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Starred Review

Bodega Stories

by Amaris Castillo

Amaris Castillo's sharply observed debut, Bodega Stories, captures the daily details of life at Orlando Latin Market, the bodega owned and operated by Castillo's parents in St. Petersburg, Fla. Castillo shares her parents' history as Dominican immigrants, bodegueros (bodega operators), and small-business owners, while providing colorful portraits of staff members and regulars at the market.

Throughout Castillo's narrative, she places Orlando Latin Market in its context as a typical Latino-owned bodega but

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I'm Sorry You Feel That Way

by Rebecca Wait

Familial interactions can be remarkably cruel, and author Rebecca Wait (Cry Havoc; The Followers) is one of the leading chroniclers of such relationships. I'm Sorry You Feel That Way is a merciless, quietly funny dissection of a family in which love has curdled over decades into something more like a record of grievances.

The novel's inciting incident is the death of Katy, the eccentric aunt whose schizophrenia is a story carefully edited by Celia, who casts herself as the victim of her sister's illness. Katy's

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The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies

by Kate Westbury

Kate Westbury's witty, elegant debut mystery, The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies, plunges readers into a whirl of intrigue and espionage in post-World War II Oxford. When the death of an elderly librarian turns out to be no accident, two university students join forces to find his killer and uncover potential ties to the growing Communist threat.

Redheaded, clever socialite Ginevra "Gin" Bishop is desperate to prove herself more than a pretty face at Oxford, while ex-serviceman (and ex-spy) Sidney Braithwaite

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The Neverfear

by Katherine Rundell, illus. by Ashley MacKenzie, Virginia Allyn

Christopher and Anya face a new set of challenges when a mysterious villain captures one of their own in The Neverfear, the enchanting, heart-stopping third installment in author Katherine Rundell's middle-grade fantasy adventure series Impossible Creatures, illustrated by Ashley Mackenzie.

Midsummer is fast approaching on the islet of Glimt in the Glimouria Archipelago, where guardian Christopher and once-princess Anya have been living for the past three months. The teens, who spend their days helping tend

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A Thousand Nights

by Nafiza Azad , Intisar Khanani, editors

A Thousand Nights is a gripping, expansive, Arabian Nights-inspired YA anthology. These 15 dazzling short stories, written by BIPOC women and framed by editors Nafiza Azad (Road of the Lost) and Intisar Khanani (Thorn), highlight those forced to flee their homelands in the face of colonialism, oppression, and war.

At 17, Nusaybah loses the last of her family, burying her mother next to her grandfather under an olive tree, with no imam, prayers at the mosque, or fellow mourners; her father and brothers were

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Traitors' Nest

by Frances Hardinge

Traitors' Nest by Frances Hardinge (The Forest of a Thousand Eyes; Deeplight) is an enthralling, action-filled YA medieval fantasy about common folk who are mere pawns in a game played by godlike beings.

"In a place that is not a place, people who are no longer people play a game," a chesslike game in which castles (and those who live within them) are moved by unknowable superhumans called "Players." Fifteen-year-old Burr and his fellow villagers in a quiet valley in the kingdom of Thaletal have never experienced

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Shelf Discovery

Stitched

by Eli McCann

Eli McCann's wryly humorous first novel celebrates the quirky personalities and connective threads of a fractious quilting group in rural Utah.

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Jacaranda

by Gaël Faye, trans. by Sarah Ardizzone

Rwandan-French writer and hip-hop artist Gaël Faye explores family, history, and one young man's place in it all, in this novel set during the genocide in Rwanda and its aftermath.

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Brain Damage

by Freida McFadden

Freida McFadden's expertise as a physician specializing in brain injuries, masterful grasp of clever twists, and ability to create suspense make Brain Damage an exceptional psychological thriller.

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When I Want to Be Silent

by Zornitsa Hristova, trans. by Angela Rodel , illus. by Kiril Zlatkov

An introspective bear offers readers a profound meditation on words and silence in the exquisitely illustrated picture book When I Want to Be Silent.

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Black Lake: Poems

by Emily Skaja

The 41 poems in Emily Skaja's wry yet moving second collection chronicle a fraught journey toward parenthood during a turbulent time in history.

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Viz Media: The Amazing Digital Circus, Vol. 1 by Glitch Productions and Gooseworx, art by Sakura
Shelf Awareness

Media Heat

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Here & Now: R.F. Kuang, author of Taipei Story (Morrow, $32, 9780063473744).

Good Morning America: Joe Rohde, author of Floating Mountains: The Art of Imagining the Impossible (National Geographic, $35, 9781426224911).

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Good Morning America: Dave Winfield, co-author of Touching All the Bases: A Story of Power, Purpose, and Surviving the Bronx (Matt Holt Books, $31, 9781637748985).

The View: Ted Cruz, author of Going Further: The Incomparable Clarence Thomas (Sentinel, $35, 9798217181193).

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Good Morning America: Harlan Coben, author of Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft: A Memoir on Writing (Grand Central, $32.50, 9781538784624).

Also on GMA: Jaclyn Smith, author of I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie: A Memoir (Gallery, $30, 9781982116644).

CBS Mornings: Siggie Cohen, author of You Are the Parent: Move from Overparenting to Balanced Parenting and Become the Leader Your Child Needs (Harvest, $30, 9780063448643). 

Today: Rebecca Blumenstein and Diana Kapp, author of The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape from Afghanistan and Coming of Age in America (Grand Central, $30, 9781538779002).

Also on Today: Jean Chatzky, author of The Forever Paycheck: The New Retirement Strategy to Spend More, Worry Less, and Never Run Out of Money (Avery, $32, 9798217179473).

Fresh Air: Casey Gerald, author of The Great Refusal: A New Vision of Resistance (Little, Brown, $28, 9780316597418).

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Good Morning America: Carla Lalli, author of Food Is a Feeling: Recipes & Stories, with Love (Clarkson Potter, $36, 9780593800621).

Also on GMA: James Patterson and MrBeast, co-authors of The Most Dangerous Games (Morrow, $35, 9780063488762).

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Fresh Air: Natasha Singer, author of Coding Kids: Big Tech's Battle to Remake Public Schools (W.W. Norton, $31.99, 9780393881943).

CBS Mornings: Elizabeth Davies, author of Training for Your Old Lady Body: A Guide to Building Muscle and Mobility at Any Age (Chronicle, $24.95, 9781797238845).
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