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Check out these recommended reads, hand-picked by library staff just for readers like you!

 

Category
Audience

The Quiet/Crazy Easter Day (padded)

Jill Roman Lord

You might think of the first Easter as a quiet, peaceful morning. But with all creation celebrating the risen Lord of Lords, it may not have been so quiet! The Quiet Crazy Easter Day imagines the crazy celebration that might have occurred when Jesus arose . . . a festive day filled with chirps and croaks, shouts and coos and loop-de-doos. Join the rejoicing as we follow along with the Easter story and learn how we too can shout and sing and spread the news that Jesus is alive.

 

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The Story of Easter

Patricia A. Pingry

Discover the story of the first Easter day in this newly illustrated classic, perfect for little ones curious about the story behind their Easter celebrations.

Expertly crafted for the attention span of toddlers, this simple book tells the biblical story of Easter--from Jesus' entry into Jerusalem to his triumphant Resurrection. The story also helps little listeners understand the connection between the first Easter and today's celebrations. With bright illustrations and a toddler-friendly length of just 200 words, this book is a gentle, age-appropriate way to introduce Jesus and the meaning behind the Easter holiday. And it makes a great addition to any Easter basket!

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Rocket Says Clean Up!

Nathan Bryon

Plucky science-lover Rocket returns in another inspiring picture book about getting a community to notice the world around them, and, in this book, to CLEAN UP! their shoreline.

Rocket, is off to the islands to visit her grandparents. Her family loves nothing better than to beach comb and surf together...but the beach is clogged with trash! When she finds a turtle tangled in a net, Rocket decides that something must be done! Like a mini Greta Thunberg, our young activist's enthusiasm brings everyone together...to clean up the beach and prevent plastics from spoiling nature. Perfect for fans of Rocket Says Look Up! and Ada Twist, Scientist, this book is for any youngster concerned about our environment. Rocket Says Clean Up! will inspire readers of all ages to dream big and tackle problems head-on.

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This Pretty Planet

Tom Chapin

Based on the touching song “This Pretty Planet” by Tom Chapin and John Forster, this hopeful and whimsically illustrated picture book celebrates the pretty planet we call home.

Winds blow. Tides flow.
Shooting stars descend. 
Our lives begin, middle, and end on 
This pretty planet.

From icy tundras to sandy beaches, lush forests to tall mountains, this exuberant picture book journeys around the globe and presents the natural wonders of the planet with a contagious sense of awe and whimsy. Young readers will get lost in the detailed illustrations as the narration serves as a gentle reminder of why we must care for and protect our pretty planet.

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Stand Up! Speak Up!

Andrew Joyner

Awarded as a 2021 Malka Penn Award Honor Book, here is a timely picture book about a young girl's mission to inspire others to help the planet. The meaningful message of climate change activism is perfect for Earth Day and every day! 

Celebrate young climate change activists in this charming story about an empowered girl who shows up, listens up, and ultimately, speaks up to inspire her community to take action against climate change. After attending a climate march, a young activist is motivated to make an effort and do her part to help the planet... by organizing volunteers to work to make green changes in their community, from cleaning a lake, to planting trees, to making composting bins, to hosting a clothing swap and more! Here is an uplifting picture book that is an important reminder that no change is too small--and no person is too young--to make a difference.

With simple text and lively illustrations, Andrew Joyner has given young children a timely story about activism, community, and hope.

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Outside in

Deborah Underwood

A 2020 Caldecott Honor Book

From the New York Times best-selling author behind The Quiet Book comes a mindful contemplation on the many ways nature affects our everyday lives, even when we're stuck inside. Five starred reviews!

Perfect for fans of Joyce Sidman and Julie Fogliano, Outside In reminds emerging readers of the ways nature creates and touches our lives in homes, apartments, and cars, and is the perfect homeschooling tool to reflect on the world's connectedness.

Outside is waiting, the most patient playmate of all. The most generous friend. The most miraculous inventor. This thought-provoking picture book poetically underscores our powerful and enduring connection with nature, not so easily obscured by lives spent indoors. 
Rhythmic, powerful language shows us how our world is made and the many ways Outside comes in to help and heal us, and reminds us that we are all part of a much greater universe. Emotive illustrations evoke the beauty, simplicity, and wonder that await us all . . . outside.

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Lobstah Gahden

Alli Brydon

With pictures from the illustrator behind Last Week Tonight's A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, this delightfully punny story about ocean life, conservation, and cooperation is perfect for sparking conversations in the classroom and at home.

Walt is a proud lobstah whose greatest dream is winning the annual Swell Gahdens contest. But year after year that honor always goes to his chowdah-head neighbor Milton. One day, when heaps of gahbage show up in their yahds, the rival lobstahs must join forces to save their beloved gahdens from the trash floating down from above.
Our oceans are beautiful, colorful, diverse ecosystems that are home to over a million species of underwater creatures. Unfortunately, humans are putting our friends under the sea at risk by polluting Earth's oceans daily.

Lobstah Gahden will help kids understand the importance of conservation, and additional backmatter about sea life and pollution will give readers practical ways they can help preserve our oceans.

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Something, Someday

Amanda Gorman

The stunning new picture book by presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Christian Robinson

You’re told that 
This won’t work,
But how will you know 
If you never try?

Presidential inaugural poet and #1 New York Times bestselling author Amanda Gorman and Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor winner Christian Robinson have created a timeless message of hope.

Sometimes the world feels broken. And problems seem too big to fix. But somehow, we all have the power to make a difference. With a little faith, and maybe the help of a friend, together we can find beauty and create change.

With intimate and inspiring text and powerfully stunning illustrations, Something, Someday reveals how even the smallest gesture can have a lasting impact.

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My Friend Earth

Patricia MacLachlan

Celebrate Earth Day with this valentine to our wonderful planet from the Newbery Award–winning author of Sarah, Plain and Tall.

Our friend Earth does so many wonderful things! She tends to animals large and small. She pours down summer rain and autumn leaves. She sprinkles whisper-white snow and protects the tiny seeds waiting for spring. 

Readers of all ages will pore over the pages of this spectacular book. Its enticing die-cut pages encourage exploration as its poetic text celebrates everything Earth does for us, all the while reminding us to be a good friend in return.

• Interactive format and kid-friendly art will engage both toddlers and young readers.
• A celebration of the natural world and rallying cry for positive action for Planet Earth
• Great opportunities to share life science concepts and amazing facts about the environment with children

This beautiful and innovative ode to our natural world will appeal to readers of Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth, The Poet's Dog, and Thank You, Earth.

• Read aloud books for kids ages 3-5
• Earth books for kids
• Climate change books for kids

Patricia MacLachlan is an acclaimed author who has written dozens of books—from picture books to novels—including the Newbery Medal winner Sarah, Plain and Tall and the Barkus series, also published by Chronicle Books. She lives in western Massachusetts.

Francesca Sanna grew up on the Italian island of Sardinia. She studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York and the Academy of Art and Design in Lucerne. Her book The Journey received five starred reviews and was lauded by the New York Times and the Guardian. Francesca currently lives in Zurich, but you can visit her at francescasanna.com.

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Black Beach

Shaunna Stith & John Stith

This true story of the first Earth Day - told through the eyes of a fictional child - will inspire readers of all ages to stand up for their planet.

WINNER of the GREEN EARTH BOOK AWARD

"A beautiful and motivating way to look into the makings of the very first Earth Day. Black Beach shows how far we've come and still how much work we have left to do." -Dave Matthews, Musician and UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador

Twenty million people across the country made their voices heard on the first Earth Day.

Some came out to celebrate the environment, while others protested and demanded change.

A movement was born.

In 1969, Union Oil caused an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara that would change the world. Hazardous crude oil from the blowout flooded the Pacific Ocean, harming wildlife and devastating habitats. But from this ecological disaster sprang a new wave of environmental activism that continues to this day.

Based on actual events, Black Beach: A Community, an Oil Spill, and the Origin of Earth Day follows Sam and her classmates as they fight back. Sam initially feels powerless watching her parents and neighbors try to clean up the oil spill. But as her awareness grows, she learns she's not alone in caring for the Earth. The impact of the spill seeps into living rooms and classrooms across the nation. People everywhere are motivated to act, and a movement to protect and celebrate the environment is born.

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The Longest Night

Laurel Snyder

Here's a picture book for all Jewish families to read while celebrating Passover. Unlike other Passover picture books that focus on the contemporary celebration of the holiday, or are children's haggadahs, this gorgeous picture book in verse follows the actual story of the Exodus. Told through the eyes of a young slave girl, author Laurel Snyder and illustrator Catia Chien skillfully and gently depict the story of Pharoah, Moses, the 10 plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea in a remarkably accessible way. 

"Evocative and beautiful... flawlessly evokes the spirit of the Old Testament story," raves Publishers Weekly in a starred review. This dramatic adventure, set over 3,500 years ago, of a family that endures hardships and ultimately finds freedom is the perfect tool to help young children make sense of the origins of the Passover traditions.


From the Hardcover edition.

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An Invitation to Passover

Rabbi Kerry Olitzky

When Hannah's extended family isn't able to join her for their traditional Passover seder, she invites her diverse group of friends to experience the holiday with her. From Ha-joon's Korean kimchi, to Monique's hymn lyrics, each friend brings a bit of their own culture to the celebration. And with each guest the themes of freedom, hope, and thanks become more meaningful. A note tells the Passover story and a glossary defines vocabulary.

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The Passover Guest

Susan Kusel

Sydney Taylor Award Winner

A girl's kindness to a mysterious magician leads to a Passover miracle.


Beautifully illustrated and deftly told, this story full of hope, tradition-- and just a touch of magic-- is a new Passover classic in the making.

It's the Spring of 1933 in Washington D.C., and the Great Depression is hitting young Muriel's family hard. Her father has lost his job and her family barely has enough food most days-- let alone for a Passover Seder. They don't even have any wine to leave out for the prophet Elijah's ceremonial cup.

With no feast to rush home to, Muriel wanders by the Lincoln Memorial, where she encounters a mysterious magician in whose hands juggled eggs become lit candles. After she makes a kind gesture, he encourages her to run home for her Seder, and when she does, she encounters a holiday miracle: a bountiful feast of brisket, soup, and matzah, enough for their whole community to share.

But who was this mysterious benefactor? When Muriel sees Elijah's cup is empty, she has a good idea.

Sean Rubin's finely-detailed, historically-accurate illustrations, with a color pallete inspired by Marc Chagall, bring a strong sense of setting to this fresh retelling of the I.L. Peretz story best known through Uri Shulevitz's 1973 adaptation The Magician. 

A perfect gift for those celebrating Passover, or to introduce the holiday traditions to young readers, The Passover Guest is sure to enchant readers of all ages.

Brief essays at the end of the story detail author Susan Kusel's inspiration for this retelling, artist Sean Rubin's influences and research, and introduce the traditions associated with Passover celebrations. 

An Association of Jewish Libraries Spring Holiday Highlight
A CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book
A Booklist Editors' Choice
A CCBC Choice
A CSMCL Best Multicultural Children's Book of the Year
 

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Bringing Down the Duke

Evie Dunmore

“Dunmore is my new find in historical romance. Her A League of Extraordinary Women series is extraordinary.”—Julia Quinn, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“This series balances friendship, politics, history, and romance in just the right mix.”—U.S. Representative Katie Porter

A stunning debut for author Evie Dunmore and her Oxford suffragists in which a fiercely independent vicar's daughter takes on a powerful duke in a fiery love story that threatens to upend the British social order.

England, 1879. Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women's suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain's politics at the Queen's command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can't deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.

Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn't be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn't claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring...or could he?

Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke....

“With her sterling debut, Evie Dunmore dives into a fresh new space in historical romance that hits all the right notes.”—Entertainment Weekly

“There is nothing quite so satisfying as seeing such a man brought to his knees by a beautiful woman with nothing to her name except an inviolable sense of her own self-worth.”—NPR

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The Cruel Prince

Holly Black

An instant bestseller!
By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue. 
Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him--and face the consequences.
In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

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The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

India Holton

A New York Times Notable Book of 2021

“The kind of book for which the word “rollicking” was invented.”—New York Times Book Review

A prim and proper lady thief must save her aunt from a crazed pirate and his dangerously charming henchman in this fantastical historical romance.

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She's also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it's a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he's under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her--hopefully proving, once and for all, that she's as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.

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Ne'er Duke Well

Alexandra Vasti

INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER!

Featured in Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, Good Housekeeping, NPR, Oprah Daily, and more...

In this steamy Regency romp, Lady Selina is determined to find the Duke of Stanhope the perfect wife—the only problem is she's starting to think that might be her.

Peter Kent—newly inherited Duke of Stanhope and recently of New Orleans, Louisiana—must become respectable. Between his radical politics and the time he interrupted a minor royal wedding with a flock of sheep—not his fault!—he’s developed a scandalous reputation at odds with his goal of becoming guardian to his half siblings. For help, he turns to the cleverest and most managing woman of his acquaintance, Lady Selina Ravenscroft.

Selina is society’s most proper debutante, save one tiny secret: she runs an erotic circulating library for women. When Peter asks for her help, she suggests courtship and marriage to a lady of unimpeachable reputation. (Which is to say, definitely not herself.)

But matchmaking doesn’t go according to plan. Peter’s siblings run rampant on Bond Street. Selina ends up in the Serpentine. And worst of all, the scorching chemistry between Peter and Selina proves impossible to resist. For the disreputable duke and his unpredictable matchmaker, falling in love just might be the ultimate scandal.

“As hot as it is heartfelt, this will have historical romance fans hooked.” – Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

“An irresistible delight from a remarkable new talent.” – India Holton, USA Today bestselling author of The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love

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Anne of Green Gables

Jennifer Adams

BabyLit® is a fashionable way to introduce your toddler to the world of classic literature

Introduce little ones to beloved redheaded orphan Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables: A BabyLit® Places Primer as they explore Prince Edward Island and the places that Anne loves. Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver, with their words and bright illustrations, introduce toddlers to Anne’s home and her favorite pond, wood, field, garden, and the avenue to Avonlea. This delightful board book will captivate your brainy baby’s imagination, and yours.

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Poetree

Shauna LaVoy Reynolds

A girl writes a poem to a tree, but then is surprised when the tree writes back in this wondrous and warm picture book about friendship, nature, and the power of poetry.

The snow has melted, the buttercups are blooming, and Sylvia celebrates winter's end by writing a poem. She ties her poem to a birch tree, hoping that it doesn't count as littering if it makes the world more beautiful. But when she returns, a new poem is waiting for her. Could the tree really be writing back? Sylvia decides to test her theory, and so begins a heartwarming poetic correspondence...as well as an unexpected new friendship.

Lyrical and sweetly satisfying, Poetree is about finding beauty in the world around you, and new friends in unlikely places.

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Happy Springtime!

Kate McMullan

When winter is at its coldest and darkest, take heart! Every day the sun shines longer, Spring is on its way!

All winter, the days grow a little bit longer,
The nights grow a little bit shorter, 
until the day becomes exactly as long as the night.
On that day we say...
HAPPY SPRINGTIME!

This bright, bouncy, and deliriously colorful picture book is an ode to the joys of spring, encouraging everyone who waits out the slow lengthening of days through the end of winter. From earmuffed crossing guards to sweater wearing dogs, from painters of flowers to planters of seeds, Happy Springtime! celebrates the burst of life following the thaw of winter.

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honoree Kate McMullan's jubilant love-letter to this exciting time of year is the perfect book to bring in the season of birth and renewal, especially when accompanied by the riotous watercolor illustrations of Sujean Rim.

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Gardening for abundance : your guide to cultivating a bountiful veggie garden and a happier life

Brian Brigantti

Grow a Flourishing Vegetable Garden While Feeding Your Spirit

From planting your first seedlings to harvesting your crops and everything in between, gardener and homesteader Brian Brigantti helps you create a thriving vegetable garden right in your own backyard―all while giving you valuable insights into nourishing your soul through abundant living. Woven in with his own insights and experiences, Brian walks you through the process of starting an abundant garden from start to finish. A primer on soil health, composting, establishing biodiversity and more set you and your garden up for success. Then, learn methods for building out plots, choosing the best veggies for your climate and soil and tending to your garden throughout the seasons. Along the way, Brian shares his observations on the symbolism of gardening and the ways it can teach you about the joys of living a happier, more abundant life. Using only natural, chemical-free techniques that honor, respect and sustain the earth, Brian’s methods for cultivating a bountiful garden result in a cornucopia of homegrown vegetables and a deeper sense of connection with the earth your food and yourself.

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How to Design a Garden

Pollyanna Wilkinson

Design the garden of your dreams with the expertise of award-winning garden designer Pollyanna Wilkinson.

How to Design A Garden shows you how to untap your garden's potential and customise the design to suit you and your space: whether that be an extension of your living space for parties and al fresco dining or a calming oasis to relax in.

Equipped with all you need to know about light, focal points, hardscaping, and planting, you'll have the skills to create a moodboard, design layout, choose paving, furniture, and plant combinations. Polly expertly guides you to understand how the elements in your garden will work together as one - and she is not shy to share her opinions on certain design dos and don'ts!

Once you've designed your garden, month-by-month growing guides help you to nurture it, so you can enjoy your dream space for years to come.

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Love & Luck

Jenna Evans Welch

A New York Times bestseller

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Love & Gelato comes a heartwarming tale of a road trip through Ireland filled with love, adventure, and the true meaning behind the word family.

Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s over-the-top destination wedding and hoping she can stop thinking about the one thing she did that left her miserable and heartbroken—and threatens her future. But her brother, Ian, isn’t about to let her forget, and his constant needling leads to arguments and even a fistfight between the two once inseparable siblings. Miserable, Addie can’t wait to visit her friend in Italy and leave her brother—and her problems—behind.

So when Addie discovers an unusual guidebook, Ireland for the Heartbroken, hidden in the dusty shelves of the hotel library, she’s able to finally escape her anxious mind and Ian’s criticism.

And then their travel plans change. Suddenly Addie finds herself on a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle, trapped in the world’s smallest vehicle with Ian and his admittedly cute, Irish-accented friend Rowan. As the trio journeys over breathtaking green hills, past countless castles, and through a number of fairy-tale forests, Addie hopes her guidebook will heal not only her broken heart, but also her shattered relationship with her brother.

That is if they don’t get completely lost along the way.

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Evvie Drake Starts Over

Linda Holmes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today • “Everything a romantic comedy should be: witty, relatable, and a little complicated.”—People

A heartfelt debut about the unlikely relationship between a young woman who’s lost her husband and a major league pitcher who’s lost his game.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR

In a sleepy seaside town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her large, painfully empty house nearly a year after her husband’s death in a car crash. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and Evvie doesn’t correct them.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips”: he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button on Dean’s future.

When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken—and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. To move forward, Evvie and Dean will have to reckon with their pasts—the friendships they’ve damaged, the secrets they’ve kept—but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance—up until the last out.

A joyful, hilarious, and hope-filled debut, Evvie Drake Starts Over will have you cheering for the two most unlikely comebacks of the year—and will leave you wanting more from Linda Holmes.

Praise for Evvie Drake Starts Over

“A quirky, sweet, and splendid story of a woman coming into her own.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six 

“Effortlessly enjoyable . . . [a] pitch-perfect . . . adult love story that is as romantic as it is real.”USA Today

“Charming, hopeful, and gently romantic . . . Evvie Drake is great company.”—Rainbow Rowell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park

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Moving Words About a Flower

K. C. Hayes

Words tumble, leap, and fly in this clever shape poem about a resilient dandelion.

The inspiring story of a dandelion that survives against all odds, ingeniously told through shape poems (also called "concrete poems") full of visual surprises. When it rains, letters fall from the sky; and when seeds scatter, words FLY!

Each playful page will have readers looking twice. The back of the book includes more information about the life cycle of the humble, incredible dandelion.

 

  • NSTA-CBC's 2023 Outstanding Science Trade Books List
  • 2023 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts List by the CLA (Children’s Literature Assembly)
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A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting

Sophie Irwin

“Bridgerton fans will swoon over this entertaining romp through Britain’s Regency-era high society.”
People

"A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting is a sharp, modern, and absolutely delicious take on the marriage plot. Sophie Irwin's debut is one of the most fun, romantic books I've read in a long time. I cannot wait to see what she does next."
--Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Malibu Rising

A whip-smart debut that follows the adventures of an entirely unconventional heroine who throws herself into the London Season to find a wealthy husband.  But the last thing she expects is to find love…


Kitty Talbot needs a fortune. Or rather, she needs a husband who has a fortune. Left with her father’s massive debts, she has only twelve weeks to save her family from ruin. 
 
 Kitty has never been one to back down from a challenge, so she leaves home and heads toward the most dangerous battleground in all of England: the London season. 
  
Kitty may be neither accomplished nor especially genteel—but she is utterly single-minded; imbued with cunning and ingenuity, she knows that risk is just part of the game. 
 
The only thing she doesn’t anticipate is Lord Radcliffe. The worldly Radcliffe sees Kitty for the mercenary fortune-hunter that she really is and is determined to scotch her plans at all costs, until their parrying takes a completely different turn….

This is a frothy pleasure, full of brilliant repartee and enticing wit--one that readers will find an irresistible delight.

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Tress of the Emerald Sea

Brandon Sanderson

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson comes a rollicking, riveting tale set in the Cosmere universe—a standalone adventure perfect for fans of The Princess Bride.

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?

Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson

The Cosmere
The Stormlight Archive
The Way of Kings
Words of Radiance
Edgedancer (novella)
Oathbringer
Dawnshard (novella)
Rhythm of War

The Mistborn Saga
The Original Trilogy
Mistborn
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages

Wax and Wayne
The Alloy of Law
Shadows of Self
The Bands of Mourning
The Lost Metal

Other Cosmere novels
Elantris
Warbreaker
Tress of the Emerald Sea
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
The Sunlit Man

Collection
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection

The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
The Scrivener's Bones
The Knights of Crystallia
The Shattered Lens
The Dark Talent
Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians (with Janci Patterson)

Other novels
The Rithmatist
Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

Other books by Brandon Sanderson

The Reckoners
Steelheart
Firefight
Calamity

Skyward
Skyward
Starsight
Cytonic
Skyward Flight (with Janci Patterson)
Defiant

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Look Up!

Britt Gondolfi

Moonbeam Children's Book Awards Silvers Medal Winner! for Picturebook Illustrations

Fontaine, a small pigeon, is fed up with the world's addiction to technology. In response, he rallies a cohort of birds and, with their help, leads an ICKY revolution that forces people to put down their phones, look up, and connect with nature and each other.

Told in lyrical verse and with quirky, poignant illustrations, Look Up! Fontaine the Pigeon Starts a Revolution is a humorous blend of cautionary tale and storytime fun that'll spark conversation and delight readers of all ages.

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Breaking Into Sunlight

John Cochran

This powerful and compassionate book follows a family's journey through the turbulence of parental addiction--and the moments of connection and healing that break through the dark days. Reese is a seventh-grader in rural North Carolina who loves drawing, basketball, his hardworking mom, and his charming, charismatic dad. But then one day, he comes home to his worst nightmare - his dad on the floor, lips turning blue, overdosed. Again. Reese calls 911 and gets his dad out of danger, and he expects to go on as before. But for his mom, this is the breaking point, and she declares that she and Reese are leaving until Reese's dad gets real help with his addiction. They move to a rundown trailer outside of town, where Reese is furious with his mom, scared for his dad, and terrified his friends will find out.



Then he meets Meg and Charlie, who have likewise been stranded by circumstances beyond their control. As the trio explores the blackwater river that runs nearby, Reese discovers new beauty and joy in nature and these fresh connections. His dad is also doing better, holding things together, and talking to his mom again. But how long can the good times last? And what will Reese do if -- when -- they end?



In the United States today, an estimated one in eight kids live with a parent with a substance-abuse problem. Written with bracing honesty, deep sympathy, and tenderness for all its characters, Breaking into Sunlight offers readers a powerful affirmation that no one is alone.

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What About Will

Ellen Hopkins

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins comes a new heartbreakingly tender middle grade novel in verse about the bonds between two brothers and the love they share.

Twelve-year-old Trace Reynolds has always looked up to his brother, mostly because Will, who's five years older, has never looked down on him. It was Will who taught Trace to ride a bike, would watch sports on TV with him, and cheer him on at Little League. But when Will was knocked out cold during a football game, resulting in a brain injury--everything changed. Now, seventeen months later, their family is still living under the weight of "the incident," that left Will with a facial tic, depression, and an anger he cannot always control, culminating in their parents' divorce. Afraid of further fracturing his family, Trace begins to cover for Will who, struggling with addiction to pain medication, becomes someone Trace doesn’t recognize. But when the brother he loves so much becomes more and more withdrawn, and escalates to stealing money and ditching school, Trace realizes some secrets cannot be kept if we ever hope to heal.

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The Wild Path

Sarah R. Baughman

The Line Tender meets The Secret Horses of Briar Hill in this hopeful, heartfelt story about one girl's search for legendary horses and her quest to piece her family back together.



Twelve-year-old Claire Barton doesn't like the "flutter feeling" that fills her chest when she worries about the future, but she knows what she loves: the land that's been in her family for three generations; her best friend Maya; her family's horses, Sunny and Sam; and her older brother Andy. That's why, with Andy recently sent to rehab and her parents planning to sell the horses, Claire's world feels like it might flutter to pieces.



When Claire learns about equine therapy, she imagines a less lonely future that keeps her family together, brother and horses included. But, when she finds what seem to be mysterious wild horses in the woods behind her house, she realizes she has a bitmore company than she bargained for. With this new secret--and a little bit of luck--Claire will discover the beauty of change, the power of family, and the strength within herself.

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Maid for It

Jamie Sumner

From the acclaimed author of Roll with It comes a relatable and “heart-wrenching” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade novel about a girl who, in a desperate bid to keep her family afloat, takes over her mom’s cleaning jobs after an injury prevents her from working. 

Now that Franny and her newly sober mom have moved to a cozy apartment above a laundromat, Franny’s looking forward to a life where her biggest excitement is getting top grades in math class. But when Franny’s mom gets injured in a car accident, their fragile life begins to crumble. There’s no way her mom can keep her job cleaning houses, which means she can’t pay the bills. Franny can’t forget what happened the last time her mom was hurt: the pills that were supposed to help became an addiction, until rehab brought them to Mimi’s laundromat and the support group she hosts.

Franny will not let addiction win again, even if she has to blackmail a school rival to help her clean houses. She’ll make the money and keep her mom sober—there’s no other choice. But what happens if this is one problem she can’t solve on her own?

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Forget-Me-Not Blue

Sharelle Byars Moranville

Perfect for fans of Encanto and Turning Red, this intimate and heartfelt middle grade novel follows two siblings fighting to stay together amidst the ripple effects of addiction and generational trauma.

Siblings Con and Sofie’s mom promised that nothing would ever come between them–but when she disappears without any warning, she becomes the one who’s tearing them apart.

With no one else to rely on, inseparable siblings Con and Sofie must decide who they can trust, and whether or not it’s safe to share their hearts with family members who have the power to hurt them. Sofie has always turned to Con–and to books–during times of upheaval in their unstable lives. But as their mother is arrested and their guardianship becomes uncertain, Sofie will have to find hope in the most important story of all: her own.

Moranville’s captivating and vulnerable prose explores the ways in which addiction’s ripple effects pass through generations and how familial bonds can remain unbreakable through the most difficult circumstances. Expertly grappling with difficult topics at an age-appropriate level, this novel is a sensitive, nuanced exploration of children’s enduring resilience and optimism.

A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

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How to Make a Shark Smile

Shawn Achor

"[How to Make a Shark Smile] teaches that a gesture as simple as a smile can have a profound effect on others."--Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project and Happier at Home

A story about choosing happiness and the ripple effect of a positive mindset. Includes seven happiness exercises at the back of the book to encourage kids to fit them in every single day!

Ripple the dolphin just moved to a new aquarium and is excited to make some friends! But as she swims around, she notices the water is still and quiet. The eels have no zing. The neon fishes don't glow. The seahorses aren't horsing around. Everyone's too afraid of a mean shark named Snark!

Ripple is determined to show her new friends that they shouldn't be afraid--it's all about mindset. They can choose to be happy!

But just as the aquarium begins to liven up, Snark the shark shows up ready to prove Ripple wrong. Can Ripple get Snark to smile too?

Bestselling authors and happiness experts Shawn Achor and Amy Blankson invite you to dive in and learn how you can spread joy to those around you with Ripple and her friends.

Perfect for:

  • Parents who want to introduce their children to a positive mindset, help them build self-confidence, and set them up for personal and professional success
  • Educators and librarians who need a funny, engaging picture book to include in their growth mindset curriculum and collections
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Showing Kindness

Rebecca Pettiford

In Showing Kindness, beginning readers will learn about all the ways they can be kind and considerate in their daily lives. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text engage young readers as they discover how they can build character by showing kindness. An activity encourages kids to practice kindness, while a picture glossary reinforces new vocabulary. Children can learn more about kindness online using our safe search engine that provides relevant, age-appropriate websites. Showing Kindness also features reading tips for teachers and parents, a table of contents, and an index. Showing Kindness is part of Jump!'s Building Character series.

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All Kinds of Special

Tammi Sauer

For fans of Home Is Where the Birds Sing and Me & Mama, this tenderhearted picture book follows a little girl’s journey to make her new house a home, one mango at a time.

Mia and her mama used to live in an apartment with just a few windows that was part of a big building with lots of other people. Now, they’ve moved to a house that has eleven windows, a yard, and a mango tree. Mia misses her old home, but the special mango tree captures her curiosity and sets her on a sweet voyage of discovery. 

As more and more mangos appear on the tree, bringing the neighborhood together, Mia sees how treasuring and sharing the good that comes into your life can lead to new connections and community.

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I Walk with Vanessa

Kerascoët

This simple yet powerful picture book--from a New York Times bestselling husband-and-wife team--tells the story of one girl who inspires a community to stand up to bullying. The perfect back-to-school read for every kid, family and classroom!

Don't miss the companion book, I Forgive Alex, about the importance of compassion and forgiveness.

Inspired by real events, I Walk with Vanessa explores the feelings of helplessness and anger that arise in the wake of seeing a classmate treated badly, and shows how a single act of kindness can lead to an entire community joining in to help. By choosing only pictures to tell their story, the creators underscore the idea that someone can be an ally without having to say a word. With themes of acceptance, kindness, and strength in numbers, this timeless and profound feel-good story will resonate with readers young and old.

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

"This beautifully illustrated story shows young readers how to become caring and supportive upstanders. Love it!" --Trudy Ludwig, bestselling author of The Invisible Boy

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Fish and Sun

Sergio Ruzzier



 

Introducing I Can Read Comics, a new early reader line that familiarizes children with the world of graphic novel storytelling and encourages visual literacy in emerging readers.

One day, a bored little fish journeys up to the surface of the ocean, where it meets the sun. A wonderful friendship blooms... Only, right in the middle of their fun, the sun starts to set! Fish and Sun is a powerful story about newfound friendship by Sergio Ruzzier.

"Painted seascapes in rich colors warm the early reader comic's minimal text, and small details--Fish sleeps underwater with a small pillow--will draw laughter." (Publishers Weekly)

Fish and Sun is a Level One I Can Read Comic, a simple story for shared reading.

Junior Library Guild Selection

An ALSC Graphic Novel Reading List Title

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Squire & Knight

Scott Chantler

A young squire tackles mysteries, monsters and magic, but the inept knight he serves takes the credit. Every time.

Squire is brainy, bookish, and terribly under-appreciated by the brawny, inept knight Sir Kelton, who somehow always gets all the glory. So when the two mismatched heroes find themselves in a cursed village plagued by a demonic dragon, Kelton rides off to slay it and Squire stays behind to catch up on some reading. But Squire starts to notice that something isn’t quite right about this town . . . Can he uncover its strange secrets?

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11 Birthdays

Wendy Mass

Groundhog Day meets Flipped in this hilarious novel from award-winning author Wendy Mass!

It's Amanda's 11th birthday and she is super excited- - after all, 11 is so different from 10. But from the start, everything goes wrong. The worst part of it all is that she and her best friend, Leo, with whom she's shared every birthday, are on the outs and this will be the first birthday they haven't shared together. When Amanda turns in for the night, glad to have her birthday behind her, she wakes up happy for a new day. Or is it? Her birthday seems to be repeating iself. What is going on?! And how can she fix it? Only time, friendship, and a little luck will tell . . .

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Warrior Girl

Carmen Tafolla

An insightful novel in verse about the joys and struggles of a Chicana girl who is a warrior for her name, her history, and her right to choose what she celebrates in life.

Celina and her family are bilingual and follow both Mexican and American traditions. Celina revels in her Mexican heritage, but once she starts school it feels like the world wants her to erase that part of her identity. Fortunately, she’s got an army of family and three fabulous new friends behind her to fight the ignorance. But it’s her Gramma who’s her biggest inspiration, encouraging Celina to build a shield of joy around herself. Because when you’re celebrating, when you find a reason to sing or dance or paint or play or laugh or write, they haven’t taken everything away from you. Of course, it’s not possible to stay in celebration mode when things get dire--like when her dad’s deported and a pandemic hits--but if there is anything Celina’s sure of, it’s that she’ll always live up to her last name: Guerrera--woman warrior--and that she will use her voice and writing talents to make the world a more beautiful place where all cultures are celebrated.

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I'll See You in Ijebu

Bunmi Emenanjo

A Read with Jenna Jr. Bookclub Pick on The TODAY Show!

★ "A loving embrace of faith and family and a wonderful window into Nigerian culture" - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

I'll see you in Ijebu... 
Where my Iya Akin is 
Her cooking, her jokes that make me giggle 
Ijebu, where love lives

Olu loves visiting her extended family in the countryside town of Ijebu, especially when she gets to celebrate Eid al-Adha with them. And this year is extra special, because Olu is finally old enough to help cook the Eid feast. She leaves the vibrant, bustling city of Lagos behind for green Ijebu, and finally arrives to see her Baba waiting for her with a warm hug.

Olu's week in Ijebu is filled with games with cousins, time in the kitchen with her aunties, and finally a feast that leaves their bellies full. In a celebration of Nigerian food and tradition, I'll See You in Ijebu captures the joy of special moments spent with family.

  • Relatable for kids who travel to see extended family for the holidays.
  • Illustrates a multi-faith family who celebrates both Catholic and Muslim holidays.
  • Endnotes include information about Eid-al-Adha and the food, fashion, and faiths in Nigeria (including a recipe for Nigerian puff puff!)
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A Sky Full of Song

Susan Lynn Meyer

This heartwarming, beautifully written middle-grade historicalnovel about an untold American frontier story is destined to be a cherished classic. 



North Dakota, 1905



After fleeing persecution in the Russian Empire, eleven-year-old Shoshana and her family, Jewish immigrants, start a new life on the prairie. Shoshana takes fierce joy in the wild beauty of the plains and the thrill of forging a new, American identity. But it's not as simple for her older sister, Libke, who misses their Ukrainian village and doesn't pick up English as quickly or make new friends as easily. Desperate to fit in, Shoshana finds herself hiding her Jewish identity in the face of prejudice, just as Libke insists they preserve it.



For the first time, Shoshana is at odds with her beloved sister, and has to look deep inside herself to realize that her family's difference is their greatest strength. By listening to the music that's lived in her heart all along, Shoshana finds new meaning in the Jewish expression all beginnings are difficult, as well as in the resilience and traditions her people have brought all the way to the North Dakota prairie.

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See Where We Come From!

Scot Ritchie

A perfect, kid-friendly introduction to family heritage. Today is a big day for the five friends. Their class is hosting a Heritage Festival to celebrate the customs and traditions of people from all over the world. Martin, Sally, Pedro, Nick and Yulee each have their own heritage, and they have so much to share! They learn about various traditions involving music, food, language, stories, crafts, clothing and games. They also learn that exploring their different heritages makes everyone feel like they belong! There’s a world of fun to be had, as readers discover the many ways people are alike and what makes each of us unique!

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Let It Glow

Marissa Meyer

Now a NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestseller!

When Aviva Davis and Holly Martin meet at the holiday pageant tryouts for their local senior’s center, they think they must be seeing double. While they both knew they were adopted, they had no idea they had a biological sibling, let alone an identical twin! The similarities are only skin deep, though, because while Aviva has a big personality and even bigger Broadway plans, Holly is more the quiet dreamer type who longs to become a famous author like her grandfather.

One thing the girls do have in common is their curiosity about how the other celebrates the holidays. What better way to discover the magic of the holidays than to experience them firsthand? The girls secretly trade lives, planning to stage a dramatic reveal to their families. Two virtual strangers swapping homes, holidays, and age-old traditions–what could possibly go wrong? Find out in this sweet as a sugarplum and satisfying as a latke middle grade novel by Marissa Meyer, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lunar Chronicles, and Joanne Levy, award-winning author of Sorry for Your Loss and several other books for tweens.

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Mariana and Her Familia

Mónica Mancillas



 

A heartwarming picture book about a young girl on her first trip to visit family in Mexico, who learns there is no language barrier when it comes to love--from debut author Mónica Mancillas and rising star illustrator Erika Meza. Perfect for fans of Where Are You From and Mango, Abuela, and Me.

Mariana is visiting her abuelita and extended family in Mexico for the first time. Her tummy does a flip as she and Mami cross the frontera.

There are all new sights, smells, and sounds. And at Abuelita's house, Mariana is overwhelmed by new faces and Spanish phrases she doesn't understand.

But with a story, some kindness, and a few new words from Abuelita, Mariana discovers that the love of family knows no cultural divide.

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Sing a Song

Kelly Starling Lyons

"Lyons delivers the history of a song that has inspired generations of African-Americans to persist and resist in the face of racism and systemic oppression. . . . A heartfelt history of a historic anthem."--Publishers Weekly

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us.
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.

In Jacksonville, Florida, two brothers, one of them the principal of a segregated, all-black school, wrote the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" so his students could sing it for a tribute to Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1900. From that moment on, the song has provided inspiration and solace for generations of Black families. Mothers and fathers passed it on to their children who sang it to their children and grandchildren. Known as the Black National Anthem, it has been sung during major moments of the Civil Rights Movement and at family gatherings and college graduations. 

Inspired by this song's enduring significance, Kelly Starling Lyons and Keith Mallett tell a story about the generations of families who gained hope and strength from the song's inspiring words.

--A CCBC Choice 
--A Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
--An ALSC Notable Children's Book

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Fry Bread

Kevin Noble Maillard

Winner of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
A 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Picture Book Honor Winner

“A wonderful and sweet book . . . Lovely stuff.” —The New York Times Book Review 

Told in lively and powerful verse by debut author Kevin Noble Maillard, Fry Bread is an evocative depiction of a modern Native American family, vibrantly illustrated by Pura Belpre Award winner and Caldecott Honoree Juana Martinez-Neal. 

Fry bread is food.
It is warm and delicious, piled high on a plate.

Fry bread is time.
It brings families together for meals and new memories.

Fry bread is nation.
It is shared by many, from coast to coast and beyond.

Fry bread is us.
It is a celebration of old and new, traditional and modern, similarity and difference.

A 2020 Charlotte Huck Recommended Book
A Publishers Weekly Best Picture Book of 2019
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2019
A School Library Journal Best Picture Book of 2019
A Booklist 2019 Editor's Choice
A Shelf Awareness Best Children's Book of 2019
A Goodreads Choice Award 2019 Semifinalist
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book of 2019
A National Public Radio (NPR) Best Book of 2019
An NCTE Notable Poetry Book
A 2020 NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
A 2020 ALA Notable Children's Book
A 2020 ILA Notable Book for a Global Society 
2020 Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year List
One of NPR's 100 Favorite Books for Young Readers
Nominee, Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Award 2022-2022
Nominee, Illinois Monarch Award 2022

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Same Here!

Susan Hughes

"Children around the world have vastly different lives - different cultures, different geography, socio-economic realities, differing access to health and education. They speak different languages and eat different foods. But despite these differences, they all share common needs: the need to communicate, to feel loved and protected, the need to have a place to live, the need to learn, to eat, to play, and to dream for the future. Using careful and extensive research, Susan Hughes, the author of the best-selling Off To Class, presents readers with a variety of characters from around the world who share how they live their lives. Each section starts with a close-up of a child talking about their experiences, and then moves on to two additional spreads exploring the experiences of children from other parts of the world. Her hope: that young readers will connects with these characters and join with them in saying 'Same here!' Our world has seen many big changes recently--changes that have affected each one of us, old and young, in every country around the world. Difficult changes such as climate warming, food insecurity, pandemics, and other health concerns. These are--and continue to be--difficult challenges. However, by challenging us, they can also inspire us. The children shown in this book are strong evidence that despite our many and important differences, we are indeed citizens of a global village who share needs and goals. And we have a responsibility and the ability to join together to create positive change for all. To not only cope with, but find solutions to, global problems."--

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The Charleston Chef's Table

Holly Herrick

Signature recipes from greater Charleston's top restaurants In recent years, Charleston, which hosts more than four million visitors annually, has matured into a world-class culinary destination. Now, The Charleston Chef's Table allows locals and visitors alike to take a bit of the city's incomparable flavor home, with profiles of more than sixty of the city's best restaurants and a signature recipe from each. From roadside dives to upscale eateries, Southern to Chinese, Holly Herrick leaves no stone unturned as she winnows Charleston's 1,500 restaurants down to her top picks. From fried chicken to sautéed duck livers, The Charleston Chef's Table delivers all the goods that make Charleston such an exciting place to visit, live, and dine. Complementing the text are full-color photographs, as well as sidebars that highlight this Southern gem's 300-year history.

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South Carolina

Walter B. Edgar

The authoritative source for the Palmetto State's dramatic history

In this comprehensive history of South Carolina, Walter Edgar presents a sweeping chronicle of a state with an illustrious, sometimes infamous, past. He describes in very human terms 475 years of recorded history in the Palmetto State, including the experiences of all South Carolinians--those with roots in Africa and in Europe as well as Native Americans; male and female; rich and poor. In an eminently readable presentation, Edgar uses letters, diaries, and other writings to let voices from the past take part in telling the state's fascinating story.

Recounting the period from the first Spanish exploration to the end of the Civil War, Edgar charts South Carolina's rising national and international prominence and its parallel economic ascendancy. He dispels myths about the state's early history--including the notion that the colony was inhabited by a homogeneous white population--and tells how South Carolina developed an agricultural economy that relied heavily on African American slave labor. Edgar examines, among other topics, the impact of the American revolution, Charleston's significance as a metropolis and major seaport, and the state's leadership in the Secession movement.

With changes wrought by the Civil War, South Carolina slipped from national prominence into a period marked by economic, social, civil, and political strife. Edgar details the everyday life of blacks and whites during Reconstruction, the state's mixed efforts to join the "New South," and Benjamin Ryan Tillman's rise to power. He also chronicles South Carolina's changing politics in the once-solid South, the state's reawakening after World War II, the casualties and victories of an extended civil rights struggle, and the Palmetto State's present economic, educational, and political challenges.

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The Beach House

Mary Alice Monroe

Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of The Beach House! The most fulfilling journey is one that leads back home...

"Mary Alice Monroe is helping to redefine the beauty and magic of the Carolina Lowcountry. Every book she has written has felt like a homecoming to me."
--Pat Conroy

Twenty years ago, Caretta Rutledge left her Southern roots far behind for a successful career as a businesswoman in Chicago. But an unusual request from her mother--coming just as her own life is spinning out of control--has Cara heading back to the scenic Lowcountry of her childhood summers.

Before long, the rhythms of the island open her heart as she repairs the family beach house, becomes a bona fide "turtle lady" and renews old acquaintances long thought lost. But it is in reconnecting with her mother that she will learn life's most precious lessons--true love involves sacrifice, family is forever and the mistakes of the past can be forgiven.

Known for her moving characters and emotional honesty, Mary Alice Monroe brings readers a beautifully rendered story that explores the fragile yet enduring bond between mothers and daughters.
 

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The Dead Romantics: A GMA Book Club Pick

Ashley Poston

A New York Times Notable Book of 2022!

The New York Times Bestseller and Good Morning America Book Club Pick!

"I LOVED this book! ...Funny, breathtaking, hopeful, and dreamy.”—Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis

A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.
 
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won't give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
 
For ten years, she's run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.
 
Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
 
Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

"One of the Summer's Hottest Reads"—Entertainment Weekly

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Murder in the Tea Leaves

Laura Childs

It’s Lights, Action, Murder as tea maven Theodosia Browning scrambles for clues in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.

When Theodosia Browning reads the tea leaves on the set of the movie, Dark Fortunes, things go from spooky to worse. Lights are dimmed, the camera rolls, and red hot sparks fly as the film’s director is murdered in a tricky electrical accident.

Or was it an accident? Though the cast and crew are stunned beyond belief, nobody admits to seeing a thing. And when Theodosia’s friend, Delaine, becomes the prime suspect, Theodosia begins her own shadow investigation. But who among this Hollywood cast and crew had murder on their mind? The screenwriter is a self-centered pot head, the leading actress is trying to wiggle out of her contract, the brand new director seems indifferent, and nobody trusts the slippery-when-dry Hollywood agent.

Between hosting a Breakfast at Tiffany’s Tea, a Poetry Tea, and trying to launch her own chocolate line, Theodosia doggedly hunts down clues and explores the seemingly haunted Brittlebank Manor where the murder took place. And just when she’s ready to pounce, a Charleston Film Board member is also murdered, throwing everything into total disarray. But this clever killer will go to any lengths to hide his misdeeds as Theodosia soon finds out when she and her tea sommelier, Drayton, get caught up in a dangerous stakeout.


INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!

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Lowcountry Boil

Susan M. Boyer

USA TODAY Bestseller and AGATHA AWARD Winner for Best First Novel FULL OF SIMMERING SUSPENSE AND INTRIGUE... "Imaginative, empathetic, genuine, and fun, Lowcountry Boil is a lowcountry delight." - Carolyn Hart, Author of What the Cat Saw "It's a simmering gumbo of a story full of spice, salt, heat and shrimp. She had me guessing, detouring for a few laughs then doubling back for another clue right until the last chapter." - The Huffington Post Private Investigator Liz Talbot is a modern Southern belle: she blesses hearts and takes names. She carries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade handbag, and her golden retriever, Rhett, rides shotgun in her hybrid Escape. When her grandmother is murdered, Liz high-tails it back to her South Carolina island home to find the killer. She's fit to be tied when her police-chief brother shuts her out of the investigation, so she opens her own. Then her long-dead best friend pops in and things really get complicated. When more folks start turning up dead in this small seaside town, Liz must use more than just her wits and charm to keep her family safe, chase down clues from the hereafter, and catch a psychopath before he catches her. Praise for LOWCOUNTRY BOIL: "Plenty of secrets, long-simmering feuds, and greedy ventures make for a captivating read...Boyer's chick lit PI debut charmingly showcases South Carolina island culture." - Library Journal "Imaginative, empathetic, genuine, and fun, Lowcountry Boil is a lowcountry delight." - Carolyn Hart, Author of What the Cat Saw "Twisted humor has long been a tradition in Southern literature (maybe it's the heat and humidity), and Boyer delivers it with both barrels. In lesser hands, all the hijinks could be distracting, but not in Lowcountry Boil. Boyer's voice is so perky that no matter what looney mayhem her characters commit, we happily dive in with them. An original and delightful read." - Betty Webb, Mystery Scene Magazine "Lowcountry Boil avoids caricatured Southerners and pulls the reader in like the draw of a riptide with a keeps-you-guessing mystery full of romance, family intrigue, and the smell of salt marsh on the Charleston coast. A welcome visit home with people you want to know and, in some cases, are glad you aren't related to. A fun summer read " - Cathy Pickens, Author of the Southern Fried Mysteries and Charleston Mysteries 

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Not What She Seems

Yasmin Angoe

She left home as the local pariah at twenty-two, but when a family tragedy brings her back, she must confront her tortured past--and a new danger in town that no one seems to understand but her.

After years of self-exile, Jacinda "Jac" Brodie is back in Brook Haven, South Carolina. But the small cliffside town no longer feels like home. Jac hasn't been there since the beloved chief of police fell to his death--and all the whispers said she was to blame.

That chief was Jac's father.

Racked with guilt, Jac left town with no plans to return. But when her granddad lands in the hospital, she rushes back to her family, bracing herself to confront the past.

Brook Haven feels different now. Wealthy newcomer Faye Arden has transformed the notorious Moor Manor into a quaint country inn. Jac's convinced something sinister lurks beneath Faye's perfect exterior, yet the whole town fawns over their charismatic new benefactor. And when Jac discovers one of her granddad's prized possessions in Faye's office, she knows she has to be right.

But as Jac continues to dig, she stumbles upon dangerous truths that hit too close to home. With not only her life but also her family's safety on the line, Jac discovers that maybe some secrets are better left buried.

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The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Grady Hendrix

“This funny and fresh take on a classic tale manages to comment on gender roles, racial disparities, and white privilege all while creeping me all the way out. So good.”—Zakiya Dalila Harris, author of The Other Black Girl

Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this New York Times best-selling horror novel about a women's book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town.

Bonus features:
   • Reading group guide for book clubs
   • Hand-drawn map of Mt. Pleasant
   • Annotated true-crime reading list by Grady Hendrix
   • And more!
 
Patricia Campbell’s life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she’s always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they’re as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families.

One evening after book club, Patricia is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing the neighbor's handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn’t felt in years. But when children on the other side of town go missing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. The real problem? James is a monster of a different kind—and Patricia has already invited him in. 
 
Little by little, James will insinuate himself into Patricia’s life and try to take everything she took for granted—including the book club—but she won’t surrender without a fight in this blood-soaked tale of neighborly kindness gone wrong.

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Queen Bee

Dorothea Benton Frank

“If I could only read one writer from now until the end of my life, it would be Dorothea Benton Frank." —Elin Hildebrand, the New York Times bestselling author of Summer of ’69, The Perfect Couple, and The Identicals

Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank’s Carolina Lowcountry in this evocative tale that returns at long last to her beloved Sullivan’s Island. 

Beekeeper Holly McNee Kensen quietly lives in a world of her own on Sullivan’s Island, tending her hives and working at the local island library. Holly calls her mother The Queen Bee because she’s a demanding hulk of a woman. Her mother, a devoted hypochondriac, might be unaware that she’s quite ill but that doesn’t stop her from tormenting Holly. To escape the drama, Holly’s sister Leslie married and moved away, wanting little to do with island life. Holly’s escape is to submerge herself in the lives of the two young boys next door and their widowed father, Archie.

Her world is upended when the more flamboyant Leslie returns and both sisters, polar opposites, fixate on what’s happening in their neighbor’s home. Is Archie really in love with that awful ice queen of a woman? If Archie marries her, what will become of his little boys? Restless Leslie is desperate for validation after her imploded marriage, squandering her favors on any and all takers. Their mother ups her game in an uproarious and theatrical downward spiral. Scandalized Holly is talking to her honey bees a mile a minute, as though they’ll give her a solution to all the chaos. Maybe they will.

Queen Bee is a classic Lowcountry Tale—warm, wise and hilarious, it roars with humanity and a dropperful of whodunit added for good measure by an unseen hand. In her twentieth novel, Dorothea Benton Frank brings us back to her beloved island with an unforgettable story where the Lowcountry magic of the natural world collides with the beat of the human heart.

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Blackout

Sarah Hepola

*A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* 
For Sarah Hepola, alcohol was "the gasoline of all adventure." She spent her evenings at cocktail parties and dark bars where she proudly stayed till last call. Drinking felt like freedom, part of her birthright as a strong, enlightened twenty-first-century woman. 
But there was a price. She often blacked out, waking up with a blank space where four hours should be. Mornings became detective work on her own life. What did I say last night? How did I meet that guy? She apologized for things she couldn't remember doing, as though she were cleaning up after an evil twin. Publicly, she covered her shame with self-deprecating jokes, and her career flourished, but as the blackouts accumulated, she could no longer avoid a sinking truth. The fuel she thought she needed was draining her spirit instead. 
A memoir of unblinking honesty and poignant, laugh-out-loud humor, BLACKOUT is the story of a woman stumbling into a new kind of adventure--the sober life she never wanted. Shining a light into her blackouts, she discovers the person she buried, as well as the confidence, intimacy, and creativity she once believed came only from a bottle. Her tale will resonate with anyone who has been forced to reinvent or struggled in the face of necessary change. It's about giving up the thing you cherish most--but getting yourself back in return. 
 

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Definitely Better Now

Ava Robinson

A touching and deeply funny debut about starting over sober only to discover life's biggest messes are still waiting right where you left them.

The very last person anyone should worry about is Emma. Yes, hi, she's an alcoholic. But she's officially been sober for one entire year. That's twelve months of better health. Fifty-two whole weeks of focusing on nothing but her nine-to-five office job, group meetings, and avoiding the kind of bad decisions that previously left her awash in shame and regret. It's also been 365 days of not dating. And with her new dating profile, Emma, 26, of New York is ready to put herself back out there.

Except--was dating always this complicated? And did Emma's mother really have to choose now to move in with her new boyfriend? Being assigned to plan her office's holiday party feels like icing on the suddenly very overwhelming cake until her estranged father reappears with devastating news. Icing, meet cherry on top. But then there's Ben, the charming IT guy who, despite Emma's awkwardness and shortcomings, seems to maybe actually get her? Sobriety is turning out to be far from the flawless future Emma had once envisioned for herself, but as she allows herself to open up to Ben and confront difficult past relationships, she's beginning to realize that taking things one day at a time might just be the perfectly imperfect path she's meant to be on.

Bittersweet and darkly hilarious, Ava Robinson's debut novel about navigating sobriety and complicated family dynamics is witty, heartbreaking, and profoundly relatable.

 

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Catch Us when We Fall

Juliette Fay

If you love the emotionally complex novels of JoJo Moyes and the dramatic books of Jodi Picoult, you won't want to miss this newest book about second chances, redemption, and the power of hope from USA Today bestselling author of Shelter Me, Juliette Fay.
 

On her own since the age of eighteen, Cass Macklin dated brilliant, troubled Ben McGreavy, convinced he was the smartest person she'd ever known. They partied their way through their twenties, slowly descending into a bleak world of binge-drinking and broken promises, inebriated for most of a decade. Now Ben is dead, and Cass is broke, homeless, scared...and pregnant.

Determined to have a healthy pregnancy and raise Ben's baby, Cass has to find a way to stop drinking and build a stable life for herself and her child. But with no money, skills, or sober friends or family, the task seems insurmountable. At wit's end, Cass turns to the only person with the means to help her: Ben's brother Scott, third basemen for the Boston Red Sox, a man with a temper and problems of his own.

The two make a deal that neither one of them is sure they can live up to. As Cass struggles to take control of her life and to ask for help when she needs it, Scott begins to realize there's a life for him beyond the baseball diamond.

By turns heartbreaking and humorous, with its message that change is possible, that forgiveness can be freely given, and that life, though imperfect, is worth embracing, Catch Us When We Fall is a story of human connectedness and hope.

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Kitchen Confidential

Anthony Bourdain

When Chef Anthony Bourdain wrote "Don't Eat Before You Read This" in The New Yorker, he spared no one's appetite, revealing what goes on behind the kitchen door. In Kitchen Confidential, he expanded that appetizer into a deliciously funny, delectable shocking banquet that lays out his 25 years of sex, drugs, and haute cuisine.

From his first oyster in the Gironde to the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, from the restaurants of Tokyo to the drug dealers of the East Village, from the mobsters to the rats, Bourdain's brilliantly written, wild-but-true tales make the belly ache with laughter.

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The Dry

Jane Harper

"I love Jane Harper's Australia-based mysteries." —Stephen King
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM IFC FILMS STARRING ERIC BANA
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“A breathless page-turner, driven by the many revelations Ms. Harper dreams up...You’ll love [her] sleight of hand...A secret on every page.” —The New York Times

“One of the most stunning debuts I've ever read... Every word is near perfect.” —David Baldacci

A small town hides big secrets in The Dry, an atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.

After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.

Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.

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Homegoing

Yaa Gyasi

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE'S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE • WINNER OF THE PEN / HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION • Ghana, eighteenth century: two half sisters are born into different villages, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery.

One of Oprah’s Best Books of the Year, Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.

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The Covenant of Water

Abraham Verghese

OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK - INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY

From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret

 

"One of the best books I've read in my entire life. It's epic. It's transportive . . . It was unputdownable!"--Oprah Winfrey, OprahDaily.com

 

The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of the major word-of-mouth bestseller Cutting for Stone, which has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.
 


 

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India's Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning--and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala's long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl--and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi--will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.


 

A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.

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A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Becky Chambers

Winner of the Hugo Award!

In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, bestselling Becky Chambers's delightful new Monk and Robot series, gives us hope for the future.

It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.

One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. 

But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.

They're going to need to ask it a lot.

Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

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Nothing to See Here

Kevin Wilson

Kevin Wilson’s best book yet—a moving and uproarious novel about a woman who finds meaning in her life when she begins caring for two children with remarkable and disturbing abilities

Lillian and Madison were the unlikeliest of roommates at their elite boarding school: Madison, the daughter of a prominent Atlanta family, being groomed for greatness; Lillian, a scholarship student, plucked out of nowhere based solely on her intellect and athletic prowess. The two were as tight as could be, reveling in their unique weirdnesses, until Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly.

Years later, the two have lost touch, but Madison writes and begs Lillian for help. Her husband’s twin stepkids are moving in with them and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there’s a catch: the twins can spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a disturbing but beautiful way.

Disbelieving at first but ultimately too intrigued by these strange children, Lillian agrees. And as they hunker down in the pool house, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other—and stay cool—just as Madison’s family is bracing for a major announcement. It all seems impossible to manage, but Lillian soon accepts that she and the children need each other, urgently and fiercely.With a white-hot wit and a big, tender heart, Kevin Wilson has written a most unusual story of deep parental love that proves to be his best book yet. 

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Slade House

David Stephen Mitchell

The New York Times bestseller by the author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas - Named One of the Best Books of the Year by San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, National Post, BookPage, and Kirkus Reviews

Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door.

Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you'll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won't want to leave. Later, you'll find that you can't. Every nine years, the house's residents--an odd brother and sister--extend a unique invitation to someone who's different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it's already too late. . . .

Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story--as only David Mitchell could imagine it.

Praise for Slade House

"A fiendish delight . . . Mitchell is something of a magician."--The Washington Post

"Entertainingly eerie . . . We turn to [Mitchell] for brain-tickling puzzle palaces, for character studies and for language."--Chicago Tribune

"A ripping yarn . . . Like Shirley Jackson's Hill House or the Overlook Hotel from Stephen King's The Shining, [Slade House] is a thin sliver of hell designed to entrap the unwary. . . . As the Mitchellverse grows ever more expansive and connected, this short but powerful novel hints at still more marvels to come."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Like Stephen King in a fever . . . manically ingenious."--The Guardian (U.K.)

"A haunted house story that savors of Dickens, Stephen King, J. K. Rowling and H. P. Lovecraft, but possesses more psychic voltage than any of them."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Tightly crafted and suspenseful yet warmly human . . . the ultimate spooky nursery tale for adults."--The Huffington Post

"Diabolically entertaining . . . dark, thrilling, and fun . . . a thoroughly entertaining ride full of mind games, unexpected twists, and even a few laughs."--The Daily Beast

"Plants died, milk curdled, and my children went slightly feral as I succumbed to the creepy magic of David Mitchell's Slade House. It's a wildly inventive, chilling, and--for all its otherworldliness--wonderfully human haunted house story. I plan to return to its clutches quite often."--Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl and The Grownup

"I gulped down this novel in a single evening. Painstakingly imagined and crackling with narrative velocity, it's a Dracula for the new millennium, a reminder of how much fun fiction can be."--Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

"David Mitchell doesn't break rules so much as he proves them to be inhibitors to lively intelligent fiction."--#1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz

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Say Nothing

Patrick Radden Keefe

"Meticulously reported, exquisitely written, and grippingly told, Say Nothing is a work of revelation."
- David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon

" This] gripping account of the Troubles is equal parts true-crime, history, and tragedy . . . A must read." - Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl

From award-winning New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe, a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions

In December 1972, Jean McConville, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of ten, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Her abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.

Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders. From radical and impetuous I.R.A. terrorists such as Dolours Price, who, when she was barely out of her teens, was already planting bombs in London and targeting informers for execution, to the ferocious I.R.A. mastermind known as The Dark, to the spy games and dirty schemes of the British Army, to Gerry Adams, who negotiated the peace but betrayed his hardcore comrades by denying his I.R.A. past--Say Nothing conjures a world of passion, betrayal, vengeance, and anguish.

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Dead Wake

Erik Larson

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania

“Both terrifying and enthralling.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Thrilling, dramatic and powerful.”—NPR
“Thoroughly engrossing.”—George R.R. Martin

On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era’s great transatlantic “Greyhounds”—the fastest liner then in service—and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. 

Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger’s U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small—hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more—all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history.

It is a story that many of us think we know but don’t, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. 

Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history.

Finalist for the Washington State Book Award • One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Miami Herald, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, LibraryReads, Indigo

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The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin

"Intricate and extraordinary." - New York Times on The Fifth Season (A New York Times Notable Book of 2015)

WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL 2016

This is the way the world ends...for the last time.
A season of endings has begun. 

It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. 

It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. 

It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. 

This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy. 


For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out:

The Inheritance Trilogy 
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
The Broken Kingdoms
The Kingdom of Gods

The Inheritance Trilogy (omnibus edition) 
Shades in Shadow: An Inheritance Triptych (e-only short fiction) 
The Awakened Kingdom (e-only novella) 

Dreamblood Duology
The Killing Moon
The Shadowed Sun

The Broken EarthThe Fifth SeasonThe Obelisk Gate

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Feed

M. T. Anderson

In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble. So says Titus, a teenager whose ability to read, write, and even think for himself has been almost completely obliterated by his "feed," a transmitter implanted directly into his brain. Feeds are a crucial part of life for Titus and his friends. After all, how else would they know where to party on the moon, how to get bargains at Weatherbee & Crotch, or how to accessorize the mysterious lesions everyone's been getting? But then Titus meets Violet, a girl who cares about what's happening to the world and challenges everything Titus and his friends hold dear. A girl who decides to fight the feed.

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Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST • Set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. • Now an original series on HBO Max. • Over one million copies sold!

Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end. 

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.

Look for Emily St. John Mandel’s bestselling new novel, Sea of Tranquility!

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Starry Messenger

Neil deGrasse Tyson

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Bringing his cosmic perspective to civilization on Earth, Neil deGrasse Tyson shines new light on the crucial fault lines of our time—war, politics, religion, truth, beauty, gender, and race—in a way that stimulates a deeper sense of unity for us all.

In a time when our political and cultural views feel more polarized than ever, Tyson provides a much-needed antidote to so much of what divides us, while making a passionate case for the twin chariots of enlightenment—a cosmic perspective and the rationality of science.

After thinking deeply about how science sees the world and about Earth as a planet, the human brain has the capacity to reset and recalibrates life’s priorities, shaping the actions we might take in response. No outlook on culture, society, or civilization remains untouched.

With crystalline prose, Starry Messenger walks us through the scientific palette that sees and paints the world differently. From insights on resolving global conflict to reminders of how precious it is to be alive, Tyson reveals, with warmth and eloquence, an array of brilliant and beautiful truths that apply to us all, informed and enlightened by knowledge of our place in the universe.

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The Astonishing Color of After

Emily X.R. Pan

"Emily X.R. Pan's brilliantly crafted, harrowing first novel portrays the vast spectrum of love and grief with heart-wrenching beauty and candor. This is a very special book."--John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down 
A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng.
An APALA Honor BookA Walter Award Honor Book

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.
Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.
Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

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The Death of Vivek Oji

Akwaeke Emezi

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Electrifying. -- O: The Oprah Magazine 

Named a Best Book of 2020 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, USA TODAY, Vanity Fair, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Shondaland, Teen Vogue, Vulture, Lit Hub, Bustle, Electric Literature, and BookPage

What does it mean for a family to lose a child they never really knew?

One afternoon, in a town in southeastern Nigeria, a mother opens her front door to discover her son's body, wrapped in colorful fabric, at her feet. What follows is the tumultuous, heart-wrenching story of one family's struggle to understand a child whose spirit is both gentle and mysterious. Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, Vivek finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. But Vivek's closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens--and Osita struggles to understand Vivek's escalating crisis--the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom.

Propulsively readable, teeming with unforgettable characters, The Death of Vivek Oji is a novel of family and friendship that challenges expectations--a dramatic story of loss and transcendence that will move every reader.

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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

James McBride

THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • A NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

WINNER OF THE 2024 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRIZE FOR AMERICAN FICTION

FROM ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2024

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR/FRESH AIR, WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORKER, AND TIME MAGAZINE

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023

“A murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel . . . Charming, smart, heart-blistering, and heart-healing.” —Danez Smith, The New York Times Book Review

“We all need—we all deserve—this vibrant, love-affirming novel that bounds over any difference that claims to separate us.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.

    As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.

    Bringing his masterly storytelling skills and his deep faith in humanity to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride has written a novel as compassionate as Deacon King Kong and as inventive as The Good Lord Bird.

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Megabugs

Helaine Becker

Meet some gigantic prehistoric critters! A bug the size of a small crocodile? Or as large as a basketball player? As scary as it seems, supersized, insect-like creatures such as these roamed Earth long before humans. This peek into prehistory introduces seven of these fascinating megabugs — the ancestors of modern-day insects, spiders, crabs and other arthropods — which lived from 480 million to 47 million years ago. It explores when, where and how they each lived, why they grew so big and what caused their eventual extinction. Kids will never look at bugs the same way again!

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Kelly Doudna

Consonants and short vowels are featured and highlighted in simple words and children's names
- - Large type; ample spacing between words
- - Easy-to-follow layout; text appears at same place on every page
- - Print separated from photos
- - Short words and simple sentences
- - Short vowel sounds
- - Introduces digraphs, consonant blends
- - Common "picture words" list helps reader decode text
- - Word repetition reinforces learning
- - Photos assist reader with word recognition and reflect multicultural diversity

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The Last Policeman

Ben H. Winters

“A genre-defying blend of crime writing and science fiction.” –Alexandra Alter, The New York Times

Winner of the 2013 Edgar® Award for Best Paperback Original!

What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway?
 
Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact.

The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares. 

The first in a trilogy, The Last Policeman offers a mystery set on the brink of an apocalypse. As Palace’s investigation plays out under the shadow of 2011GV1, we’re confronted by hard questions way beyond “whodunit.” What basis does civilization rest upon? What is life worth? What would any of us do, what would we really do, if our days were numbered?

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Going Camping

Harold Rober

What do you need to go camping? What do you do once you reach the campsite? Learn all about going camping in this reading-level-appropriate text! Vibrant photos draw the reader in to the fun of experiencing the great outdoors, while critical thinking questions and a photo glossary introduce nonfiction reading skills.

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The Boy in the Suitcase

Lene Kaaberbol

Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is a compulsive do-gooder who can't say no when someone asks for help--even when she knows better. When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a key to a public locker in the Copenhagen train station, Nina gets suckered into her most dangerous project yet. Inside the locker is a suitcase, and inside the suitcase is a three-year-old boy: naked and drugged, but alive.


Is the boy a victim of child trafficking? Can he be turned over to authorities, or will they only return him to whoever sold him? When Karin is discovered brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life and the boy's are in jeopardy, too. In an increasingly desperate trek across Denmark, Nina tries to figure out who the boy is, where he belongs, and who exactly is trying to hunt him down.

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Nonfiction Sight Word Readers: Guided Reading Level C (Parent Pack)

Liza Charlesworth

Set the stage for your child to soar with these just-right books that teach the third 25 sight words! This cheery green box includes 25 titles, each focused on a key sight word: will, up, other, about, out, etc. The books' real-world topics with predicable text are super-engaging to make mastering these must-know words easy and fun. Includes motivating stickers PLUS a mini-activity book. Books correlate with Guided Reading Level C.

Third 25 Sight Words (Fry List): will, up, other, about, out, many, then, them, these, so, some, her, would, make, like, him, into, time. has, look. two, more, write, go, see

Includes:

  • 25 full-color, 8-page books
  • 32-page activity book
  • sticker sheet
  • sturdy storage box
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I Know Who You Are

Barbara Rae-Venter

The amateur DNA sleuth who solved one of the most infamous cold cases in American history—the Golden State Killer crime spree—tells the incredible true story of how she did it, and explains how her methods have forever changed criminal investigations.

In the span of just a few years, Barbara Rae-Venter went from researching her family history as a retiree to finding a serial killer who had baffled law enforcement for decades. I Know Who You Are tracks her improbable journey to becoming the nation’s leading authority in investigative genetic genealogy, and to identifying the Golden State Killer—who had evaded authorities for forty-four years—in just sixty-three days.

Rae-Venter also details other extraordinary cases that she has worked on, from the first criminal cold case she ever cracked—uncovering the long-lost identity of a child abductee—to the heartbreaking case of the Billboard Boy, which began with unidentified remains dumped along a North Carolina highway. When she looks at DNA data, Rae-Venter sees numbers, percentages, probabilities—but she also sees the very stuff that makes us who we are. Drawing on both her own experiences and insights from all the key players in her investigations, Rae-Venter brings readers inside her unique “grasshopper mind" as she analyzes DNA data; pores through obituaries, marriage records, and old newspapers articles; and envisions different scenarios that bring her closer and closer to her target. She lets readers join in on urgent calls from sheriffs, FBI agents, district attorneys, and researchers, and she takes us inside the struggle to obtain a usable crime scene DNA sample and other unexpected roadblocks that often make the search more difficult. Time and again, Rae-Venter pushes through setbacks, finds new angles of investigation, and uses the most cutting-edge new technology—much of it developed during her search—until, finally, a critical piece of the puzzle suddenly tumbles into place. 

I Know Who You Are captures the exhilaration of the moment of discovery in cold case investigations, but also the sheer depth of emotion that lingers around these cases and informs Rae-Venter’s careful approach to her work. It is a story of relentless curiosity, of constant invention and reinvention, and of recognizing that we may not be who we thought we were.

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