In Rebecca Ferrier’s captivating novel "A Spell for Drowning", sisters’ fates are tied to the mythical beings off the Cornish coast. Kensa lives in Cornwall. Her outlaw father was executed; her mother remarried. Charged with watching... Read More

The world transforms around a strange, charismatic girl who was trained to keep her eyes on the skies in the bizarre, wondrous novel "The High Heaven". Orphaned when the cult she was raised in went out to meet alien angels and instead... Read More

A young bird staves off mass destruction in the fantastical graphic novel Haru Book 3: Fall. Haru, a bird who’s unable to fly, meets his apparent death at the hands of Blight, a corrupted force bent on ravaging the world. Caught in the... Read More

An orphaned toad journeys through the natural world in the magnificent graphic novel "Alyte". Alyte is one of many eggs on his father’s back. When his father dies, he is thrown into a harsh but beautiful world. After meeting other... Read More

In Lauren Fischer’s novel "Orphanland", childhood friends work to unravel a mystery surrounding their orphanage, an abandoned school, and the influential family tied to both. Eleven-year-old Willa lives in the Southern Ohio... Read More

Carry Somer’s fascinating book "The Nature of Fashion" is about how humans have used plants to make textiles across time. About the profound impact of textiles on the planet and on human society, the book begins by considering the... Read More

Unspoken rivalries lead to aching rifts in Rebecca Hirsch Garcia’s glittering debut novel "Other Evolutions", about the power and pitfalls of intense family love. Alma grew up in the glow of her older sister, Marnie, who possessed... Read More

Efforts to increase voter turnout in Black communities are at the heart of the revealing political science text "Party at the Ballot Box". In 2020, COVID-19 and police brutality against Black communities necessitated Baltimore,... Read More