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Romance

Romance: April 2019

Feature by Christie Ridgway

Top Pick
When a Duchess Says I Do by Grace Burrowes stars a delightful and deserving pair. Having been tasked with salvaging a crumbling country estate, Duncan Wentworth is saved by a mysterious woman during a violent encounter with poachers. Curious, he manages to finagle the lovely “Maddie,” who is obviously in dire circumstances herself, into agreeing to stay and help him edit his travel journals. Widowed duchess Matilda Wakefield is on the run to protect her father and possibly herself. Though determined and resourceful, she can’t resist the temporary respite that Duncan offers—or, finally, the man himself. Readers will root for these two wary people as they learn to trust each other with their foibles and their truths. With revealing dialogue, games of chess and subtle sensuality, this romance sings.

A paranormal wolf pack struggles to maintain its way of life in Maria Vale’s Forever Wolf. The wolves of the Great North Pack can shift into human form, but must remain wolves during the full moon. Varya is an influential and powerful Shielder, a bodyguard and taskmaster for the pack. Her duty to her family’s survival is born of love, and she considers no sacrifice too great. But when she stumbles upon a strange, injured wolf, Varya’s loyalties are challenged even as danger threatens her clan. In an almost mythical voice, Vale deftly conveys the complexity of the pack’s hierarchy as well as their hopes and needs—while still including the broad strokes of a romance. Adventurous readers will appreciate Vale’s unique love story, including the unconventional but poignant happily ever after.

Tiffany Reisz spins an erotic romance based on Greek myth in The Rose. Lia Godwick reaches the age of 21 with a broken heart and a few years’ experience at running a lucrative escort service. The world at large remains unaware of her work until her graduation party, where she meets a mysterious and handsome man. August Bowman is interested in an ancient Greek wine cup that Lia received as a gift and tells her that the artifact was used in the temple of Eros to bring sexual fantasies to life. Lia puts herself into the hands of the seductive August, who joins her in a series of erotic adventures. Lia’s delightfully humorous and sexually open parents nearly steal the show, but the growing love between the main couple and their willingness to sacrifice for each other lend depth to this uninhibited tale. Reisz masterfully balances explicit description with emotional honesty in a way that will entrance readers.

Top Pick
When a Duchess Says I Do by Grace Burrowes stars a delightful and deserving pair. Having been tasked with salvaging a crumbling country estate, Duncan Wentworth is saved by a mysterious woman during a violent encounter with poachers. Curious, he manages to finagle…

FictionChildren's & YAAudioMiddle Grade

Audio: April 2019

Feature by Anna Zeitlin

Top Pick
A Malaysian woman of Chinese descent, Yangsze Choo is an enchanting storyteller, and she ably narrates her own novel, The Night Tiger, set in the melting pot of 1930s colonial Malaya. Her narration is more than a reading; Choo has a deep empathy for her characters, and these emotions come out in her telling. The book weaves together the stories of Ren, a young houseboy on a mission to find his dead master’s severed finger and reunite it with his body in time for his soul to be at peace, and Ji Lin, a dressmaker’s apprentice and dance-hall girl who dreams of being a doctor and comes to possess the finger. Meanwhile, there seems to be a pattern to a series of tiger attacks. Are they magic or something else? Part mystery, part love story, The Night Tiger is draped in folklore, as traditions of the past butt up against a modern world of hot rods and tango dances. It deals with themes of death, family, marriage and ambition and questions what we owe the dead.

The New Me follows Millie, a 30-year-old temp who starts planning a whole new life for herself when she mistakenly believes she is being offered a full-time position. Her best friend barely tolerates her, and she rubs her co-workers the wrong way. She has an acerbic sense of humor but can’t gauge when to rein it in. Halle Butler narrates her own novel with a wickedly cynical tone that adds to Millie’s characterization and helps explain why the world seems to have it out for her. With glimpses from more well-adjusted characters’ perspectives that reinforce Millie’s disillusionment, The New Me is a funny, tragic portrait of an ambitionless millennial woman, as well as a dark vision of capitalism and consumerism.

Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth broke the mold in 1961 with its humor and respect for young readers’ intelligence, curiosity and playfulness. A new audiobook of the classic begins with an introduction from the now-89-year-old author, originally penned for the 50th anniversary edition. Juster shares the story behind the book, and it feels like he’s letting you in on a secret: What began as a short story inspired by a conversation with a young boy about infinity turned into the piece of literary canon we have today. The story itself—which follows a boy named Milo on an adventure through Dictionopolis and Digitopolis and over the Mountains of Ignorance to reunite the Kingdom of Wisdom—is narrated by Rainn Wilson (Dwight from “The Office”), who does a fantastic job. His original voices for each character fit perfectly, and he adroitly navigates all the wordplay to add a richness to Juster’s imagined world. This story may have been written for children, but it merits a listen at any age.

Top Pick A Malaysian woman of Chinese descent, Yangsze Choo is an enchanting storyteller, and she ably narrates her own novel, The Night Tiger, set in the melting pot of 1930s colonial Malaya. Her narration is more than a reading; Choo has a deep empathy…
RomanceWestern Romance

Romance: March 2019

Feature by Christie Ridgway

Top Pick
When Phoebe, Lady Clare, travels to her brother’s wedding at the beginning of Lisa Kleypas’ Devil’s Daughter, she’s a reluctant guest. Phoebe knows she’ll meet West Ravenel, who bullied her sickly late husband at boarding school. But the old stories don’t do the mature West justice, even though he doesn’t deny the ugliness of his past. Phoebe sees the good man that West has become, and the only bad left in him is precisely the kind that a woman like herself finds oh-so-tempting. The romance is delicious as West’s best intentions to stay clear of Phoebe battle her resolve to get what she wants, and that push-pull drives the narrative. The reformed bad boy is a staple of the genre, and West is just the sort that readers adore. His regrets and overwhelming feelings for the heroine make him an unforgettable hero. Add in cameos from Kleypas’ beloved Wallflowers (Phoebe is the daughter of Devil in Winter’s Evie and Sebastian), and Devil’s Daughter is a must read.

 

Former lovers get a second chance in Stefanie London’s Bad Influence. On the eve of a big move for her boyfriend’s job, Annie Maxwell decided to stay in New York City to support her mother during a medical crisis. The man in her life, Joseph Preston, left her behind, inspiring her to anonymously create a now-infamous app, Bad Bachelors, where women rate and review men of the city. Joseph returns just as a hacker threatens to reveal Annie’s identity, and she finds herself confiding in him, giving them a chance to face past mistakes and find closure. But will love rebloom instead? Annie and Joseph are flawed, authentic characters who must tread a fine line between loyalty to family and to each other. This is love with the blinders off, and it is all the more sophisticated and refreshing for that.

 

Readers who like their romance spiced with mystery can’t go wrong with Stroke of Luck by B.J. Daniels. Will Sterling has opened his ranch to a special group early in the season, and when his cook can’t make it, he turns to his childhood friend Poppy Carmichael, who’s now a caterer. Will hasn’t seen Poppy in 20 years, and he’s grateful when she commits to four days at the isolated location. Poppy is delighted at the opportunity—she’s harbored fantasies about making the man fall for her like she fell for him as a young girl—but she’s not prepared for the very adult feelings she has for the sexy cowboy. To make matters worse, tension among the guests leads to murder. A blizzard delays the arrival of law enforcement, and it’s up to Will and Poppy to discern friend from foe, as well as to decide how to manage the undeniable attraction between them. This kickoff to Daniels’ new Sterling’s Montana series provides engrossing entertainment.

When Phoebe, Lady Clare, travels to her brother’s wedding at the beginning of Lisa Kleypas’ Devil’s Daughter, she’s a reluctant guest. Phoebe knows she’ll meet West Ravenel, who bullied her sickly late husband at boarding school. But the old stories don’t do the mature West justice, even though he doesn’t deny the ugliness of his past.
Mystery

Cozies: April 2019

Feature by Heather Seggel

Top Pick
S.C. Perkins taps into the current obsession with researching one’s ancestry with her terrific series debut. Murder Once Removed finds genealogist Lucy Lancaster researching a murder that took place in the 1800s, only to have it become frighteningly relevant in the present day. The killer could be one of two men with the same initials, and when his identity becomes a point of contention in a senate race, tempers run high. Suddenly historical research is crucial to restoring the peace. Perkins blends a serious interest in history with giddy energy and a burgeoning romance between Lucy and a confounding but adorable special agent. The Austin, Texas, setting makes for a rich atmosphere and some rapturous descriptions of Tex-Mex food. There’s also a sober consideration of the value, and risk, of learning about your past. Murder Once Removed kicks off this series with a bang. Here’s to many more to come.

From knitting to baking to Sudoku, cozy mysteries and niche themes are a natural pairing, but if they were all set in bookstores, would anyone complain? The Loch Ness Papers is Paige Shelton’s latest Scottish Bookshop Mystery, and this time the genial atmosphere at the Cracked Spine bookstore is shaken up by a murder with tenuous ties to Scotland’s legendary Loch Ness monster. Bookseller and American transplant Delaney Nichols is loving life in Edinburgh, juggling wedding plans and a visit from her family, when she meets an older man obsessed with Nessie. When he’s suddenly accused of murder, she’s determined to learn the truth. The warm relationships among characters—and Delaney’s gift for finding the best quote from the right author to direct her forward—make this the perfect book to curl up with on a rainy day.

A hotel ballroom plays host to murder in Mrs. Jeffries Delivers the Goods, Emily Brightwell’s latest in the Victorian Mystery series. When the lights are turned back on after a dramatic moment of silence at a party, one of the guests has a violent seizure and dies. A doctor determines that it was arsenic. The victim was a cad whom most people hated, but there’s still a dangerous killer on the loose. Inspector Witherspoon comes to the Wrexley Hotel to investigate, and without his knowing, the members of his household do their part to help. The unsanctioned detective work by housekeeper Mrs. Jeffries and company provides keen observations about class divisions, which Brightwell balances with humor in a story that runs like clockwork. Watching Witherspoon’s crew collect clues and sift through the suspect list, usually at meetings featuring tea and a selection of dreamy baked goods, is pure pleasure. This is Brightwell’s 37th book in the series, but newcomers will find their footing in a jiffy.

Top Pick
S.C. Perkins taps into the current obsession with researching one’s ancestry with her terrific series debut. Murder Once Removed finds genealogist Lucy Lancaster researching a murder that took place in the 1800s, only to have it become frighteningly relevant in the present day.…

Mystery

Murders most foul

Feature by Annie Metcalf

It was much easier to get away with nefarious deeds in eras past. Crime fighters didn’t have the aid of DNA testing or security cameras, and it was relatively easy for a guilty party to slip away, change their name and evade justice entirely—all of which makes the sleuths in these three historical mysteries even more impressive.

An Artless Demise, the seventh installment of Anna Lee Huber’s Regency-era series, brings Kiera Darby back to London after scandal sent her to Scotland. Newly married to her partner in investigation, Sebastian Gage, Kiera hopes their return will be without incident. But when the killing of a young migrant boy resembles the methods of notorious criminals Burke and Hare, who sold their victims’ bodies to medical schools, polite society can’t help but recall Lady Darby’s late first husband, who purchased corpses from body snatchers in order to further his study of the body. Kiera tries to keep a low profile, but when a gentleman is similarly murdered in Mayfair, she and her husband are hired to investigate.

Huber highlights the simmering chemistry between the main couple, reminding readers of their physical and intellectual compatibility. Because the plot relies on the emotional toll of Kiera’s abusive first marriage and the criminal activity of her late husband, this installment—more so than other books in the series—will be best enjoyed by readers familiar with the first book. However, a solid whodunit and the atmospheric London gloom anchor the novel well, even for a new readership.

Inspectors Ian Frey and “Nine-Nails” McGray are summoned to a remote estate in Oscar de Muriel’s Loch of the Dead. The islands of Loch Maree are rumored to harbor healing powers or evil curses, depending on who’s telling the tale. The detectives are tasked with protecting Benjamin Koloman, the illegitimate son of one of the estate’s heirs, by his mother—who believes her son is in grave danger. After the unexpected death of the father he never met, Benjamin has been invited to take his place among the wealthy Kolomans. But does the close-knit clan really want him there, or is there something darker afoot? Frey and McGray deal with murder and metaphysical mayhem as the family’s past gradually comes into the light.

McGray and Frey are constantly bemoaning the other’s shortcomings in entertaining, relatable asides, although it’s clear a mutual respect has blossomed. McGray’s sincere belief in the supernatural is a unique twist on the hardened sleuth archetype, and Frey’s funny, fussy adherence to decorum grounds the reader in the time period. The mystery itself is delightfully gruesome and unhinged right up to the heart-pounding conclusion. Readers who love bickering banter and want a historical mystery with a twist will be pleased.

The intrepid Maisie Dobbs returns in The American Agent, set during World War II and the terror of the London Blitz. When Catherine Saxon, an ambitious American journalist, is found murdered, Maisie is enlisted to assist. Also working the case is Mark Scott, the American agent who helped Maisie get out of Munich two years prior. Maisie must balance her determination to find the killer with the suspicion that Mark isn’t telling the whole truth. As Londoners face the fire with stiff upper lips, Maisie homes in on the truth. 

Jacqueline Winspear captures the juxtaposition of the utter chaos and eerie normalcy of the Blitz with cinematic style. Maisie is much in the mold of a Golden Age sleuth, with a sharp eye and almost unrealistically good instincts. The looming question of whether she will be able to balance motherhood with her dangerous career is brilliantly relevant both to the era Winspear writes about and the current era. A straightforward yarn with excellent historical detail, The American Agent will satisfy fans and newcomers alike.

It was much easier to get away with nefarious deeds in eras past. Crime fighters didn’t have the aid of DNA testing or security cameras, and it was relatively easy for a guilty party to slip away, change their name and evade justice entirely—all of which makes the sleuths in these three historical mysteries even more impressive.
Fiction

Literary glimmers

Feature by Lauren Bufferd

 

Sing to It is the much-anticipated new collection from Amy Hempel, her first since 2006, and Lot by Bryan Washington is a stellar debut set among the diverse neighborhoods of Houston. Both collections share a generosity of spirit rooted in our common humanity and the social desire to connect.

Hempel is known for her brevity, and of the 15 stories here, 10 are less than three pages long. In some cases, an idea is succinctly stated and explored in less than three paragraphs. But there’s nothing minimal about the contents. Hempel packs a great deal into the briefest of fictions, creating balanced and nuanced stories of longing, love and loss.

Despite her creative thrift, it’s in the longer stories that Hempel’s empathy and ready wit shine. In “A Full-Service Shelter,” inspired by the author’s real-life dedication to animal advocacy, she repeats the opening phrase of each paragraph to drive home both the passion and futility in caring for abandoned, abused dogs. Most affecting is the novella “Cloudland,” about an unnamed middle-aged woman who is haunted by memories of a daughter given up for adoption. These recollections are made more painful when she hears a horrible rumor about the long-shuttered agency. The narrative shifts subtly in time, circling back and jumping ahead, revealing the character’s tenacity as well as her despair.

Washington’s brilliant and visceral Lot lives up to the considerable amount of buzz it has already received. Each story is named for a different Houston neighborhood, and roughly half concern a young man whose life is complicated by an adulterous father, a drug–hustling brother and a growing attraction to men. Though this main character is refreshingly straightforward about his sexuality, his relatives respond with shame, embarrassment and, in the case of his brother, violence.

The remainder of the stories emanate from locations across the sprawling Texan city. In “Alief,” through a first-person plural voice, neighborhood residents consider their role as they collectively witness a love affair that’s turned violent. “Peggy Park” recalls the pleasures of a pickup baseball team. In the book’s centerpiece story, “Waugh,” the two main characters are a young hustler and his pimp, and the focus is less on the hazards of their profession than on the bonds of trust and friendship that exist between them. Washington’s strong ear for dialogue and his lack of sentimentality serve these stories well.

Though their styles are different, Washington and Hempel capture both the harshness and the tenderness of the world. The stories are romantic but not corny and fiercely moral without being judgmental, capturing the complexities that make up a community.

Spring brings two new story collections from masters of the form—one new and one well-established.

YA FictionYA

Cutthroat class is in session

Feature by Kimberly Giarratano

Adriana Mather’s Killing November opens as November Adley, an unassuming 17-year-old, wakes up at the Academy Absconditi. She was dropped off at this peculiar boarding school, which is housed in a medieval castle in an undisclosed European location, by her ex-CIA father with little explanation, other than the fact that she is there for her own safety. 

But November feels anything but safe; in fact, one of the calculating and conniving students punches her in the face on her first day. And the administration? They simply encourage November to retaliate in an equally violent fashion. This is all a bit alarming, but soon November learns that she is a member of an ancient family of powerful assassins and tacticians. Without realizing it, November has been training for this school her whole life. But when a student at the academy is murdered, the blame immediately falls on November, and she’ll need to count on her survival instincts to find the truth.

Unlike her highly suspicious classmates, November is an optimist who refutes cynicism—even in the face of life-and-death conflict. What might be most refreshing for readers is the academy’s egalitarian ideals: There are no limitations placed on any student, regardless of gender. And November proves she can handle the most challenging task with aplomb, securing her place in this school of renegades.

Suzanne Young’s Girls With Sharp Sticks is also a tale of female empowerment but with a sci-fi spin. At Innovations Academy, the student body is a homogeneous group of intelligent and beautiful teenage girls who study gardening, etiquette and decorum in a repurposed factory. They are all graded on manners, beauty and compliance. This is the norm for Innovations student Philomena.

She doesn’t know what it’s like to have bodily autonomy or freedom, and she doesn’t question life at the academy until one of her friends goes missing. Suddenly, the academy’s all-male staff doesn’t seem like it has the girls’ best interests at heart. But any girl who doesn’t behave and comply with the staff’s orders gets a dose of impulse control therapy, which affects their memories. Even more disturbingly, a sweet budding romance between Philomena and a local boy is juxtaposed against the unsettling advances of the much older staff. As Philomena and the other girls discover what they’re really being groomed for, they begin to defy orders.

Girls With Sharp Sticks is a thrilling story about a sisterhood smashing the patriarchy. Philomena and her friends resort to subversion in order to protect one another, relying on the same tribal instincts that were encouraged in their education. While this novel reads like a feminist manifesto, it’s also a reflection of modern movements to end sexual harassment.

Both Killing November and Girls With Sharp Sticks are fast-paced and gripping female-centered stories in which the class curriculum centers on survival. But be prepared—they’re both perfectly primed for sequels.

Hidden campuses, bitter rivalries, subversive relationships and a lapse of adult supervision make two new boarding school stories tantalizing reads. The curriculum? It’s all about survival.

Children's & YAPicture Book

Tips for Teachers: Experiencing nature in the city

Feature by Emmie Stuart

Author Richard Louv’s 2005 book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder shifted my entire teaching paradigm. As classrooms continue to move toward technology-based learning, Louv’s nature-deficit disorder continues to explain why children no longer enjoy spending time outside. “If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: the child in nature,” he writes. For 80 percent of children living in urban areas, exposure to nature is often overlooked or limited. In these three picture books, distinct urban settings and unique storylines remind city-dwelling children that there is beauty and purpose to be found in interacting with the natural world. 

When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree by Jamie L.B. Deenihan and Lorraine Rocha 

What do you do when your birthday wish-list reads, “robot dog, drone, computer, phone, remote control car, and headphones,” but Grandma shows up with a lemon tree? In Jamie L.B. Deenihan’s picture book, the little girl’s initial disappointment is palpable. After reading a few care instructions for the tree, the girl begins to take an interest. Bright illustrations from Lorraine Rocha show the young girl nurturing the tree throughout the course of a year. Finally, the “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” adage is made literal as the girl finds great joy in setting up a lemonade stand outside of her urban apartment building. In a twist ending, her lemonade stand profits are used to purchase more plants which add color and beauty around her apartment building. The celebration of community and nature, spunky set of characters and colorful illustrations make for a cheery read-aloud that shows students the gratification that follows patience and hard work. 

  • Classroom Lemon Tree—As a class, research lemon trees. Show students how to use climate and growing zone maps to determine if a lemon tree can survive in your area. (The answer is yes, lemon trees can be grown anywhere in the country.) Hold a discussion about the things the class needs in order to get a classroom lemon tree. Make a list of the students’ questions and then allow time for individual research. Knowing how to research for the purpose of answering questions is a valuable skill. These two lemon tree sites were informative and perfect for my second and third graders. Invite students to use their lemon tree research to write a letter explaining why the class needs a lemon tree and their plans for taking care of it.
  • Entrepreneurship—An old-fashioned lemonade stand is a crash course in economics and marketing. With your students, discuss the concepts of advertising, supply and demand, capital resources and profit margins. Lemonade in Winter by Emily Jenkins and G. Brian Karas is an excellent read-aloud for budding entrepreneurs. Have students decide on a good or service to “sell” to their classmates. Spend a few weeks guiding students as they make a marketing plan (including a brand name and logo) and create a budget. After the planning is complete, celebrate their work with a Class Market Day. 
  • Further Reading—Create an entire unit by reading more books that celebrate children bringing beauty to an urban community. Write the question, “How Can We Bring Beauty to Our Neighborhood?” on the board. Tell students that over the next three weeks, they will be hearing stories of children who improve their community. Read The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and David Small, Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isobel, Teresa Howell and Rafael López, The Curious Garden by Peter Brown, A Bus Called Heaven by Bob Graham and City Green by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan. These stories have young protagonists who see a need in their urban neighborhood community, create a plan and take action. After reading each book, record students’ own community improvement ideas. 

The Chickens Are Coming! by Barbara Samuels 

Siblings Winston and Sophie live in a big city apartment building with a small backyard. Walking home one day, they spot a lamppost sign advertising five hens. “You don’t need to live in the country to raise chickens,” their Mommy declares. Just a few days later, “THE CHICKENS ARE HERE!” Initially, the chickens and children are unsure of each other. Sophie and Winston are worried when the chickens don’t immediately lay eggs, and their various attempts to persuade them into laying eggs (performing a skit about Easter eggs, playing music, reading them a bedtime story) are unsuccessful. However, the children soon learn the habits and personalities of their unconventional family pets. Based on real families who raise chickens in Brooklyn, Samuels’ lively story and expressive illustrations celebrate the possibility of bringing a small piece of the country to the city. 

  • Hatch a Plan—In her author’s note, Samuels, a New York City resident, shares that chickens are the “cheapest and easiest farm animals to raise in a backyard.” Tell students to pretend that grocery stores have decided to stop selling eggs and so their family (or your classroom) will need to start raising chickens. They will need to decide which breed is best for their needs and neighborhood. Ask them questions: How many chickens? What type of cage is best? What will they feed their chickens? What type of eggs will their chickens lay? How much of a starting budget will be needed? Students are extra motivated when presented with projects that connect to the real-world. Create guidelines for final presentations and invite students to create visuals with photographs and their gathered information. Backyard Chicken Project and Backyard Chickens have a wealth of information for budding urban farmers. 
  • Animal Breed Chart—On the back endpapers is “Sophie’s Chicken Chart,” a five-column chart with information about each chicken’s breed, weight, country of origin and egg size/color. Let children choose an animal (dogs, horses, cats, lizards, etc.) and create a similar breed comparison chart.  

Noah Builds an Ark by Kate Banks and John Rocco 

In this nonreligious retelling of the story of Noah’s Ark, a young boy named Noah peeks over his backyard fence toward the city and sees a storm on the horizon. “It’s going to be a beauty,” his dad says as he boards up the windows on the house. But Noah looks at the creatures in their garden and devises his own plan. Using his tool caddy and planks of wood, Noah repurposes his old red wagon and makes it into a makeshift ark. While his mother and sister fill water jugs and gather candles for the family, Noah furnishes the ark with food and furniture. The storm arrives, and it rains for four days. Noah and his family stay safe in the house while the animals ride out the storm in the lovingly prepared ark. When the storm passes, the animals exit the ark into the backyard which is framed by a rainbow. With attention to “the least of these” at its heart, Noah Builds an Ark gently reminds children that they, too, have the responsibility and privilege to care for the natural world. 

  • Natural Disaster Preparation—Ask students what type of storm they think is coming to Noah’s city. Create a list of other natural disasters that can occur (hurricane, tornado, floods, forest fires, etc.), and then select three that are most relevant for your geographic area. Spend time reading books and learning about these natural disasters. After studying each one, help students create “I’m Ready” books. Give students fact sheets with the information the class learned in your research. Visit “Be Prepared” websites that explain how to prepare for these natural disasters. Invite a member of the local Red Cross chapter to come speak to your class. Students will record ways to prepare for natural disasters as well as family emergency plans and information. Providing information and guidance can help ease children’s fears as well as give them a strong emergency preparedness foundation. 
  • Vocabulary Scavenger Hunt—Noah Builds an Ark is filled with vivid vocabulary. As a class, go on a vocabulary scavenger hunt. Identify the words that help readers visualize and understand the mood of the story. “Dreary,” “drizzling,” and “popped” are all words that create pictures in our minds. Discuss the meaning of the words. Then, encourage students to look through their independent reading books to find more vocabulary words. After the scavenger hunt is complete, students can share one of their favorite found words with the class. Chart these words and challenge students to use one of the words in their own writing.

In these 3 picture books, distinct urban settings and unique storylines remind city-dwelling children that there is beauty and purpose to be found in interacting with the natural world.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Rascals and rogues

Feature by Laura Hubbard

Science fiction and fantasy novels are filled with roguish misfits, from heroic starship captains who just can’t stay on the good side of the law to ghoulish assassins who dispense justice from the shadows. Because this trope is so popular, authors sometimes lack the ability to surprise and delight readers with new twists on this old tune, and it takes a clever mind to turn it into something exciting, but both Suzanne Palmer’s Finder and Sam Sykes’ Seven Blades in Black do just that.

Finder is the kind of science fiction you’d get if “Firefly” and Pierce Brown’s Red Rising had a baby—an adrenaline-packed, heist-filled ride with a heavy side of political intrigue. Set against the backdrop of deep space colony Cernee, Palmer’s debut novel follows repo man Fergus Ferguson as he attempts to complete a seemingly straightforward mission: find (and reclaim) the stolen spaceship Venetia’s Sword from one Arum Gilger, local trade boss. When the colony is suddenly pulled into a civil war, Fergus must balance his job against protecting the lives of the locals who he has—unfortunately—begun to care about.

Palmer spins a story that pays homage to the rogue archetype so common to space operas without feeling like a stale copycat. As Fergus Ferguson careens from one end of Cernee to another, we are treated to not just frenetic fight scenes, daring escapes and tense intrigues, but also to the crushing uncertainty of what it would feel like to live in a human colony at the edge of the alien unknown. This contrast enhances an already complex (and not always predictable) plot that captures readers and drags them through to the book’s unlikely and unsettling end.

Like Finder, Sykes’ first entry into the Grave of Empires trilogy is, at first blush, a simple story. Sal the Cacophony is slated for execution but refuses to go until someone hears her final words—even if that means roping an officer of the Revolution into listening to her and being late to her own death by firing squad. Part Gunslinger and part Kill Bill, Seven Blades in Black is a revenge story both classic and wholly original. Sykes brilliantly weaves a tale of adventure, loss and revenge that is set against the backdrop of a countryside torn from decades of magical warfare between the magic-wielding Imperium and the Revolution, which is led by their former slaves.

What stands out most about Seven Blades in Black isn’t the characters, although Sal and her companions are beautifully crafted and far more nuanced than first meets the eye. It also isn’t the magic system, which is both complex and thoughtful in its execution. It isn’t even the breath-stealing plot, which makes the novel’s roughly 700 pages fly by. Instead, what makes Seven Blades in Black so compelling is the depth of the world Sykes has constructed. Sykes isn’t afraid to ask more questions about his world than he answers, leaving readers knowing that there’s more adventure around the corner. That ability to immerse readers in a new world without over-explaining things is difficult in the first book in any series, but Sykes deftly rises to the occasion.

Although radically different in setting and tone, both Finder and Seven Blades in Black offer fantastic, fantastical stories that are sure to delight. Either would be a great pick for anyone who loves rascals, rogues and high-octane adventure.

It takes a clever mind to take our expectations as readers of what the rogue character should be and to turn it into something new and exciting. Both Suzanne Palmer’s Finder and Sam Sykes’ Seven Blades in Black do just that.

Fiction

Scheming siblings, murderous spouses

Feature by Amy Scribner

The theme of familial betrayal has been a part of literature since, well, forever. These two thrillers put a fresh spin on some of the oldest of tales.

At the beginning of The Better Sister by Alafair Burke, Chloe Taylor’s life seems like something out of the glossy pages of the iconic women’s magazine for which she is editor-in-chief. She’s at the top of her profession, her handsome husband Adam works for a white-shoe law firm, and their son, Ethan, is enrolled at a top Manhattan prep school. Chloe’s star rises even further when she edits a series of #MeToo stories about everyday women. Her success is the culmination of years of determination to leave behind an Ohio childhood marred by alcoholism and domestic violence. “In college, when other students scoured the catalogue for afternoon classes to accommodate their idiosyncratic sleep schedules, I was the one who set the alarm for seven so I could hit the gym and the commons before a 9:00 a.m. lecture,” she remembers at one point.

But beneath the surface, things are fracturing. There’s an affair. Ethan is caught with drugs. Chloe can’t log on to social media without encountering brutal anti-feminist comments. Oh, and Chloe’s troubled sister, Nicky—who is actually Ethan’s biological mom and Adam’s ex-wife—always lurks in the shadows, threatening to upend Chloe’s pristine image.

When someone breaks into their Hamptons home and murders Adam, Ethan becomes the prime suspect. Together, Chloe and Nicky must put aside the jealousy and pain of their past to save their son.

Burke was nominated for an Edgar Award for The Ex, and as a former lawyer, she ably weaves legal intrigue into her thrillers. The Better Sister is a brilliant look at the lengths a mother (or two) will go for family.

Samantha Downing’s My Lovely Wife has been described as “Dexter” meets Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but that doesn’t do justice to this deliciously deranged story. Think more Psycho meets “Desperate Housewives” meets Fatal Attraction.

Our nameless narrator is a tennis instructor at the posh local country club. His wife, Millicent, is a realtor. Nothing about their life is what it seems. They have a beautiful house in the tony Hidden Oaks neighborhood, but only because Millicent snagged it in foreclosure. Their relationship is based not on love and respect, but on a shared passion for kidnapping and killing women. Finding their next victim is the ultimate turn-on, making them feel they’re “wide awake while everyone else is asleep.”

Turns out, unbeknownst to her husband, Millicent is taking risks by keeping one of the women alive to torture her. When one of their victims turns up dead, it seems their pastime is about to be their undoing, until Millicent comes up with a plan to resurrect a long-gone local serial killer and pin the crimes on him. Owen Oliver Riley terrorized the community years earlier: “Two disappeared from inside their own homes. One was in a library, another in a park, and at least three had been in parking lots.”

When their actions start putting their own children at risk, one spouse is ready to pull the plug. But the other is all in. Dark and twisty, My Lovely Wife is a horrifying reminder that one never knows what keeps a marriage alive.

The theme of familial betrayal has been a part of literature since, well, forever. These two thrillers put a fresh spin on some of the oldest of tales.

Children's & YAPicture Book

Explore the cosmos with two new picture books

Feature by Julie Danielson

People of all ages are fascinated with outer space and the largely unexplored frontier it is, but children are especially curious about the mysteries the universe holds. Two new picture books capture this wonder, and both stories are, in more ways than one, out of this world.

The smart twist at the end of author-illustrator Tom Sullivan’s Out There relies entirely upon his use of silhouette throughout the book. On the first spread, readers see what they assume are human children here on Earth—we see them from behind, shadows pointing up at a starlit sky—wondering if extraterrestrials exist in the universe. We see what we assume is an owl in a nearby tree. We also see the shadows of waving, alien-esque tentacles, but we figure they’re a figment of the children’s imagination; they are, after all, wondering about aliens. Before the big reveal, the children ponder what an alien planet may look like. “It could be filled with the strangest creatures,” Sullivan writes; the creatures pictured on the next page are all from Earth, albeit some of the most bizarre ones that exist (a blobfish, a flapjack octopus).

But at the book’s close, the children’s backs no longer toward us, we see that they themselves are the aliens, complete with green skin. We’ve been on another planet this whole time. What we thought was an owl in the tree were two alien creatures standing atop one another. And those tentacles are, well, actual tentacles! Out There is a book that reminds us of our humanity by revealing our own alienness from another perspective. And it reminds us that our planet—the bizarre, beautiful world we call home—is one worth taking care of.

Move over, Ms. Frizzle. In John Hare’s wordless picture book debut, Field Trip to the Moon, students hop on a lunar bus and take off into the darkness of outer space. Clad in astronaut suits, they land on the moon and follow their teacher on the surface, exploring and learning. One child who carries a sketchbook and crayons is always falling behind the class, and when they stop to do a drawing of Earth from the moon, they fall asleep. After waking just in time to see the school’s lunar bus depart, the dejected child sits and (what else is there to do?) draws some more.

When ashen-faced, one-eyed lunar creatures quite literally pop up out of the moon’s surface, they delight in watching the small human draw. Upon discovering them, the child shares their crayons and paper, and the whole group draws on the surface of a lunar rock nearby. When the bus finally returns, the alien creatures flee, and the happy, relieved teacher hugs the child, but the teacher is quick to scold the student for doodling on the surface of the moon.

Hare’s acrylic illustrations, occasionally divided into vertical panels to accelerate the action, are textured and expressive. He communicates emotion effectively via body language, given that this is a wordless tale and that all the humans characters are concealed in space helmets. It’s not until the last page that we see the protagonist without a helmet, and with medium-length, shaggy brown hair, it could be a boy or girl. This is a field trip that won’t soon be forgotten.

Julie Danielson conducts interviews and features of authors and illustrators at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, a children's literature blog primarily focused on illustration and picture books.

People of all ages are fascinated with outer space and the largely unexplored frontier it is, but children are especially curious about the mysteries the universe holds. Two new picture books capture this wonder, and both stories are, in more ways than one, out of this world.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Self-discovery is key in three summer stories set on sunny beaches

Feature by Lori K. Joyce

In a new crop of exciting and emotional middle grade reads, summers spent by the water take center stage, but not necessarily how readers might imagine. Whether these stories take place by a lake or on an island, their coming-of-age themes will echo as young readers deal with their own families and friends and weather the storms of growing up. 

In Josephine Cameron’s debut Maybe a Mermaid, an 11-year-old girl named Anthoni is looking forward to her first summer at the Showboat Resort at Thunder Lake, a place that her mother has spoken of as almost mythical. Mother and daughter have been constantly on the move in order to sell her mother’s Avon-like beauty products, so Anthoni is looking forward to spending time in one spot long enough to make a “True Blue Friend.” But when they arrive at the Showboat, it’s clear the resort’s heyday has long passed. This is the final straw for Anthoni, who realizes she must confront mother—who has been her rock and moral compass—about her increasingly unethical behaviors. Soon Anthoni befriends Charlotte, the former Boulay Mermaid who now owns the resort. While helping the aging performer, Anthoni discovers secrets from the resort’s past. Amid all of these unexpected twists, Anthoni begins to spend time with the other children living at the resort, and she still believes that the summer holds the promise of a true friend. But has Anthoni breached the trust of DJ, the most likely friend candidate, while vying for the attention of popular girl Maddy? How far will Anthoni go to redeem herself? This summertime coming-of-age story chronicles how a young girl discovers life’s many shades of gray.

Ali Standish, author of The Ethan I Was Before, addresses more of life’s big questions with another summer book set on the water. August Isle offers personal and public mysteries for three friends to solve. Having grown up seeing her mother’s postcards of August Isle, an island off the coast of Florida, Miranda has always yearned to visit this wonderful place. But when work assignments come up, Miranda’s parents have to leave home for the summer. When Christy, Miranda’s mother’s friend, comes to take Miranda to the island for the summer, nothing goes the way she imagined. Determined to make the best of her summer situation without her mother, Miranda timidly agrees to take sailing lessons, even though she has yet to make it out of the tadpole level in her swimming class. Eventually she decides the time is right to become Miranda the Bold when she accepts a dare to enter the neighborhood’s (reportedly deserted) haunted house at night. When Miranda is caught by the owner of the house, she and her friends have to spend the rest of the summer helping him sort through his old boxes of treasures. As Miranda sorts through the man’s things and gets to know him, she realizes her strained relationship with her mother is tied to a secret on August Isle—a secret that everyone is keeping from Miranda. With dogged determination, Miranda swallows her fears and pursues the mystery, but she puts herself in harm’s way trying to unravel the truth about her family. In August Isle, young readers will learn that bravery comes in many different forms and that internal bravery is even more important than external bravado.

Gillian McDunn’s debut novel, Caterpillar Summer, is another island-set story of finding family. Fifth-grader Cat, short for Caterpillar, is the glue that holds her small family together. This summer, Cat and her brother Chicken expect to spend three weeks with Cat’s best friend’s family, but when her friend’s grandmother has a stroke, that plan falls through. Meeting Chicken’s special needs in a new city would be too hard for Cat to do alone, so Cat’s mother decides to leave them with her parents (Cat’s grandparents) on an island off the coast of the Carolinas. This comes as a shock to Cat because she doesn’t know anything about her mother’s parents. While Cat’s grandmother is warm and welcoming, her grandfather is a bit scary and aloof. Cat longs to ask her grandfather about her mother and the issues that stand between him and her mother, but that conversation doesn’t seem likely. After a few heartwarming gestures, Cat and her grandfather begin to understand each other little by little, bonding through fishing and walks on the beach. Eventually, Cat does learn what separated their family, and she comes up with a plan to bring them all back together. Readers will cheer for Cat’s development and maturity and will hope her mother can let go of the pain she suffered as a child.

Young characters chase family mysteries and find themselves over the course of a summer in three new middle grade stories set on sunny beaches.
Romance

Falling in love, on the job

Feature by Elizabeth Mazer

Boss and secretary. Doctor and nurse. Parent and nanny. Romance is filled with stories where the emotionally charged proximity of employer and employee cause hearts to ignite. But falling in love on the job can mean more than flirty innuendo over takeout while pulling an all-nighter, or steamy sex on the conference room table. These terrific new stories are playful and naughty and fun, but they’ve also got surprises up their sleeves.

Working for Logan Prescott is just about the last thing in the world Claire McKenna, heroine of Jamie Beck’s The Promise of Us, wants. Not only is he the boy-next-door, childhood crush she never quite got over, he’s also the brother of Peyton Prescott, her former bestie who betrayed Claire by stealing her boyfriend, Todd. It doesn’t matter that Todd fled after Peyton was diagnosed with breast cancer. All that matters is making sure her life remains Prescott-free forever and ever, amen. But Logan’s not willing to leave matters like that and tilts the situation in his favor by making Claire an irresistible offer—hiring her to redecorate his apartment, throwing her a financial lifeline to keep her beloved business going. And in the meantime, he throws in a seduction that turns her quiet life upside down.

Claire’s life needs a little rattling. After a traumatic injury during her teens, she’s spent her adulthood playing it stiflingly safe. Logan challenges her in a multitude of ways, though the author is wise enough to show that not all of those challenges pay off. She also plays with the usual expectations by showing that gorgeous, charming Logan is not always nice. He can be manipulative. Calculating. Downright cunning in the right mood and fiercely cutting in the wrong one. When Claire lists her reasons for why they won’t work, they aren’t strawman arguments—they’re real and rational, true challenges for them to overcome in a story where nothing ever seems like a foregone conclusion. Everything feels profoundly realistic, not only in the depth of the conflicts but also in the thorough grounding in the present, with references to current bestsellers, recent natural disasters, even topical man-made tragedies. The injury Claire suffered was from a mass shooting. A refugee crisis is referenced. This might be off-putting for readers seeking an escape from reality, but I think others will find it refreshing to turn the pages and meet people having serious discussions about real issues—as well as serious struggles against real obstacles as they find their way to each other.

“Struggling” is a familiar state to the hero and heroine of Under the Table. Zoey Sullivan is trying to rebuild a new life after the collapse of her marriage, turning a long-time passion for cooking into a semi-steady career as a private caterer. And Tristan Malloy, the very rich, very handsome, very, very shy hero who hires her to cater a small dinner party, is struggling to get out of his beautiful museum of an apartment and figure out a life to lead.

Tristan was raised in a quiet, sheltered Caribbean community by his grandparents who brought him up to have extremely polite, strongly principled and totally ignorant of modern media. The end result is a guy who appears to be “stuck in a time warp of manners, courtesy, and pleated pants.” Not one to avoid hard work, Tristan has come to New York to figure out what comes next. And not one to back away from a challenge, Zoey is determined to help. She takes him shopping for skinny jeans. She brings him to a nightclub. She introduces him to delivery pizza and Guitar Hero. But while she’s playing Pygmalion with Tristan, Zoey is also dealing with her own doubts and insecurities over her separation from her emotionally abusive husband, her mingled love and resentment of her carefree and careless sister/roommate, and her uncertainty about where she belongs.

It’s lovely to read a romance where the characters spend so much time being good to each other and good for each other. They don’t get everything right—there wouldn’t be much of a story if they did—but there’s no fighting just for the sake of building drama. Their intentions nearly always stem from a genuine desire to do what’s decent and honorable, which takes a kind of courage that’s rare and special. And while the ending didn’t have me totally convinced (the revelation of a secondary character’s motives didn’t quite ring true), I still admired the way the heroine made the final decision to confront her problems head-on, having the conversations she needed to have, even if they hurt. Both of the characters struggle throughout the book, but even more than the challenges that arise, you’ll remember the strength they showed in the face of them.

Boss and secretary. Doctor and nurse. Parent and nanny. Romance is filled with stories where the emotionally charged proximity of employer and employee cause hearts to ignite. But falling in love on the job can mean more than flirty innuendo over takeout while pulling an all-nighter, or steamy sex on the conference room table. These terrific new stories are playful and naughty and fun, but they’ve also got surprises up their sleeves.

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