by Rachel Poliquin, illus. by Clayton Hanmer
Author Rachel Poliquin and illustrator Clayton Hanmer, the clever creators of The Museum of Odd Body Leftovers, have devised another hilarious and fascinating biological tour for middle graders. This excursion escorts readers through the body's glands--goop, juice, and all. From the factory's entrance at the mouth to the exit at the waxy ear holes, The Gland Factory oozes facts and fun.
The factory's boss and deputy serve as tour guides through the body's glandular system where they introduce their audience
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by Matt Greene
Matt Greene's The Definitions is a transfixing and economical dystopian novel, deftly using its scant pages to speak volumes about language and the construction of identity. The unnamed narrator recounts her experience at the Center, a facility designed to rehabilitate its occupants after a virus and a massive data breach that renders them unknown to themselves and to anyone else.
Though the residents of the Center are adults, they must relearn the most basic of concepts as they await the return of their memories
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by Matthew Pearl
A darkly entertaining satire set in present-day Cambridge, Mass., The Award by Matthew Pearl tells the story of an unscrupulous writer's improbable rise to the upper echelons of literary society. It is a superb caricature of a ruthlessly ambitious young man who will stop at nothing, even murder, to claw his way to the top.
Armed with an MFA, dwindling funds, and an endlessly patient fiancée, David Trent is "always trying to finish the same first novel" while fending off panic that "he could never be
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by Betty Fussell
Betty Fussell refers to her 13th book, How to Cook a Coyote: The Joy of Old Age, as a "coming-of-death story." The Shakespeare scholar, food historian, and memoirist was born in 1927. Though "Tick tock" is a refrain as she senses time running out, her sardonic autobiographical essays burst with memories of food, friendship, sexual passion, and globe-trotting adventures.
Fussell (My Kitchen Wars) is mostly blind and since 2012 has lived in a Montecito, Calif., retirement home, Casa Dorinda--coincidentally,
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by Emma Stonex
Emma Stonex's second novel (after The Lamplighters) is a slow-burn psychological revenge thriller that uses multiple timelines, points of view, and geographic locations to create a layered and nuanced portrait of human nature and the need for adequate nurturing.
The Sunshine Man begins in 1989 as Birdie, one of two narrators, learns that Jimmy Maguire, the man who killed her sister, Providence, is being released from prison. Taking the gun she has saved for this occasion, Birdie leaves her family in London
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by CG Drews
A teenager, joined by the irresistible boy who tried to kill him, unlocks the mysteries of his guardian's murder and a malevolent garden in Hazelthorn, CG Drews's searingly atmospheric queer YA horror tale.
Seventeen-year-old Evander does not remember the 10 years of his life before Laurie Lennox-Hall tried to bury him alive in the gardens. After the murder attempt, Evander's guardian and Laurie's grandfather, Byron Lennox-Hall, locked Evander in a room of the Hazelthorn Estate, where he has stayed for the
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