Entertaining and accessible, "The Adventures of Phatty and Payaso" is a fun early chapter book that emphasizes bravery and compassion. In Marie Unanue’s early reader The Adventures of Phatty and Payaso: Central Park, two cats and their... Read More

An evocative historical novel, "Sheepeater" sees a family fighting for survival in foreign and unnerving territories. Joseph Dorris’s historical coming-of-age story "Sheepeater" follows a family west toward the Salmon River in Idaho.... Read More

Gritty, raw, liberated, and twisted into lines of beauty, Emma Bolden’s melancholic realizations mostly relate to her body and her hysterectomy. With multiple collections and an assortment of works in publication, it is no surprise... Read More

Inspired by his childhood on a dairy farm in Illinois, tales of rural life lead the way in this Austin Smith collection focused on family, violence, and memories. Smith left the Midwest to live in California, where he teaches at... Read More

Lush imagery, beckoning history, curious interactions, elusive dreams, and existential questions fuse in this prose poetry collection, the fifth by Donna Stonecipher. She resides in Berlin and translates from both French and German.... Read More

Mournful and animate, Yenta Mash’s stories ingather Romanian shtetl lives before, during, and after Soviet disruptions. Each story is a microcosm of the Jewish diaspora: “as long as they bother to go after us, we can be sure we still... Read More

In Christian Felt’s eerie and wondrous "The Lightning Jar", an outwardly ordinary Swedish family’s history is plumbed for its most extraordinary dreams and aspirations. Amanda and Karl spend their summer perched on the edge of a... Read More

Perre Coleman Magness explains why decadent American Southern food is so darn delicious in "Southern Snacks", which acknowledges that sharing bountiful amounts of food is a natural part of the region’s culture—of tailgating, garden... Read More