People are ticked off these days, observe Culpepper and Lee, with “enormous wellsprings of pent-up democratic pressure just looking for a way to get out.” As their narrative opens, they examine a predecessor event that uncorked similar pressure: namely, the reaction against the meat industry when, in 1906, Upton Sinclair published The Jungle, documented the […]
After her boyfriend Carter’s funeral, art student Nieve Monroe drifts through a summer steeped in guilt and tinged with emotionally resonant colors. Raised by her superstitious maternal grandmother, Grandee, whose mystical sayings once felt foolish, Nieve now sees meaning in every hue: black for loss, red for love, indigo for goodbye. When she returns to […]
Some days Mom soars on the wind like a kite, and “no matter how hard I pull the string, I can’t bring her back down.” Other days, Mom’s boat takes on water and begins to sink. The child tries to help bail it out from her own buoyant vessel, but it’s not enough, and Mom […]
When it comes to dogs, reciprocity rules: “We train them—and they train us. We care for them—and they care for us.” Puppy positivity is a big reason for our love of dogs: “Puppies live in the moment and make each day count!” The book recognizes the attributes that make canines beloved companions—fidelity, playfulness—as well as […]
Young Christian—a stand-in for the author—is such a soccer enthusiast that he carries a mini-ball with him everywhere he goes. But team tryouts turn disastrous when he finds himself surrounded by much taller, stronger kids. His family springs into action—proclaiming the next morning a “Super Soccer Day,” challenging him to earn his breakfast by beating […]
Lonely, Vera makes a wish on her favorite star for Grace’s return, but a few nights later, her wishing star disappears. At the library, Vera meets Malcolm, a fellow night sky enthusiast who explains that stars move. “My star didn’t leave me! It’s just on the other side of the world—in Grace’s sky!” Vera realizes. […]
Shuika, whose name means little thorn, goes by Shay, and lives in the city of Nezjar. She’s been raised by the midwife Ghita since her mother, who was addicted to Snow, died in childbirth. The drug temporarily activates Shawafa, an affinity-based magic all women possess—which is illegal to wield. Through her mother’s addiction, Shay inherited […]
Williams, author of C.C. Pyle’s Amazing Foot Race (2007), specializes in oddball niche historical events that are often less amusing the closer they are examined. Our warming planet is breaking heat records, but many that remain unbroken date from 1936, a year whose meteorological quirks often attracted more attention than Hitler. The book opens in […]
Elsie Parker gets to spend eight weeks learning about important topics like the difference between sex and gender, but at school, her fifth grade classmates will get their puberty education only via a generic hourlong video in a gender-segregated class at the end of the school year. Elsie decides to fill the gap: She hangs […]
Wayne, author of six previous novels, returns with an ingenious dissection of marriage, masculinity, and privilege, propelled by a gimlet-eyed wit. The opening scene—a Manhattan fundraiser where tuxedoed men “like inflatable penguins” mingle over wagyu sliders with their “spectral, hollow-cheeked wives”—establishes both the novel’s milieu and the lopsided dynamic between Steven, a 45-year-old writer living […]