by Sara Daniele Rivera
Winner of the Academy of American Poets First Book Award, Cuban Peruvian poet Sara Daniele Rivera uses language with artistry in The Blue Mimes, moving from English to Spanish with a lovely musicality. The collection of 27 poems opens with an epigraph in Spanish from Alejandra Pizarnik's "La noche de Santiago." The English translation reads, "Close a wound a bell cannot. A bell cannot close a wound," and this reflexive structure reveals much about Rivera's work. She, too, will play with beginnings and
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by Ada Limón, editor
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón's You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World gathers 50 poems by a diverse group of contemporary writers such as Ilya Kaminsky, Jericho Brown, and Donika Kelly, offering readers a chance to revel in the sublime and ineffable qualities of both nature and poetry. In her foreword, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden explains, "Some of the poems included here contend with the destruction of nature, while others consider its abundance and resilience--and some do both at the same
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by Nina Chakrabarti
A coterie of colorful creepy-crawlies awaits curious readers in the eye-catching, pro-insects nonfiction picture book Hello Bugs: A Little Guide to Nature by author/illustrator Nina Chakrabarti (Hello Fungi).
"Insects live all around us.... There is probably one near you... RIGHT NOW!" Chakrabarti's assertion nestles beneath a dragonfly's grassy perch alongside a living bridge of ants. The text gives overviews of scientific concepts in an approachable, informal tone, then zooms in to highlight specific species
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by Susan Rich
Susan Rich's sixth poetry collection, Blue Atlas, is a forthright reckoning with the aftermath of abortion that takes its inventive metaphors from African travel and scientific theories.
Decades after an abortion, the speaker still expresses anger and remorse. "Binocular Vision" addresses the child who never was: "Happy Non-/ Birthday, 31." Like a fractured mirror, the collection showcases fragments of traumatic memory: a breakup with a fiancé in Paris, a sister's accompaniment to the abortion appointment--perhaps
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by Nelly Buchet, illus. by Andrea Zuill
Nelly Buchet and Andrea Zuill (Cat Dog Dog and A Friend Like No Otter) join forces again for a wonderfully silly picture book about the antics of a dog and her strawberry. While dog owners are likely to recognize some of the zaniness exhibited by Dog, every reader--experienced dog person or not--can appreciate the delightful amusement of "the greatest race of all time."
When Dog's human hands her a strawberry, the excitement ignites a case of the zoomies. "Rounding the lamp, it's Dog, spinning out of the turn,
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by Markelle Grabo
In her debut novel, Call Forth a Fox, Markelle Grabo remakes the classic "Snow White, Rose Red" fairy tale into an imaginative fantasy affair, filled with faeries, animal transformations, and family secrets. "Auburn-haired" Ro and "wheat-blonde" Eirwyn are sisters who were raised on their father's stories of the faeries inhabiting the western wood. Now that their father has died, though, their mother plans to move the family from the edge of the wood to the much larger town of Poppy. Ro is resistant to and
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by Sara Jane Ho
Sara Jane Ho's Mind Your Manners: How to Be Your Best Self in Any Situation is an engaging guide to improving social fluency in real-life situations and across the digital realm. Ho compares good etiquette to behavioral therapy, explaining that both can enhance mood and boost confidence. Her international upbringing and life experiences in the United States contribute to her nuanced approach to social life, friendships, work, dating, family relationships, and travel in an era of global interconnectivity.
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