Take a trip to Mars to learn about the Red Planet then learn about birds and their behavior. These four reads include planned missions to Mars, a look at the hivemind of our society, and ways to combat climate change.

Mars (Kosmos) – Stephen James O'Meara

It's no secret that Mars has a reputation for being the mysterious planet that has fascinated mankind since it was discovered. The planet is known for volcanoes that are larger in size than Mount Everest, canyons large enough that they would engulf America and a landscape that is suspected to have contained water. /Mars/ is a detailed resource that provides a vast history on the planet which includes dating back to the first that discovered the planet and those currently obsessed with Mars from filmmakers to radio broadcasters. O'Meara also includes the most recent information from the /Curiosity/ rover, Mars mission plans, and critique on if the chances of these plans succeed.

What is a Bird? An Exploration of Anatomy, Physiology, Behavior, and Ecology – Tony D. Williams

Birds can be found all over the world with over 10,000 species that cover a wide variety which creates one of the most diverse groups in the animal kingdom. Among the species included in this book are the ostrich and the small species of bee hummingbird. This book explores every aspect of birds through an up-close look at their morphology, anatomy, behavior, and ecology. Hundreds of illustrations are provided which include common birds such as sparrows and exotic species such as birds of paradise. This is a must-have for birders and naturalists with a stunning exploration of bird history, a look at their ecology and behavior, and an insight into human connections with birds.

Hivemind: The New Science of Tribalism in Our Divided World – Sarah Rose Cavanagh

This provocative read takes a look at the way communities have shared ideas and learned their viewpoints from the groups we've selected for ourselves. As humans, we define ourselves through our social groups who are people that share our commonalities with such as shared tastes, faith, and heritage. This book takes an honest look at what happens when people only socialize with those like them which could create a point where we can't socialize with those outside our common interests and what could occur when our chosen communities define our views versus expanding it. Human beings have always been a social species and this nature has given us the benefits of us being able to ward off the emotional and physical upheavals of being alone. Topics found within /Hivemind/ include the Charlottesville riots, zombies, Facebook boardrooms, honeybees, and neuroscience. Cavanagh is a specialist in psychologist and emotion regulation who explores through /Hivemind/ how the way we socialize has been reshaped through social technology. This book explores online tribalism as well as how our panic has dimmed towards using screens and our mental health and delves into our understanding of community.

The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet – Michael E. Mann

This book tackles the elephant in the room: climate change. Fossil fuel companies have spent years shifting the blame of their actions so /The New Climate War/ tackles this topic with hard-hitting honesty while introducing ways to save the planet. Also included are examples of going against climate change by doing things such as eating less meat, flying less, and recycling. Current companies have deflected their actions and greenwashed as a way of handling their role in climate change. Mann delves into how companies have found ways to block efforts to regulate carbon emissions while discrediting PR campaigns and choosing to not accept responsibility for their role in the greater problem. A battle line has been drawn between the side of the people and the side of the various polluters which include in addition to fossil fuel companies, petrostates, and right-wing plutocrats. The plan outlined within the book shares an attainable approach to carbon pricing along with a look at renewable energy, discredited false narratives, and going up against the idea of doomism in regards to climate change.


Dead Cat Bounce

Old Mrs. Bello, bless her soul, was a married Italian woman with kids, grandkids, and to top it off, a distrust of banks. Everyone in the neighborhood was privy to her distrust and how she hid her money in old shoeboxes and stashed them in secret places in her house. After she passed, her kids looked for months, but to no avail. When a low-life criminal, Butchie, gets wind of this gossip, he’s all over the challenge. Unfortunately for him, he is forced to take on a partner. By means of chance, the two find the hidden money, but after that, things take a turn for the worse with their partnership. Butchie, with his “level-headed thinking”, must constantly remind his partner, Odraye, of the risks associated with their find.

Robert White has written another exciting, intense, and page-turning story. The fact that he has at least one “smart” criminal in his story makes it that much more enjoyable. Many of the situations in the story seem believable and realistic, thus increasing the story’s entertainment. The writing is well-done and easy to follow. This is definitely a read for the murder-mystery and crime lover.


Great Cities Through Travelers' Eyes

Travelers’ experiences are among the most vivid memories and perceptive observations of a prevailing culture. This book compiles travelers’ impressions of thirty-eight cities. Fortunately, none of the narratives are by natives, giving readers as true a traveler’s perspective as possible. The descriptions are from the ancient world (primarily Greek & Roman travelers), the medieval world, the pre-modern world (primarily European travelers), and the modern world (pre-1980). Each chapter focuses on one city, and the narratives are chronologically arranged.

The cities are all in existence today and are not concentrated in one part of the world. However, the narratives seem to disproportionally be from Europe and North America. Ibn Battuta’s impressions (from the fourteenth century), for instance, are included for a few cities, but his narrative on Canton (Guangzhou) is not included. Most descriptions are not translations, but adaptions from the original work (probably necessary to maintain length). Each description starts with a brief introduction of the author and the author's reason for visiting the city. Some narratives are by women, who provide a different perspective on the city. While reading the various narratives readers get a sense of how the city changed over the ages, and the descriptions are brief enough so an entire chapter can be read at once.


The Bathysphere Boys: The Depth-Defying Diving of Messrs. Beebe and Barton (Unhinged History)

Ted Enik, with illustrations by G. F. Newland

The Bathysphere Boys: The Depth-Defying Diving of Messrs. Beebe and Barton is a book in the Unhinged History series which focuses on odd couplings or rivalries that make remarkable discoveries or inventions. This book is about William Beebe and Otis Barton, who are rivals forced to work together to fulfill their dreams. Based on a true story, you'd think it would be a great book. Barton is rich and Beebe has great ideas. Together they built the bathysphere, a bubble-like submarine structure which would dive more than half a mile deep. Unfortunately, this story doesn't have a happy ending and is kind of confusing in the way it is written. The illustrations are watercolor and have distinct expression. They jump from black and white to saturated color and then to pale washed out. It doesn't flow very well and is hard to follow. I would only recommend this book to people who have a specific interest in the history of underwater exploration.


Olive, Again: A Novel

Olive Kitteridge makes no apology for who she is, and her blunt, unbending worldview will be immediately familiar to anyone who loved Strout’s Olive Kitteridge. This time, however, Olive is older, and she isn’t quite so quick to make moral judgments and swift dismissals. Olive has never been as hard as others sometimes believe her to be, but in this collection, she reveals a new vulnerability, recognizable from the original stories but heightened now, more searing. Her nurturing side is more pronounced as she navigates the indignities, fears, and disappointments of old age. There are complicated new layers of love, resentment, and forgiveness with her son, Christopher, and his prickly second wife, Ann. New, too, are second chances, including Olive’s second chance at love now that her husband, Henry, is gone.

The people who share Olive’s hometown of Crosby, Maine, are as lonely and conflicted as ever, and some of the most wrenching stories in this collection aren’t directly Olive’s at all. Kayley Callaghan, an eighth-grade house cleaner, finds a queasy connection with an elderly man in “Cleaning.” A grown woman discovers devastating new truths about her parents in “Helped.” And in “Light,” a woman dying from cancer finds more comfort in Olive than in her own doting husband. In all of these stories, Olive is a crucial force either in person or in spirit, and readers will want to seize every second of her waning life. Olive, Again is an essential partner to Olive Kitteridge, and the emotional impact of these new stories won’t easily fade.


From the first heart transplant to the federal courts of New York City, these four reads take an in-depth look at the death of Bruce Tucker, the transition of America into a one-click society, the groundbreaking work of William Smith, and the callousness of a billion-dollar industry.

The Districts: Stories of American Justice from the Federal Courts – Johnny Dwyer

Delve into this comprehensive look into the court system within Manhattan and Brooklyn. The two federal courts of Southern District Court and Eastern District Court keep order in New York City. Johnny Dwyer provides multiple stories as examples that range from a Mafioso in Queens helping depose of a body to a college student caught at the JFK airport with cocaine to a Manhattan hedge fund manager that lies to investors. Dwyer takes an in-depth exploration of the courtrooms through the lives of the judges, attorneys, prosecutors, and defendants. The crimes mentioned in the book include drug trafficking, terrorism, organized crime, and white-collar crime. /The Districts/ takes a hard and honest look at intent, deception, justice, and reasonable doubt.

The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South – Chip Jones

Chip Jones recounts the horrific events surrounding the first heart transplant which occurred in 1968 when Bruce Tucker, a black man, went to the top hospital in Virginia after a head injury only to have his heart removed and placed inside a white businessman. This book from Pulitzer Price-nominee journalist delves into Tucker's death and how he became a human guinea pig without his family knowing. These events reflect a long history of the mistreatment African Americans have endeared which began over a century ago with horrific actions including cadaver harvesting. The 1960s saw a race for the first successful heart transplants in a book that balances medical history, legal drama, and the issues of life and death told through the lens of racial injustice that has been around for centuries. Also included is a forward from Ben Jealous who is a social justice activist.

Strata: William Smith's Geological Maps – Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Full-color geological map illustrations, geological cross-sections, strata tables, fossil illustrations, and photographs are included within /Strata: William Smith's Geological Maps/. Also included in /Strata/ is Smith's 1799 geological map of Bath, detailed stratigraphical country maps, and the groundbreaking map of strata. The information is thanks to a variety of sources such as the London Natural History Museum, the Geological Society, and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. This includes the first complete presentation of the revolutionary work of William Smith, a geologist, from the nineteenth century. He's considered the father of English geology. This book illustrates the career of William Smith as he went from an apprentice to a surveyor and collector of fossils and even his imprisonment over debt problems. An introduction from Douglas Palmer describes Smith's work as it relates to structure specifically towards geographical mapping and theories of biostratigraphical. The book is divided into four parts and contains sheets from Smith's 1815 hand-colored map, cross-sections, and fossil illustrations. Between each section are essays commenting on Smith's work in areas of hydrology, mining, cartography, and agriculture. This testament to Smith's career includes a forward from Robert Macfarlane and an awe-inspiring collection.

Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America – Alec MacGillis

Upton Sinclair published a novel with the subtitle /A Story of Ford-America/ which called out a billion-dollar company for how it underpaid employees and had dangerous working conditions. Going forward eighty-three years, Amazon.com has well over a trillion dollars while Ford Motor Company is worth around thirty billion dollars. One-click America has intensified under the pandemic of the Coronavirus due to the increase in online shopping. As Amazon grows through deliveries, corporate campuses, and data centers, a separation between winner and loser cities begins to grow. The book focuses on the fabric of society unraveling which is told through stories about those that have succeeded and those that haven't. These examples include high-paid Seattle workers in offices where a black neighborhood once was, Virginia homeowners that work against a data center that could damage their local environment, and an El Paso office supply firm that works against Amazon's governmental procurement. MacGillis also includes in /Fulfillment/ how Amazon become a Washington D.C. force, the growing inequality between the poor and rich, and how every click online is remaking America.


Plagued by Fire: The Dreams and Furies of Frank Lloyd Wright

Plagued by Fire was a tough read for me. Hendrickson is the author of acclaimed Hemingway’s Boat and I am a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, so I was interested in this book. I’ve read articles on FLW’s personal life and knew him to have lived an unconventional life for his time and to have a big ego to match his artistic brilliance. I was curious to dig in and learn more. This book was not the fit for me though. It reads more like research notes…. extensive research notes… hundreds of pages of research notes. The author spends an enormous amount of time and words telling the reader all about the inaccuracies of other published works on FLW. It lost my interest and I found myself wishing that he would get onto the things that he found to be true about FLW and telling them in a reasonably succinct and interesting way. For example, he mentions many times in the book that Julian Carlton’s (the servant who burned down FLW's home and murdered his family and students) name is misspelled in other publishings. I would gladly trade that level of minutiae for something more readable. That being said, the author is a very well educated man and has won awards for several other books. If you are looking to dive really deep into the details of what’s been written about FLW and contrasting it with what this author has found to be true, you may enjoy this book. To me, this one reads more like a compilation of research notes that haven’t yet been woven into a story for others to enjoy.


The Best American Mystery Stories 2019

While Jonathan Lethem is known more for detective characters in his novels than for true mystery, no one can doubt his understanding of the genre. The stories selected for The Best American Mystery Short Stories 2019 are filled with every twist and turn imaginable, and a few you couldn’t think of if you tried.

Reading this collection is a surefire adrenaline rush, especially for fans of fiction that takes you places you weren’t expecting. The collection opens with the dark “Coach O” by Robert Hinderliter, in which a high school football coach suspects his wife of having an affair as he also realizes his star player is an alcoholic. The way the coach chooses to deal with both situations is as wrong as it is riveting. Anne Therese Macdonald’s “That Donnelly Crowd” seems, on the surface, to be about the poor choices of a woman traveling abroad until more sinister forces emerge in the guise of a charismatic Irishman. A bigger name, Pulitzer Prize-winner Joyce Carol Oates, also appears in the collection with her horrifying “The Archivist”: for school teachers, this one is a particularly terrifying read. But the story I can’t stop thinking about is “Hannah-Beast” by Jennifer McMahon. Trust me when I say it will grip you and not let go.

These pieces, along with sixteen other excellent short stories, will keep you turning pages far into the night.


ABCs of Art

Children are never too young to be introduced to great art. This large board book (8X10 inches) offers a large print of an important painting on the right-hand page with the artist’s and painting’s name and the year it was painted. There is also a question that should elicit some activity or thinking from the youngster being read to, such as asking the child to point out the stars in The Starry Night or asking which fruits and vegetables the child can name in Vertumnus. On the facing page is the alphabet letter, what it stands for, and a rhyming couplet that speaks about the painting. Two pages at the back of the book contain a thumbnail of every painting, the letter designation (A is for Apple), the artist’s full name, the title of the painting, the year it was painted, and the place the original is held. The design of the book is very clean to help youngsters to focus on the art. Unfortunately, the rhyming couplets are mostly uninspired and many have poor meter. Also, many of the activity questions are uninteresting and not at all challenging. This is a pretty introduction to art though.


After Sundown: A Novel

After Sundown is an intriguing apocalyptic story about the journey of Sela Gordon and Ben Jernigan out of their respective shells of isolation. Ben warns Sela about the coming CME that will wipe out the power grid, plunging the world into a different civilization. Sela, although hesitant, goes to the mall to get things they'll need, but realizes that this can’t be enough. Grabbing what she can, Sela heads back to her store, and a couple of hours later the NOAA announces that there would be a CME hit tomorrow at 3 o'clock, giving them only 24 hours to prepare. With this in mind, everyone rushes to gather non-perishable food items, but the stores only take cash. When 3 o’clock hits, everyone freezes; when a minute passes, they think they were wrong, but then the lights go out. A surreal feeling comes over everybody.

Linda Howard effectively weaves in the backstory of Sela and Ben without taking the time to make a formal exposition. At first Sela and Ben are apprehensive and withdrawn people, but when they know each better, they both come out of their shells for the good of the community. The plot is so realistic. I found myself wondering what it would be like if it really happened in real life. This is the first novel I have read that deals with coronal mass ejection. One clear lesson is that we can't shut people out forever; eventually we'll have to start letting people into our bubble. Because of descriptions in an intimate scene between Sela and Ben, I would recommend this book to teens ages 15 and up.


Scavenge the Stars

Silverfish has worked for years on a debtor’s ship to pay a debt her parents passed on to her. Soon though, her debt will be paid, she can reunite with her mother, and she can finally return to being Amaya. However, when she rescues a stranger from drowning she fears she has only earned herself longer on the ship. Instead, he offers her wealth, a new identity and the chance for revenge against the man who ruined her life. As her plans intertwine with the son of the man she is trying to take down, things get more complicated and she has to question just whom she can trust.

In this gender-bent retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, Amaya has to find out whom she is, after having everything she knows twisted with lies. The story is well written, with descriptions to show you what is going on but leaving enough for you to imagine yourself. Some characters I would have liked to see more of didn’t get much time in the story, but may have more in the second part. It’s called a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo but is more of its own story than a retelling.


The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver

Gene Barretta, with illustrations by Frank Morrison

George Washington Carver was born into slavery. George and his mother were kidnapped, but young George was brought back, and he and his brother were raised by the Carvers, farmers who had no children of their own. George, always curious about nature, had a secret garden in the woods where he grew flowers and learned much about plants, soil, and more. George learned that nothing could be wasted and made many things from what was there: feathers became needles, berries became dyes, and more. Even after slavery ended, George couldn’t go to school, but he learned much from his garden. He eventually was able to leave the farm and go to school, finishing college and became a professor of agriculture. He changed the way farming was done in the South and made peanuts the great crop, finding many uses for them.

Author Gene Barretta’s extensive research shines through in this marvelous non-fiction book that will allow youngsters to learn about this incredible man and all that he accomplished. The beautiful, detailed illustrations by Frank Morrison complete this story and will help to keep youngsters engaged as they read this inspiring story. Don’t miss this one.


Ready to Fly: How Sylvia Townsend Became the Bookmobile Ballerina

Lea Lyon and Alexandria LaFaye, with illustrations by Jessica Gibson

I could read Ready to Fly: How Sylvia Townsend became the Bookmobile Ballerina a hundred times. This book is about dancing. A girl named Sylvia learns to dance ballet from books and then at the end is a teacher. She wants to be able to dance in real ballets, but the problem is the teachers all don’t want to teach her because she is black. So, she teaches herself and other girls from books until a girl backstage says she should meet a teacher who wants her in the school.

I think this is a good book. I like the dancing and the pictures. The story is fun and interesting. The pictures make it easy to figure out who Sylvia is because all the kids look very different. The pictures help tell the story and let you know what moves the kids are learning. Kids three to eight would like this book.

This book lets you learn how to do lots of dance steps. Reading it makes me want to dance along with the book. It also teaches you a lot about trying hard. Teachers could use it to talk to kids about discrimination. I think schools and libraries should buy this book. It is a terrific book.


Jetpack Attack (Carmen Sandiego Chase-Your-Own Capers)

This is a Carmen Sandiego Chase-Your-Own Caper book. In this book, the reader is an engineer who is working on a prototype jetpack. An evil organization by the name of VILE wants to use the jetpack to steal things. Carmen Sandiego is trying to intercept the jetpacks before the villains of VILE can use them for nefarious reasons!

One of the storylines is when your boss needs you to go on the plane that is delivering the jetpacks to oversee the delivery and answer any questions your customers might have. The plane makes a stop in Kenya to pick up a passenger who works for the client. She wants to make a quick stop in Italy but needs you to convince the pilot to make an unscheduled stop. You, the reader, have to decide whether to stop, without really knowing the reason behind it.

I liked this book because I love choose-your-own-adventure stories. The storyline was intriguing because it was full of adventure and suspense. It was awesome!


Cherry Blossom and Paper Planes

Cherry Blossom and Paper Planes is awesome. It’s about true friendship. When one friend moves away from the country to the city, they miss each other dearly. Then one day they miss each other so much that one visits the other, and the story gets even sweeter. It’s very touching to your heart. It will be an especially good story for anyone who has had a friend move away, but anyone will like it, and it will be dear to your heart. The book itself is printed very nicely on good paper that is smooth. The illustrations are thoughtful, beautiful, imaginative, and so on. This book is more than gorgeous and creative and beyond. I would love to read more books by the author.


Best Kept Secrets: A Novel

Best Kept Secrets was an entertaining read with intricate characters and relationships. Morgan is a detective out for vengeance. Several years ago, her best friend Fay was killed. Morgan found the body, and it has haunted her ever since. Now, as Morgan is given a new homicide case, she thinks that the killer may be the same person who killed Fay. She becomes obsessed with a man named Ekhard and his sister Caryn who both seem to be very odd and unstable characters.

This book was a fun-to-read police mystery, but the thing that made this book even better was the subtleties that were thrown into two parts of the book. The very last sentence of the book confirmed my suspicions and finalized the story as a whole. Very well written with some really dysfunctional relationships between both Morgan and the man she is dating, Rob as well as Ekhard and his sister Caryn. Caryn is also dating a married man and doesn’t know if she really wants to be with him or just likes the fact that she is doing something taboo. A good book for fans of mystery and suspense.


Honey, the Dog Who Saved Abe Lincoln

Shari Swanson, with illustrations by Chuck Groenick

As a young boy, Abraham Lincoln loved being out in nature and particularly loved animals, even saving some. He rescued a frog from the jaws of a snake and saved a golden dog that had a broken leg. He splinted her leg and took her home. Abe named the dog Honey, and she became his constant companion. It is a good thing he found Honey because saving can be a two-way street. One day, Abe dropped a bag of grain at the mill to be ground. He and Honey explored the nearby woods while waiting for the grain to be done, and when Abe found a cave, he went in, followed closely by Honey. Abe got stuck between two boulders, and it was Honey who was able to go for help, saving Abe from a terrible fate.

Author Shari Swanson has written a fun and sweet telling of a true story from Abe Lincoln’s childhood that is well researched and beautifully written. Youngsters will be fascinated with this peek into a favorite president’s life. Illustrator Chuck Groenick uses a soft palette and lots of fun details to complement the story. This is a honey of a book.


Three Ways to Trap a Leprechaun

The cover of this book is SO pretty! I love the rainbow and the gold. They really pop off the page. The brother and sister remind me a lot of me and my sisters. We try to catch the leprechaun every year too and haven't been able to get him yet. It is good to know that his name is Finn! I like that Claire never gave up. She kept trying and trying to come up with a perfect trap to catch Finn. I cannot wait to try the ideas in the book when it comes time to make a new trap!


A Day So Gray

Marie Lamba, with illustrations by Alea Marley

Two little girls stand at a window looking out at a snowy day. One of them says that it is such a gray day, but the other says that it isn’t so. She points out all the different colors that can be found—soft brown, shining blue, silver splashes on bright yellow. As they walk outside, the first girl claims the field is a blah brown. The other girl shows the first one that the brown field is filled with things that are orange, black, red, and tan making up the brown. And so goes the day. The first girl insisting on the dullness while the second girl points out all the beauty that can be found if one only takes the time to look carefully for the details of the day.

Author Marie Lamba has written a sweet, quiet story that will help to give children a different perspective when they look at the everyday things around them while also reinforcing color names. Illustrator Alea Marley has filled the pages with perfectly enchanting pictures chock full of charming details that will keep youngsters’ eyes firmly on the pages. This will be a nice addition to any child’s library.


A Key to Treehouse Living

William Tyce, abandoned by his parents and left in the care of his gambler uncle, narrates A Key to Treehouse Living, the brilliant debut novel from Elliot Reed. Written as a series of definitions, not always in alphabetical order for reasons Tyce explains early on, the book is a coming of age tale with echoes of Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield.

In William, Reed has created a young man whose heartbreak and desire to make sense of the world evolve as he ages. From the earliest entries, when William is in elementary school, to the latest entries that find him in his late teens, the character’s voice is clear, funny, observant, and unflinchingly honest. Early on, his perceptions of people he deems “gypsies” and “hillbillies” are filtered through his limited experiences as a child. As he ages, those perceptions gather gravity and depth—particularly in relation to the parents he’s lost and the uncle he becomes separated from.

When the novel ends—a moment that comes far too soon and at exactly at the right time—William returns to a semblance of safety that for most of us wouldn’t seem terribly safe at all. But, for a young man who has braved a solo river trip on a raft made of barrels, spent time in a shack with a rum runner called River Jim, and shared a fleeting encounter with a tender-hearted stranger and her Chihuahua, the safety William attempts to find is the perfect resolution for A Key to Treehouse Living.


Oregon City or Bust! (Two Books in One): The Search for Snake River and The Road to Oregon City (The Oregon Trail)

The Oregon Trail is a series of choose-your-own-adventure books inspired by the computer game of the same name. With pixelated fonts and lots of black and white illustrations, this book series embraces elements from the retro video game. Oregon City or Bust! combines Volumes 3 and 4 of the series. This book can be saddening when things suddenly turn for the worse based on the choices you’ve made earlier on the trail. From sickness to livestock dying and even avalanches, there are many dangers along the Oregon Trail. Your job is to make wise choices and avoid the twenty-two negative endings that will dissolve your dreams of making it to Oregon City. Only one path will lead you safely through Snake River to Three Island Crossing to finish Volume 3 and through treacherous, snowy mountain passes to Oregon City to finish Volume 4. I really enjoyed this book because it is so entertaining and keeps you guessing throughout. I felt really good when I finally selected the correct path through the hazards. Even though this is a fictional story, many pioneers made the journey across the Oregon Trail, and there are some factual historical pieces in the book. Volume 4 is my favorite of this combined set because I felt better knowing that there’s no more chance I will die of dysentery. I recommend this book for anyone who can handle the sad reality of pioneering families in the 1850s. The characters in the wagon train are really interesting, and if you play it safe, you have a better chance of keeping everyone alive!


Harlem Bible-In The Beginning

Harlem Bible: In the Beginning by Grant Harper Reid is a nonfiction work detailing the author’s family, friends, and biographical experiences. The book starts with a biography of the author’s father and proceeds to narrate the lives of his parents, grandparents, and himself. His father had an interesting upbringing and was a leader in the black community. Reid calls his family, particularly his father, part of the “bougie” class, including vacations in upstate New York and owning boats. This is a perspective of African American history that is lesser known. Reid attended school in Harlem, starting in 1958, and his childhood in Harlem is chronicled, along with high school, later life in New Jersey (black suburban paradise as he calls it), and has numerous wonderful pictures, which I particularly enjoyed seeing. Heartbreaking, racist and cruel moments in middle school and in high school give the book particularly important emotional and historical value.

The book reads like a work of history. It could be especially useful to historians and students of American history. It reminds me of the oral history interviews that I’ve conducted in its retelling of events in a matter of fact way, and has much value in its first person, primary source accounting of a unique American life. Because it reads like an oral history interview, however, its tone is flat. It doesn’t read like a novel (except for the teen year sections), but of a historical accounting. It can be hard to sustain interest because of this. Accounts like this one are to be encouraged, as they are so important to our collective understanding of the past.


Flavors of Africa: Discover Authentic Family Recipes from All Over the Continent

A region’s cuisine evolved from peoples who settled there and the available foods in that region. Africa, because of its location, has seen migrants from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Its cuisines reflect those influences along with influences from internal migration. This book aims to bring readers flavors from all parts of Africa. The book is divided into four parts (east, west, north, and south), each section containing recipes from that part of Africa. West Africa has the most entries (thirty-one recipes), while the other sections have about a dozen each.

Each recipe has a color picture of the finished product, which was very helpful. However, the preparation instructions are not completely clear (or there are some steps missing) as not all the recipes turn out looking like the picture provided. While the dishes are labeled as authentic, the ingredients are fairly easy to find, most probably due to adaptions for North America (the author lives in Atlanta). Curiously, Zanzibar pizza is in the Southern Africa section, while Zanzibar is in East Africa (as part of Tanzania). If made correctly, the food tastes good (but not great), and the recipes do not require expert-level culinary proficiency.


The Aosawa Murders

A terrible crime struck the Aosawa family in the 1970s when a killer poisoned a drink at a family celebration killing everyone except for young Hisako, who has been blind for years. Shortly afterwards, a young man commits suicide leaving a note that he is the one who killed all those people. The case is considered closed until an author who is unable to let the investigation go starts to interview people connected to the case, including the author of a bestselling book who wrote it as a way to send a message to the true killer, not the young man who committed suicide.

This is different from many mystery books people in the United States will read. It is slow-moving, slowly revealing itself in bunches, with the final reveal not totally at the end. It encompasses 1970s Japanese culture, including the cult of the powerful family and one person’s quest to truly find themselves in the madness, ultimately leading to their demise. Some people might find it confusing and too unfamiliar, while others will see similarities to other famous murder mysteries by Truman Capote.


Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?: With Fun Facts, Cool Maps, and Seek and Finds for 10 Locations Around the World

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? Follow Carmen on her journey to ten different locations around the world and see what she finds. From North and South America to Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, Carmen Sandiego is on the lookout for ten vile operatives who are creating chaos around the world. Explore each city in detail, learning about their population, capital, size, currency, agricultural products, industries, as well as about each culture and how they are alike and similar. Readers will also learn about famous landmarks in each city. This fun-filled book takes readers on a journey of fact and fiction and also keeps readers engaged with fun seek-and-find puzzles and allows them to explore fun maps. Readers are sure to enjoy learning about various, places, cultures, and landmarks while helping Carmen Sandiego battle the bad guys. My favorite part about the book is the seek-and-find pages. I look forward to the many other books in the Carmen Sandiego series.


Star Wars Creatures Big & Small

This is a cute little book with drawings and rhyming poems that describe all the weird animals that show up in every Star Wars movie so far. There are forty creatures from very small to very big. Yoda starts and ends the book. He says it’s an adventure because “truly wonderful every creature is.” My favorite animals are porgs and puffer pigs because porgs are the smallest and cutest animals of them all, and when the puffer pigs get scared they puff themselves up with air and float away. My least favorite animal is the mynoch, an ugly, bat-like creature that lives inside the space slug. It eats wires, and almost grounded the Millenium Falcon when it landed on an asteroid.

The creatures drawn in the book are much cuter than the creatures in the movies. For example, the mynochs are creepy in The Empire Strikes Back, but the drawing makes them look cute.

The sarlacc actually looks pretty much the same, except it has more teeth in the movie. At the end of the book, there’s a chart of all the animals from littlest to biggest in order. The most dangerous animal in the book is probably the biggest: the summa-verminoth, which can catch and eat spaceships. I really like this book because it’s about Star Wars.


Wicked Bite: A Night Rebel Novel (#2)

I can’t believe Wicked Bite is already over. Ian and Veritas give readers everything they want and more. After the way Shades of Wicked, the first book in the series, ended, I had no doubt in my mind that we would be in for a wild ride. Veritas didn’t have to wait too long for Ian to find her. Who could blame him? Once he has his mind set, it’s very hard to change it. What I love so much about Veritas is that she’s smart and so much fun—it helps that she knows just what to do to get herself out of the biggest pickles. So much is at stake for Veritas to save Ian but she will stop at absolutely nothing to make sure bad things don’t happen. Such as hunting down all the dark souls that were let free. The romance was on point but didn’t take away from the main plot of the story. I never felt overwhelmed or thought it was cheesy. The pacing was perfection, and everything happened the way it was supposed to. Now, I’m stuck waiting until I can get my hands on the next book.


Rachel's Roses

I liked the determination Rachel had when she raised enough money to buy her rose charms. The drawings were neatly drawn and very detailed. I can easily compare this to other books and find I like this one much better. The story board was quite simple ( in a good way) and the title was catchy. I enjoyed reading this, and I hope everyone else will too.


Endangered Operation (Carmen Sandiego Chase-Your-Own Capers)

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? Follow Carmen on her journey to save endangered species from the VILE leaders of the world's most dangerous and powerful criminal organization. This book is so fun because it gives readers a choice of what you can do to help Carmen Sandiego rescue the endangered animals. At the end of each chapters readers are asked a "What do you do?" questions, for example, if the reader wants to run after the criminal its says to turn to a certain page, or if the reader would rather hide from the criminal one can turn to another page. This choice gives readers the choice of what to do and how the book ends based on all their decisions. The best part about this book is unlike regular chapter books, this book can be read many times and have many different endings based on the choices the reader makes. This book is also fun because it has a few illustrations in it which many chapter books do not. I love reading the Carmen Sandiego series and I hope other readers enjoy it as much as I do.


Exactly as You Are: The Life and Faith of Mister Rogers

Exactly As You Are: The Life and Faith of Mister Rogers explores the life of Fred Rogers from when he was a young, shy, and bullied child, to the end of his life when he had achieved the creation of a children's show that was not only educational but also filled with moral and less-than-obvious references to Christianity. Many people throughout the years have wondered who the real Fred Rogers was, especially when his televised persona made such an impact on children and adults alike. Shea Tuttle breaks down Fred Rogers' behavior and reasoning for many of his memorable songs and talks on his hit show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and how they all had a connection to Christianity and his need to let the children know that, like Jesus, Mister Rogers liked everyone "exactly as you are."

Even if you're not a religious person, you will still find this book fascinating as you learn much about this inspirational man. Being a religious person, I found this book to be inspiring to my faith and a testimony to how God works in us humans for the betterment of others. Tuttle writes with experience and includes cited sources as well as some assumptions in her text to make it read as an enjoyable, light read.


Juliet Takes a Breath

This is a powerful, moving, and engaging story about a young woman figuring out who she is as a young feminist. After coming out as gay to her family, Juliet Milagros leaves NYC for Oregon where she will be interning with a feminist author she admires. As a Puerto Rican lesbian from the Bronx, she isn’t sure what the summer in Portland will bring, but she is hoping to work out her “life” or at least run away from her problems with her mom. She encounters racism, mentors, a wide range of people on the queer spectrum, heartbreak, and a whole series of experiences that help her redefine who she is and what it means to be a lesbian woman. The character of Juliet is smart, compelling, funny, caring, and very likable. The writing style is quite informal and a bit “stream of consciousness” and conversational. While this isn’t good or bad, it definitely made the story go a little slower than I like. I learned a good deal about feminism, homophobia and queer communities, but there isn’t much of a plot beyond seeing Juliet’s life for the summer. It is told from Juliet’s perspective, and there is quite of bit of language that is more adult, therefore I think it works best for people over the age of sixteen.


The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth (Book of Dust, Volume 2)

The Secret Commonwealth picks up Lyra’s story a few years after His Dark Materials story ends. Lyra is a student at St. Sophia’s College when her daemon, Pantalaimon, witnesses a murder. This sets in motion a series of events that will send Lyra and Pantalaimon – separately! – on a mission through Europe and the Middle East in search of information; they are aided by the “secret commonwealth.” On these adventures, they encounter allies and enemies both new and old, and they learn how to navigate the journey and their lives on their own.

At over 600 pages, The Secret Commonwealth rambles a bit, and much of the dialogue seems simplified and forced. Its themes are decidedly more mature and darker than in His Dark Materials, which makes sense because Lyra is older. Still, it is an interesting read, and its parables about media, religion, and soul-searching address today's real-world issues. The story ends abruptly without tying up all the loose ends, but the cliffhanger at the end of the book has this reader excited for the next installation of the trilogy.


Rose Coffin

Rose knows all about bullying, whether it's about her clothes or her blushing cheeks. When SallyAnn, the most popular girl in class, asks Rose to join the band, Rose is skeptical but hopeful, and joins the group in the scary woods. She pours her heart out into the tryout, only to find out that SallyAnn just wanted video footage for more bullying. Rose is so embarrassed, even the next morning, that she runs into the woods instead of getting on the bus. There the people of Eppersett, a town in the woods, are so excited to see her - she’s the one, the one who will save them from the Abomination!  She soon realizes, however, that no one will save her, as her death is the only way to save the town.

This fantastical adventure is set in a world with strange creatures who experience many of the same things as Rose: crippling doubt, unending bullying, and impossible hope. It is similar to Percy Jackson’s epic adventures in The Lightning Thief>/em> and Alice in Alice in Wonderland.  Rose is the downtrodden hero who may be the only one to save them, at such great cost, and it is her growth that propels this story along beautifully.


To be an artist means to see what is around you, just as Leonardo da Vinci did in his lifetime. The Measure of a Man: A Novel of Leonardo da Vinci, which is written by Marco Malvaldi, is a fictional account of the life of the great man, but the factual statements made by Marco at the end of the book still make for a good read.

The Measure of a Man is a good representation of what Leonardo da Vinci could have done in his lifetime, up to a point. Marco has done well in having famous people from the time, such as Savonarola and Lorenzo de Medici, as fellow characters in the story. There were many romantic scenes in the book, and it is a piece of literature that covers the time of the famous artist Leonardo da Vinci well. It is also a novel of creativity that will have readers believing what they have read.

Marco Malvaldi is a creative writer who uses research very well. The writing gives readers a sense of how a romantic artist could have lived his life. This is also a book that caused me to read my humanities textbook in a different way.


Lethal Agent

Lethal Agent by Kyle Mills is the eighteenth book in the Mitch Rapp series started by Vince Flynn. Since Flynn's passing, Mills took over the series, and this current book is on par with Mills' previous books set in the Rapp universe as well as Flynn's novels. In the latest book, a violent unrepentant ISIS terrorist, Mullah Sayid Halabi, thought killed by Rapp, is actually alive, according to new intelligence. A video surfaces purporting to show Halabi, but the CIA dismisses it saying it was shot some time ago. However, Rapp becomes convinced Halabi is still alive when ISIS kidnaps a French microbiologist and forces him to weaponize anthrax. CIA director, Irene Kennedy then tasks Rapp to find Halabi and kill him once and for all. However, as Rapp and his men are dealing with terrorists overseas, Kennedy faces problems at home. A senator running for President on a divisive platform is very antagonistic of the CIA and especially Irene Kennedy which makes her put pressure on Rapp and his men to find Halabi whatever it takes.

I enjoyed reading Lethal Agent. There is plenty of action in the book and the characters are developed and multidimensional. In addition, politics plays a very big role in the book which adds another level to the suspense.


The Invention of Yesterday: A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection

This wonderful history of the world takes a unique approach in looking at major trends throughout time that were far more global than any particular locale or even empire. It is like the expanded prose version of a comprehensive timeline, linking such far-flung events such as dynastic succession in China with the European Crusades. Events in one place always had ripple effects that spilled out across the globe, influencing, directing, and leading to the next sweeping change. Viewing history in this comprehensive way gives you a much deeper understanding of why, perhaps, people have acted as they have, and why history unfolded as it did. From the earliest civilizations to empires to nation-states and finally to a globally interconnected world of information, readers discover connections, trends, narratives, and ideologies that lap and crash into each other, resulting sometimes in annihilation, sometimes in absorption, with results that are still felt today. Although it covers multiple millennia, it is a fast read, and whether you are a long-time history buff or a budding novice, this will give you multiple pegs on which to hang everything else, making constellations of sense out of disparate historical points of light.


The Braid: A Novel

In a small village in India, Smita is what’s known as an untouchable, fated to a lowly life with no opportunities… but she’s determined that her daughter will have a better future to look forward to, and she’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. In Sicily, Giulia is being groomed to take over the family wig-making business, but when her father gets in an accident, she discovers that it’s up to her to save them from bankruptcy. And in Canada, powerful lawyer Sarah is about to learn that a cancer diagnosis can mean the end of a career.

These three women from around the globe seem like they have nothing in common, but in The Braid, author Laetitia Colombani shows that unexpected things can create connections. It’s a short novel, and none of the three individual characters’ stories are particularly detailed, but most readers will enjoy getting glimpses into the unique—but surprisingly relatable—lives of these three women. This book is a relatively quick read, but the interwoven stories will really stay with readers and leave them wondering about the mysterious ways the world works.


Zatanna and the House of Secrets

Continuing their line of books for middle-school-aged kids and younger, DC Comics has been reimagining their heroes as kids and putting them into adventures. This continues with Zatanna, as she lives in the House of Secrets with her dad, who is also a magician, a talking rabbit as a familiar, and a key that everyone wants because they believe it can extend one’s life. The villains are obvious, and learning to grow up is the major theme of the book. As Zatanna struggles with a changing culture at school and a friend who wants to be like a grown-up though Zatanna might not be ready for that. Can she come to learn that adults keep secrets for their own reasons, and can Zatanna keep her friends with her at the end?

This book, like the others of its kind, is clearly geared towards a younger audience, as complex questions are not asked and people who have been reading for some time will see the twists coming. But overall it is decent, and most young kids looking to get into graphic novels will find this a good choice.


Hide Away (A Rachel Marin Thriller)

Rachel Marin’s life was destroyed in an instant by a horrific crime. She took her two small children, changed all their names and left Connecticut and went to Hide Away in Illinois. It’s been seven years and Rachel has honed her body and mind to be able to better protect her family and hopefully stop the same thing happening to other people. Then the former mayor is found dead in what appears to be a suicide, but Rachel is sure she was murdered. She works hard to find justice for her, but it puts her in the crosshairs of the killer. Rachel can’t give up now, so she needs to make sure the killer is caught before there is more collateral damage, including her children or herself.

Incredibly addicting! This book was the perfect length to allow you to fall in love with the characters and all their flaws. The gradually unveiling of what happened to Rachel in her past added the perfect amount of suspense while also explaining the way that she is and her thirst for justice. I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to know how far Rachel would go. Her character is complex and smart and very interesting. If you love thrillers, especially with a female lead you will love this book. The author did a fantastic job of making it about people but also about the crime. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed!


Cub

Cub by Cynthia L. Copeland is about Cindy becoming a reporter. Mrs. Shultz is the first one to realize how good of a writer Cindy is. She signs her up for a job to be a cub reporter. But when she goes to her first meeting, things get a little bit harder. Cindy realizes being a reporter is harder than it seems. Will she continue to be a reporter? Or is the work too hard to continue?

I loved the characters. I thought they acted as real people would in these situations. I would love to be friends with Cindy because she is a very nice girl. I think we would get along nicely. I thought the plot was very believable. I liked how it focused more on secondary characters. I think all of the events could really happen or have happened to lots of people. I think ages 9-12 should read this book. Cub reminds me of two books called Invisible Emmie and The Baby-Sitters Club. It reminds me of Invisible Emmie because it's also a graphic novel, and the main characters are not the popular ones. It also reminds me of The Baby Sitters Club because they both have girls as the main character with lots of drama.


Pretty as a Picture: A Novel

In Pretty as a Picture, Marissa has been hired as the new film editor for the legendary Tony Rees. His new movie is about a young woman who was murdered some twenty years ago, and they are filming on location at the original scene of the crime. The shoot has been plagued by accidents, indiscretions, and scandal, with most of the crew being fired. Marissa is not quite sure what she’s walking into, but when the leading lady is murdered in the exact same way as the original victim, she knows she better get to the bottom of this. It’s not great for your career to be trapped on an island with a murderer.

For some reason, I went into this book not really expecting to love it. I thought it would be entertaining, but I failed to guess how much I would love this book. Marissa’s character resonated with me, as I tend to feel based on movie scenes as well and can be somewhat socially awkward. Little’s style of writing in this book was perfect. Marissa’s thought process written down is not unlike what goes on in my own head. The podcast interviews between chapters were also a fantastic addition. Any cinephile will enjoy this book. All the movie quotes and references alone were worth it, but add in a colorful cast of characters and murder, and you’ve got something irresistible.


Willa's Grove

Willa's Grove is an easy read with a captivating premise: what happens when four women, each in a mid-life crisis, gather for a week in rural Montana to ponder the answer to the question: so now what? As it turns out, each of the four has secrets that take time—and trust—to unfold. The best parts of this book are the conversations and conversions that occur in nature, which Munson describes vividly. Montana-style nature encompasses the delicacy of hummingbirds and the menace of grizzly bears. Munson is good at helping readers feel the grief that Willa experiences. But her characters are hampered by her tendency to give them all speech that is absolutely littered with italics, which drove me mad after a while and made them sound too much like each other. I saw several of the final outcomes telegraphed many pages before they were revealed, so the novel lacked enough surprises for my taste. But I did enjoy how much it celebrates the company of women and the special support we can offer one another.


Roll with It

This book is about a girl named Ellie who has cerebral palsy. She and her mom live in Nashville. When her grandpa, who suffers from dementia, drives his truck into the front of a grocery store, Ellie’s mom realizes she needs to move in and help care for him. This means a new school and new friends for Ellie. That is traumatic for any kid, but it is especially true for Ellie, who is in a wheelchair. Who will want to be friends with her?

It’s a frustrating school transition because there is no wheelchair ramp on the school bus and the aide assigned to Ellie is less than stellar. In good news, Ellie makes two new friends, Coralee and Bert! But right as she is settling into her new life, Ellie’s mom starts looking into assisted living facilities for her grandpa. That would mean a move back to Nashville!

I liked this book because it depicts some of the frustrations of a child who uses a wheelchair. It is a dose of reality that differently-abled kids have struggles that most able-bodied kids do not even realize.

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers


A Good Man: A Novel

An enigmatic, baffling story about a so-called "good" man and the women in his life. This book describes the slow, inevitable decline of Thomas Martin, who is constantly striving for control. The reader follows him through meeting Miriam, her meeting his family, their marriage and the birth of their daughter, Ava. Years later, Ava and her friends from her school make a joke about being sugar-babies without knowing what it means. It resulted in a heated argument about how they should discipline their daughter. Thomas, wanting to take away all Ava’s tech, confines Miriam, who wants to talk it out and reason with Ava. After a failed ad pitch Thomas is fired after being accused of assault, this causes him to lie to his wife. Mustering up enough courage, Thomas discovers that Miriam was going to leave him. Leading him to murder his wife. Picking up Ava from his mother’s home, Thomas takes her to the beach where he also murders her.

The plot was both original and intriguing. It, at first, paints Thomas as the innocent man who just wants to do all that he can to protect the women in his life and has the reader craving to learn more about his life --just like Miriam. Then the reader starts to question his motives when he loses control over things that he should know he can't control. Then, finally, the reader is thrown aback by his reactions to his losses of control. From major event to major event the plot flowed and made sense: the less control Thomas had over things, the less control he had over himself.

Katz was able to effectively tell the story of Thomas' downfall but also tell the story of his life as if it were just another biography; allowing the reader to get to know Thomas and the women in his life.

There was just enough dialogue so that it felt as though I was living through the events being recounted. Katz was able to place subtle clues that hinted at the inevitable end of the story. There wasn't a clear moral of the story, but the lesson the reader can take away is that some things are just uncontrollable and that sometimes we need to let go of these things. When it comes to the question of who should read this book there are many things to consider: the language, the plot, and the events within the book. Katz uses words that are not commonly used every day like, “morass” and “ephemera”. Based on the events in the story, I would recommend this book to ages fourteen and up. The interests would be a very small circle.

This book does remind me of two stories. Tannhauser: this one she mentions throughout the book. The plots are very similar. The protagonist, Tannhauser, commits a grievous sin, where he is forced to admit and go on a journey to the place where he will be able to receive forgiveness. The Sandman: particularly, E.T.A Hoffmann’s rendition of the famous story in 1816, where Nathanael is constantly peppered by thoughts and fears of Coppelius being the Sandman which drive him insane and push his love, Clara, and his family away from him; as a result, he is forced to take his own life by jumping off a building. The line that connects all of these stories is the protagonists had something that they are forced to give up because of themselves and they are not able to cope with it, which forces them to do something that cannot be undone.

I would recommend this book because of how much I liked the plot and because you can learn so much from Ani Katz’s debut book as a writer. To conclude, this was a well-written story but not one for the faint of heart.


Last Day

The Last Day by the New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice is an interesting book. Right from the get-go, you immediately come upon the main plot of the story. Last Day features two sisters named Beth and Kate Lathrop. Beth fell right through the world of art, while Kate became a pilot following her grandmother’s footsteps. Both of these sisters experienced a tragedy. The night their mother was killed, the famous painting, Moonlight, owned by the Lathrop family, was stolen, but later the painting was recovered. Many years later, Kate once again encountered the same tragedy, staring at finding Beth’s body on the ground, blood everywhere, and the famous painting, Moonlight, was stolen once again. Kate thought she was experiencing deja vu since both her mother and sister were dead and the same painting was stolen twice. Detective Reid believed that the person who did this was somebody in Beth’s family. This detective swore to Beth and Kate when their mother died that he would keep both of them safe, now breaking the promise, he was on a mission to find the murderers who did a horrifying thing to Beth.

I would recommend this book to young adults who enjoy mystery novels and who also read before going to bed. This book really explains each character’s characteristics and their importance to the mystery very well and lengthy. Every time I read this book for 30 minutes, I feel like I need to take a nap. This book has a lot of unnecessary details. Basically red herrings to the mystery.


The Making of You: The Incredible Journey from Cell to Human

Even if you happened to learn about embryonic development in your high school science class, you have probably forgotten most of it – not to mention that our understanding of how the human body develops is constantly growing and evolving. This book brilliantly summarizes our current best understanding of how a human grows from germ cell to fertilized embryo to fetus during the nine months of gestation until birth. Along the way, you learn about DNA and genes and proteins, our evolutionary past and near and distant relatives, and a lot about the humble fruit fly. It's incredibly detailed, really getting into the mechanisms of why, for example, a hand forms when and where it does, or the process that the brain takes from mere neural tube to the densely folded wonder it is at birth; however, the writing is kept at overview level so you don't get lost in too much jargon. It is all incredibly fascinating, and the author explains it all with infectious enthusiasm, in a clear and straightforward way that is easy to understand even in the details. Anyone who wants to delve deeper will also appreciate the extensive reference section listing several scientific papers and studies to guide your study.


The Ganneret Legacy - awakening

This book had me wondering what would happen next the whole way through. Alternating perspective by chapter in the third person, author M. K. Dakan introduces the reader to the Garnet Fleet led by Balto Malzan, a religious fanatic, as well as Jake Lowe, a highly intelligent college student with both physics and a girl named Mina on his mind. As the story engages the reader more, we understand how both of these characters' worlds intersect.

Jake goes on a trip with Mina and a boy she is dating and quickly realizes that he is the third wheel. Leaving her a note, Jake goes off to contemplate life and do a little snowshoeing. What he doesn’t know is that there are beings from another planet, Ganneret, who are in desperate need of his help. These beings call to him using his strong aura, and he finds himself among robots who call him a pilot and explain to him that their ship needs both him as a pilot and a librarian. Unfortunately, the ship's librarian Mal-Tiga is in bad shape since their ship crashed to Earth. Jake must help Mal-Tiga get back to full health. On Balto’s planet, the evil leader is planning on taking over Earth by blasting it and making water levels go up to get rid of the humans on the planet. In Balto's world, men are considered superior and are free to go around assaulting little girls. One such girl, Dari, accidentally finds out that she is suitable as a pilot much like Jake is. The story then connects both worlds as Jake tries to save Earth and Dari tries to help him by taking down Balto.

This story had a lot of excellent characters in it. I particularly liked the brave Dari because she never gave up on her mission and was also a spunky little girl who knew she was different from the others. Jake was also a fun character to follow as he matured quickly as his responsibilities became greater. The book also had some Star Wars-like robots that could carry out specific tasks for the humans and Gannerets. There were a few parts in the book that were a bit graphic when it came to violence. This book would definitely be for readers sixteen years and older. Overall, the story was easy to understand and had some great hold-your-breath action moments. A good read for fans of light science fiction.


Dead Astronauts: A Novel

In Dead Astronauts, bestselling author Jeff VanderMeer gives readers another novel set in the fascinating world of his previous novel, Borne. It can’t really be called a sequel, but possibly a prequel as the events occur before the previous novel’s story, though it doesn't involve any of the main characters. Nevertheless, the book expands the world and universe already set, adding depth and complexity.

Our astronauts in question are a strange trio of rebels who have been traveling through time and space for some time. They are always on the run from the all-powerful Company, looking for a place of safety and perhaps hope. But they must also deal with a great and ancient leviathan, an enigmatic blue fox that appears to be following them, as well as a strange homeless woman and a raving madman.

The book’s flow and plotting is quite different than Borne, but more in the style of VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy. It can be sprawling and discombobulating at times, so readers looking for a straightforward chronological book might not fend too well with this. But for those readers who have come to love the author’s prose for its wild and descriptive nature will certainly delight in Dead Astronauts.


The Mystwick School of Musicraft

“Well I’ll be Bach!' This was an amazing book with a good mix of mystery and fantasy. The characters grew throughout the book, and it was fun to try and figure out the mystery along with them. If you enjoy the Harry Potter series, you will enjoy this book as well. The adventures that the main trio of characters find themselves in, such as the great humfrog disaster, reminded me of Ron, Harry, and Hermionie from the Harry Potter series. Amelia was a very well written character, and her struggles adapting to a new school and trying to figure out what she's going to do and who she is made her very enjoyable to read about and easy to relate to. It was also interesting to see the other character stories, like Jai and Darby, though we don't get to see their point of view. Jai was probably my favorite character; he's funny, outgoing, cares about his friends, and is slightly more cautious about getting into trouble than Darby and Amelia. Darby’s struggles to get over her friend's death and her snarky comments made her very entertaining as well. I would recommend this to all lovers of fantasy, music, and adventure.


Edie Price never wanted to end up back in Mansfield, Massachusetts, not after she and her mom thought they had left the clique-y rich town behind forever. But now Edie’s mom has been dead for three years, and her aunt and uncle have finally decided to give her a home until Edie finally turns eighteen and can hopefully set off for college. Edie’s plans for the next few months don’t include parties, makeovers from her cousins, or romance. Definitely not that last one. And yet, Edie soon finds herself torn between two local boys: Sebastian, her childhood friend and the boy next door…who already has a girlfriend, and Henry, the local rogue who leaves a string of broken hearts in his wake but who seems determined to get on Edie’s good side. When Edie gets caught up between them, can she fix the situation without breaking anyone’s heart—including her own?

Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things sounds like it should simply be a fluffy summer young adult read, but anyone who picks up this novel will be pleasantly surprised by the intricate and moving story author Jacqueline Firkins has concocted. Edie is a fascinating character, and her continued grief is something a surprising number of readers will be able to identify with, as are her frustrations with the situations life has thrown at her since. The story is well written and engages young readers on teenage subjects while still also being interesting to older readers. It’s worth wading through Edie’s problems to get to this ending.


The Queen of Paris: A Novel of Coco Chanel

This is a story about Coco Chanel, the most elegant woman in Paris. Though her life was not always as glamorous as it may appear, she always looked and acted in the most proper and dignified manner. It is an almost classic story of love, loss, and revenge.The Queen of Paris is the story of Chanel’s life during WW2 with some tidbits of information from her past. She has gone through many hardships in her life and this is the story of it all.

Chanel has had to fight for many things in her time: her business, her son, social status and her life just to name a few. Her business partner, Pierre Werthimer, is Jewish so he flees France, going to America. With him, he takes the formula for Chanel No.5, Coco’s most famous perfume. Pierre has not consulted Chanel on this nor does he pay her her cut, so she has no choice but to consider this theft and take her case to court. It is difficult to live and stay afloat under the Nazi regime; it seems everything is going downhill for her when her son turns up in a prison camp and she must go to desperate measures to save him, as she would do anything for her son.

The storyline was very intriguing, but there were so many characters to remember, I kept mixing them up. This was an entertaining book that would be liked by anyone looking for a different perspective on WW2.


The Fierce 44: Black Americans Who Shook Up the World

The Fierce 44 is a cool book about forty-four black Americans who stood against slavery or did something people thought that no black man/woman could do. I think this book is perfect for kids who like black history, however, I think it’s more for thirteen-year-olds. Some of the words I did not know. I think that there should be a definition table about what words mean. You can learn two people a day and admire the artwork while learning. I learned a lot of new people like Stevie Wonder, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., and Jean Michel Basquiat and some further history like how Jesse Owens humiliated Hitler. In my opinion, I think it is a really good book for black history, and maybe next time it can go to fifty people.


Pale: A Novel

The summer of 1966 burned hot across America but nowhere hotter than the cotton fields of Mississippi. Finding herself in a precarious position as a black woman living alone, Bernice accepts her brother Floyd's invitation to join him as a servant to a white family, and so she enters the web of hostility and deception that is the Kern household.

The secrets of the house are plentiful but the silence that has encompassed it for so many years breaks with the arrival of the harvest and the appearance of Jesse and Fletcher at the plantation as cotton pickers. The brothers, sons of house servant Silva, awaken a vengeful seed within the Missus of the house as she plots to punish not only her husband but also Silva's family.

Pale is such a wonderfully written book. From the wonderful, well-rounded characters to the very descriptive setting and story, I could not help but feel as if I were in the story itself. And although the plot may be slow-paced on occasion, I felt as if the pace did a great job of showing the tension in the air, either thin as ice or thick as fog.

While many of the historical fiction books that I have read in the past pertain to World War II, with Pale taking place in an era that I have not read much about, I could not help but enjoy the journey that the book brought me on, and in a way, I couldn't help but feel like I learned something new about an era of American History that is often overlooked.


Meadowlark: A Novel

Simrin and Arjun are old friends, connected by the childhood they spent in the cloistered, cult-like commune Ananda. But a complicated escape attempt sent Simrin into the free world and Arjun back to Ananda, where the other residents’ reverence grew to a new and dangerous intensity. Decades later, Simrin—now Simone, with a child of her own—is surprised by how excited she is when she receives a message from Arjun asking for her help. He is the head of a new community called Meadowlark, a group convinced that their children are remarkable—and that they can reach new levels of consciousness and success if given total freedom to do so. There are people, however, accusing Meadowlark adults of terrible crimes, and police are at the gate. Simrin agrees to help but isn’t sure what to believe. Arjun’s wife Bethany has her own reasons to fear the controversy—and Simrin. These women’s lives are about to collide, putting everything they love most at risk.

Meadowlark is a page-turning, gripping story about both the wonder of childhood and the adults who both envy and exploit it. Arjun’s attempts to access the children’s “gifts” are both pathetic and profound, calling into question what potential lies untapped and who has the authority, or the ability, to search for it. If there are no limits, how far might a child go? Who gets to say what “gifts” are worthwhile? And, more troubling—if there is no oversight, who will say “enough”?


The Incredible Journey of Plants

Stefano Mancuso, with illustrations by Grisha Fischer

Stefano Mancuso, a professor from Italy, takes you along on The Incredible Journey of Plants. There are also accompanying watercolor illustrations by Grisha Fisher which beckon one to the botanical kingdom and sometimes hearken back to an earlier age. Mancuso is fascinated by plants and their abilities, pointing out that they are sensitive to their environments, that they can move slowly without losing their roots, and that they can also communicate. He also bemoans the fact that there is a lot we do not know about them. Mancuso is from the field of plant neurobiology which explores signaling and communications.

Much of the book is about how plants have been transported around the globe. Despite being written by someone with a knowledge of ecology and evolution, there is not a lot about evolutionary history here, which itself could be treated as a journey, it instead focuses on recent human history with mankind spreading plants and their seeds around the world. Botanists have planted cherished plants around the world. Animals have also played a large part in this process, with some seeds going through the digestive system and being taken elsewhere. Some are also survivors of harsh environments.


In Five Years: A Novel

Rebecca Serle has crafted a technically perfect novel. The pacing and plotting do not let go of the reader for one second. In fact, the chapters are just short enough, and action packed enough, that it’s easy to find oneself saying “just one more chapter” until the whole book is finished. She seamlessly fits the events of the story together in a way you absolutely don’t see coming. My jaw literally dropped when I got to the end and saw how flawlessly she fit together the beginning of the story with the ending. It’s a thing of rare beauty when an author can balance their story as masterfully as this one does.

The story itself, is far deeper and more dramatic than the cover copy leads one to believe. It sounds like a second chance romance book, but what you get is far more than that. Be prepared for deep emotions, a few laughs, and possibly a few tears as well. Reading this book is truly an experience. Don’t start it unless you have hours to spend reading, because you won’t want to put it down until you’ve read every last word. This is an amazing book.


The Golden Age, Book 1

This is the best Adventure Book I have ever read! The Golden Age contains outdoor missions that need to be solved and it might make someone wonder what will happen in the next book of this series!
The main thing of the story is about how princess Tilda tries to reclaim her throne with the help of her two loyal friends. This book makes me feel like I wanted to go on the mission with the characters in the story. I think this book is good for teenagers that like adventures, treasures, and fantasy.


Splash and Bubbles: Sharks!

Splash and Bubbles: Sharks! is a kid-sized encyclopedia on sharks. Okay, maybe a little less information is given than that in an actual encyclopedia, but this informative book offers many labeled pictures of different species of shark as well as their anatomy and other facts. The pictures are sharp and colorful and certain to catch the attention of kids of all ages. Fans of the PBS Kids show, Splash and Bubbles are sure to enjoy this book because of its familiar characters. The book starts out with an introduction to the main characters and the purpose of this book. From there, each character gives a different fact relating to sharks in its four chapters. Their habitat, physical features, behavior, and diet are the topics of each of the chapters.
Reading this to my four and five-year-old, I noticed that the facts given are many of the same ones we have read in other shark books. Regardless, I like reinforcing facts about things they learn about, and they love to learn about animals of all kinds. The facts presented cover all about sharks and are easy to digest for smaller minds with big curiosities.


Ali Cross

Ali Cross was above and beyond. I love mystery books in general, but Ali Cross is one of my favorite books. Not one of my favorite MYSTERY books, one of my all-time FAVORITE books.

Ali Cross is about a boy whose father is a detective. Alex Cross is well known in James Patterson’s adult mystery books. Ali Cross' friend Gabriel disappears when the winter break begins. Meanwhile, Alex Cross, Ali's dad, is anxiously awaiting whether or not he will be going to jail. This is what happened: Alex was just going to interview the father of someone that has been put in jail but the father wasn't having it. Then, the father accidentally fell down the steps and hit his head. He was soon in a coma. Now, many people are saying that Alex PUSHED the father and if he dies they will say that he murdered him. I know that it gets off to a rocky start, but it soon gets better. They are making progress on finding Gabriel. But Ali gets into a fight at school about Alex's trial.

To find out how it ends, you'll have to read the book! You’ll love it!


Dog Driven

McKenna Barney, fourteen, realizes her vision is failing. Her younger sister has already lost almost all her vision to a genetic disorder called Stargardt disease. McKenna faces the same fate, but she still has enough vision to compete in one more dogsled race, one that would carry important letters to try to raise awareness for Stargardt. And she cannot let her parents know what is happening or they will stop her. Even in the best of weather, a dogsled race is difficult, and there will be storms to face along the way. McKenna’s dogs know her well and know how to race, and she finds unexpected help from two of her competitors. Maybe she can do this.

Terry Lynn Johnson has quite a franchise with middle-grade survival stories set in Alaska. This is a terrific survival story that will keep young readers totally engaged and turning pages. The writing is terrific, the dialogue is spot-on, and the characters are well rounded and completely believable. The story is very compelling. The family relationships not only in McKenna’s life but those of her two competitors add a lot of complexity and credence to this great book.


Starsight (Skyward Book 2)

Many people are concerned with Spensa’s loyalties once they discover she is a cytonic like her father, which led him to betray his kind. Her powers enable her to hear transmissions by the Krell, the race keeping her people on Detritus, the planet on which they are imprisoned. Doing daily training exercises, fighting the Krell pilots when they attack, and trying to find a way to fit their ships with a hyperdrive take up her days until a ship crashes on her planet. In a split decision, she takes the place of the foreign pilot and uses her powers to pretend to be the humanoid woman trying to get a post as a pilot with the Superiority, the group of races keeping the humans prisoner. Spensa will either find a hyperdrive to steal and return home a hero, or die trying.

Sanderson’s sequel to Skyward is just as fast-paced and action-packed as the first. Favorite characters from the first join a new cast to help the humans learn more about their place in space and the reason they were almost wiped out. The focus on friendship and loyalty rather than competition and selfishness makes this middle-grade science fiction novel refreshing and memorable.


Mia: Ripples in the Water

A mouse named Mia, who loves adventure, gets inspired by her papino’s trip to Africa. Her papino would read his journal from his adventure to Africa to Mia. He tells Mia about King Abdalla the lion and his father. A long time ago, Mia’s big sister, Zola, wandered off and lost her memory. Mia’s big brothers, Cade and Rupert, tried to scare Mia out of liking adventure because they don’t want to lose Mia just like they lost Zola. They also wonder what’s in Papino’s journal. Mia gets scared, but she never stops liking adventure. Her Papino would tell her to dip her toe in the water and see where the ripples would take her. Mia sails on a journey to Africa, meeting lots of friendly animals along the way, like Twiga the giraffe and Deka the elephant. However, there are lots of other dangerous animals that try to eat her, like Effiom the crocodile and Faizeen the cheetah. But little does she know Cade and Rupert have been following her on her adventure the whole time! Mia’s other friend, a bird named Pern, watches Cade and Rupert from above, just in case. Mia loves adventure, so she’ll never stop doing it. Mia’s curiosity and love for adventure give her toe a dip in the water, and a journey begins!

A book like this is a great book! But I don’t like how Cade and Rupert treat Mia. The funny part is when Cade is asleep and Mia’s friend spider, Spidey, spins a web inside one of Cade’s nostrils and comes back out the other nostril! I like how Mia looks and seems just like Zola! They share the same lavender eyes, and they share the same love for adventure. I like Mia because she is very clever and kind. I also like how she helps if a friend is in pain. She is also very brave and quick. I like how, on the cover of the book, Pern’s claw carries Mia across the hills because the picture is also inside of the book. At first, I thought the bird on the cover was the other bird in the story. I hope there will a second book in which Mia travels someplace else! Will Mia accomplish her journey without any fear? Or will she fail the trip and choose a different path? I recommend this book to someone who loves adventure.


The Ganneret Legacy: Awakening

M. K. Dakan’s The Ganneret Legacy: Awakening is a sci-fi thriller that considers the near future and the potential fate of humanity. Speculative and action-packed, it should appeal to readers who enjoy a good mix of space opera, hard science, and deadly danger.

The story follows three main characters who all have a role to play in determining the future of the Earth. Balto Maltzan, the first leader of his people since the insurrection generation and prophet of the God of the Outer, is determined to guide his flock to the Blue Planet, the promised land, where they will live according to the true religion. Jake Lowe is an exceptional physics student who has come up with a theory that could revolutionize humanity’s understanding of the universe, although his major concern remains his crush on classmate Mina. Melandari is a young girl who is doing her best to go unnoticed, but her insatiable curiosity and inherent desire to avoid the future mapped out for her means that she won’t be able to hide for long.

In The Ganneret Legacy: Awakening these three disparate characters find themselves on a collision course as they all attempt to secure their place in the world. Single-minded and brutal, to say nothing of deeply hypocritical, Balto Maltzan is a thoroughly unpleasant character whose despotic rule has resulted in innumerable deaths, widespread despair, and the total subjugation of women. Melandari falls afoul of him early in the story, with the resultant events showing his appalling nature and her exceptional bravery. (There needs to be a trigger warning here as, particularly early on in the book, there are scenes of a mature and sexual nature that may well distress some readers.) Melandari ultimately finds some unexpected allies and learns that her destiny is far bigger than she could ever have imagined. Throughout the book, she is the most interesting and engaging character. Jake Lowe starts off as a bit of a wet blanket, but he also has an exceptional destiny, and his character becomes much more fleshed out and appealing as the story progresses and he moves closer to understanding the danger facing the Earth.

M K Dakan clearly has a good understanding of science, as the principles that influence the story are thoroughly explained and based on reality, which helps to make the events seem fairly plausible. If anything, there are sometimes too many details. Still, there’s plenty of action and even a smidge of interstellar warfare. It would have been good if the secondary characters were better developed, especially in the case of Rahily and Martel, who were highly original creations and showed great promise. The scenes of a sexual nature (notably those involving the twelve-year-old Melandari) mean that the book is definitely not suitable for all audiences, but the sci-fi and dystopian elements of the story will appeal to many readers.

The author’s note at the end of The Ganneret Legacy: Awakening suggests that it is to be the first book in a series, so it’ll be interesting to see what Dakan next has in store for readers.


Scripting the Life You Want: Manifest Your Dreams with Just Pen and Paper

What is scripting? It is basically writing down how you want your day to unfold. The author suggests making a list of your wants and beliefs, which include some mundane things that you already know will happen. Some or all of these things are incorporated into your daily script. Which is like writing a journal account of your day as you want it to occur. This is followed by an evening entry into a nightly journal where you write down what actually happened. By using the examples and tips, the author gives you should see your daily script align with your nightly journal in a short time.

I love that the author presents a simple way to bring about changes in our day-to-day lives quickly. If you are drawn to the theory of the law of attraction but have trouble manifesting your desires, this book might help. The author writes with a passion and enthusiasm that inspired me to write my first daily script. This helped me focus on the day ahead. However, he does go into a lot of scientific information about how and why he thinks this works, which I'm not sure I needed. Nevertheless, this guide is good at showing you how to incorporate scripting into your life. All you need is a pen and paper.


Strange Exit

The world has come down to a simulation. Lake is on a mission to wake those still in the sim in order to save everyone on board, kept waiting for decades to go back to an Earth that has healed after a cataclysmic event. It’s a delicate procedure—you cannot just tell sleepers to wake up. Lake has to find what they cherish most and bring them slowly back to the realization that they are hiding in a sim. When she wakes Taren, who has been in the sim a long time, she hesitantly accepts his aid, but realizes, too late, that he was in too long, and his help may jeopardize the health and lives and future of all on board.

Science fiction has a new addition to its ranks—this one combines an uncertain future with the questionable safety of technology and gaming into one. There are aspects similar to Nyxia by Scott Reintgen and Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Even though no satisfactory explanation is offered for the fact that the teens are still teens decades after the destruction of Earth’s atmosphere, the quick pace and well-developed characters make it a book that is impossible to set aside.


Points North: Discover Hidden Campgrounds, Natural Wonders, and Waterways of the Upper Peninsula

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a really special place. Separate from the rest of the state, it doesn’t have any major metropolitan areas. Marquette, with a population of just over twenty-one thousand, is the largest city. But who needs cities when one can find an abundance of parks, museums, ghost towns, wilderness areas, hiking trails, rivers, lighthouses, and more. This wonderful book has forty destinations, each with a write-up of two to five pages that includes beautiful full-color photographs and a detailed accounting of what the place has to offer. When appropriate, there is also history woven in. The writing is lively and shows the passion author Mikel B. Classen has for his subject. He has been to all these places and describes them in great detail. The photos were taken by Classen, and are a great addition to the book. Every page will entice readers to hit the road and head to the north country to uncover these delightful destinations for themselves, but even if one is merely an armchair traveler, this book will be a great addition to their library. It is so well-written and designed, that it will satisfy every type of adventurer.


You Let Me In

Cassandra Tipp is a seventy-four-year-old writer of romance novels when she disappears. She has not lived an ordinary life —a traumatic childhood was followed by accusations of murder when her husband died and more trauma when she lost her brother and father to murder and suicide. After years of success as a writer, she leaves behind quite an estate with rather odd instructions. If she doesn’t turn up in a year, her niece or nephew or both can claim her estate. They must go to her study in her house and read a manuscript left there for them to find a secret password that they must give to her attorney to complete their claim. The manuscript is a long letter to her niece and nephew, and it’s hard to know if she was completely crazy or really had such a traumatic life. It’s complicated.

Author Camilla Bruce is clearly an accomplished writer, and she weaves quite a tale. It is not a typical mystery as it includes some serious (and very creepy) elements of fantasy. Readers who enjoy being frightened half out of their wits and thrive on tension will love this one.


The Confession Club: A Novel

The third installment in Elizabeth Berg’s Mason series, which began with Arthur Truluv, The Confession Club: A Novel contains the same heartwarming, uplifting stories that readers have come to love in the previous books while introducing new characters and revisiting old friends in the small Missouri town of Mason.

The small supper club turned confession club, where local women come together to share food, wine, and their most embarrassing secrets, invite two new members in: Iris Winters and Maddy Harris. Iris has taken over in teaching Lucille’s cooking classes, and Maddy has returned from New York with her daughter, circling back to her home town when worries overcome her in the big city.

Second chances, new hopes, and heartwarming humor abound in this book. Berg strikes the perfect note of sentimental and uplifting, without wandering into the sappy or overdone, in this series, and The Confession Club is no different. Things don’t all work out perfectly for her characters, indeed some things stay quite messy or become deeply sad. But the power of love and friendship, Arthur Truluv’s legacy remains, and that carries the story, and the club, through most everything. This is a book that’s easy to get lost in.


Girl, Woman, Other: A Novel (Booker Prize Winner)

In her recent Booker Prize-winning novel, Bernardine Evaristo explores the lives, loves, and losses of a panoply of women of color. Those to the manor born, the English upper crust, strivers and strugglers, artists and academics populate this beautiful and intricate book which seems to define women’s experience as perfectly undefinable. The novel affirms that there is no one way to be a girl, to be a woman, to be other, but all types of women are infinitely powerful, beautiful, and necessary.

Told in five sections comprised of three chapters each, the book focuses on women whose lives intersect in numerous and often surprising ways. An early character proves to be a lover of a latter one, the matriarch in one chapter is revealed to be the petulant daughter in another—the tapestry is woven artfully and, for attentive readers, richly rewarding. While the book is unconventionally written—the narratives are not traditionally linear; paragraphs lack structure and sentences often lack punctuation—it is remarkably easy to read. There is a natural, almost spoken rhythm to the lines, as if Evaristo has invited you to sit beside her as she tells you these myriad and wildly interesting stories.

Amma, a playwright and director, begins the book, and it is the opening night of her most recent production that locates these women and their lives, but the book is as much the simple act of living as it is about art and expression. It could be argued that Girl, Woman, Other is fundamentally a novel about life as art, and that is what makes it so important and meaningful.


Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA

The conundrum that has puzzled philosophers and scientists across the ages is the story of how man appeared, his relationship to other organisms, along with the mystery of evolution. These are the questions that Paleontologist Neil Shubin, covers in this absorbing account of the quest to understand how life evolved. Clues from fossil evidence led to studies of relationships among species, then onto the study of embryos in their developmental stages. Comparisons indicated the presence of precursor structures in fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals that resulted in fins, appendages, wings, and fingers, these structures hidden in snakes. With the discovery of chromosomes and the unraveling of DNA, the master key to the process of development with chance modification was uncovered. And remarkably, the DNA of the differing phyla was found to be similar. This epic saga of how evolution can be examined and even perhaps manipulated at the genetic level is chronicled in this engrossing tale. In this scientific scramble across the ages, the author embraces the stories of the involved investigators, revealing their passions along with some of their quirks and habits, their conflicts, and primarily their brilliant determination to master their curiosity. Take advantage of this charmingly accessible book to follow the fossils into the submicroscopic world of genes and inspect their molecular chicanery to gain some views as to how change and time interact.  And if you like mysteries, here is an unparalleled scientific thriller.


The Dark Corners of the Night

The Midnight Man is terrorizing families in LA. He kills the parents and leaves the children alive, witnesses to his horrible crimes. FBI agent Caitlin Hendrix will have to search The Dark Corners of the Night to catch this UNSUB. This is different than anything she has faced before and she isn’t sure if she will be able to do what needs to be done if she catches up with this killer. Her last two cases have taken their toll on her and this case will push her to her limits. The killer is beginning to escalate his violence and now a little girl is caught in the crossfire. Caitlin will have to rise to the challenge, but at what cost to those around her and to herself?

I could not put this book down. I have been hooked on the UNSUB series since I picked up the first book. This whole series is well written and chock full of suspense. Caitlin’s character is brilliant as well as relatable as she deals with her flaws and struggles all while trying to stop serial killers. The physical toll it takes on her as she has to get inside the killers’ heads to create a profile and try to catch them before they kill again is very insightful. I highly recommend this series and look forward to the next book as well as the planned TV series.


I Remember: Poems and Pictures of Heritage

Fathers and mothers, grandparents, aunties and uncles, neighbors and friends: they have all contributed to the tapestry that is each of us as Americans. They taught us to draw, write, stitch, sing. They told us stories of our ancestors and of lands near and far from which they came. This collection of poems by well-known writers of children’s poetry shines a light on those moments in childhood that helped to shape each of us: the slights we felt, the love shown to us, the struggles with identity, the travels, the foods, the songs, the smells. The poems have a wide variety of forms. Some rhyme, most don’t, some are short, some are long, but all are powerful and steeped in childhood memories. Accompanying the poems are wonderful pieces of art by a number of American artists that enhance and sometimes reflect the poems. This joyful collection was compiled by the late, award-winning poet Lee Bennett Hopkins, who compiled a great many wonderful collections of children’s poetry during his life. This may be one of his best and is perfect for the middle-grade set. This will be a great addition to any library—classroom, school, or personal.