New Fiction
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
Stockett heads to Mississippi for another historical novel about feisty women. This time, perhaps recalling criticisms of cultural appropriation in The Help (2009), she sticks to feisty white women, with one exception. The setting is Oxford in 1933. For two miserable years, 11-year-old Meg has lived in “the Orphan,” a county asylum for parentless girls. Chairlady Garnett—a villain so one-note she’d twirl a mustache if she had one—makes it her mission to ostracize the older girls she deems unadoptable, stigmatizing them as offspring of the “feebleminded” mothers who abandoned them. She particularly has it in for smart, sassy Meg, who refuses to believe her mother’s mysterious disappearance was deliberate. Elsewhere in Oxford, Birdie Calhoun comes to visit her sister Frances, who married a wealthy banker, to ask for money on behalf of their mother and grandmother back in Footely. Frances isn’t thrilled by this reminder of her impoverished small-town origins. But she’s trying to climb up in Oxford society by volunteering at the Orphan, the asylum’s books need to be done before the state inspector shows up in a few weeks, and Birdie is a bookkeeper. Having neatly arranged to keep Birdie in town and draw these two storylines together, Stockett goes on to spin a compulsively readable yarn with enough plot for a half-dozen novels. Birdie and Meg become friends, Meg is adopted despite Garnett’s best efforts, Meg’s mother turns up at the Orphan demanding to know where her child is—and that’s less than a quarter of the way through a long, winding narrative that keeps piling on more dramatic developments until all loose ends are neatly, if hastily, wrapped up in the final pages. Stockett might be making a point about Southern women facing facts and standing up for themselves, but mostly this is just a satisfyingly twisty tale that should make a great miniseries.
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
A diverting midlife story plucks at the secrets good people carry to the grave. As a reader, Artie Dam—the protagonist of Strout’s 11th book—encounters Olive Kitteridge, “a crotchety old woman from Maine” and Strout’s most celebrated fictional character. Artie picked up the Pulitzer-anointed book centered on Olive after his wife, Evie, loved it, “oh, years ago now.” Strout is having a bit of fun—that “oh” is a trademark—even though she marbles her latest novel with marital infidelity, political anxiety, and suicide. Indeed, it is the fact that Olive’s father died by suicide that Artie, 57 and gaining a paunch, recalls now in his own dismalness. As the story begins, he is pondering the most discreet way to die, despite having been Massachusetts’ Teacher of the Year five years earlier. Artie seems the inverse of irascible Olive: beloved by his students; by his grown son, Rob; and by the English teacher, Anne, who quietly pines for him. But like Olive, Artie has distressing impulses—he steals a comb, then some expensive shirts. Much of the text bobs along on Artie’s stocktaking memories, chunked out in short, occasionally abrupt paragraphs. Strout’s storytelling is thinning a bit, like middle-aged hair. Then, midbook, she clobbers Artie with a brutal existential shock. In its wake, Strout surfs the nature of loneliness, corrosive secrets, and the convulsions of the 2024 presidential election. Hers is an unremittingly Blue State book, although Artie has one friend who, unbeknownst to him, supported Donald Trump. On the day after the election, Artie somberly concludes that his “country was committing suicide.” This is the first novel in which Strout entirely vacates Maine for another setting. But she sticks with Artie and, on the final pages, delivers him a satisfying finale.
Storybook Ending by Moira Macdonald
An anonymous note left in a used book creates a surprising love triangle in Seattle. April knows she’s become a bit too isolated while working remotely for an online real estate company. Her only social interactions come from awkward blind dates and apologetic texts from busy friends who have left her behind. Perhaps it’s this loneliness that causes her to take drastic, romantic action. She leaves an anonymous note in a book she sells to local bookstore Read the Room—it’s meant for the eyes of the cute flannel-wearing man who works at the used-book counter. But that cute employee, Westley, doesn’t see the note before putting the book—Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz—on the shelf. Instead, it’s found by widowed mother Laura, who thinks it’s Westley’s way of covertly communicating with her, and she responds by leaving a note in a copy of The Hunger Games, as April instructed in her original letter. Westley, meanwhile, has no idea why women are staring at him from the young adult section—he’s focused on a movie that’s filming at Read the Room. As April and Laura unwittingly leave each other letters, the many characters in the bookstore’s orbit get to know each other and unlikely connections form. In her debut novel, Seattle Times arts critic Macdonald writes her own love letter to bookstores, and the community and comfort they can provide. The writing has the feel of a British rom-com, despite the Seattle setting, which gives the story a cozy air. Although there are romances brewing, the story is ultimately about the courage it takes to go after the life you want.
The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave
An essential sequel that ties up loose threads while providing a thrilling ride across continents. In this sequel to The Last Thing He Told Me (2021), Hannah Hall may be reunited with her missing husband—that is, if they can make a deal with the crime syndicate trying to kill him. Beginning with a repeat of the last scene from The Last Thing He Told Me, the novel opens five years after Owen left, and Hannah and her stepdaughter, Bailey, learned of his secret life. After all this time, Owen brushes past the two at an L.A. design fair where Hannah is exhibiting. Later, Hannah discovers that Owen has slipped a flash drive into her pocket with encoded messages in the form of family photos, and the next day, suspicious men are lurking outside her house. Much has changed in the ensuing years—mob lawyer Nicholas Bell, Bailey’s maternal grandfather and the threatening presence of the first novel, has become the person Hannah and Bailey most deeply trust. Mother and daughter have also developed impressive black ops skills that enable them to stay one step ahead of the organization—Nicholas’ former clients—that’s trying to kill Owen through them. When they discover Nicholas has died and his protection has lapsed, Hannah and Bailey run, using the secret cars, cash, and safe houses they pre-arranged just for this possibility. There’s plenty of suspense as the two women race up the California coast and jet to Paris, all based on the clues Owen has left for them. Equally satisfying are the flashbacks of Nicholas and his conflicted friendship with mob boss Frank Pointe, and of Owen’s last five years spent making surprising alliances and hatching the plot that is finally coming to fruition, as Hannah and Bailey make it to France, where Owen will be reunited with his family—or die trying.
New Nonfiction
This Land is your Land by Beverly Gage
A Pulitzer Prize–winning historian hits the road to rediscover the nation’s complicated past on the eve of its 250th birthday. In this expansive blend of travelogue, civic meditation, and cultural history, Gage (G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, 2022) trades the archives for the open road, visiting 13 regions where America has repeatedly defined, and redefined, itself. Beginning at Independence Hall and ending at Disneyland, she moves chronologically through two-and-a-half centuries of aspiration and contradiction. The concept is simple but effective: a road trip as metaphor for the American experiment, full of detours, breakdowns, and instructive wrong turns. Stops include the Alamo, Valley Forge, Chicago’s Haymarket Square, and Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, each prompting reflections on how the stories we tell at historic sites both reveal and obscure national truths. “Traveling the country and learning about history can provide some existential comfort, since it shows that Americans have managed to get themselves out of big messes before. At the very least it makes it harder to say that things today are worse than ever.” A central theme, the possibility of loving one’s country without overlooking its sins, resonates throughout: “Though you wouldn’t necessarily realize it from the state of our political discourse, it’s possible to hold both sets of ideas—to know your history and still love your country.” Yet the book’s genial, professor-on-sabbatical tone sometimes dulls its momentum; the narrative often feels like a series of polished essays more than a genuine journey. When Gage reaches California’s Orange County, her sharpest insights emerge: Disneyland, she observes, “likes to flirt with the past but also to jumble it up and redefine it,” a perfect emblem of American nostalgia as commerce. Despite the occasional flat stretch, Gage writes with clarity and moral conviction; her mix of curiosity, empathy, and civic faith feels both steadying and necessary.
The American Revolution at 250 by Francis D. Cogliano
In these powerful and personal essays, some of the most celebrated historians of the American Revolutionary era reflect on the meaning of 1776 to the nation in 2026, offering fresh insights and food for thought on every page. They tackle the most pressing topics that Americans debated in 1776 and continue to debate today: the meaning of democracy; the nature of information wars; immigration and the rights and obligations of citizenship; race and slavery; public health; the various and conflicting legacies of the founders; and the shifting nature of commemoration itself. Like the Revolutionary generation they know so well, on some issues these scholarly authorities find themselves largely in accord; on others they vehemently disagree. This is historical debate at its most urgent.
The Well-Educated Child by Dr. Deborah Kenny
Dr. Deborah Kenny offers an inspiring vision for education that cultivates intelligent, happy, morally grounded young people. This landmark book will change the way we think about what it means for our children to be well educated.
Drawing on decades of experience with students from preschool through high school, Kenny presents education as soul craft. She reveals how to teach children the skills of self-management and the virtue of self-discipline, and what students must learn to become intellectually curious, knowledgeable, gracious, and motivated.
Monsters in the Archives my Year of fear with Stephen King by Caroline Bicks
After Caroline Bicks was named the University of Maine's inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, she became the first scholar to be granted extended access by King to his private archives, a treasure trove of manuscripts that document the legendary writer's creative process—most of them never before studied or published. The year she spent exploring King’s early drafts and hand-written revisions was guided by one question millions of King's enthralled and terrified readers (including her) have asked themselves: What makes Stephen King’s writing stick in our heads and haunt us long after we’ve closed the book?
Bicks focuses on five of his most iconic early works—The Shining, Carrie, Pet Sematary, 'Salem's Lot, and Night Shift—to reveal how he crafted his language, story lines, and characters to cast his enduring literary spells. While tracking King’s margin notes and editorial changes, she discovered scenes and alternative endings that never made it to print but that King is allowing her to publish now. The book also includes interviews Bicks had with King along the way that reveal new insights into his writing process and personal history.
New Young Adult
On the Bright Side by Anna Sortino
A hopeful novel about love, disability, and the inevitability of change. Two teens find each other while dealing with disability and ableism. Ellie, an 18-year-old Deaf girl, must move back in with her family when her residential Deaf school closes. Now she faces the ableism of her public-school classmates, an unprofessional and incompetent interpreter, and living with her hearing (and prejudiced) family members, who don’t understand how to respect her Deafness. Jackson is another senior at Amber High. He’s a disgraced soccer star who cost his team the state championship when he unexpectedly collapsed on the pitch. His dad has dangerously high expectations for him, both in athletics and in life, and his mom thinks everything can be cured with alternative medicine, including Jackson’s mysterious and worsening symptoms. One thing Ellie and Jackson do have is each other. This story is, most simply put, a sweet, well-written romance with just a touch of drama for excitement.
Ellen Poe by Diana Peterfreund
A rumored descendant of Edgar Allan Poe helps his ghost unravel hidden codes from the author’s lost writings. Ever since moving to Aunt Marie’s carefully curated Edgar Allan Poe–themed bed-and-breakfast, 16-year-old Ellen Reynolds has suffered recurring nightmares about the dead. One morning, she’s bewildered by the appearance of Eddy, the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe, and the discovery of an old leather journal bearing the initials “E.A.P.” In her English class at Evergreen Prep, Ellen is shocked to meet new student Gus Davenport, one of the dead people from her nightmares. She exclaims, “You’re dead!”, leaving Gus convinced she’s psychic because he’d had a near-death experience. Eddy asks for Ellen’s help cracking the ciphers in his journal, leaving her occasionally exasperated by his cryptic communication style: “When the proper time arrives, all that the gentleman intended, and all that he did not intend, will be brought to light.” With Gus’ help, Ellen works to resolve both the nightmares and Eddy’s request so she can sell his journal, help the struggling B&B, and save for college.
Under A Fire-Red Sky by Geraldine McCaughrean
Thrown together by chance, four English teenagers become unlikely friends during World War II. As war erupts on the continent, the British government launches Operation Pied Piper, evacuating children in urban centers to safer rural areas. In the carriage of a train bound for Wales, Gemmy, Olive, Lawrence, and Franklin wonder what life holds for them. But when Gemmy jumps off the train before it leaves the station, the other three follow suit. Bonded through this act of disobedience, they explore their home base of Greenwich and its environs, and brilliant Lawrence regales them with stories from history. The teens spin a tale to explain their continued presence to their parents. Gemmy lives in a broken-down van to escape her alcoholic father; Franklin is determined to become a fireman; Lawrence, misunderstood by his parents, works on a mechanical project; and Olive tries to be a dutiful daughter. The four navigate the bombs, shock, fear, and utter senselessness of the Blitz as best they can.
The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it's not a skill that she's ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they've begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie. What Cassie doesn't realize is that there's more at risk than a few unsolved homicides-especially when she's sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms close. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.
New Children's
Pizzasaurus by Tammi Sauer
Dinosaurs are awesome, pizza is delicious, and the combination? A prehistoric treat! Tailor-made for an audience of dinosaur-loving pizza aficionados—in other words, nearly all kids—this title kicks off with an inviting “You look like someone who knows a lot about dinosaurs.” The unseen narrator conspiratorially notes that readers likely are well acquainted with the likes of Tyrannosaurus rex, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Apatosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and Velociraptor. “But there’s another dinosaur who really delivers”—the “supremely special” Pizzasaurus. The other dinosaurs, resentful of the newcomer, jockey for readers’ attention (Apatosaurus can sport 96 scarves at once! And Triceratops is “practically a prehistoric unicorn!”), but Pizzasaurus, who lives in a pizza-themed home and gobbles pie after pie, is the star of the show. Until he goes missing. Was he eaten (we’re looking at you, Tyrannosaurus)? Caught in an erupting volcano? Nope! He’s back with pizza for everyone! The dinos agree: “He’s a very special dinosaur indeed.” Dinosaur books are plentiful, and though this one’s light on plot, it’s heavy on humor. Beckett’s bright, cheery illustrations feature rubber-faced dinos frequently breaking the fourth wall to stare at readers with eyebrows arched in disbelief. The pizza-themed puns and wordplay ramp up the read-aloud potential.
A Fish Like Me by Devon Holzwarth
A gorgeous celebration of swimming, disability, and imagination. A child reflects on the joy and freedom of swimming. On land, the young narrator explains, “I am a rock-star roller who sparkles and zooms and spins” in a manual wheelchair “like a rocket ready to launch into space.” Importantly, the child’s wheelchair is “just as much a part of me as my toes”—a phrase that simultaneously embraces disability and gently reminds readers to respect wheelchair users’ personal space. But underwater, “I am a fish with a body that wriggles in a different way.” Donning goggles and entering a pool, the child imagines being such creatures as “a starfish cartwheeling across a universe” and “a seahorse with shimmering skin and head held high because everyone knows horses are proud.” In the water, the protagonist is “fearless and brave except when I’m not and lose my way in this topsy-turvy world.” Fortunately, the child’s swim therapy coach provides grounding touches and “reminds me to kick. But like the clownfish I am, I add a little flip.” Whether on land or underwater, the child can be “silly and free. Wherever I might be…there is something magical… about a fish like me.” In harmony with Sumner’s rhythmic, lyrical text, Holzwarth’s fluid, dreamy cartoon illustrations immerse readers of all abilities in the imaginative child’s joyful, vibrant underwater world of deep blue waves, iridescent bubbles, and colorful sea creatures. Background characters are racially diverse.
Van Gogh's Dog by Georgia Larson
A creative romp through a renowned artist’s world. Vincent van Gogh feels artistically stifled until a small dog shows him beauty he’s overlooked. A downcast Van Gogh is full of self-doubt. “How can I paint if I never go anywhere exciting?” Enter a small dog who mysteriously appears from a wheat field before dashing away with the artist’s paintbrushes. The naughty pup leads Van Gogh on a chase through the places found in his works. They cavort through “bright-yellow sunflowers” that leave the artist crowing, “Such colors! Such light!” and into a town, past the establishment from Van Gogh’s famed, red-toned Night Café (he reassesses the location as “bright and welcoming”). After the dog’s antics necessitate a rescue from the river under a painterly, starry night, Van Gogh returns home, bursting with ideas, bringing the newly named Sunny along. There’s no doubt the intrepid pup is a child-friendly tour guide, though a note clarifying whether Van Gogh actually owned a pet might have enriched the book. Altogether, the adventurous duo introduces nine different paintings, reproduced as a mini art gallery on the last page—an especially valuable component for teachers or adults planning museum trips. Helmer’s energetic art winks at but doesn’t replicate Van Gogh’s style; her bright, confident paint and digital illustrations rely heavily on the dabbed lines, swirls, and spirals that Van Gogh favored.
Shim Jung Takes the Dive by Julia Riew
A girl faces her fear of the water and a furious undersea Dragon Queen in this fantasy based on the Korean tale “Shimcheong.”
Shim Jung lives on Haemin Island in the fictional land of New Samhan, which “lives somewhere between” the cultures of South Korea and the U.S. Lively, list-obsessed narrator Jung occasionally breaks the fourth wall to address readers directly. Early on, she shares her “Super Foolproof Five-Prong Plan” to excel academically so she can “become a globe-trotter and live a worldwide life of awesomeness.” She’s also preparing for the Dive, a rite of passage for 12-year-old girls: Whatever they emerge from the sea clutching is said to predict their futures. But Jung developed a phobia of the water after her mother’s presumed drowning death—her body was never found—and she’s unable to complete the dive or even take ferries to the mainland with friends, let alone pursue her dream of studying abroad. Later, a humiliated Jung runs out into a storm after hearing Umma’s voice call to her from the ocean. She plummets into the water and wakes up in the Dragon Queendom. The intrigue and pace build when Jung meets the rebellious Prince Jae, and the duo attempt to escape. The placement of Jung’s lists sometimes feels superfluous, but the story skillfully and sincerely balances themes of family and facing fears as Jung continues to follow the mysterious voice and finds her courage in time for a satisfactory resolution.
Firebloom by Justin Davies
In this Scottish import, 12-year-old Taliesin Smuck tries to save her island community. Stormcliff’s economy depends on both the jellyfish-sting harvest and the annual Firebloom Festival that draws tourists from the mainland to see the bioluminescent jellyfish. The stings are used in a variety of balms and medicines by apothecary Pickle Armstrong. Tally fears that her powers won’t manifest, and she’ll never become a Sting Winkler like her mum, Grandad, and generations before—back to Agnes Smuck, the first, Victorian-era jellyfish seeker (quotes from Agnes’ The Sting Winkler’s Handbook appear as epigraphs throughout). Understanding and communicating with jellyfish is the purview of Sting Winklers, as is the gentle harvesting of the stings from their tentacles. Tally, who has curly hair and light brown skin, was 6 when her mother died; she lives with her doting Grandad and his husband, Mandeep, who Tally calls Mandad. This year, on the eve of the festival, something is very wrong. The moon jellies in their lantern jars are dimmer than usual, and the jellyfish in the sea are behaving oddly. Tally investigates, engaging in some brave scouting with best friend Farran and classmate Colette. They embark on a dangerous expedition up the cliffs to the castle, traditional home of the laird and lady. Every worldbuilding detail is amusing, appropriate, convincing, and charming, and all the pieces of the story fall entertainingly into place. Ficorilli’s grayscale illustrations add atmosphere and heighten the suspense.
The Baby-sitters Club: Dawn on the Coast graphic novel by Ann M. Martin
Dawn can't wait for her trip to California. Aside from all the sun and fun, it's her first visit since her brother, Jeff, moved back to live with their dad. California is better than Dawn ever remembered it. The beaches are beautiful, the local theme park is a blast, and Dawn is enjoying all her favorite foods. Plus, Dawn's best friend, Sunny, has even started her own baby-sitting club! Things are going so well that Dawn begins to wonder if she might want to stay in California with her dad and Jeff. Dawn is a California girl at heart, but could she really leave Stoneybrook -- and her mom and The Baby-sitters Club -- for good?
Wings of Fire Graphic Novel (Book 9) Talons of Power by Tui T. Sutherland
For every villain, there is a hero ... Turtle isn’t one of the heroes he reads about in stories. If he were, he’d use his animus powers to help Pyrrhia -- instead of keeping his abilities a secret, even from his own sister. Now that Darkstalker, the sinister and impossibly old dragon from Pyrrhia’s most notorious legends, has returned, Turtle knows his own role is simple: hide. And stay hidden. The more he watches Darkstalker from the shadows, the more Turtle knows that someone needs to stop the powerful dragon. A real hero. But Turtle is running out of time to find one, which means ... he might have to try to save the day himself.