by CJ Leede
American Rapture, an adrenaline rush of a novel by award-winning horror writer CJ Leede (Maeve Fly), finds the Midwest ravaged by a strange new virus that infects people with insatiable--and fatal--lust. Sixteen-year-old Sophie has spent her entire life in a sheltered Catholic home. When the infection hits and her parents are among its early victims, Sophie is thrown into a hellish nightmare as she tries to reunite with her twin brother amid the chaos. But the more people she meets and the more she sees of
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by Sarah Moss
Sarah Moss's rigorous, innovative memoir, My Good Bright Wolf, is about creating safety for a body embattled by disordered eating and competing voices.
As a novelist, Moss (Ghost Wall) exhibits compassionate attention and perspective--skills she applies autobiographically here. Her second- and third-person narration emphasizes the contrast between her thinking self and troublesome flesh. Growing up with an angry father (whom Moss calls "the Owl") and judgmental mother ("the Jumbly Girl") who praised her for
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by Zachariah OHora
Zachariah OHora's picture books Stop Snoring, Bernard! and No Fits, Nilson! center on animals and silliness. Whalesong: The True Story of the Musician Who Talked to Orcas centers on animals, minus the silliness, although OHora cushions his serious message with merriment in this true tale of compassion, animal rights, and the power of music.
In 1971, flutist Paul Horn and his two young sons liked to visit the two orcas at the aquarium near their home on British Columbia's Victoria Island. On one visit they
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by Shion Miura, trans. by Yui Kajita
For a novel focused on the importance of running swiftly, Shion Miura's Run with the Wind is a leisurely--and deeply compassionate--narrative about gaining self-trust while solidifying lasting bonds. The book opens with a detailed drawing (by Akira Yamaguchi) facing the prologue page, titled "an illustration of Chikusei-so," a dilapidated college dorm at Kansei University. The exploded view of the two-story structure reveals occupied rooms displayed with the residents' names. As the story begins, though, the
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by George M. Johnson, illus. by Charly Palmer
"Blackness is inherently queer," writes George M. Johnson (We Are Not Broken; All Boys Aren't Blue) in Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known, a triumphant and deeply personal illustrated essay collection that pays homage to 12 LGBTQ+ Black artists and the resounding impact they've made on future generations.
In refreshingly approachable language, Johnson highlights individuals from the prolific 1920s arts movement--including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ma Rainey--noting that
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by Stephanie Duncan Smith
Stephanie Duncan Smith's poignant, powerful debut memoir, Even After Everything, draws insightful parallels between the Christian liturgical year and Duncan Smith's own journey of pregnancy loss, new motherhood, and stubborn hope. As she navigates "hope in the after, hope against the grain of entirely reasonable fear," Duncan Smith explores the highs and lows of the Christian narrative, set into a calendar pattern that repeats every year, and invites believers to walk with her deeper into the story.
Recounting
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