Hadia is the good girl, first-born and wanting to please her father, aiming for medical school to make him happy. Plain-spoken Huda, the middle child, adores her older sister and does not make waves. Amar, the son, questions everything. These first generation Pakistani-American children struggle to find peace and their place within the traditions of […]
Both specific and vague, this chilling modern fairy tale revolves around a cursed family living in an old mansion next to a mysterious wood. Over the centuries, several women in the family have entered the forest and disappeared. Maisie is the last in the line, having unintentionally killed her mother before her birth, gestating in […]
1908 Shanghai As the last Chinese dynasty collapses, a young mixed race girl awaits the return of her mother, hiding in the Western Residence of the house on Dragon Springs Road. Using Chinese magical realism and gritty historical detail, author Janie Chang tells the coming of age story of young Jialing, from that time awaiting […]
“Ester, do not rue your lack of freedom.” Ester, however, burns to be free, to reason freely, to write. Helen, approaching forced retirement from her English university History Department, discovers a cache of 350 year old letters hidden under the stair of a 17th century house. In deciphering them, she is thrilled to realize that […]
Robert is 9.8 years old. He’s just learned decimals in school but along with his family must flee Hungary from the pressing Russians. He and his adored older brother Attila, 13.5 and much more sophisticated than his younger brother, head by train to Paris with their parents, grandmother and one sack each. During the journey, […]
This short novel is deceptively simple. It tells the story of a middle aged Japanese woman, Keiko Furukura, who has been working part-time in a convenience store for the past 18 years. For Keiko the store and her co-workers function as a manual on how to pass as normal, something she struggles with after some […]
Please read this. Then pass it on. The subject is painful; everyone wants to hide from it, hide the knowledge of it from others. But children are being harmed and should be protected. Gittel, an eighteen year old girl, writes letters full of guilt to her dead friend, Devory, who killed herself when she was […]
Zinzi Clemmons’ novel looks at the ongoing struggles faced by a fair-skinned African American women grappling with her mother’s death from breast cancer and her own trials of living inside a black skin and female psyche. Author, Zinzi Clemmons, is a 2017 National Book Foundation, 5 Under 35 honoree, whose work promises to leave […]
First in a series, this fast-paced and exciting book introduces a complex world filled with strong, unique characters. The plot itself is fairly simple: a young noble boy is sent to the martial academy, where he makes friends with the despised younger brother of the King’s heir – and then things spiral out of control. […]
Quick–who invented the light bulb? Thomas Alva Edison, you say instantly, with a shrug that says, geez, every school kid knows that. Or, maybe, if you really know your technology history, you say George Westinghouse. Then a few of you might throw out Nikola Tesla’s name (yes, the fellow for whom the electric car is […]
