That Is How Things Are by Mrs. D. is a book with two short stories, The Autumn Wind and The Kitten and the Sparrow, which explore the magic and beauty of autumn. In the first story, readers get to see the gray-silver headed wind rising...

What strikes one most deeply while reading I Miss My Best Friend - a condensed tale of love, friendship, and loss – is Penelope Lagos’s decision, decisively well executed, of telling a most personal family story. This is not a generic rendition of “our family...

There is so much to like about Oy, Elephants! by Deborah Stevenson and Morgan Spicer. Begin with the book’s concept. A pair of retired circus elephants, Martha and Lou, move in as next-door neighbors to young Joel’s grandparents, Morris and Gussie, with whom he is...

Taeowolf by Kris Moger is a world of fantasy straight from the author’s own imagination. Aiden Murphy is a young Wolvean attending university when he gets caught up in events beyond his understanding and control. The four main species of this world - Wolveans, Elveans,...

What Would a Muslim Say? Conversations, Questions, and Answers about Islam by scientist and author Ahmed Lotfy Rashed is a compilation of questions and answers shared by email between visitors to the WhyIslam.org website and Rashed, who was a volunteer with the organization. Questions posed...

Full Breach by N. Lawrence Mann is a splendid entry in the Blue Warp Series, an engaging, suspenseful read with characters that are genuinely flawed and imbued with a strong sense of humanity. A brilliant tale of addiction and redemption, the thriller follows Brennen Reynold,...

Soothing Rain: Living Water to Refresh Your Soul by Tonya Jewel Blessing and Sue Summers is a fantastic devotional for women. It’s divided into 52 short themed chapters and is intended to be read in women’s study groups, but I found it was also a...

Deanna Lynn Sletten’s Night Music is a story of hearts divided. Joseph Russo is a soldier in Vietnam. He becomes pen pals with a girl named Charlotte. Char writes to Joe about Grand Falls, her small hometown in Illinois. Joe clings to those letters, they...

Israel Dilean’s illustrations throughout Shanalee Sharboneau's picture book, My Mama Loves Me: I’m Her Little Girl, have a timeless look that complements the words incredibly well. And those words have a rhythm that makes rhyme superfluous, popular though it is with children who enjoy having...

Set in Parthia, in the period of the Roman invasion, Little Gods, A Tale of Ancient Wonders by Andrew Levkoff takes readers into the heart of ancient history, with a culture that is woven around superstitious beliefs, the gods, and conflict. In a quiet desert...

Ten Cultures, Twenty Lives: Refugee Life Stories by Daina Jurika-Owen is a powerful book that explores a socio-political phenomenon — the refugee problem. In this spellbinding, eye-opening book, the author shares the lives of refugees who, after numerous tribulations and gruesome experiences, arrive in the...

Love and Pursuit: Three Jazz Age Tales of Crime and Passion is a collection of romantic suspense novellas written by C.K. Charlotte. Ivy Smythe had had to break down well-established barriers to become one of the first women barristers in England. She was thrilled to...

Danica's Destiny is the sixth novel in the Destiny series by Rosemary Gard. Danica is a sweet, intelligent, unsophisticated young woman who flees her rural Texas home to avoid a traditional marriage arranged by her immigrant Croatian parents. Finding work in a hotel owned by...

“Today, my fifth time as a russet sparrow, I felt as if I’d been flying all my life. My wings flapped according to instinct and carried me toward Sorrenwood’s outer edge, over rows of broken shelters.” Dreadmarrow Thief (The Conjurer Fellstone, Book 1) by Marjory...

Snakes and Ladders, Book Two in the Bannister’s Muster series is a pre-teen fantasy by Barbara Gaskell Denvil. Nathan Bannister and his sister, Poppy, travel into a past that’s steeped in danger. They meet with their friends Alice, John Ten-Toes, and Alfie from ancient London...

Tuma’s Boot by Gladys T. Kenfack opens with Tuma and his mother going to the river to play. Tuma takes off his boots and sets them down near the riverbank. The wind blows his boot into the water and it floats away. He is very...

Mambo's Toy Collection by author Gladys Kenfack is a delightful children's book full of pages of vivid color, and beautiful illustrations that catch the eye. It incorporates the idea of recycling into the story line, and at the end there is a toy that can...

Dr. Gordon Fimreite's 15 Steps to Healthy Living is an uplifting and useful guide for all readers who are on the lookout for tips to lose weight naturally, get a health plan organized, and glow from the inside out. The book speaks about eating healthily...

One delight of most Buddhist teachings is the stories masters tell to instill a kind of continuous contemplation in their students' minds regarding the practical applications of their teachings. Unique to this most non-religious practice of transcendent spirituality, such stories embellish everyday life with higher...

Ravyn’s Doll: How To Explain Fibromyalgia To Your Child by Melissa Swanson is an informative book that will educate young readers about fibromyalgia. It is Monday morning and it is a family share day for the children in Miss Mindy’s kindergarten class. Children find her...