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Science Fiction & FantasyFictionMystery

Mysteries with a fantastical twist

Feature by Chris Pickens

A nontraditional take on Holmes and Watson and a sci-fi thriller overflowing with attitude will hook any reader.

In Khelathra-Ven, a city surrounded by portals to other universes, the only limit to the types of people one might meet is the imagination. Alexis Hall’s The Affair of the Mysterious Letter finds Captain John Wyndham, a war veteran with few options left, returning to Khelathra-Ven and moving into an apartment at 221B Martyrs Walk. However, his new roommate is different from any other he’s had, because Miss Shaharazad Haas is a sorceress. A consulting sorceress, to be precise. Unpredictable and strong-willed, Haas immediately pulls Wyndham into solving the case of who’s blackmailing one of Haas’ former lovers. Traveling across the multiverse and getting into more than a little bit of trouble, Wyndham and Haas must discover the identity of the blackmailer before the ever-
changing reality of Khelathra–Ven obscures it forever.

A Sherlock Holmes story through and through, The Affair of the Mysterious Letter takes the idea of homage to a completely different level. The genius of it is how closely Hall sticks to the voice of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. The book is written as though Wyndham is writing a retro-spective serial for a future publication, so his words are straight out of Victorian England. He even eschews any foul language and inserts his own editorial filters for the sake of sparing his audience. Of course, ghoulish apparitions, necromancers with low self-esteem and other interdimensional nightmares contrast completely with his tone, leading to some absolutely hilarious juxtapositions. Wyndham is just as prudish as Watson, and reading his reactions to some of Haas’ theatrics will have readers in stitches. This book is simply magic from cover to cover.

Equally unique in tone is Jackson Ford’s surprising The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind. Teagan Frost, a young woman with telekinetic powers and a sarcastic streak, is part of a clandestine operation run by the government. As she’s considered to be one of a kind, Teagan is the star of the show until a man is murdered in a way only a telekinetic could achieve. With the government assuming her guilt, Teagan has just one day to discover who the murderer is and clear her name. But at the same time, she secretly hopes she will find something else—someone like her.

Teagan has such a strong identity, complete with the typical slang and profanity of any 20-something living in Los Angeles, that the reader is totally immersed even as the action charges forward. Ford’s breakneck pace keeps the tension high, and the thrills coming the whole way through. Every decision or mistake feels incredibly impactful as Teagan and her team avoid the cops while searching for the answers they desperately need. Teagan’s jokes, internal monologue and pop culture references are sure to please those looking for an adventure with a digestible amount of sci-fi thrown in.

A nontraditional take on Holmes and Watson and a sci-fi thriller overflowing with attitude will hook any reader.
Mystery

Cozies: July 2019

Feature by Heather Seggel

Starred review
The English village of Finch has been beset by an ice storm instead of the usual picture-perfect Christmas snow, but Lori Shepherd insists on a bit of cheer by making a run to dear friend Emma’s annual party. While she’s there, a car hits the ice and lands in a ditch outside. They invite the frazzled driver, Matilda “Tilly” Trout, inside, where she is able to answer a question that has long puzzled Emma—the odd-looking room in Emma’s home is a former Roman Catholic chapel. Lori, Emma and company find a compartment inside the chapel that contains actual treasure, but how did it get there? There are no murders to solve in Aunt Dimity and the Heart of Gold, just a story in need of unraveling. Nancy Atherton’s series finds kindness and human connection in frosty times, and the good hearts of Finch will warm yours.

If practiced well, the oft-maligned art of gossip can unearth as much evidence as a CSI team. Just ask the Countess of Harleigh, back for a second turn in A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder. The American transplant has found her footing amid England’s upper crust. She’s looking forward to a quiet end to summer until a friend, Mary Archer, is found murdered and Lady Harleigh’s own cousin is questioned. A romantic subplot or two don’t slow the hunt for Mary’s killer, which may involve a blackmail scheme and thus an ever-expanding suspect pool. After all, gossip is well and good until it’s about you. Author Dianne Freeman handles class disparity with care and has created a world that readers will want to explore in more depth as the series continues. 

Anna Gerard’s Peach Clobbered introduces Nina Fleet, new to Cymbeline, Georgia, and tentatively converting her gorgeous home into a B&B. Harry Westcott claims the house as his rightful inheritance, though he may have hurt his credibility a bit by showing up to argue his case in a penguin suit, then collapsing with heatstroke. Next thing you know, half a dozen displaced nuns are living chez Nina, and someone wearing the same penguin suit has been murdered. Nina, the sisters and Harry try to solve the crime, but what happened is far from black and white. Nina is a spirited lead, and the town is full of supporting characters that add to the mosaic of Cymbeline. Peach Clobbered is a perfect armchair vacation of a book.

There are no murders to solve in Aunt Dimity and the Heart of Gold, just a story in need of unraveling. Nancy Atherton’s series finds kindness and human connection in frosty times, and the good hearts of Finch will warm yours.
Children's & YAPicture Book

Tips for Teachers: The great outdoors

Feature by Emmie Stuart

Tips for Teachers is a monthly column in which experienced teacher and children’s librarian Emmie Stuart shares book recommendations and a corresponding teaching guide for fellow elementary school teachers. 

The U.S. National Park Service has been on the forefront of my mind lately. On National Trails Day, celebrated nationwide on the first Saturday in June, I’m spending a couple of hours volunteering at a national park an hour away from my home. Next fall, my second graders and I are going to spend six weeks immersed in a unit that investigates the NPS’s rich history, beauty and scientific wonders. Planning the unit has been a joy but has also doubled the size of my travel bucket list. And signaling the beginning of summer, in the past 48 hours alone, four of my rising fourth-grade students have sent me pictures proudly showing off their “Every Kid in a Park” pass.

Highlighting public parks, family adventures and the joy that accompanies spending time in the great outdoors, these three books will ignite a contagious classroom curiosity and sense of adventure.

You Are HomeYou Are Home by Evan Turk

Truly an ode, Evan Turk’s words and artwork showcase the beauty—grandiose and minute—that is found in the country’s national parks. From full-page spreads highlighting the majesty of well-known parks (Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde) to spreads zooming in on animals or plants found in lesser-known parks (Biscayne Bay, Great Sand Dunes), it immerses children in colors, textures, and perspectives found in the natural world. The lyrical prose touches on various aspect of the parks, ultimately reminding readers that the parks belong to everyone and upon visiting, “you are home.” The majestic artwork, historical note, labeled map and intimate second person narration make it a memorable and inspiring read-aloud.

  • National Park Art
    One cannot help but to be struck by Turk’s richly colored pastel illustrations conveying the grandeur of the parks. Visit Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, and show your students Turk’s early sketches and behind-the-scenes photographs. Give each student a 12 x 18 piece of black construction paper. Provide gem- and natural-hued construction paper and oil or chalk pastels. Print out several photographs from various national parks. Let each student choose a photograph, and use it to inspire his/her park artwork. Hang the photographs and completed artwork to create a wall of majesty.
     
  • Individual Park Research
    There are 58 national parks. Look at a U.S. map of the park locations. Each park has its own website. Let each student choose a national park. Tell them that they have one week to become the classroom expert on their chosen park. Keeping in mind students’ age and abilities, create a project rubric outlining the information that students need to know. This project was a fantastic way to introduce beginning research skills to my second-grade classes.
     
  • Further Reading
    Expand the project by reading more books celebrating our country’s National Park Service. Start with Barb Rosenstock’s The Camping Trip That Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks, and then over the next few weeks read Jason Chin’s Grand Canyon, Annette Bay Pimentel’s Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service and David Domeniconi’s M Is for Majestic: A National Parks Alphabet.

Camp TigerCamp Tiger by Susan Choi, illustrated by John Rocco

As his family heads to Mountain Pond for their annual summer camping trip, the young narrator explains, “As soon as we get back from camping, we go back to school. My brother is starting fourth grade and I am starting first grade. I don’t want to be a first grader.” They are setting up their campsite when a tiger emerges from the woods, approaches the family and inquires about an extra tent. The tiger and little boy form an immediate bond, and together they engage in a myriad of outdoor adventures. Initially trepidatious, the little boy gains self-confidence and boldness with each new experience. Without a trace of didacticism, Choi weaves a fantastical and sensitive story that will resonate not only with children’s imaginative and inquisitive natures but their feelings and fears as well.

  • Plan a Camping Trip
    As a class, make a list of local campgrounds. Use a state map or Google Earth to pinpoint their locations. With younger students, brainstorm a list of supplies that they will need pack for a weekend camping in the woods, and then help them draft a weekend schedule. Remind them to consider the weather when deciding what to pack. Gather around a classroom “fire” and teach them a few campfire songs. Let older students work with partners to create an entire camping itinerary. Give them a loose budget and encourage them to research tents, stoves, food, backpacks, sleeping bags and other camping essentials. What will they make for their meals? How and where will they store their food? Do they need to make campsite reservations or buy a camping license? What are they going to do during the day? Some students may want to plan a camping trip in another part of the country. Students will create a multimedia presentation communicating the details of their camping trip.
     
  • Sensory Creative Writing
    When the boy buries his face in the tiger’s fur, he observes, “He smells like sunshine and pine needles.” Gather several natural materials and essential oils. I used lavender, rose petals, fresh pine shavings, rosemary, orange peel, cloves, eucalyptus, peppermint, basil, sage, fresh moss and spruce. Make a few different combinations, and put them into individual mesh bags. Numerically label the bags. Using a graphic organizer, students will smell the bags and then journal or simply list words or memories that the scent of each bag evokes. After they have smelled every bag, students can choose their favorite scent and use it to drive a creative writing piece.
     
  • Growing Older
    Reread the sentence “All summer, things my mom used to do for me—like make my bed in the morning or fold up my clothes—have become things that I have to do myself.” Ah, so important! Ask children to start brainstorming things that their mom and dad for them. Make a class list on chart paper. Lead a discussion that will give children an opportunity to reflect on these things and which things they can start doing independently. Encourage them to pick one or more of the jobs and try to do it by themselves. When a child successfully completes a task, write his or her name next to the respective task on the class chart. I had initially intended to do this reflection activity with just my younger grades, but I think it was probably more important for upper elementary-age students.
     
  • Book Flight
    Read aloud Judith Kerr’s classic, The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Compare and contrast the two stories. Similarities and differences abound!

If I Were a Park RangerIf I Were a Park Ranger by Catherine Stier, illustrated by Patrick Corrigan

Opening with the directive encouragement, “Imagine serving as a park ranger for U.S. National Parks!” this nonfiction first-person narrative informs children of the many duties and delights that come with territory when one chooses the career of park ranger. Touching on various aspects of the job, including an educational path and the history of the NPS, the text and illustrations work together showcasing the various tasks (including designing exhibits, giving costumed tours and updating the park website) that can be part of a park ranger’s job responsibilities. Giving a human element to the national parks and conveying a significant amount of information through succinct and approachable text, it’s an ideal and effective read-aloud.

  • Environmental Stewardship
    One of the most important responsibilities of park rangers is to “protect the land, the plants, the buildings, and the wild animals in my park.” Write the phrase “environmental stewardship” on the board, and unpack the root words with children until the class has collectively created a definition explaining the concept. Discuss what would happen if people do not take care of the parks and wildlands. On a piece of chart paper, write the question, “How can we be good stewards of the environment, and what can we do to encourage others to do the same?” Read the Leave No Trace Seven Principles to the class. Ask students if they can think of areas in their daily lives that need stewardship. Discuss practical ways that the students can be good stewards of these areas, and then let them design posters or brochures that remind others to do the same.
     
  • Junior Ranger Program
    The National Park System has a wonderful Junior Ranger program with various downloadable booklets that let children learn about different aspects (fishing, archeology, historic preservation, biology, etc.) of national parks. Order physical books or download and print PDF versions, and let students choose a book that interests them. After they have completed the activities, they can send or email their completed booklet and earn a Junior Ranger badge or patch. This activity is an excellent option for early finishers. Let students work on the books in spare time throughout the entire year, and keep track of the number of badges and patches earned by your class.
     
  • Connect with a Park Ranger
    Reach out to local parks and inquire if a park ranger can come visit your classroom. Invite students to prepare questions and choose one or two students to lead the interview. Another option is to schedule a Skype session with a park ranger that works in a National Park that is in a different part of the country.

Highlighting public parks, family adventures and the joy that accompanies spending time in the great outdoors, these three books will ignite a contagious classroom curiosity and sense of adventure.

Mystery

Cats on the case

Feature by Heather Seggel

It’s all fun and games until someone takes a flying cat to the head. Two new cozy mysteries feature cats who are characters in their own right (and who occasionally get airborne as the situation demands), along with the punniest of titles.

Librarian and archivist Charlie Harris is well-known around Athena, Mississippi, as the man walking a 35-pound Maine Coon cat on a leash. Even folks who don’t know Charlie recognize Diesel the cat. When Charlie decides to audit a medieval history class, the only student close to his age is a woman whom he overhears in a fight with their professor and who then comes to Charlie’s office asking if he’ll be her study buddy. Charlie says no, and just a few days later his classmate has turned up dead, kicking off the central mystery of Miranda James’s The Pawful Truth.

Not only is Charlie dealing with one—then two—murders, he’s also a doting grandfather who also has a new kitten that needs training. He has boarders and a housekeeper who make his house not just a home but a family, though one of them might be a suspect. His research background gives him a leg up where investigation is concerned, and of course it’s easy to gain folks’ confidence if your enormous cat likes them (but if Diesel is wary, watch out). Athena is both modern and old-fashioned. Vestiges of the old South remain, and race relations can be tricky to navigate. All this makes for a rich stew featuring an independent senior leading a full, engaging life. Far from pawful, this is a treat.

Christin Brecher debuts a new series centered on a unique profession in Murder’s No Votive Confidence. Stella Wright owns a candle shop on Nantucket Island where she teaches classes to locals and makes custom candles for special occasions. She’s thrilled to have designed a two-foot unity candle for a wedding that will be all anyone talks about on Memorial Day weekend, but her excitement is quickly snuffed out when the bride-to-be’s uncle is found murdered—and the unity candle is the weapon. To save her business, Stella must solve the crime. Murder’s No Votive Confidence is a whodunit in a gorgeous setting with a burgeoning love triangle to complicate things. What’s not to love?

The victim’s cat, Tinker, has a way of turning up in Stella’s path and subtly steering the investigation, but details about the candle-making process and the struggle to keep a small business afloat make Stella’s predicament believable. Her long-standing grudge against/crush on a local cop is stirred up when a reporter starts to court her, though one of their dates ends up with the pair stuck in a tree. Yet she keeps an eye on who’s acting strangely and keeps building a theory of the case, even as it leads her into dangerous territory. Stella may burn the candle at both ends, but readers will love her for it.

It’s all fun and games until someone takes a flying cat to the head. Two new cozy mysteries feature cats who are characters in their own right (and who occasionally get airborne as the situation demands), along with the punniest of titles.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Two addicting sci-fi thrillers

Feature by Laura Hubbard

Some people love to celebrate the lazy days of summer with relaxing books set on the misty moors of Scotland or far-off beaches in the South Pacific. But for those of us who would prefer a jolt of adrenaline, The Girl in Red and Salvation Day offer enough frantic sci-fi adventure to chase the summer blues away.

Christina Henry is well known for her often dark and always enthralling takes on classic fairy tales. Her latest endeavor, The Girl in Red, follows in this tradition. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where a dangerous plague has driven survivors to quarantine camps and lawlessness, Henry’s new novel is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood—if Red were a biracial 20-something with a prosthetic foot, anxiety issues and the woodsman’s axe. Refusing to go to a quarantine camp, Red is instead determined to hike the hundreds of miles to the safety of her grandmother’s home. But with the world gone mad, there are darker things lurking in the woods than mere wolves.

The Girl in Red is equal parts psychological horror and post-apocalyptic survivor story, and it manages to harness the best qualities of both. Remarkably slow-paced for such a stressful novel, Henry’s story allows us to see and feel what Red sees and feels, nothing more. The narrowness in scope feels like having blinders on, forcing us to question whether the bumps in the night that terrify Red are monsters or misunderstandings. That same narrowness also grounds the story. By focusing on the pain—both physical and mental—that comes from Red’s long journey, Henry avoids making her remarkable characters feel small and unimportant in the face of the end of the world.

While The Girl in Red is singularly focused on the struggles of one woman, Kali Wallace’s Salvation Day is far grander in scope. The plot centers on what should have been a flawless heist. Zahra and the members of her “family” knew every inch of the plan to commandeer the House of Wisdom, a research vessel abandoned a decade earlier after a deadly plague swept through its hulls. What they could not plan for was what they learned once they got on board—that the virus that wiped out House of Wisdom was far worse and far different from what the government reported. And that they may have woken it up.

Salvation Day isn’t terrifying because of its premise—plenty of virus and zombie films should be scary and are instead just laughable or sad. It is terrifying instead because of Wallace’s sense of timing. She builds the story of the theft of the ship more like a story about war: long periods of tension punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Zahra and her compatriots spend a lot of their time on the ship exploring and learning about its fate rather than dealing with the still-present biological threat. Those lulls of relative calm make the action more intense and startling when it does occur, forcing readers to wonder with bated breath just what lurks beyond that next corner.

While different in scale, The Girl in Red and Salvation Day are similar in one very important way: Once you pick them up, it’s unlikely that you’ll put them down any time soon.

Some people love to celebrate the lazy days of summer with relaxing books set on the misty moors of Scotland or far-off beaches in the South Pacific. But for those of us who would prefer a jolt of adrenaline, The Girl in Red and Salvation Day offer enough frantic sci-fi adventure to chase the summer blues away.

Children's & YAPicture Book

Two picture books help kids understand grief

Feature by Jill Lorenzini

We often describe grief as a loss—an empty space where someone beloved once sat and ate and laughed. It’s a difficult concept to understand, especially for children, who may not be able to express how they feel.

Two new books, My Big, Dumb, Invisible Dragon and Maybe Tomorrow?, creatively turn grief into a physical presence, helping mourners connect to and cope with unimaginable heartache.

My Big, Dumb, Invisible Dragon by Angie Lucas paints the sudden death of a mother as an uninvited, expansive dragon. The dragon pops in on movie night, tags along at the beach, demands birthday cake and cannot be bribed, tricked or forgotten away. It even turns away loving friends. Sometimes it takes a day off, but it always returns to the boy. How can he live with this dragon?

Grief is complex and confusing, but Lucas writes with sincerity and a child’s voice. Cleverly turning loss into a visible character, Lucas gives words to those sadness and anger: The dragon has “stupid, tiny arms” and “weighed a ton.” Acknowledging the dragon gives children permission to feel. It’s alright to be angry at a dragon eating your dinner. It’s normal to feel lost at school when you’ve got a dragon sitting on your head. It’s even fine to take comfort in that same dragon at times.

Muted colors and softly lined illustrations create a familiar, safe world for this difficult journey. Illustrator Birgitta Sif’s boot-wearing dragon isn’t frightening or menacing, it’s just always present—wearing a sun hat, reading a book, listening to music. With her gentle illustrations, Sif shows readers that it’s OK to be sad or mad.

People of any age who grieve know how difficult it is to talk about death; it’s doubly hard for children. My Big, Dumb, Invisible Dragon helps open that door.

In Maybe Tomorrow? by Charlotte Agell, grief doesn’t walk or fly like a dragon. It sits there, dense and quiet. With it, Elba the elephant feels dense and quiet as well. It’s hard to do things with the block around, and pulling it takes a lot of energy, just as missing her friend Little Bird takes all of her time. But cheerful, kind Norris is willing to share the weight.

Author Agell writes with a gentle, patient voice, creating a story that is both personal and universal. Elba’s sadness is simple and sincere, her thoughts shared by grief-stricken of all ages. Like the best kind of friends and counselors, Norris is persistent and curious, but not pushy or intrusive. Through Norris, Agell encourages grieving readers to share their sorrow in their own time and way.

Illustrator Ana Ramírez González infuses each page with soft color and cheer, a hopeful backdrop for Elba’s shadowy block. Norris’ butterflies frolic in every scene, flowers dot the ground, and even the rainstorm seems soft. Most impressively and with relatively few paint strokes, Ramírez González creates two eminently relatable characters. Elba’s sorrow is tangible, but so is the empathy in Norris’ eyes. This is a book that readers will hold close.

As Elba and Norris become friends, Elba’s block shrinks in size, and she begins to tell her story, letting readers know that grief may linger, but it’s also OK to be happy again. Sweetly illustrated and compassionate, Maybe Tomorrow? is the friend we all need in the difficult days.

Encouraging and engaging, My Big, Dumb, Invisible Dragon and Maybe Tomorrow? imaginatively tackle loss and grief. Anyone—child or adult—who shares space with a dragon or a weighty block will find solace in these compassionate books.

Encouraging and engaging, My Big, Dumb, Invisible Dragon and Maybe Tomorrow? imaginatively tackle loss and grief. Anyone—child or adult—who shares space with a dragon or a weighty block will find solace in these compassionate books.

NonfictionBusiness & Finance

The past, present and future of American labor

Feature by Deborah Hopkinson

As the national conversation about income inequality and corporate power continues, two new books by award-winning journalists are must-reads.

On the afternoon of March 25, 1911, an idealistic young labor worker was having tea with friends in New York’s Washington Square when the nearby Triangle Shirtwaist Company caught fire. Frances Perkins joined the crowd of helpless onlookers, who watched as 146 workers, many of them teenage girls, perished. It was a defining moment in labor history for many reasons, not the least of which was its enduring impact on Perkins, who became secretary of Labor for Franklin D. Roosevelt. She described that tragic afternoon as “the day the New Deal was born.”

Steven Greenhouse’s Beaten Down, Worked Up is a riveting reminder that most of us never learned this history in school. “Millions of Americans know little about what unions have achieved over American history, how the labor movement has played an important, often unsung role in making America the great nation it is today,” Greenhouse writes.

Yet he does more than focus on the labor movement’s milestones. By tracing what he calls “the downward arc of the union movement and of worker power,” he shows why income inequality in the United States is now worse than in any other industrialized nation. He also identifies obstacles to change in our political landscape and the campaign finance system. “That system,” he notes, “is dominated by ultra-wealthy, conservative (and vehemently anti-union) donors like the Koch brothers.”

Christopher Leonard picks it up from there. His extraordinary new book, Kochland, is the perfect complement to Greenhouse’s, providing a fascinating, in-depth analysis of Koch Industries and its astounding influence and power. Don’t let its 700-page length put you off: Leonard’s book reads like a thriller, and a dark one at that. It’s peopled with myriad characters as fascinating as those in “Game of Thrones” (and a dictionary of significant people is included).

Leonard begins his tour de force in 1981, when 45-year-old Charles Koch, who had run Koch Industries since the age of 32, turned down an offer to take Koch public. The strategy of remaining private has been integral to Koch’s success, Leonard argues, laying the foundation for “decades of continuous growth.” It’s also brought unimaginable wealth to Charles and David Koch, whose combined worth is estimated at $120 billion.

Leonard covers a lot of ground, but especially significant is a chapter analyzing Charles Koch’s long-held opposition to climate regulations. “A carbon-control regime would expose Koch to a brand-new regulatory structure, but it would also choke off decades of future profits as the world shifted away from burning fossil fuels,” Leonard tells us, reporting on a speech Charles Koch made in 2009.

Leonard devoted seven years to this book. In the acknowledgments he tells his kids that “all of it is for you.” Indeed, Kochland is essential reading for anyone concerned about the America our children and grandchildren will inherit.

As the national conversation about income inequality and corporate power continues, two new books by award-winning journalists are must-reads.
NonfictionParenting

Parenting with a sense of humor

Feature by Alice Cary

What’s the magic formula for positive parenting? Plenty of humor mixed with a few choice curse words, as these three books show.

Got kids? Then no doubt you’ve had a parental meltdown. Or two. Or more likely, two million. Whatever the number, it’s obviously higher than you want to admit. This means you should grab a copy of How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t With Your Kids: A Practical Guide to Becoming a Calmer, Happier Parent, Dr. Carla Naumburg’s hilarious but truly helpful guide.

This woman knows her stuff: She’s a clinical social worker, a speaker and the author of two other books on the subject of peaceful parenting (Ready, Set, Breathe and Parenting in the Present Moment). She’s candid as well, admitting to her own less-than-proud moments, such as “one particularly awful evening a few years ago when I plunked my tiny tyrants down” in front of the TV and Googled “how to stop yelling at my kids.”

Weaving in her own experiences, Naumburg shows parents how to recognize triggers and avoid the resulting explosions. In highly readable, entertaining prose, she boils down her approach to “Notice, Pause, and Do Literally Anything Else,” from simply breathing or stepping away to singing or being silly. Naumburg’s voice is empathetic and real; she doles out plenty of helpful examples and suggestions, then summarizes them all in constructive lists at the end of the book. What’s more, realizing that all parents are human, she offers a chapter on what to do after you’ve lost it with your kids—how to realistically calm yourself down and reconnect. As Naumburg wisely notes, “You don’t have to be the Dalai Mama in order to be more intentional and less insane with your kids.”

I’ve got to admit that as a seasoned mother of three, I was highly dubious of the title Oh Crap! I Have a Toddler: Tackling These Crazy Awesome Years—No Time-outs Needed—especially that part about no time-outs, once a mainstay in our household. But Jamie Glowacki definitely has cred. Calling herself the “Poo Whisperer,” this author of Oh Crap! Potty Training has worked with thousands of families to rein in tiny tempers. Her book offers plenty of sage advice in often amusing prose, backed up by examples of toddler dilemmas she’s helped solve. Her recommendations may challenge your instincts or long-held beliefs, but she offers solid evidence for encouraging risky play, allowing kids to sometimes work out their own rules and issues, and making space for physicality and something she calls “Big Play,” which includes things like climbing, doorway gyms, wrestling and slacklines.

So what about those time-outs? Glowacki says, “I’m calling bullshit on it. I think time-outs are, at best, wildly ineffective. And they are, at worst, potentially damaging to your relationship with your child.” She goes on to say, “There is no way in hell that your little one is sitting there thinking about the wrong she did. And there’s really no way that child is thinking, ‘Mommy is right. How can I do better next time?’ It is hilarious that we would have that expectation.” Instead, she offers a well-reasoned toolbox of effective alternatives to address those tricky toddler meltdowns, and by gum, she has me completely convinced. Oh Crap! I Have a Toddler is exactly the book I wish I’d had when my kids were that age.

What kind of mom is Liz Astrof, who, when her son was born, quipped, “Don’t take the tags off—we may not be keeping him”? She’s a hilariously honest one who shares a series of personal essays in Don’t Wait Up: Confessions of a Stay-at-Work Mom. A TV comedy writer (“The King of Queens,” “2 Broke Girls” and more), she describes how endless hours in the writing room fill her with guilt about her family (strong-willed daughter; anxious, fact-spewing son; supportive husband), leaving her to wonder how much of her children’s early years she’s going to watch on an iPhone. 

Interspersed with Astrof’s domestic tales are moving, fascinating and, of course, amusing essays that explore her troubled upbringing. Her mentally unstable mother left when Astrof was 5. Amid the abuse, Astrof and her older brother, Jeff, would hide under the bed, murmuring “safe-safe” to each other. As an adult, Astrof constantly questions her parenting skills, fearing she might turn into her mother. In a stunning essay called “Happy New Year,” Astrof finds herself coming to the rescue of her son in the midst of a meltdown, noting, “If I ever feared I was anything like my mother—which I did, every moment of every day—it was moments like this, moments of knowing what to do for my child and wanting to do them, that proved to me that I wasn’t anything like her.”

Don’t Wait Up is a funny, fascinating memoir of mothering that will definitely keep readers up way past their bedtime, laughing and sometimes crying page after page.

What’s the magic formula for positive parenting? Plenty of humor mixed with a few choice curse words, as these three books show.
NonfictionGraphic Memoirs

Graphic memoirs: It all comes flooding back

Feature by Linda M. Castellitto

Readers who love coming-of-age tales will welcome these two graphic memoirs, both of which poignantly explore the ways childhood experiences reverberate through our lives. In these pages, there is fun and frolicking, confusion and sorrow—the bittersweet nature of life, finely drawn.

In They Called Us Enemy, pop culture icon and social activist George Takei harks back to his childhood, several years of which were spent in internment camps during World War II. He was 4 when Pearl Harbor was bombed, and 120,000 Japanese Americans were subsequently removed from their homes and sent to prison camps along the West Coast.

Takei and co-writers Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott capture the terror, fear and frustration of those years, and Harmony Becker’s art masterfully conveys the harsh violence of warplanes and bombs, as well as the sweet sadness of kids playing within barbed-wire fences.

They Called Us Enemy is an important read for anyone who wants to learn the full truth of our country’s history of institutionalized racism and gain greater context for our present. A tribute to Takei’s parents, this meditation on citizenship and community will educate, challenge and inspire.

Set in 1980s Massachusetts, King of King Court is also a trip down a bumpy memory lane, one that winds through Travis Dandro’s life from age 6 to 16 and contemplates the ways in which love, anger and loneliness collide. Dandro’s art is expressive, his storylines often impressionistic.

Kinetic dream sequences feel whimsical yet enlightening, dark shadows reveal even as they conceal, and scenes of kids making mischief are unquestionably cute. Thanks to the adults who loomed large in young Dandro’s world, such contrasts (and confusion) were not uncommon, especially when it came to his biological dad, Dave. He’s macho, mustachioed, addicted to drugs and still appealing to Dandro’s mom.

Readers will sympathize when teen Dandro feels beleaguered and angry at adults’ ill-advised choices, and they’ll appreciate grown-up Dandro’s empathy. Dedicated to his mother, this moving book is a happy ending to their story—and perhaps a beginning, too.

Readers who love coming-of-age tales will welcome these two graphic memoirs, both of which poignantly explore the ways childhood experiences reverberate through our lives. In these pages, there is fun and frolicking, confusion and sorrow—the bittersweet nature of life, finely drawn.

Science Fiction & FantasyRomanceNonfictionFictionAudioMemoir

Audio: August 2019

Feature by Anna Zeitlin

★Waiting for Tom Hanks
In this charmingly sweet romance from Kerry Winfrey, a lovable aspiring screenwriter named Annie Cassidy is obsessed with Nora Ephron movies and finding her own Tom Hanks. To Annie, Tom Hanks—the star of several of Ephron’s most beloved romantic comedies—represents her dream man. He’s an everyman who believes in love at first sight and maybe even lives on a houseboat à la Sleepless in Seattle. In contrast, Annie lives with her Dungeons & Dragons-loving uncle, and her dating prospects are looking grim. When a movie production takes over her neighborhood, it brings with it several men who vie for her attention. Will she end up with the grip who checks all her boxes, or with the handsome movie star she keeps bumping into but couldn’t possibly have a chance with? With fun, engaging narration from Rachel L. Jacobs, Waiting for Tom Hanks is a pure delight from beginning to end.

Out East
Out East is a memoir about one summer in the Long Island beach town of Montauk, where John Glynn, his friends and some loose acquaintances go in together on a summer home. Glynn feels like the odd man out in a group mostly populated by women, gay men and Wall Street bros. But as feelings develop for one of his new friends, it turns out he might fit in better than he thought. Glynn has a knack for details, is skilled at place-setting and displays a true love of language, which he deploys effortlessly. It’s a small, personal story about Glynn figuring out who he truly is over one wild summer of weekends away from the city. Michael Crouch lends an earnestness to the narration. As focused as the story is, he makes everything feel big and new.

The Lesson
A strong debut from Cadwell Turnbull, The Lesson does what all the best science fiction does: It uses the supernatural to reveal something true about our world. The book is set in the U.S. Virgin Islands five years after the Ynaa, an advanced alien race, arrived to study humans. The Ynaa live mostly peacefully with humans, at least for the time being. Most people are willing to put up with the occasional killing at the hands of the Ynaa in exchange for their science and medicine, but eventually enough is enough. Narrators Janina Edwards and Ron Butler do a fantastic job setting us in the islands, and their accents draw extra attention to the colonial elements of alien invasion that mirror our own history. It’s worth a listen for anyone with an interest in sci-fi.

★Waiting for Tom Hanks In this charmingly sweet romance from Kerry Winfrey, a lovable aspiring screenwriter named Annie Cassidy is obsessed with Nora Ephron movies and finding her own Tom Hanks. To Annie, Tom Hanks—the star of several of Ephron’s most beloved romantic comedies—represents her…

Poetry, the compression of language

Feature by Stephanie Pruitt-Gaines

Collections of poems are often the antithesis of page-turners. A single poem can call on the same amount of mental energy as a short story or novel’s chapter. There is a relieving aha when I read a single poem and am compelled to either close the book for respite or obsessively read it over and over for a half hour. At times, these intense reading experiences can be just what we want to wrangle in a deep tissue mental and emotional massage.

★ Be Recorder
Carmen Giménez Smith brings readers an award-worthy, cling-to-every-word collection with Be Recorder. I found myself at the last line of several poems shaking my head with a rousing mmm mmm mmmmm. Divided into three sections, this poetry bliss moves through mythic moments of creation, calls to action and complex relationships. We take the expensive trip through “the past the present the lie / the reality the parlor game the miniseries / the battle older than me in my helix” and are told to “just charge it to my race card.” The foot never lets off the pedal as Be Recorder shifts toward the familial, taking on Alzheimer’s and motherhood. “I Will Be My Mother’s Apprentice,” “Beasts” and “American Mythos” make this book a standout gift for adult children of aging parents.

The Government Lake
James Tate’s The Government Lake, published posthumously, has a rigorously soothing effect. These poems deal with the odd, othered and imagined, with fresh precision. Don’t let the prose-looking pages fool you. Just when you’ve found your footing, Tate melts a clock and drips it over all the edges as only a poem or surrealist masterpiece can do. The poet offers a master class in enticing first and last statements, as poem bodies full of wit and manic ubertalk are enveloped in openings and closings like: “Oliver sat in his chair like milk in a bottle. . . . That’s not the sky, that’s just a bunny I once knew.” Let these humorous and reflective prose poems breathe and invoke their full topsy-turvy splendor.

No Matter
Jana Prikryl’s No Matter introduces us to a body of poems posing as an evolving or dissolving cityscape. Many of the titles in this collection repeat themselves. The multiple “Anonymous,” “Waves,” “Sibyl,” “Friend” and “Stoic” poems operate as a city block with identical building facades. Of course the inner workings are completely different, but each stokes the question: Have we been here before? Themes of cyclical development and destruction lie parallel to agape and eros love. The personal and public intertwine in a beautiful blur. Prikryl creates a subway experience where “it’s / the one place no one has to talk / and nobody feels guilty for / their place.” These sharp poems invite consideration about how our modern society makes us “a person dragged away from personhood.” And it’s all an utter delight.

Ahhhhh, the deep tissue massage of poetry!

Poet and ARTrepreneur Stephanie Pruitt-Gaines lives in Nashville, where she’s powered by pancakes, art and a furkid named Sugar.

Collections of poems are often the antithesis of page-turners. A single poem can call on the same amount of mental energy as a short story or novel’s chapter. There is a relieving aha when I read a single poem and am compelled to either close the book for respite or obsessively read it over and over for a half hour. At times, these intense reading experiences can be just what we want to wrangle in a deep tissue mental and emotional massage.
Romance

Seize the day (and the duke)!

Feature by Elizabeth Mazer

Long gone—and little missed—are the days when historical romance meant timid, angelic female leads swooning in the arms of dastardly, irresistible rogues we were told were heroes. These days, we have clever, witty authors crafting bold, charismatic heroines who are far more likely to seize a good brandy than clutch at their smelling salts.

Lily Hartley, of Anna Bennett’s The Duke Is But a Dream, knows quite a bit about style. At least, she knows enough to have all of the ton breathless with eagerness for her guidance. As the anonymous author of the wildly popular column The Debutante’s Revenge, she has created a scandal with her frank, liberal-minded advice, but her life away from the page is remarkably quiet—too quiet, tempting her to seek an adventure when she goes to deliver her column while disguised as a messenger boy. She couldn’t have known that her spontaneous jaunt would leave her knocked unconscious, or that she’d wake in the home of her rescuer, Eric Nash, Duke of Stonebridge, with her memory entirely gone. As she struggles to piece herself back together, Lily finds unexpected comfort in the friendship of the duke and his sister, Delilah—and unexpected passion in Nash’s arms. Meanwhile, although Nash and Delilah start out as rescuers, it’s lovely to see how Lily rescues them in turn, lifting them out of their sadness and breathing new life into their home. In this story of finding yourself, it’s the family the central characters create together that’s the most satisfying discovery of all.

Satisfaction is exactly what Brazen and the Beast’s Lady Henrietta Sedley is after on the eve of her 29th birthday—the commencement of what she’s christened the “Year of Hattie,” when she’ll finally go after what she wants: a career, a home of her own, financial security and a bright future. And to kick it off, she plans to discard her troublesome virginity so that she can close the book on ever becoming a bride. Always a wallflower and never a rose, Hattie’s resigned herself to the idea that she’s too tall, too big, too forthright and too indecorous to ever be the demure beauty men in her circle seem to want. She never thought to look outside her circle until she found a fierce, gorgeous beast of a man—Covent Garden crime lord Whit—tied up and unconscious in her carriage. And thus begins a merry chase as they battle and bargain and banter over what has been done to them, what they wish to do to each other and whether it’s more fun to fight with each other or fight for each other and for their rapidly growing love. Funny, playful and vivid, Sarah MacLean’s latest romance samples the best of both worlds with the earthy vigor of the slum’s crafty, loyal lower classes and the juicy intrigue of high society scandal.

Scandal and intrigue are the bread and butter of Miss Wilhelmina Penny’s world of spy craft and reconnaissance in Lenora Bell’s One Fine Duke. Or they would be, if her overprotective uncle—spymaster Sir Malcolm—would give her a chance. Secluded “safely” in the countryside, she’s spent years longing for the chance to take a bite out of life and swallow it whole; to become sophisticated and elegant like her lovely late mother, who died in service to the crown. Mina’s taught herself to pick locks, create weaponry and crack codes, but in order to escape her uncle’s well-meaning dictates, she’ll need to use the one tool he’s helpless against: an eligible duke. Determined to see her well married, Sir Malcolm has put together a “Duke Dossier” of the matches he thinks would take proper care of her. Topping the list is Andrew Bentley, Duke of Thorndon. Her uncle’s approval is enough to convince Mina that Drew could never be the man for her, and yet when they meet, sparks fly. They join forces to investigate a mystery surrounding his scapegrace brother, and yet the solution to her own personal puzzle surprises even Mina when she comes to learn that the duke she never thought she wanted was the secret key to her happiness all along.

These three rebellious historical heroines are far more likely to seize a good brandy than clutch at their smelling salts.
Romance

Highlanders past and present

Feature by Dolly R. Sickles

Sweeping gestures of romance are timeless, as is Romancelandia’s fascination with Highlanders. This month, I’ve got two stellar romances. Both have Scots galore, Highlanders who fall hard for their loves, and both have grand, sweeping gestures.

Alyson McLayne takes us back to her popular Sons of Gregor MacLeod series about five boys fostered together to become brothers, who are destined to become Highland lairds. The fourth installment, Highland Captive, begins with Laird Gavin MacKinnon, callous and bitter in the aftermath of his son’s disappearance two years ago from an annual festival. He’s never given up hope of finding Ewan and is shocked to discover that the beautiful woman he meets at the market, Dierdre MacIntyre, is the woman who’s had his son for the last two and a half years. When he and his brothers go to collect Ewan, they decide to nab Dierdre at the same time and sort out the particulars later. But for Gavin, getting Ewan back is only the beginning. He’ll have to sort out his feelings for Dierdre during this complex, twisty story.

McLayne delivers a highly emotional, deeply satisfying tale of deceit and revenge, longing and loneliness, and ultimately of forgiveness and love. It’s a very fresh perspective in the world of Scottish Highland historicals.

Laura Trentham takes us forward in time to present-day Highland, Georgia, with her charming and sweet romance, A Highlander Walks Into a Bar. First in a new series, this book made me grin the whole time I read it. It’s comedic gold.

Things kick off with a harried Isabel Buchanan, who’s stretched to her limit navigating the Atlanta traffic to collect her mother, Rose, from the airport. (If you’ve ever driven in Atlanta, you will feel her pain.) Rose has been in Scotland doing research while Izzy’s been focused on planning the town’s annual Highland festival. And Rose’s trip was a resounding success, as evidenced by the six-foot-tall souvenir she brought home, Gareth Connors.

Alasdair Blackmoor is a risk manager and former risk-taker who’s come to the deep South to collect his Uncle Gareth and save him from the American tart he’s taken up with. As it turns out, Rose isn’t much of a tart, but her daughter Izzy is definitely captivating to Alasdair.

There’s a bit of a fish out of water tale here, mixed with an opposites-attract angle that caught and held my attention to the very end. Trentham’s casual, inviting writing is wonderful, showcasing her clever wit in every turn of phrase. The attraction between Izzy and Alasdair has great, natural chemistry, and while Rose and Gareth are secondary characters, I really enjoyed their romance as well. It was nice to see 50-somethings giggle and fret on their journey to love. This isn’t a fast-paced race to the finish line. Slow down and savor it.

Two stellar new romances have Scots and grand, sweeping gestures galore.

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