Do you like coffee? I’m sure the adults around you depend on it every day, usually to get the day started. Do you know where coffee originates? It looks dark brown when people drink it, but it actually comes from a red bean. It’s the...

With nine awards and named Fiction Book of the Year by Authors Circle, The Destroyer of Worlds: An Answer to Every Question by Steven Seril rightfully deserves to be called the Book of the Century. Rich in both substance and chaos, the main plot revolves...

Perfect for teen readers who enjoy the science fiction worlds of alternate realities, The Given is the first book in the Interland series by Gary Clark. Soon after her eighteenth birthday, Jay’s mind-reading powers quickly develop. What should have been an amazing discovery turns into...

The Problem with Poppy by Emma Sandford (illustrated magnificently by Olena Osadcha) is a lovely story about being scared to make friends and about overcoming that fear. We can imagine how difficult it is for porcupines to form acquaintances! Rory is a boy tiger cub...

The S.O.U.R.C.E. by Suzanna L. Royse is an inspiring story aimed at children and their parents. The target group falls between the ages of 5 and 11 and the vocabulary is aimed at that audience, but the sentiments expressed should move all readers, regardless of...

To Anna, love was total ownership and worship. It was beautiful until it wasn’t. Anna and Ambrosia (Rose) were cousins, best friends, and soul sisters. After losing her sister and mother as a little girl, Rose filled that void for Anna. But then Rose got...

The Rules of a Little Boss: A Book of Self-love is written by eighth-grader Haelee P. Moone, who wants to encourage much younger kids to appreciate and stand up for themselves. The wonderful illustrations by artist Arsalan are bright and show the points Haelee is...

The 'Great' Kickin' Dog: A Family Tree by Kenneth Allen Crutchfield, Sr. is a novel with its own beauty and dignity in exploring the life of a dysfunctional family. John Coleman is the main protagonist, an ex-musician, assembly line worker, and alcoholic. Don’t call him...

The Knackerman Who Salvaged the Stars by Caroline A. Connell is a tale that pits humanity against a powerful force. He is invincible and his despicable act sows death in its wake. People see dead bodies from every part of the city piling up. The...

In The View From My Window by Patricia J. Gallegos, Willow is an apprentice healer traveling with her fellow nomads, trading and offering their services as they make stops at villages. Yet, times are changing as tension against the nomads escalates. Change comes almost as...

The Fleeing Felon by Daniel Maldonado begins with a brief introduction to the protagonist, Fredrick, underdressed and uninvited, sitting alone in a far corner and sticking out like a sore thumb at a party at the luxurious Regal Phoenix Resort and Spa. Freddie is fresh...

Max Stevens is a man with a complicated past and an uncertain future. The only survivor of his team after an accident in the laboratory where he worked, Max cannot hope to live long due to radiation exposure. However, if his time on earth is...

The Path Before Me by Russell H. Plante takes young (and not so young) readers on a delightful journey of discovery and personal development through the eyes of a wee kitten abandoned early in life in a small town on the coast of Maine. Patches,...

A Christian fantasy science-fiction novel that delves into the riddles of life and death, The Gatekeeper’s Descendants by Johanna Frank is bold and imaginative. Pipiera arrived in the form of a curious young teenager and is still reluctant to enter the gate to the kingdom....

An enterprising journalist stumbles onto a plot involving multiple countries that threaten to catapult South Africa into war in the stunning historical novel The Rand Conspiracy by Richard Westover. After a ten-year absence, journalist Peter Leroux returns to his childhood home of Johannesburg when his...

Logan would have loved it if Lilly could talk; however, being a doll, she obviously can’t. That is until the day he unearths a strange watch from the attic that makes his toys come to life. A toy pirate insists that Logan, the powerful wielder...

When a young man takes his injured friend's place in his band, he gets caught in a mad world of murder, magic, mythology, and time travel in the urban fantasy novel, The Devil Pulls the Strings by J. W. Zarek. Boone Daniels inadvertently injures his...

The Rise of the Raidin by Susan L. Markloff is the first book in the Human-Born Era series. Just over a year ago, Jennifer Monroe was an average teenage girl. Now she's living a secret life as a hybrid with abilities that allow her to...

The Power of Gratitude: Unlocking Hidden Treasures by Ruth Maille tells the story of Orbit, a character in the shape of our planet, who is going to a sleepover camp. Orbit and all his friends are excited about the camp and can’t wait to see...

James H. Morgan’s memoir, The Reject Bench, wholeheartedly buys into the idea of growing pains, particularly about isolation as brought about by not being able to make new friends. The author’s story begins in June 1961, a week after finishing his freshman year at Upland...