Making Bread Out of Straw is a transformative guide to success when the odds seem insurmountable. Cinzi Lavin shares her journey of overcoming personal and financial limitations to create a thriving career in music and theater. She achieved her goals despite lacking the traditional markers...

To Kill a Cockroach by Osvaldo Calixto Amador is an autobiography that fully spans the author's troubled childhood in Cuba, his issues with identity, and his search for meaning through art and relationships. Born into hardship and trauma, Amador faced constant relocation, bullying, and neglect,...

Barkley is a loving sheepdog with a big heart. He was always there when someone needed help, especially his friends. In Lilyann Rosewood’s Barkley’s Big Heart, Barkley helps his friend, a sad rabbit, Pip, find his treasured carrot. “We’ll never give up,” he assures Pip....

Children’s books are incredibly powerful vehicles of social messaging. When a book is written for a younger audience, it not only has the opportunity to teach and create space for challenging conversations among children but for their parents and caretakers as well. In My...

Mary L. Schmidt and Michael Schmidt help children overcome grief in Shadow. Shadow was a long-haired Dachshund greatly loved by ten-year-old Nanci, eight-year-old Tim, and their parents. The children loved spending time with Shadow and grew concerned when Shadow started slowing down. Shadow was old,...

Scarecrow Finds A Heart is an engaging picture book about a group of friends who become victims of rumor-mongering. Written by Sydney Roubian and Papa Dave and illustrated by Auntie Erika, the book follows a group of friends belonging to the community of the porch...

Strings Attached by Andrew Nitkin follows Jonathan Lanbourne, a concert guitarist on a European tour. While in Brussels, he’s coerced by the World Trade Company (WTC) to deliver mysterious packages after threats to his family. Along the way, Jonathan uncovers the WTC's illegal activities, including...

Recipe: A Meal to Heal Your Soul by Disciple D.J. Myles is a guide to spiritual healing and understanding, framed through a meal and recipe metaphor. The central theme revolves around the internal spiritual battle between good and evil, the pervasive influence of Satan, and...

Featuring animals as main characters, Denise Danzo's Toadalina is a delightful children's adventure tale. When young Maddy discovers that the little frog doll she recently received as a gift can actually talk, she can hardly believe it. Maddy has asthma, which stops her from becoming...

Agents Scorned by Ephraim Clark is an action-packed thriller set around 1975. The story follows Brad James, an intelligence operative, and his partner Chuck, an ex-Marine, who are suspicious about the death of Georges Papachristoy, a financier. He is reported to have committed suicide, but...

When an enormous explosion rocks the server room of Edenville hydroelectric dam, the largest source of electricity for the Northwestern U.S., taking it offline, local authorities suspect foul play. The Governor of Washington State authorizes Jonathan "Jon" Roy, a National Guard Special Forces officer, and...

There are books that will linger in the reader's mind forever and "Portrait of a Spy" is one of them! Gabriel Allon is both a master spy for Israeli intelligence and a restorer of art masterpieces, but now he is retired from his work at...

In her book “Messages from Nature,” Patricia Daly-Lipe gives her readers a collection of interesting short stories about many areas of the journey of life. She also includes a really nice tale written by her late father, which to me was a great honor to...

When things get tough, we all look for something or someone to lean on; some turn to booze, drugs or money while others discover that family and friends are best to hold them up. Jevon E. Thompson tells the story of a family struggling to...

Shelly’s New Shell is a children’s fable written and illustrated by Elisabeth Ekornes. Shelly is a hermit crab who loves to play in the ocean’s waves and has a lot of fun with her hermit crab friends. One day, she looks at Crabelina’s shell, which...

In Dead Money Run by J. Frank James, Lou Malloy has just maxed out on a fifteen-year prison sentence for the theft of $15 million dollars. Right before leaving prison, he learns that his sister is brutally murdered. Even though he has 15 million reasons...

My Crazy Purple Pen is written by Ruth Whenham and illustrated by Emma K.L. Hunt. It is a charming, very funny and well-written rhyming story about a boy’s purple pen that gets up to all sorts of mischief writing inky notes with rather personal messages...

Captain Sillyvoice and his Pirate Band by Ruth Whenham is a wonderfully written children's book. Captain Sillyvoice and his crew are playing and having fun, but soon after they learn that they must be scary and find gold in order to be real pirates. The...

Birthday Cake Disaster by Ruth Whenham is a color illustrated rhyming story for children. It’s Mum’s birthday. Tess and her dad are making a special cake for her birthday tea. Dad claims to know exactly how to do this and the antics begin. Without a...

Strength and talent are not limited to men, although that was how it was seen in 15th century Florence under the rule of the powerful Medici family and the Church. When Viviana is faced with the murder of Guiliano de Medici by the hands of...