In Jordan Ifueko’s novel "The Maid and the Crocodile", an orphaned girl fights to make a home for herself while contending with a cursed god. In Oluwan, while trying to find employment as a maid, Sade accidentally binds herself to the... Read More

In Torben Kulhmann’s novel "The Gray City", a determined girl seeks out color in a desaturated world. After moving into a new home, Robin realizes that her new city is absent of all colors but gray. In defiance, she resolves to always... Read More

The author makes the introductions in this tongue-in-cheek, wild ride of a picture book about remarkable children—some of them fantastical, others closer to reality than you think. Each child receives a detailed spread with multiple... Read More

A Chinese photographer in colonial Singapore and a museum archivist forge a connection through their yearning, time-crossing correspondence in Elaine Chiew’s mesmerizing speculative novel "The Light Between Us". In 1920, Tian Wei runs... Read More

Christophe Lebold’s biography of one of popular music’s greatest songwriters is outstanding, grounding its subject in the historical times that formed him and his art. Following Leonard Cohen from his childhood in Canada through to... Read More

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s life, though thorned with tragedy, blooms within this inspirational picture book. The real-life inspirations for Burnett’s most famous works, including A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, are revealed... Read More

Family wounds are reopened in Leonard Pitts Jr.’s gripping historical novel "54 Miles", a coming-of-age story set during the civil rights movement. Adam was raised in New York by his attentive white father and somewhat distant Black... Read More

The threat of climate change looms over the short stories of Ashley Shelby’s "Honeymoons in Temporary Locations", resulting in a zesty mix of humor, speculative science fiction, and melancholia. Set in a future wracked by environmental... Read More