by Martin Riker
The hyperactive brain of an insomniac in a state of high anxiety is some kind of place to be, as Martin Riker (Samuel Johnson's Eternal Return) demonstrates in The Guest Lecture. This ingenious novel captures the maelstrom inside the head of Abby, a feminist economist, who lies awake in a "dark hotel room somewhere in middle America" with her husband, Ed, who's "allergic to ambition," and her young daughter, Ali. Abby is petrified about the speech she has to give the next day on the economist John Maynard
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by Grady Hendrix
How to Sell a Haunted House by horror novelist Grady Hendrix (The Final Girl Support Group; We Sold Our Souls; Horrorstör) is a hilarious, horrifying and surprisingly tender take on a good old-fashioned haunted house tale. After her loving parents die suddenly in a car wreck, single mom Louise knows she has to return to Charleston. But going home means facing her deadbeat younger brother, Mark, who's hated her for years; her eccentric extended family; and some terrifying childhood memories that she prefers
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by Kekla Magoon
In this gritty and emotional young adult novel, Kekla Magoon (The Season of Styx Malone; X: A Novel), four-time Coretta Scott King Honor recipient and winner of the 2010 John Steptoe Award for New Talent, gives young adults another heartfelt, sincere work of contemporary realism.
Fifteen-year-old Kermit Sanders lost his older sister, Sheila, when "an intoxicated pickup driver... crossed a double yellow line and smashed" into her car. It has been a week since the accident and everything reminds him of her.
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by Kim Rogers, illus. by Julie Flett
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes author Kim Rogers's first picture book, Just Like Grandma, beautifully portrays a supportive, inspiring grandparent-grandchild relationship. Joy-suffused art by Swampy Cree and Red River Métis illustrator Julie Flett (We All Play) accompanies Rogers's accessible free verse.
"Becca watches/ Grandma bead and bead/ buckskin moccasins"; Grandma passes her the needle when she asks to try. The Indigenous child and woman sit on the steps of their gray house and bead until "Grandpa
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by Ziba Mir-Hosseini et al., editors
A groundbreaking collection of essays challenging the "patriarchal terrain of Islam," Justice and Beauty in Muslim Marriage: Towards Egalitarian Ethics and Laws, edited by Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani, Jana Rumminger and Sarah Marsso, advocates persuasively for a dynamic, feminist approach to interpreting the Qur'an and other sources of divine guidance relating to women's rights within marriage. A diverse cohort of authors, professors and prominent feminists--drawing on scholarly reviews of the Qur'an,
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by Sneed B. Collard III, illus. by Howard Gray
Author Sneed B. Collard III (Waiting for a Warbler) and illustrator Howard Gray (Land of Giants) present with conviction and a keen reverence for biodiversity the threat to animals and plants posed by the U.S./Mexico border wall.
Readers first meet a male ocelot, padding across the ground in the dark of night. He heads toward Mexico and meets a long wall, one that "smells alien." A car approaches and he runs away, Collard noting that the creature will not successfully find a mate this year. This border wall
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by Paul Gravett
Paul Gravett's Tove Jansson, the potted biography of the author best known for the Moomins, showcases the development of her artistic style and literary themes. Born at the start of World War I into a family of artists (her father was a sculptor; her mother, a graphic designer; her brother, Lars, a collaborator on her comics), Jansson wanted to paint but had limited opportunities as a woman. After art college, she undertook commissions and freelance work. The first Moomins book was published in 1945; the second,
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by Jeff Guinn
Jeff Guinn (Manson; The Road to Jonestown) is a meticulous researcher with the exceptional writing skills to gather those details into riveting works of narrative nonfiction. With Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage, Guinn first touches down on the tragic February date in 1993 when federal agents began a seven-week siege on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex., before stepping back to the 19th-century roots of the religious sect, to chart its progress toward the charismatic
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