has fled all the way to […]
Early in his prescient book, legal scholar Brescia points out a stunning irony. We all know this is the era of “surveillance capitalism,” in which the internet habitually violates our virtual space. We understand that purportedly free social media companies (a.k.a. “Digital Pinkertons”) effectively exist to co-opt and sell the private data (“political privacy”) that […]
Chryssy’s family is cursed. While her uncles have all had long and happy marriages, generations of Hua women—Chryssy included—have been destined never to find lasting love, experiencing everything from prom night breakups to cheating spouses. Still reeling after a broken engagement, Chryssy has thrown herself into her job as a Traditional Chinese Medicine chef and […]
In this entertaining sequel to the SF adventure Rolo the Pet Earthling (2023), 13-year-old Rolo escapes the planet Blorx (where “hoomans” are pets) and lands on Earth, accompanied by his brainy, one-eyed, multi-limbed companion Quiggles. Expecting to meet free “hoomans,” Rolo learns that felines now dominate the Earth. After being hauled to the vet for a […]
When Ahamed arrived in suburban Boston in 1970, she felt “an acute sense of disappointment,” she writes. “What were these quaint, old-fashioned houses doing in the land that had sent men and rocket ships to the moon?” The silence of her new home made her long for the noise and liveliness of her native India. […]
Named for abolitionist Benjamin Wellstone, Freya’s cozy coastal town is very proud of its history. Reading some of Wellstone’s letters for school, she’s surprised and angered to learn that while he may have been a hero to some, he vehemently opposed women’s voting rights. Irish American Freya and her new friend Callie, who presents white […]
Born in Canada just 12 months apart to a “young urban Indigenous couple full of dreams,” Alexander and Andria struggle with self-worth and identity in this debut by Anishinaabekweauthor Angeconeb. The “honorary twins,” Andy the painter and Ally the poet, are mirrors of each other, but despite their close connection, they keep their struggles with […]
An unnamed stage actress sits in her apartment, telling her young son a fairy story. Urged on by the ghosts of blood-drenched women that only she can see, she speaks of a boy born in a stately home. A curious, perpetually hungry child with sharp nails and pointed teeth, the boy is abandoned by his […]
After Crawford Cope hits his father with a baseball bat, he’s sentenced to 300 hours of community service—working to revamp a baseball diamond that will be named Cope Field after his famous pops, a hometown hero who played in the major leagues. Craw, who’s white, is paired with Hannah Flores, a brown-skinned, bisexual punk rocker […]
Belichick coached the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl wins, but here he targets readers in less glamorous fields. “You know the feeling of settling back at your desk and opening your email after a long vacation?” he writes. NFL coaches do—every summer when training camp starts. Belichick encourages us to view such workplace […]