A man, a woman, and a talking Martian plant walk into a bar…

OK, that doesn’t exactly happen in Falling into History–among other things, the plant doesn’t walk; it glides. However, Peter Fleming’s time-traveling tale is about a sentient, super-powered plant transporting itself and two human companions through time and space, and an eighteenth-century London […]

Coloring Our World: Look What We Can Do Together is the brainchild of Alberta Adams. Intended as an activity and coloring book to inspire very young children and their caregivers with a sense of equality, justice and the pure joy of play, the book was originally published in 1990 with grant support from AETNA Life […]

Assuming you still have money in these sour economic times, what are you to do with it? Veteran financial services professional Dean McLellan says you need to free yourself from “stuck and limiting thoughts you might have” and gain the wisdom and confidence in a stock market that cries for a descriptor stronger than “roller […]

Three Days to Die is a relentlessly paced page turner with a screenwriter’s visual sense and shoot-’em-up gore more typical of a videogame aesthetic than YA fiction. With taut, action-packed chapters and crisp dialogue, John Avery’s thriller keeps things moving at breath-taking speed. He has created a sort of “boy fantasyland” where nasty stepfathers are […]

The Heart is for Believing is a vibrantly illustrated picture book celebrating the native intelligence of all children. Author Rouzier Dorce, an education administrator originally from Haiti and now living in Georgia, makes the case that educators should always listen to children with open and curious hearts. When teachers and caregivers take the time and […]

People’s prejudices, actions and inactions and how they impact others are the focus of this book of 13 interlocking short stories dealing with issues ranging from racism to differing religious beliefs, politics, the death penalty and even violent rape. The first story opens in Reilly Penitentiary where Warden Summers and inmate Stephen McCaulsey face off […]

Flip to nearly any page in Jean Studebaker’s memoir There’s No Place Like Home and you’ll find an elaborate slice of life on a Kansas farm. Studebaker not only shares the smallest peculiarities of farming, but she conveys them in a way that magnifies their rugged beauty. Her tale renders back-breaking labor and unpredictable weather […]

Over the past 20 years, Richard Ehrlich has kept track of life’s smallest moments, following Ralph Waldo Emerson’s philosophy that the meaning of life can be found by giving “a little consideration” to the things that take place around us every day. Borrowing that phrase for his title, Ehrlich has compiled personal essays that reveal […]

In retired executive James R. Ament’s novel, Waiting for Zoe, a naive young student and a grieving retiree make parallel journeys of self-discovery in the wake of great loves, deeper tragedies, and the shadow of violence. Unfortunately, the startling, often over-the-top catastrophes that pepper the novel detract from its more subtle emotional narratives.

We first […]

Nel Rand’s debut novel is a picaresque tale that takes the reader down the Mississippi River and through the haunted past of its main character, Ellie. Ellie is recovering from divorce when her estranged father, Tiny Moon, a 300-pound gambler and eating contest champion, re-enters her life. Despite her efforts to remember her deep-seated anger […]