Everyone looks forward to birthdays because it is a time when you get to make a wish and expect that it will be granted. Children, too, are no exception. My Birthday, My Special Wish by Ciara. L. Hill teaches children how to dream and...

One Weird Wednesday is a children’s picture book written by Amanda Schaumburg with illustrations by Nataliia Tymoshenko. For Willow, every Wednesday is boring, because it is far from the previous weekend and the one to come. It is uneventful and just sits in the middle...

I’ve read my fair share of self-help books, but Making Sense of Life: Develop Your Own Theory for Happiness and Achievement by Simin Cai, PhD (with Mikaela Ashcroft) is in a league of its own. It actually respects the reader's intelligence, which is a breath...

Forever Yours by Joslyn Westbrook is a summer fling romance that fairly sizzles off the pages. Cami has just graduated from Oxford, England, with a PhD in economics, and is heading for New York to begin her high-powered career in finance. She left England with...

In Education Empowered, Srinivas Jallepalli tells readers that we’ve begun teaching children in a way that doesn’t match how people actually develop. He breaks it down to biology, how the brain works, and how we learn from the world around us. He talks about how...

In Princess Shmincess by Julie Keshmiry, young readers are introduced to Princess Alexandria Von Shmincess. She’s a royal with a snorting laugh, who’d rather bang on drums than sit up straight at the piano. She also hates “proper princess posture” and puffy pink dresses. One...

Tey Van Jaarsveld teaches young readers about love and empathy in Duke and Leia. Leia is a big, sweet dog. But one day, her owner had to say goodbye to her for a while to perform his military service. He leaves her in the care...

Connie’s White World: Jazz Noir Stories by Sam Newsome is a collection of interconnected narratives that follow musicians, performers, and strivers as they navigate identity, ambition, race, and art in contemporary urban spaces. Structured like an album, the book opens with a framing idea that...

It is 1962, two years since eleven-year-old Piper Lewis lost her mother. The phone call that changes her life comes through at her home in Arlington, Virginia. Her father, Neil Lewis, a career officer with USAID, had been posted to Bangkok, and he was moving...

Breathe Easy by Tammy Donahue is a touching story about Ann Montgomery, who was brought up in the countryside of Southern West Virginia. She married her childhood sweetheart, Bobby, and just as they were celebrating that they were soon going to be parents, tragedy struck....

In Eric Brown’s The Secrets of Seabrook, as winter closes in on Seabrook Harbor, teenager Jonah Harris notices that a missing dockworker’s case is being dismissed far too quickly. When Josh Hoggins vanishes after a public confrontation at the marina, the town accepts an easy...

The Heart of a Leader is an inspiring children’s picture book written by Dr. Josh McConkey with illustrations by Yakovetic. It follows Gabe, a young boy who loves playing soccer and caring for his friends. Although he is not the tallest or fastest member of...

The Jezebel Tracks by Gardner Landry is a tale of dysfunction, narcissism, addiction, and psychopaths. This may seem to be an unlikely vehicle for humor, but Gardner Landry carries it off with precision and style, while painting a bleak picture of his dysfunctional family. The...

In Soundscape by Kenneth Thomas, Nick Stern meets Hannah Wren during a summer archaeological dig in Israel, where a brief academic trip turns into the beginning of a relationship that changes their lives. After a violent attack leaves Nick injured, they return to Wisconsin, carrying...

Careers by the People by Mike Wysocki is a compilation of over 100 first-person interviews, placing readers inside the working lives of those in a wide array of positions. These include the likes of a Vice President of Information Technology, who recalls learning computing through...

Miss Woodhouse and Miss Fairfax by Maisie Jardelle is an absolutely delightful Regency romance, but with a fascinating twist. Jane Fairfax was a beautiful young woman whose family had fallen upon difficult financial times. Her nemesis, Emma Woodhouse, is by Regency standards, a rising young...

Myla Learns Wings Over My Heart by Angela Thibault is an exceptional read for children because it gives them a simple yet successful way to initially tackle emotional problems. Sometimes, it’s difficult for children to share what is bothering them, especially when they are limited...

“Everything’s the same as it’s always been, Kurt. It’s only our perception of the world that’s changed.” In the novel Without A Face by Lonnie Busch, that sentence would be a significant understatement. The curtain rises in Rescue, a small town somewhere in the American...

The mysterious Voynich manuscript and its meaning have been the subject of speculation ever since its discovery in a Jesuit library near Rome in 1912 by an antiquarian book dealer, after whom it is named. It was originally the property of Emperor Rudolf II of...

In Amy S. Peele’s Last Bite, after the funeral of her husband, Vincent Carlo Sortino, in Chicago’s Little Italy, Angie Sortino expects to settle his affairs, but Mario Longetti takes control of his pension, forcing her to take a housekeeping job at City Hall to...