This week, we offer up a feast of fantastic books, including Baking in the American South, in which food writer Anne Byrn provides hundreds of recipes, alongside mouthwatering photos by Allen Rinne, that answer the question, "What makes Southern baking so special?"; and The Full Moon Coffee Shop, where feline proprietors prepare "just the right" dishes for their directionless clientele, while also offering "helpful star charts to clarify (better) choices." Plus, teen readers are sure to enjoy Tigest Girma's Immortal Dark, "a fabulously bloody and intricate reimagining of the vampire myth" that pivots on a treacherous ancient agreement.
In The Writer's Life, Jacqueline Woodson takes a look back at her celebrated memoir Brown Girl Dreaming and the role it played in helping her understand the historical context she was born into. She also elaborates on the necessity of hope in both writing and everyday living.