List

Category

The Upper World

Femi Fadugba

If you had the chance to change your future, would you take it?

Perfect for fans of Neal Shusterman and Jason Reynolds, this powerhouse, mind-bending YA debut follows two teens, a generation apart, whose fates collide across time--and outside of it.

Today

During arguably the worst week of Esso's life, an accident knocks him into an incredible world--a place beyond space or time, where he can see glimpses of the past and future. But if what he sees there is true, he might not have much longer to live, unless he can use his new gift to change the course of history.

Tomorrow

Rhia's past is filled with questions, none of which she expects a new physics tutor to answer. But Dr. Esso's not here to help Rhia. He's here because he needs her help--to unravel a tragedy that happened fifteen years ago. One that holds the key not only to Rhia's past, but to a future worth fighting for.

View Details >>

Under the Surface

Diana Urban

Ruby is terrified to cave to her feelings for Sean and risk him crushing her heart. 

Sean is pumped to spend a week with Ruby in Paris on their senior class trip, and he’ll wait however long until she’s ready to take things further.

But when Ruby’s best friend sneaks out the first night to meet a mysterious French boy, Ruby goes after her with two classmates, but caves to another temptation: attending mystery boy’s exclusive party in the Paris catacombs, the intricate web of tunnels beneath the city, home to six million long-dead Parisians. Only they never reach the party.

Underground, as something sinister chases them, they get lost in the endless maze of bones, uncovering dark secrets about the catacombs…..and each other. And if they can’t find a way out, they’ll die in the dark beneath the City of Light. 

Aboveground, Sean races to find the girl he loves as a media frenzy over the four missing teens begins.

View Details >>

This Town Is on Fire

Pamela N. Harris

A lot is up in the air in Naomi Henry's life: her spot as a varsity cheer flier, her classmates' reaction to the debut of her natural hair, and her crush on the guy who's always been like a brother to her. With so much uncertainty, she feels lucky to have a best friend like Kylie to keep her grounded. After all, they're practically sisters--Naomi's mom took care of Kylie and her twin brother for years.

But then a video of Kylie calling the cops on two Black teens in a shopping store parking lot goes viral. Naomi is shaken, and her town is reeling from the publicity. While Naomi tries to reckon with Kylie, the other Black students in their high school are questioning their friendship, and her former friends are wondering where this new "woke" Naomi came from. Although Naomi wants to stand by her best friend, she now can't help but see everything in a different light.

As tensions in her town escalate, Naomi finds herself engaging in protests that are on the cusp of being illegal. And then a bomb explodes, and someone is found dead. Will Naomi be caught in the center of the blast?

View Details >>

Some Like it Cold

Elle McNicoll

After a long absence, 18-year-old Jasper is finally heading home for the holidays - and she's keeping secrets.

Arthur, a budding filmmaker, is turning the town of Lake Pristine into a small town story worthy of the big screen. His plans are disrupted by the arrival of the town's golden girl - the antagonist of his school days; a girl he's never forgotten.

Jasper Montgomery is back in Lake Pristine for one reason: to say goodbye. But before long small-town tensions start to rise, and a certain brooding film buff starts to look like a very big reason to stay . . .

The perfect story to get lost in, Some Like it Cold centers Jasper as an autistic heroine in a big-hearted small-town romance that will melt your heart.

View Details >>

Skin of the Sea

Natasha Bowen

A way to survive.
A way to serve.
A way to save.

Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata—a mermaid—collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home.

But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi does the unthinkable—she saves his life, going against an ancient decree. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy it.

To protect the other Mami Wata, Simi must journey to the Supreme Creator to make amends. But all is not as it seems. There's the boy she rescued, who knows more than he should. And something is shadowing Simi, something that would rather see her fail. . . .

Danger lurks at every turn, and as Simi draws closer, she must brave vengeful gods, treacherous lands, and legendary creatures. Because if she doesn't, then she risks not only the fate of all Mami Wata, but also the world as she knows it.

View Details >>

Ruin Road

Lamar Giles

Sometimes a little fear is a good thing...

Cade Webster lives between worlds. He's a standout football star at the right school but lives in the wrong neighborhood--if you let his classmates tell it. Everywhere but home, people are afraid of him for one reason or another. Afraid he's too big, too fast, too ambitious, too Black.

Then one fateful night, to avoid a dangerous encounter with the police, he ducks into a pawn shop. An impulse purchase and misspoken desire change everything when Cade tells the shopkeeper he wishes people would stop acting so scared around him, and the wish is granted...

At first, it feels like things have taken a turn for the better. But it's not just Cade that people no longer fear--it's everything. With Cade spreading this newfound "courage" wherever he goes, anything can happen. Fearless acts of violence begin to escalate in both his neighborhood and at school. With the right moves, and brave friends, Cade might have one -- and only one -- chance to save all he loves. But at what cost? After all, the devil's in the details.

View Details >>

Reggie and Delilah's Year of Falling

Elise Bryant

Delilah always keeps her messy, gooey insides hidden behind a wall of shrugs and yeah, whatevers. She goes with the flow--which is how she ends up singing in her friends' punk band as a favor, even though she'd prefer to hide at the merch table.

Reggie is a D&D Dungeon Master and self-declared Blerd. He spends his free time leading quests and writing essays critiquing the game under a pseudonym, keeping it all under wraps from his disapproving family.

These two, who have practically nothing in common, meet for the first time on New Year's Eve. And then again on Valentine's Day. And then again on St. Patrick's Day. It's almost like the universe is pushing them together for a reason.

Delilah wishes she were more like Reggie--open about what she likes and who she is, even if it's not cool. Except . . . it's all a front. Reggie is just role-playing someone confident. The kind of guy who could be with a girl like Delilah.

As their holiday meetings continue, the two begin to fall for each other. But what happens once they realize they've each fallen for a version of the other that doesn't really exist?

View Details >>

Inevitable Fate

Lindsay K. Bandy

Mara Cassidy is going to die . . . again.

For seventeen years, Evan Kiernan's life has felt like painting by someone else's numbers, moving and transferring schools every time his mom has a breakup. But when he's accepted into NYU's Promising Young Artist program for his senior year, the future suddenly feels like a blank canvas.

However, it soon becomes clear that the city has peculiar ties to his past. A thunderstorm finds him under the same umbrella as an eerily familiar green-eyed girl. A visit to an art gallery brings him face-to-face with a heavily tattooed portrait of himself. He sees things that aren't there--at least not anymore. And the girl he's falling in love with is somehow at the center of it all.

When history suddenly points to a devastating future, Evan must race against time to figure out who is pulling the strings and change the green-eyed girl's fate--a race he's already lost twice.

View Details >>

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute

Talia Hibbert

Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He’s a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes . . . except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine.

Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. Social media followers eat up her takes on everything from UFOs to holiday overconsumption—yet, she’s still not cool enough for the popular kids’ table. Which is why Brad abandoned her for the in-crowd years ago. (At least, that’s how Celine sees it.)

These days, there’s nothing between them other than petty insults and academic rivalry. So when Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she’s surprised to find Brad right beside her.

Forced to work as a team for the chance to win a grand prize, these two teens must trudge through not just mud and dirt but their messy past. And as this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed . . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?

View Details >>

Heir (A Good Morning America YA Book Club Pick)

Sabaa Tahir

An orphan.
An outcast.
A prince.
And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees.

Growing up in the Kegari slums, AIZ has seen her share of suffering. An old tragedy fuels her need for vengeance, but it is love of her people that propels her. Until one hotheaded mistake lands her in an inescapable prison, where the embers of her wrath ignite.

Banished from her people for an unforgivable crime, SIRSHA is a down-on-her-luck tracker who uses magic to trace her marks. Destitute, she agrees to hunt down a killer who has murdered children across the Martial Empire. All she has to do is carry out the job and get paid. But when a chance encounter leads to an unexpected attraction, Sirsha learns her mission might cost her far more than she’s willing to give up.  

QUIL is the crown prince of the Empire and nephew of a venerated empress, but he’s loath to take the throne when his aunt steps down. As the son of a reviled emperor, he, better than anyone, understands that power corrupts. When a vicious new enemy threatens the survival of the Empire, Quil must ask himself if he can rise above his tragic lineage and be the heir his people need.

Beloved storyteller Sabaa Tahir interweaves the lives of three young people as they grapple with power, treachery, love, and the devastating consequences of unchecked greed, on a journey that may cost them their lives—and their hearts. Literally.

View Details >>

Fledgling

S. K. Ali

Would you trade love for peace?

Raisa of Upper Earth has only lived a life of privilege and acquiescence. Ever dutiful, she accepts her father’s arrangement of her marriage to Lein, Crown Prince of the corrupt, volatile lands of Lower Earth. 

Though Lein is a stranger, Raisa knows the wedding will unite their vastly different worlds in a pact of peace: an infusion of Upper Earth technology will usher in the final age of enlightenment, ending war between humans forever. 

Or is justice more urgent?

Newly released from imprisonment, Nada of Lower Earth has found her own calling: disrupting the royal wedding. 

Convinced her cousin Lein’s alliance with Upper Earth will launch an invasive, terrifying form of tyranny, Nada sets out undercover to light the spark of revolution. 

When Raisa goes missing a week before the wedding, all eyes turn to the rebels, including Nayf, Nada’s twin brother, a fugitive on the run. 

In Nayf and Raisa meeting, the long-simmering animosity between their worlds slowly burns away into something unexpected.

But the Crown Prince wants his bride — and future — back. And he will go to the ends of the earths to reclaim them.

View Details >>

Don't Let the Forest In

CG Drews

Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him. 

Kill for him.

High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.

But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won't say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork—whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew's wicked stories.

Desperate to figure out what's wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster—Thomas's drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator...

View Details >>

The Dividing Sky

Jill Tew

In 2364, eighteen-year-old Liv Newman dreams of a future beyond her lower-class life in the Metro. As a Proxy, she uses the neurochip in her brain to sell memories to wealthy clients. Maybe a few illegally, but money equals freedom. So when a customer offers her a ludicrous sum to go on an assignment in no-man’s-land, Liv accepts. Now she just has to survive.

Rookie Forceman Adrian Rao believes in order over all. After discovering that a renegade Proxy’s shady dealings are messing with citizens’ brain chemistry, he vows to extinguish the threat. But when he tracks Liv down, there’s one problem: her memories are gone. Can Adrian bring himself to condemn her for crimes she doesn’t remember?

As Liv and Adrian navigate the world beyond the Metro and their growing feelings for one another, they grapple with who they are, who they could be, and whether another way of living is possible.

View Details >>

Rick Riordan Presents: the Dark Becomes Her

Judy I. Lin

Ruby Chen has always played the part of the dutiful eldest daughter- excelling in school; excelling in piano lessons; excelling at keeping her younger sister, Tina, focused on extracurriculars meant to impress college admissions officers.

But when a ghost from the spirit world attacks Ruby in the middle of Vancouver's Chinatown neighborhood, her life is plunged into a darkness that no amount of duty can free her from. Overnight, Ruby's sister seems to change. There are strange noises coming from her bedroom at all hours; and the once sweet, funny Tina has been replaced by something dark and unnatural.

As Ruby races to save her sister from demonic possession, she is thrown into an ancient battle over the gateway to the underworld. On one side, a sinister traveling temple known for making dark wishes come true has returned to Chinatown after many years-intent on breaking down the gateway and unleashing the wickedness within. On the other side, the guardians determined to stop this encroaching evil

And in order to survive, Ruby must not only face the horror taking over her community, but must also confront the horror within herself.

Chinese and Taiwanese mythology get the Junji Ito treatment in this bone-chilling, propulsive story that takes the horrors of the Asian diaspora experience to a whole new level.

View Details >>

Come Out, Come Out

Natalie C. Parker

It's never been safe for Fern, Jaq, or Mallory to come out to their families. As kids their emerging identities drove them into friendship but also forced them into the woods to hide in an old, abandoned house when they needed safety. But one night when the girls sought refuge, Mallory never made it back home. Fern and Jaq did, but neither survivor remembered what happened or the secrets they were so desperate to keep. 

Five years later, Fern and Jaq are seniors on the verge of graduation, seemingly happy in their straight, cisgender lives—until a spirit who looks like Mallory begins to appear, seeking revenge for her death, and the part Fern and Jaq played in it. As they’re haunted, something begins to shift inside them. 

They remember who they are. 
Who they want to love. 
And the truth about the vicious secrets hiding in their woods. 

This delightfully dark and pointed novel calls out the systems that erase gay and queer and trans identity, giving space to embrace queerness and to unleash the power of friendship and found family against the real monsters in the world.

View Details >>

Memorial Days

Geraldine Brooks

A New York Times Bestseller

“Brooks tracks the geography of grief with patience and grace as she comes to terms with the ongoing nature of outliving the ones you love most. ... Her memoir is certainly a testament to her own unique loss, but it’s moreover a lifeline to others who will find themselves in this familiar, shattered landscape of grief.” —Los Angeles Times

“A rich account of marriage and mourning.” Washington Post

A heartrending and beautiful memoir of sudden loss and a journey towards peace, from the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Horse

Many cultural and religious traditions expect those who are grieving to step away from the world. In contemporary life, we are more often met with red tape and to-do lists. This is exactly what happened to Geraldine Brooks when her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz – just sixty years old and, to her knowledge, vigorous and healthy – collapsed and died on a Washington, D. C. sidewalk.

After spending their early years together in conflict zones as foreign correspondents, Geraldine and Tony settled down to raise two boys on Martha’s Vineyard. The life they built was one of meaningful work, good humor, and tenderness, as they spent their days writing and their evenings cooking family dinners or watching the sun set with friends at the beach. But all of this ended abruptly when, on Memorial Day 2019, Geraldine received the phone call we all dread. The demands were immediate and many. Without space to grieve, the sudden loss became a yawning gulf.

Three years later, she booked a flight to a remote island off the coast of Australia with the intention of finally giving herself the time to mourn. In a shack on a pristine, rugged coast she often went days without seeing another person. There, she pondered the various ways in which cultures grieve and what rituals of her own might help to rebuild a life around the void of Tony’s death.

A spare and profoundly moving memoir that joins the classics of the genre, Memorial Days is a portrait of a larger-than-life man and a timeless love between souls that exquisitely captures the joy, agony, and mystery of life.

View Details >>

Last Twilight in Paris

Pam Jenoff

"A fast-paced and vibrant wartime tale of holding on to love against the odds and learning to fight for the truth." ­­-Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Daughter

A Parisian department store, a mysterious necklace and a woman's quest to unlock a decade-old mystery are at the center of this riveting novel of love and survival, from New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff
 

London, 1953. Louise is still adjusting to her postwar role as a housewife when she discovers a necklace in a box at a secondhand shop. The box is marked with the name of a department store in Paris, and she is certain she has seen the necklace before, when she worked with the Red Cross in Nazi-occupied Europe --and that it holds the key to the mysterious death of her friend Franny during the war. 

Following the trail of clues to Paris, Louise seeks help from her former boss Ian, with whom she shares a romantic history. The necklace leads them to discover the dark history of Lévitan--a once-glamorous department store that served as a Nazi prison, and Helaine, a woman who was imprisoned there, torn apart from her husband when the Germans invaded France.
 

Louise races to find the connection between the necklace, the department store and Franny's death. But nothing is as it seems, and there are forces determined to keep the truth buried forever. Inspired by the true story of Lévitan, Last Twilight in Paris is both a gripping mystery and an unforgettable story about sacrifice, resistance and the power of love to transcend in even the darkest hours.

 

View Details >>

Bonded in Death

J. D. Robb

The #1 New York Times bestselling author J. D. Robb spins an epic tale of loyalty, treachery, murder, and the long shadow of war...

His passport read Giovanni Rossi. But decades ago, during the Urban Wars, he was part of a small, secret organization called The Twelve. Responding to an urgent summons from an old compatriot, he landed in New York and eased into the waiting car. And died within minutes...

Lieutenant Eve Dallas finds the Rossi case frustrating. She’s got an elderly victim who’d just arrived from Rome; a widow who knows nothing about why he’d left; an as-yet unidentifiable weapon; and zero results on facial recognition. But when she finds a connection to the Urban Wars of the 2020s, she thinks Summerset—fiercely loyal, if somewhat grouchy, major-domo and the man who’d rescued her husband from the Dublin streets—may know something from his stint as a medic in Europe back then.

When Summerset learns of the crime, his shock and grief are clear—because, as he eventually reveals, he himself was one of The Twelve. It’s not a part of his past he likes to revisit. But now he must—not only to assist Eve’s investigation, but because a cryptic message from the killer has boasted that others of The Twelve have also died. Summerset is one of those who remain—and the murderous mission is yet to be fully accomplished...

View Details >>

How to Catch a Loveosaurus

Alice Walstead

Can you catch the magical Loveosaurus? The How to Catch Kids are on the chase again, this time to trap a dinosaur that escaped from the museum and wants to spread love and kindness. Blending exciting traps and STEAM concepts with hilarity and chaos to encourage reading, learning, and imagination, this charming adventure will delight young readers, families, and educators alike--and maybe inspire spreading some kindness too! This funny children's picture book makes the perfect bedtime read-aloud and Valentine's Day gift for kids ages 4-10!

Have you heard of the Loveosaurus? The first ever found--it's true!

He's on the run spreading kindness and joy, but who will trap him... YOU?

View Details >>

The Fabulous Fannie Farmer

Emma Bland Smith

Fannie Farmer, America’s most famous cooking teacher, discovers that precise measurements are a recipe for cooking success in this STEAM picture book that includes two of her classic recipes.

When Fannie Farmer learned to cook in the late 1800s, recipes could be pretty silly. They might call for “a goodly amount of salt” or “a lump of butter” or “a suspicion of nutmeg.” Girls were supposed to use their “feminine instincts” in the kitchen (or maybe just guess). Despite this problem, Fannie loved cooking, so when polio prevented her from going to college, she became a teacher at the Boston Cooking School. Unlike her mother or earlier cookbook writers, Fannie didn’t believe in feminine instincts. To her, cooking was a science. She’d noticed that precise measurements and specific instructions ensured that cakes rose instead of flopped and doughnuts fried instead of burned. Students liked Fannie’s approach so much that she wrote a cookbook. Despite skepticism from publishers, Fannie’s book was a recipe for success.

View Details >>

Love Is in the Bear

Judith Henderson

Spring is here, and Bear is finally emerging from his hollow to greet his forest friends. Suddenly, he hears beautiful singing coming from above. It's Bird, practicing for the forest Opera! When Bird tells Bear that she's auditioning for a duet, Bear decides to try out as well, and asks if he can practice with her. Bird agrees, and as the pair rehearses their song, an unlikely friendship begins.

After the audition, Bird is cast in the opera--but Bear is not. Devastated, Bear returns to his hollow to hide. Bird comes to comfort him and insists that the pair are still a duet, with or without a stage to sing on. Reassured of their close bond, Bear celebrates Bird's success at the Opera, getting the best seat in the house and quietly singing along with his friend.

This tender celebration of loyalty, friendship, and song is brought to life with Judith Henderson's lyrical text and the soft, magical illustrations of Nahid Kazemi. Together, Bird and Bear face the music and find that the strongest connections can weather the most difficult disappointments with empathy, resilience, and mutual support.

View Details >>

Vacation

Ame Dyckman

In the second book in the Bat, Cat & Rat  series from New York Times bestsellers Ame Dyckman and Mark Teague, the roommates try to compromise on vacation plans in three-and-a-half sweet and silly stories.

     Bat, Cat, and Rat decide they need a vacation, but planning a trip is no picnic. Conflicts, compromise, and some well-meaning pranks ensue as prep work brings out the trio’s mischievous side.

     In “Working,” Bat, Cat, and Rat discover their Vacation Jar is empty, and set off working odd jobs to save up funds. But Rat believes that all work and no play is no fun at all—and he knows just the way to fix that.

     In “Choosing,” the trio can’t decide where to go on their vacation. Bat wants an adventure, Cat wants some R&R, and Rat just wants everyone to stop bickering about it.

     In “Vacationing,” Rat takes the vacation planning into his own hands. Will he be able to come up with a compromise that makes everyone happy?

     Bat, Cat, and Rat’s dynamic friendship and amusing antics are sure to have readers laughing.

View Details >>

The First State of Being

Erin Entrada Kelly

It's August 1999. For twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, life at Fox Run Apartments in Red Knot, Delaware, is as ordinary as ever--except for the looming Y2K crisis and his overwhelming crush on his sixteen-year-old babysitter, Gibby. But when a disoriented teenage boy named Ridge appears out of nowhere, Michael discovers there is more to life than stockpiling supplies and pining over Gibby.

It turns out that Ridge is carefree, confident, and bold, things Michael wishes he could be. Unlike Michael, however, Ridge isn't where he belongs. When Ridge reveals that he's the world's first time traveler, Michael and Gibby are stunned but curious. As Ridge immerses himself in 1999--fascinated by microwaves, basketballs, and malls--Michael discovers that his new friend has a book that outlines the events of the next twenty years, and his curiosity morphs into something else: focused determination. Michael wants--no, needs--to get his hands on that book. How else can he prepare for the future? But how far is he willing to go to get it?

A story of time travel, friendship, found family, and first loves, this thematically rich novel is distinguished by its voice, character development, setting, and exploration of the issues that resonate with middle grade readers.

View Details >>

Chooch Helped

Andrea L. Rogers

A Cherokee girl introduces her younger brother to their family's traditions -- begrudgingly! -- in this picture book written by Walter Award-winner Andrea L. Rogers and featuring gorgeous collage illustrations from debut artist Rebecca Lee Kunz.

Sissy's younger brother, Chooch, isn't a baby anymore. They just celebrated his second birthday, after all. But no matter what Chooch does -- even if he's messing something up! Which is basically all the time! -- their parents say he's just "helping." Sissy feels that Chooch can get away with anything!

When Elisi paints a mural, Chooch helps. When Edutsi makes grape dumplings, Chooch helps. When Oginalii gigs for crawdads, Chooch helps. When Sissy tries to make a clay pot, Chooch helps . . .
 

"Hesdi!" Sissy yells. Quit it! And Chooch bursts into tears. What follows is a tender family moment that will resonate with anyone who has welcomed a new little one to the fold. Chooch Helped is a universal story of an older sibling learning to make space for a new child, told with grace by Andrea L. Rogers and stunning art from Rebecca Lee Kunz showing one Cherokee family practicing their cultural traditions.

View Details >>

Life After Whale

Lynn Brunelle

Follow a blue whale’s enormous body to the bottom of the ocean, where it sets the stage for a bustling new ecosystem to flourish.

All living things must one day die, and Earth’s largest creature, the majestic blue whale, is no exception. But in nature, death is never a true ending. When this whale closes her eyes for the last time in her 90-year life, a process known as whale fall is just beginning. Her body will float to the surface, then slowly sink through the deep; from inflated behemoth to clean-picked skeleton, it will offer food and shelter at each stage to a vast diversity of organisms, over the course of a century and beyond. 

Caldecott Medalist Jason Chin’s astonishing artwork enriches and amplifies engaging, well-researched text by Bill Nye the Science Guy writer Lynn Brunelle. Young lovers of the macabre will relish each page of Life After Whale. Meanwhile, those grappling with the hard subject of death will take solace in this honest look at the circle of life, which closes on a young whale enjoying the same waves as her ancestor. Additional back pages offer further info and reading recommendations on whales, whale falls, and ecosystems.

View Details >>

Making Space, Clutter Free

Tracy McCubbin

"Decluttering expert Tracy McCubbin offers revolutionary help to anyone who has repeatedly tries to break free from their clutter's mysterious hold. Her powerful answer lies in the seven Emotional Clutter Blocks, unconscious obstacles that stand between thousands of her clients and financial freedom, healthy relationships, and positive outlooks. Once a Clutter Block is revealed--and healed--true transformation of home and life is possible. Her empowering techniques and strategies help you: Recognize and overcome your Clutter Block(s) to liberate your home -- Lighten and purge without the rigidity of other methods -- Use your home to attain life goals like health, wealth, and love."

View Details >>

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

Margareta Magnusson

Offers guidance for going through a process of clearing out unnecessary accumulated belongings known in Sweden as "death cleaning," sharing ways of making the process uplifting rather than overwhelming, and touting the benefits of letting go of clutter.

View Details >>

The Year of Less

Cait Flanders

"In her late twenties, Cait Flanders found herself stuck in the consumerism cycle that grips so many of us: earn more, buy more, want more, rinse, repeat. Even after she worked her way out of nearly $30,000 of consumer debt, her old habits took hold again. When she realized that nothing she was doing or buying was making her happy--only keeping her from meeting her goals--she decided to set herself a challenge:she would not shop for an entire year. The Year of Lessdocuments Cait's life from July 2014 to June 2015, during which time she bought only consumables: groceries, toiletries, gas for her car. Along the way, she challenged herself to consume less of many other things besides shopping. She decluttered her apartment and got rid of 70 percent of her belongings; learned how to fix things rather than throw them away; researched the zero waste movement; and completed a television ban. At every stage, she learned that the less she consumed, the more fulfilled she felt. What started as a simple challenge quickly became a lifeline, however, as Cait found herself in a number of situations that turned her life upside down. In the face of hardship, she realized why she had always turned to shopping, alcohol and food--and what it had cost her, for so many years. By not being able to reach for any of her usual vices, Cait changed habits she'd spent years perfecting and discovered what truly mattered to her"

View Details >>

Spark Joy

Marie Kondo

"Tidying expert Marie Kondo's follow-up to her best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is an illustrated master manual on her renowned KonMari Method with item-specific guidance and step-by-step folding illustrations"

View Details >>

Outer Order, Inner Calm

Gretchen Rubin

"Gretchen Rubin has found that getting control of our stuff makes us feel more in control of our lives. By getting rid of things we don't use, don't need, or don't love, we free our minds (and our shelves) for what we truly value. With a sense of fun, and a clear idea of what's realistic for most people, Gretchen Rubin suggests dozens of manageable steps for creating a more serene, orderly environment—one that helps us to create the lives we want."

View Details >>

Declutter your photo life

Adam Pratt

"Turn your photo chaos into precious memories to be enjoyed and shared! Now more than ever, we hold our photo collections dear. They are often some of our most prized possessions. Wouldn't it be great to finally have all your photos organized, safe, accessible, findable, and shareable? With Declutter Your Photo Life by your side, you have just what you need to achieve photo bliss. Photographers and family historians understand the immense power that photographs have to convey meaning, emotion, and memory. We cherish both old film photos that were handed down by previous generations and our latest digital photos captured on the newest smartphone. But when those priceless memories are unorganized and scattered every which way on a smartphone, on a laptop, on memory cards and flash drives, on two or three photo sharing websites, in photo albums, and in shoeboxes in the attic the joy of photography becomes an overwhelming burden. What a mess! Whether you're a professional photographer, a casual shooter, or the designated family historian, Declutter Your Photo Life will help you organize and enjoy your photos once again. In this book, professional photo organizer, photographer, and author Adam Pratt teaches you his straightforward step-by-step workflow that, along with powerful image-organizing software such as Adobe Lightroom Classic, will have you taking complete control and creating a calming order out of your photo chaos. And once you've mastered Adam's system Gather, Preserve, Organize, Share, Maintain you'll be able to enjoy and share your photos today and for generations to come."

View Details >>

The joy of less

Francine Jay

Francine Jay pioneered the simple living movement with her self-published bestseller,The Joy of Less. In this fully redesigned and repackaged edition—featuring never-before- seen content—Jay brings her philosophy to more readers who are eager to declutter. Rather than the "crash diet" approach found in other tidying up books, Jay shares simple steps to cultivate a minimalist mindset and form new habits, paving the way to lasting success. Her easy-to-follow STREAMLINE method works in any space—from a single drawer to a closet, room, or entire house. What's more, it can be called upon during clutter-inducing life events such as moving, getting married, having kids, or downsizing. With an airy two-color interior design and lovely hardcover package,The Joy of Less is a refreshing and relatable approach to decluttering that belongs in every home.

View Details >>

Keep what you love : a visual decluttering guide

Irene Smit

This is a charming and yet quite practical impulse book on how to sort through the too-much-stuff of life. The premise is so simple: the artist Lotte Dirks has illustrated hundreds of common items - oven mitts, incomplete board games, a pair of skis, novelty ice cube trays, a dying plant, a feather duster, flip-flops, a waffle maker, old Christmas cards, a manual typewriter, chipped dishes, defunct phone chargers, a rocking horse, and so on. Beneath each drawing are two little checkboxes: Yes and No. Look at the item. Note your response (be honest - the only right answer is the one that's right for you). Check one of the boxes. And act accordingly! Additionally, boxes and asides offer dozens of creative tips for how to organise, how to tackle big jobs like a full closet, and ideas to what do with things we can't part, with like children's artwork or old books - all through Flow's sensibility of finding pleasure in the imperfect and the overlooked.

View Details >>

Beautifully Organized

Nikki Boyd

Bring peace and joy into your workspace as you learn how to declutter your office and create a stress-free work environment. Clutter and mess can distract you, stress you out, and get in the way of efficiently getting work done. That's why Beautifully Organized at Work was created to give you practical tips and tools for how to mindfully transform your workspace and get organized so you can feel better about your work and be better set up for success. YouTube star and professional organizer Nikki Boyd, author of the bestselling book Beautifully Organized , brings her expert skills to this book. Beautifully Organized at Work includes: Everything you need to know about decluttering your desk and organizing files—both in your physical and digital space Valuable advice on how to plan your work days so you can have a well-balanced and productive week How to select the desk, chair, and lighting that are ideal for your needs Information tailored for cubicle, co-working spaces, working from home, and more Tips on how to get your coworkers involved in creating a beautifully organized breakroom, conference room, and lobby.

View Details >>

Martha Stewart's Organizing

Martha Stewart

"How to organize everything, from America's most trusted lifestyle authority, with color photographs throughout and hundreds of ideas, projects, and tips"-- Provided by publisher.

View Details >>

The Home Edit

Claire Shearer

A masterclass and look book in one, The Home Edit is filled with bright photographs and detailed tips, from placing plastic dishware in a drawer where little hands can reach to categorizing pantry items by color (there's nothing like a little ROYGBIV to soothe the soul). Above all, it's like having your best friends at your side to help you turn the chaos into calm.

View Details >>

Cut the Clutter

Cynthia Ewer

My journey to an organized home -- A well-run home -- Skills for a well-run home. Decluttering your home ; Organizing your home ; Cleaning your home ; Planning your home -- Cycles of an organized home. Food: plan, save, organize, store ; Clothing: plan, shop, launder, store ; Surfaces & systems: select, save, maintain, clean ; Room to live: cut clutter, organize, clean ; Paper and finances: sort, save, organize, store.

View Details >>

1001 Ideas for Kitchen Organization

Joseph R. Provey

Your comprehensive guide to a beautiful and organized kitchen! When you consider every item a kitchen stores, from utensils and glassware to cooking pots and slow cookers, the numbers easily climb into the hundreds. It can be a difficult task finding a rightful place for everything while also maintaining an attractive, comfortable, and functional kitchen.

View Details >>

The God of the Woods

Liz Moore

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2024

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST THRILLER OF 2024

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST CRIME NOVEL OF 2024

PEOPLE MAGAZINE'S #1 BOOK OF THE YEAR

A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY TOP 10 PICK OF 2024

ONE OF NPR’S “BOOKS WE LOVE” 2024

ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S “100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024”

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY:
REAL SIMPLE ● OPRAH DAILY ● NEWSWEEK ● VULTURE

“Extraordinary . . . Reminds me of Donna Tartt’s 1992 debut, The Secret History . . . I was so thoroughly submerged in a rich fictional world, that for hours I barely came up for air.” —Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air, NPR

“This expertly paced thriller ...has the kineticism of a well-crafted miniseries.” 
The New Yorker

When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.

View Details >>

James

Percival Everett

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR * SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE * KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER * A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg * A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, LA Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, TIME, and more.

"Genius"--The Atlantic * "A masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own."--Chicago Tribune * "A provocative, enlightening literary work of art."--The Boston Globe * "Everett's most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."--The New York Times

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river's banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin...), Jim's agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a "literary icon" (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

View Details >>

The Wish Tree

Kyo Maclear

Charles wants to find a wish tree. His brother and sister don't believe there is such a thing, but his trusty companion Boggan is ready to join Charles on a journey to find out. And along the way, they discover that wishes can come true in the most unexpected ways. 
The poetic text and heartwarming illustrations evoke the true essence of the holiday season and will inspire wishers everywhere. This gem of a book deserves center stage year round.

View Details >>

The Gift of Nothing (Special Edition)

Patrick McDonnell

 In this appealing picture book, Mooch the cat--star of the nationally-syndicated comic strip Mutts--searches for a present for his friend, Earl the dog. Earl already has everything he needs: a bowl, a bed, a chewy toy...What else could Mooch get him? Then it dawns on him: NOTHING! This timeless tale has a heart-warming message about the most valuable gift of all--friendship--that appeals to readers of all ages. 

View Details >>

The Message of the Birds (A Classic and Heartwarming Christmas Tale of Peace and Love)

Kate Westerlund

“Let there be peace on Earth.” A timeless message of how peace can spread from one person to another, ideal for Christmas time, and throughout the year.

Long ago a special child was born, and the animals heard a song of blessing and good will for all the creatures of the earth. But now the birds wonder why no one sings the song anymore. And so they fly far and wide, singing the song of joy and peace. Here is a beautiful story about the powerful role we all play in passing on the timeless message: “Let there be peace. Peace on Earth.”

View Details >>

Winter

Kelsey E. Gross

Tonight is the longest night of the year—solstice is here! Deep in the forest, the dark, cold, and quiet of winter is all around. Owl, Mouse, and Deer all watch the light fades and dark surrounds them, but they have a gift of hope to share with their neighbors. The moon and stars shine down on a lone tree in the forest, and the animals gather around to bask in its light. Winter Solstice arrives as the winter sky brings magic for all to share.

View Details >>

Be Ready When the Luck Happens

Ina Garten

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten—aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon—shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table.

A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.
 
From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

View Details >>

Confronting the Presidents

Bill O'Reilly

Instant #1 New York Times and USA Today nonfiction bestseller!

Every American president, from Washington to Biden: Their lives, policies, foibles, and legacies, assessed with clear-eyed authority and wit.

Authors of the acclaimed Killing books, the #1 bestselling narrative history series in the world, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard begin a new direction with Confronting the Presidents.

From Washington to Jefferson, Lincoln to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Kennedy to Nixon, Reagan to Obama and Biden, the 45 United States presidents have left lasting impacts on our nation. Some of their legacies continue today, some are justly forgotten, and some have changed as America has changed. Whether famous, infamous, or obscure, all the presidents shaped our nation in unexpected ways.

The authors' extensive research has uncovered never before seen historical facts based on private correspondence and newly discovered documentation, such as George Washington's troubled relationship with his mother.

In Confronting the Presidents, O’Reilly and Dugard present 45 wonderfully entertaining and insightful portraits of each president, with no-spin commentary on their achievements—or lack thereof. Who best served America, and who undermined the founding ideals? Who were the first ladies, and what were their surprising roles in making history? Which presidents were the best, which the worst, and which didn’t have much impact? How do decisions made in one era, under the pressure of particular circumstances, still resonate today? And what do presidents like to eat, drink, and do when they aren’t working—or even sometimes when they are?

These and many more questions are answered in each fascinating chapter of Confronting the Presidents. Written with O’Reilly and Dugard’s signature style, authority, and eye for telling detail, Confronting the Presidents will delight all readers of history, politics, and current affairs, especially during the 2024 election season.

View Details >>

Framed

John Grisham

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - In John Grisham's first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, "the master of the legal thriller" (Associated Press) teams up with Jim McCloskey, "the godfather of the innocence movement" (Texas Monthly), to share ten harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions.

"Each of these stories is told with astonishing power. They are packed with human drama, with acts of shocking villainy and breathtaking courage. But these are more than just gripping true stories--they are a clarion call for reforming the tragic flaws in our criminal justice system."--David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon

John Grisham is known worldwide for his bestselling novels, but it's his real-life passion for justice that led to his work with Jim McCloskey of Centurion Ministries, the first organization dedicated to exonerating innocent people who have been wrongly convicted. Together they offer an inside look at the many injustices in our criminal justice system.

A fundamental principle of our legal system is a presumption of innocence, but once someone has been found guilty, there is very little room to prove doubt. These ten true stories shed light on Americans who were innocent but found guilty and forced to sacrifice friends, families, and decades of their lives to prison while the guilty parties remained free. In each of the stories, John Grisham and Jim McCloskey recount the dramatic hard-fought battles for exoneration. They take a close look at what leads to wrongful convictions in the first place and the racism, misconduct, flawed testimony, and corruption in the court system that can make them so hard to reverse.

Impeccably researched and told with page-turning suspense as only John Grisham can deliver, Framed is the story of winning freedom when the battle already seems lost and the deck is stacked against you.

View Details >>

Most Magnificent Thing, The

Ashley Spires

A little girl and her canine assistant set out to make the most magnificent thing. But after much hard work, the end result is not what the girl had in mind. Frustrated, she quits. Her assistant suggests a long walk, and as they walk, it slowly becomes clear what the girl needs to do to succeed. A charming story that will give kids the most magnificent thing: perspective!

View Details >>

Help the Environment with Crafts

Ruthie Van Oosbree

Would you like make a positive impact on the environment? Get crafting! Turn old T-shirts into a cool recycled rug. Sprout seedlings to share with friends and neighbors. Reuse old bottles and jars to make a hanging garden. These fun crafts will help your home, school, and community go green.

View Details >>

The Anxious Generation

Jonathan Haidt

THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 

From New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Coddling of the American Mind, an essential investigation into the collapse of youth mental health—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“Erudite, engaging, combative, crusading.” —New York Times Book Review

“Words that chill the parental heart…  thanks to Mr. Haidt, we can glimpse the true horror of what happened not only in the U.S. but also elsewhere in the English-speaking world… lucid, memorable… galvanizing.” —Wall Street Journal

"[An] important new book...The shift in kids’ energy and attention from the physical world to the virtual one, Haidt shows, has been catastrophic, especially for girls." —Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems” that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.

 

View Details >>

The Women

Kristin Hannah

A #1 bestseller on The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times!

From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

View Details >>

How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend

Elena Bulay

A beautifully illustrated guide to caring for your dog.

Meet Lena and her rescue dog Jo!

This is the true story of how Lena and Jo became best friends, told through Lena's own beautiful illustrations. It's also a guidebook, packed with useful tips about caring for a dog of your own. Learn how to choose a dog, how to train them, feed them and groom them, and pick up lots of fascinating facts about why dogs behave the way they do.

Whatever the size and shape of your canine companion, this is essential reading for anyone who wants to be a dog's best friend.

View Details >>

The Only Way to Make Bread

Cristina Quintero

A delicious exploration of all kinds of breads, from sourdough to bannock to bao, that will tickle your taste buds and warm your heart.

What's the only way to make bread?

You might use white flour in your bread, or whole wheat flour or corn flour.
You might use water or milk, maybe an egg or two.
You'll use a handful of this, a dash of that, a bit of this and a splash of that.
Some dough will rise, some dough will bubble. Sometimes it will be sticky, sometimes it will be shaggy.

What's the only way to make bread?

Your way!

View Details >>

A Whole World of Art

Sarah Phillips

Even before they could write, people were telling stories with pictures. And though art is universal, the story we know about it is not. A Whole World of Art opens your eyes to a global view of art by taking you on a whirlwind tour around the world and through time. With two companions—a boy and a girl—travel through 27 destinations from the history of art, circling the globe.
 

View Details >>

Clementine Fox and the Great Island Adventure: A Graphic Novel (Clementine Fox #1)

Leigh Luna

Meet Clementine Fox, Professional Amateur Adventurer!

 

Clementine is supposed to be on her way to school... but why not go out for a day of adventure and exploration instead? She recruits her friends Nubbins Squirrel and Penelope Rabbit and heads to the beach, where Jesse Otter is preparing to take his giant Turtle, Annabella, to a mysterious local island. Clementine's great-aunt Marnie lives there -- far away from math tests and tutors -- so Clementine and her friends hitch a ride to the island as stowaways. What could go wrong?

View Details >>

Before, Now

Daniel Salmieri

Ava’s world is full of opposites: colorful sneakers on a gray sidewalk, thick books made up of thin sheets of paper, and dreams of huge spaces in her small head. Together, these opposites depict a full and impactful life, as Ava moves from girl to student to scientist, from daughter to mother to grandmother. While years pass and some things change, there is even more that is constant in this visually rich, soothing portrait of family connection through the generations. You’ll want to cozy up and read this touching, beautiful book together with the children in your life.

View Details >>

We Are Starlings

Robert Furrow

A stunning picture book for young nature lovers about starlings and the fascinating phenomenon of murmurations. Illustrated by the award-winning artist Marc Martin, this book about the natural world vividly explores how such an enigma is even possible.

Sweeping, diving, twisting, turning. To look up at a murmuration of starlings is an experience like no other. Hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of starlings fly together as one flock. The group ripples, whirls, and waves as each bird stays close to its neighbors in a harmonious synchronicity of movement.

The story is told from the point of view of the flock, which gives the reader an inside look at what is happening, and the breathtaking illustrations perfectly capture the ebb and flow of a murmuration. Young readers will witness and fully appreciate the extraordinary communication and collaboration abilities of these birds and may be able to apply these lessons to their own lives.

View Details >>

At the Drop of a Cat

Elise Fontenaille


 At six years old, the child-narrator of this picture book loves nothing more than spending time with his grandpa, Luis--especially in his marvelous garden, where green beans reach as high as the sky. Luis's garden is where the little boy practices reading and writing. But just as importantly, it's also where he learns wonderful things from Luis, like the names of all the birds in the trees and new expressions that are so much fun to say. Luis's playful vocabulary is as vibrant and full of life as his garden, and phrases that are particular to his way of talking, like "at the drop of a cat" (which means right away), are soon adapted into the little boy's lexicon, too.

A talented cook, artist, and gardener, Luis has much wisdom to impart and many experiences to share with his grandson--even though, as a war refugee, he never went to school himself and never learned to read and write. A
loving testament to the intergenerational transmission of knowledge and the breathtaking beauty of the natural world, illustrated with evocative, multilayered art by Violeta Lópiz.

 

View Details >>

Long Island and the Sea : A Maritime History

Bill Bleyer

For more than five centuries, the waterways surrounding Long Island have profoundly shaped its history.

Familiar subjects of lighthouses, shipwrecks and whaling are found alongside oft-forgotten oddities such as Pan-American flying boats landing in Manhasset Bay in the early days of transatlantic flight. From the British blockade and skirmishes during the American Revolution to the sinking of merchant vessels by Germany in World War II, the sea brought wars to these shores. By the later part of the 20th century, Gold Coast millionaires commuted in high-speed yachts to Manhattan offices as the island's wealth grew. Historian Bill Bleyer reveals Long Island's nautical bonds from the Native Americans to current efforts to preserve the region's maritime heritage.

View Details >>

Historic Crimes of Long Island : Misdeeds from the 1600s to the 1950s

Kerriann Flanagan Brosky

Award-winning author and historian Kerriann Flanagan Brosky uncovers some of the most ghastly and fascinating historical crimes committed on Long Island.

Beyond the idyllic countryside and suburban communities of Long Island lies a murky history of murder and mayhem. A Victorian romance went awry in Huntington when wealthy farmer Charles Kelsey was tarred, feathered and murdered in 1872. Thirty-five years before the famous witch trials of Salem, East Hampton had its own Puritan hysteria among charges of witchcraft. The 1937 kidnapping of wealthy heiress Alice Parsons shook the quiet town of Stony Brook and remains a mystery to this day.

View Details >>

Long Island Railroad Stations

David D. Morrison

Chartered in 1834 to provide a route between New York City and Boston, the Long Island Rail Road ran from the Brooklyn waterfront through the center of Long Island to Greenport. The railroad served the agricultural market on Long Island until branches and competing lines eventually developed on the north and south shores of the island and several hundred passenger stations were built. After Penn Station was opened in 1910, the number of passengers commuting between Manhattan and Long Island began to multiply. Today, one hundred twenty-five stations serve the Long Island Rail Road. Long Island Rail Road Stations contains vintage postcards of the old Penn Station, which was demolished in the mid-1960s; the Grand Stairway at the Forest Hills Station, where Theodore Roosevelt delivered his famous unification speech on July 4, 1917; and the Amagansett station building, where Nazi spies boarded a train bound for New York City on June 13, 1942. Many of the historic stations featured in this book have been preserved by local preservation groups, while others have been replaced with modern buildings to accommodate the passengers who commute on the nation's largest commuter railroad.
View Details >>

George Washington’s Long Island Spy Ring : A History and Tour Guide

Bill Bleyer

In 1778, two years after the British forced the Continental Army out of New York City, George Washington and his subordinates organized a secret spy network to gather intelligence in Manhattan and Long Island. Known today as the "Culper Spy Ring,'? Patriots like Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend risked their lives to report on British military operations in the region. Vital reports clandestinely traveled from New York City across the East River to Setauket and were rowed on whaleboats across the Long Island Sound to the Connecticut shore. Using ciphers, codes and invisible ink, the spy ring exposed British plans to attack French forces at Newport and a plot to counterfeit American currency. Author Bill Bleyer corrects the record, examines the impact of George Washington's Long Island spy ring and identifies Revolutionary War sites that remain today.

View Details >>

Long Island's vanished heiress : the unsolved Alice Parsons kidnapping

Steven C. Drielak

Alice McDonell Parsons was the heir to a vast fortune among Long Island's wealthy elite when she was kidnapped from Long Meadow Farm in Stony Brook in 1937. The crime shocked the nation and was front-page news for several months. J. Edgar Hoover personally assigned his best FBI agents to the case, and within a short time, Parsons's husband and their live-in housekeeper, Anna Kupryanova, had become prime suspects. Botched ransom attempts, clashes between authorities and romantic intrigue kept the investigation mired in drama. The crime remained unsolved and has captivated Long Island audiences ever since. Former Suffolk County detective Steven C. Drielak reveals previously classified FBI documents and pieces together the mystery of the Alice Parsons kidnapping.
View Details >>

Long Island Beaches

Kristen J. Nyitray

For centuries, Long Island's beaches have provided sustenance, relaxation, and inspiration. The coastline is renowned for its sandy Atlantic Ocean surf beaches, calm bayfront beaches, and rugged north shore Long Island Sound beaches. First inhabited by Native Americans, the area was called Sewanhacky ("Isle of Shells") in reverence to the offerings received where the water met the land. Drawing from the archives of local libraries, historical societies, museums, and private collections, Long Island Beaches presents a curated selection of vintage postcards illustrating the diversity of Nassau and Suffolk Counties' beautiful shores. Rare photographs and maps accompany the postcards to provide historical context. Through extensive research, author Kristen J. Nyitray documents a facet of Long Island's social and cultural history and the lure of its picturesque beaches.

View Details >>

Long Island and World War I

Richard F. Welch

Nassau and Suffolk Counties answered the call to service during the First World War. As young men entered the armed forces, existing facilities such as Camp Mills and Hazelhurst Field were expanded, while Camp Upton, a massive training center, was created almost overnight. Long Islanders demonstrated enthusiastic support for the war through patriotic rallies, subscriptions to Liberty and Victory Loan drives and establishing recreation centers for troops called "soldiers' clubs." While Long Island factories turned out torpedoes, freighters and clothing, the Island's vibrant agricultural sector contributed significantly to the nation's food supplies. Author and historian Richard Welch explores the impact of the Great War on Long Island.
View Details >>

Hidden History of Long Island

Richard Panchyk

Long Island's history is filled with fascinating firsts, magnificent mansions and captivating characters.

From Glenn Curtiss, the first pilot to fly a plane on the island, to Earle Ovington, who carried the country's first airmail, the area has been known as the cradle of aviation. Millionaire William K. Vanderbilt's Long Island Motor Parkway, remnants of which still remain, was the nation's first highway. The desolate ruins of an exiled Albanian king's estate lie in the midst of the woods of the Muttontown Preserve. Captain William Kidd, pirate chaser turned pirate, is rumored to have buried treasure on the island. Richard Panchyk reveals the rapidly vanishing traces of Long Island's intriguing history.

View Details >>

Abandoned Long Island

Richard Panchyk

As progress marches on, it inevitably leaves behind some spectacular ruins--places that are no longer needed or wanted, yet still stand, clinging to a tenuous existence. This book chronicles a wide-ranging selection of Long Island's numerous abandoned places, including vacant military and industrial buildings, the remnants of once-grand estates, defunct rails and roads, and unused runways. Abandoned places are both historic moments frozen in time, and constantly deteriorating and devolving sites. All of them await one fate or another--whether it is a never-ending descent into decrepitude, complete demolition, or perhaps even a miraculous restoration. From the haunting buildings of Mitchel Field to the ruins of Gold Coast estates, the poignant images in this book are rich with context and history.
 

View Details >>

Boat building and boat yards of Long Island : a tribute to tradition

Nancy Solomon

From the North Shore to the South Shore and out to the East End, Long Island is home to a nationally recognized and historic boat building industry. The Steiger Craft boats of Bellport are a local household name, trusted for their ability to navigate the shallow bay waters of the South Shore. Freeport legend Al Grover sold boats around the world for generations, built Verity skiffs for gas-conscious consumers in the 1980s and holds the Guinness World Record for the first outboard motorboat crossing of the Atlantic. The Hanff and Clarke boat yards in Greenport are more than just world-class boat builders--at more than 150 years old, they are historic landmarks. Author and folklorist Nancy Solomon shares the history and stories behind Long Island's traditional boat yards and boat builders.
 

View Details >>

Fire Island : a century in the life of an American paradise

Jack Parlett


*AN ADVOCATE BEST LGBTQ+ BOOK OF 2022*
*A New York Times "Editor's Pick"*
*
A Kirkus Reviews Hottest Book of Summer*


A groundbreaking account of New York's Fire Island, chronicling its influence on art, literature, culture and queer liberation over the past century

Fire Island, a thin strip of beach off the Long Island coast, has long been a vital space in the queer history of America. Both utopian and exclusionary, healing and destructive, the island is a locus of contradictions, all of which coalesce against a stunning ocean backdrop.

Now, poet and scholar Jack Parlett tells the story of this iconic destination—its history, its meaning and its cultural significance—told through the lens of the artists and creators who sought refuge on its shores. Together, figures as divergent as Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, Carson McCullers, Frank O'Hara, Patricia Highsmith and Jeremy O. Harris tell the story of a queer space in constant evolution.

Transporting, impeccably researched and gorgeously written, Fire Island is the definitive book on an iconic American destination and an essential contribution to queer history.

 
View Details >>

World War II Long Island : the homefront in Nassau and Suffolk

Christopher Verga

Long Island was transformed from a pastoral rural community to a modern suburban behemoth by playing an integral role in the homefront of World War II. Dozens of Nazi spies infiltrated industry throughout the island and communicated industrial secrets back to Germany as the FBI chased them down. Long Island held the record for producing the most fighter planes in the country with the rapid rebirth of its aviation sector. Five Medal of Honor recipients called the region home. At the close of the war, the United Nations established itself in a weapons factory in Lake Success. Author Christopher Verga charts the rise of Long Island and its role in World War II.

View Details >>

The Sinking of the Steamboat Lexington on Long Island Sound

BIll Bleyer

Originally commissioned by Cornelius Vanderbilt as he built his maritime empire in New York, the Steamboat Lexington eventually became the most prestigious steamship on the heavily trafficked Long Island Sound... But in 1840 a fire broke out on the ship, igniting poorly placed bales of cotton which destroyed the ship in minutes. Emergency rafts sank and rescue boats were unable to reach the ship in time. Only four among the over one hundred and forty on board survived by clinging to bales of cotton. The incident would be the worst maritime disaster in Long Island history. Author Bill Bleyer presents the harrowing story of a ship's journey from glory to tragedy.

View Details >>

Around Huntington VIllage

Dr. Alfred V. Sforza

Founded in 1653, the town of Huntington is situated on what is known as the Gold Coast of Long Island.

The incorporated villages within the town are Huntington Bay, Lloyd Harbor, Asharoken, and Northport. Huntington has always attracted a population that has created a foundation of diversity. Settlement-era properties, castles of the Victorian period, and main streets still adorn the town as witnesses of the people who lived here and a community that is still thriving. A few of the castles and mansions that once existed in the town have disappeared, some by wear and tear and others through neglect. Still others have been converted into academic institutions and museums. Around Huntington Village shares photographs that give meaning to the events in the lives of the people who lived here.

View Details >>

Huntington

Patricia J. Novak

The town of Huntington has a documented history that dates back to its founding in 1653. The harbors were principally involved in shipping and shipbuilding, and the lush land was ideal for agriculture. When the railroad arrived in the 1860s and then later the automobile, Huntington, part of the Gold Coast of Long Island, became a destination for city residents looking for an escape to fresh air, beaches, and comfortable surroundings. Stately mansions were built, and the villages bustled with new businesses, entertainment, and architecture. That era has been captured in the postcards sent and collected during that time, adding to the social history of Huntington.

View Details >>

Friends Beyond Measure

Lalena Fisher

Ana and Harwin's friendship has been off the charts since day one! But when Harwin learns her family is going to move far away, the duo isn't sure how their friendship can survive the move.

See how their friend-o-meters calibrate in this imaginative, heartwarming story by beloved picture book creator and infographic designer Lalena Fisher.

An ideal read-aloud, this book includes backmatter that explains all about the different types of charts and graphics in the book and gives suggestions for readers to create charts of their own.

Readers will love all the fun details in this rich and visual story! And they'll engage in critical thinking while analyzing and evaluating the images.

View Details >>

Cress Watercress

Gregory Maguire

A lavishly illustrated woodland tale with a classic sensibility and modern flair.

Gregory Maguire turns his trademark wit and wisdom to an animal adventure about growing up, moving on, and finding community. When Papa doesn't return from a nocturnal honey-gathering expedition, Cress holds out hope, but her mother assumes the worst. It’s a dangerous world for rabbits, after all. Mama moves what’s left of the Watercress family to the basement unit of the Broken Arms, a run-down apartment oak with a suspect owl landlord, a nosy mouse super, a rowdy family of squirrels, and a pair of songbirds who broadcast everyone’s business. Can a dead tree full of annoying neighbors, and no Papa, ever be home? In the timeless spirit of E. B. White and The Wind and the Willows—yet thoroughly of its time—this read-aloud and read-alone gem for animal lovers of all ages features an unforgettable cast that leaps off the page in glowing illustrations by David Litchfield. This tender meditation on coming-of-age invites us to flourish wherever we find ourselves.

View Details >>

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

Bill Gates

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical--and accessible--plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.

Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal.

He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions--suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise.

As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

View Details >>

Our Environment

Jacques Pasquet

The environment is an essential but sometimes tough and weighty concept to grasp. This engaging nonfiction book takes readers back to the basics, offering an accessible overview of what makes up our environment, how those parts work, and why they matter. Divided into five sections--water, air, soil, energy, and climate--the book uses facts, figures, and simple language to give an overarching survey of our environment.

Questions run throughout the text, creating a spirit of inquiry. Where does the water we use every day come from? What is the atmosphere? How does pollution affect soil? What is renewable energy? What influences climate? And how do we protect our planet for the future?

With an appealing design and simple drawings and diagrams to support comprehension, this book takes a positive spin on the environment, reinforcing the importance of taking care of each element. Informational text features include a table of contents, sidebars, diagrams, and glossary.

View Details >>

A Pocket Guide to Sustainable Food Shopping

Kate Bratskeir

Reduce your food and packaging waste and lower your carbon footprint with this modern, practical guide to sustainable grocery shopping.

Almond milk, oat milk, rice milk—which of the countless nondairy milks available on the market does the least harm to the environment? How do you decode the language on an egg carton? Is it possible to keep a bundle of fresh asparagus from spoiling so. darn. fast? If plastic is so bad, why is it on everything, and what can you do about it?

These are just some of the questions A Pocket Guide to Sustainable Food Shopping will help answer. Whether you’re someone who’s been making changes for years or you’re clueless about where to start when it comes to sustainability, this book will teach you how to make a difference.

Cutting back on food waste is one of the most impactful ways you can personally help combat climate change. With extra pages for taking notes and a space to perform your own waste audit at home, this book provides the tools to make better choices about what goes into your grocery cart, and how you ultimately treat those items once they’re in your home.

You’ll learn some hard-to-swallow facts about the food industry and gain some actionable tips for making the grocery store—and the world—a more ethical place. You’ll become better at reading food labels, getting acquainted with terms you can trust, and recognizing words and phrases to regard with skepticism. You’ll gain the confidence to shop in the bulk section, ask your butcher questions about sourcing, and perhaps finally relieve some of the guilt you feel over the mountain of plastic bags accumulating beneath your sink.

If you’re ready to make a change, let’s get to it.

View Details >>

Sustainability Made Simple

Rosaly Byrd

Sustainability Made Simple is an introduction to sustainability and sustainable living that explores the relationship between everyday life and the intricate global environmental issues of today, including air and water pollution, deforestation, and climate change. Rosaly Byrd and Laurèn DeMates offer an optimistic yet realistic perspective on our impact on the environment, giving much needed guidance to those who are interested in finding new and relatively easy ways to incorporate sustainability into daily life. An excellent resource for those who are interested in learning what sustainability is about and picking up habits to be more sustainable, Sustainability Made Simple shows that adopting a sustainable lifestyle doesn't require "going off the grid" or making drastic life changes that take time and cost money. Instead, Byrd and DeMates focus on the advantages and transformative changes associated with sustainability, demonstrating that although society is facing unprecedented environmental challenges, working towards sustainability is an opportunity to do things differently and do things better, enhancing aspects of life, such as health, work and community.

View Details >>

Climate Change Eco Facts

Izzi Howell

Climate change is reshaping the planet before our eyes. From melting ice caps and rising sea levels to drought and destructive hurricanes, no corner of Earth is protected from the effects of global warming. Discover the facts about what climate change is doing--and will continue to do--to our planet, and how we might reduce its impact.

View Details >>

How to Prepare for Climate Change

David Pogue

A practical and comprehensive guide to surviving the greatest disaster of our time, from New York Times bestselling self-help author and beloved CBS Sunday Morning science and technology correspondent David Pogue.

You might not realize it, but we’re already living through the beginnings of climate chaos. In Arizona, laborers now start their day at 3 a.m. because it’s too hot to work past noon. Chinese investors are snapping up real estate in Canada. Millennials have evacuation plans. Moguls are building bunkers. Retirees in Miami are moving inland.

In How to Prepare for Climate Change, bestselling self-help author David Pogue offers sensible, deeply researched advice for how the rest of us should start to ready ourselves for the years ahead. Pogue walks readers through what to grow, what to eat, how to build, how to insure, where to invest, how to prepare your children and pets, and even where to consider relocating when the time comes. (Two areas of the country, in particular, have the requisite cool temperatures, good hospitals, reliable access to water, and resilient infrastructure to serve as climate havens in the years ahead.) He also provides wise tips for managing your anxiety, as well as action plans for riding out every climate catastrophe, from superstorms and wildfires to ticks and epidemics.

Timely and enlightening, How to Prepare for Climate Change is an indispensable guide for anyone who read The Uninhabitable Earth or The Sixth Extinction and wants to know how to make smart choices for the upheaval ahead.

View Details >>

Beginning Seed Saving for the Home Gardener

James Ulager

How home gardeners with limited time and garden space can reclaim the joy and independence of seed saving

Beginning Seed Saving for the Home Gardener explores how seed saving is not only easier than we think, but that it is essential for vibrant, independent, and bountiful gardens.

Many home gardeners refuse to eat a grocery store tomato, but routinely obtain seeds commercially, sometimes from thousands of miles away. And while seed saving can appear mysterious and intimidating, even home gardeners with limited time and space can experience the joy and independence it brings, freeing them from industry and the annual commercial seed order.

Coverage includes:

 

  • Why seed saving belongs in the home garden
  • Principles of vegetative and sexual reproduction
  • Easy inbreeding plants, including legumes, lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers
  • Plants with a few more challenges, including squash, spinach, onions, and parsley
  • Brief discussion of more difficult crops, including corn, carrots, and cabbage.

Written by a home seed saver for the home seed saver, Beginning Seed Saving for the Home Gardener is a comprehensive guide for those who want to reclaim our seed heritage, highlighting the importance of saving seeds for you, your neighbors, and most importantly, subsequent generations.

View Details >>

Seed Saving

Caleb Warnock

 Seed saving guru Caleb Warnock guides you through the process of saving your own seeds and cultivating a garden all your own. Discover the secrets to saving seeds from more than thirty vegetable varieties, from brussels sprouts to sunchokes and everything in between. He explains

• The difficulty level of saving that kind of seed.

• Which other varieties will cross-pollinate with the seed.
• The minimum number of plants you’ll need for a good seed crop.
• How to harvest the seeds and make them usable. 

Use this guide to become a more self-sustaining gardener and create a wealth of seeds your family can use for years to come!

View Details >>

Epic Tomatoes

Craig LeHoullier

Savor your best tomato harvest ever! Craig LeHoullier provides everything a tomato enthusiast needs to know about growing more than 200 varieties of tomatoes, from planting to cultivating and collecting seeds at the end of the season. He also offers a comprehensive guide to various pests and tomato diseases, explaining how best to avoid them. With beautiful photographs and intriguing tomato profiles throughout, Epic Tomatoes celebrates one of the most versatile and delicious crops in your garden. 

View Details >>

Seedswap

Josie Jeffery

An illustrated introduction to saving seeds—how to harvest seeds from your own garden, set up a seed library to share with your community, and grow plants from your own seed stash. With a directory of plants and easy-to-follow instructions, this is the perfect book for first-time gardeners.

In an exciting introduction to the global seed-swapping movement, passionate seed activist Josie Jeffery explores why we should care about our plant heritage and, most importantly, explains how to do it. With an invaluable directory of all the best seeds to swap and save, Seedswap provides all the tools you need to start your very own growing revolution.

This book covers the what, who, and whys of seed swapping and seed saving. It advises where to start and how to get involved with the worldwide horticultural campaign to "save our seeds." The work of seed activist individuals and groups is highlighted with inspirational tips and tales, and there is insight into the practices of major seed companies and how this has affected seed diversity, as well as how "seed breeding" affects the future of plants. The work of seed collections and seed banks is explored, and advice is given on how to collect, clean, store, preserve, and raise seeds. The second part of the book contains an extensive plant directory, which is full of advice on how to grow plants from "seed to seed."

Contents
Foreword by Alan Philips, Seedy Sunday
Introduction by Andy Jackson, Kew
1. Seed Swapping
2. An Introduction to Seeds
3. The Benefits of Swapping
4. Sourcing and Saving Seeds
5. Seed Banks
6. Create a Seed Bank
7. Raising Seeds
Seed Directory
Seedswap Troubleshooter
Seed Libraries
Glossary
Index

View Details >>

The Seed Underground

Janisse Ray

There is no despair in a seed. There's only life, waiting for the right conditions-sun and water, warmth and soil-to be set free. Everyday, millions upon millions of seeds lift their two green wings.

 

At no time in our history have Americans been more obsessed with food. Options- including those for local, sustainable, and organic food-seem limitless. And yet, our food supply is profoundly at risk. Farmers and gardeners a century ago had five times the possibilities of what to plant than farmers and gardeners do today; we are losing untold numbers of plant varieties to genetically modified industrial monocultures. In her latest work of literary nonfiction, award-winning author and activist Janisse Ray argues that if we are to secure the future of food, we first must understand where it all begins: the seed.

 

The Seed Underground is a journey to the frontier of seed-saving. It is driven by stories, both the author's own and those from people who are waging a lush and quiet revolution in thousands of gardens across America to preserve our traditional cornucopia of food by simply growing old varieties and eating them. The Seed Underground pays tribute to time-honored and threatened varieties, deconstructs the politics and genetics of seeds, and reveals the astonishing characters who grow, study, and save them.

View Details >>

The Garden Seed Saving Guide

Jill Henderson

At a time where commercial forces have increased control over the food supply by patenting seeds with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), seed saving has become an important skill to encourage and share. Longtime organic gardener Jill Henderson explains how preserving open-pollinated and heirloom garden seeds from one season to the next will not only save gardeners money but will also increase their self-sufficiency and help them maintain a naturally diverse gene pool of food plants. Here are some of the many "insider tips" you'll discover: which seeds are easiest to save, why saving seeds preserves genetic diversity, easy hand-pollination techniques for beginners, the right way to harvest, clean, and store seeds at home, how to save hundreds of seed varieties from only seven crop types, how to ensure seed viability and test germination rates, and ways to keep seeds from cross-pollinating. Armed with these simple tips and instructions, anyone with a green thumb will find seed saving easy and rewarding.

View Details >>

The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds

Robert Edward Gough

Enjoy your favorite varieties of garden plants year after year with this comprehensive guide to gathering, preparing, and planting seeds. Authors Robert Gough and Cheryl Moore-Gough provide simple instructions that clearly explain the whole process, from basic plant biology to proper seed storage and successful propagation. Gardeners of any experience level will find all the information they need to preserve genetic diversity, cut costs, and extend the life of their favorite plants to the next generation and beyond.

View Details >>

The Heirloom Life Gardener

Jere and Emilee Gettle

Tired of genetically modified food every day, Americans are moving more toward eating natural, locally grown food that is free of pesticides and preservatives-and there is no better way to ensure this than to grow it yourself. Anyone can start a garden, whether in a backyard or on a city rooftop; but what they need to truly succeed is The Heirloom Life Gardener, a comprehensive guide to cultivating heirloom vegetables.

In this invaluable resource, Jere and Emilee Gettle, cofounders of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, offer a wealth of knowledge to every kind of gardener-experienced pros and novices alike. In his friendly voice, complemented by gorgeous photographs, Jere gives planting, growing, harvesting, and seed saving tips. In addition, an extensive A to Z Growing Guide includes amazing heirloom varieties that many people have never even seen. From seed collecting to the history of seed varieties and name origins, Jere takes you far beyond the heirloom tomato. This is the first book of its kind that is not only a guide to growing beautiful and delicious vegetables, but also a way to join the movement of people who long for real food and a truer way of living.

View Details >>

Heirloom Plants

Thomas Etty

It's nearly impossible for gardeners to resist the allure of heirloom plants. Their names alone sound inviting--Flanders Purple kale, Golden Marconi sweet peppers, Moon & Stars watermelons, Turk's Turban squash, Scarlet Emperor running beans, and Jefferson plums--and many growers claim that their taste is unsurpassed. Beyond the classic appeal, however, lies the far more important issue of biodiversity. Unless these unique seeds are grown and saved, they will not only be forgotten, but lost forever. Based on the extensive seed catalogs of Thomas Etty, the popular heirloom seedsman, Heirloom Plants includes information on almost 500 exciting cultivars to be grown and harvested, along with detailed profiles and cultivation tips for each plant. In addition to edibles, the book also has chapters on antique herbs and flowers, from Cup and Saucer vines to Sweet William carnations to Empress of India nasturtiums. Trowel and book in hand, let your motto be, "Growing the past, saving the future."

View Details >>

Starting Seeds

Barbara W. Ellis

Get a jump on the gardening season! In this Storey BASICS® guide, Barbara Ellis provides the basic information that you need to start a variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers from seed. Ellis shares simple, proven techniques for sowing seeds, managing indoor plants, and creating proper growing conditions so your seedlings can thrive. Packed with expert advice suitable for both beginners and experienced gardeners, Starting Seeds will inspire you to plant a seed and watch it grow. 

View Details >>

The New Seed-Starters Handbook

Nancy Bubel

Starting plants from a seed grants earlier harvests, greater variety, healthier seedlings, lower costs, and the undeniable sense of satisfaction and reward. 

For the most complete, up-to-date information on starting plants from seed, turn to The New Seed-Starter's Handbook. Written by a gardener with 30 years of experience, this updated, easy-to-use reference explains everything you need to know to start seeds and raise healthy seedlings successfully.

You'll find:

- The latest research in seed starting

- The best growing media

- The newest gardening materials

- Solutions to seed-starting problems

- Source lists for seeds and hard-to-find gardening supplies

The robust encyclopedia section lists more than 200 plants—including vegetables and fruits, garden flowers, wildflowers, herbs, trees, and shrubs—with details on how to start each from seed. 

View Details >>

Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste

Bill Best

The Brown Goose, the White Case Knife, Ora’s Speckled Bean, Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter — these are just a few of the heirloom fruits and vegetables you’ll encounter in Bill Best’s remarkable history of seed saving and the people who preserve both unique flavors and the Appalachian culture associated with them. As one of the people at the forefront of seed saving and trading for over fifty years, Best has helped preserve numerous varieties of beans, tomatoes, corn, squashes, and other fruits and vegetables, along with the family stories and experiences that are a fundamental part of this world. While corporate agriculture privileges a few flavorless but hardy varieties of daily vegetables, seed savers have worked tirelessly to preserve genetic diversity and the flavors rooted in the Southern Appalachian Mountains — referred to by plant scientists as one of the vegetative wonders of the world.

Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste will introduce readers to the cultural traditions associated with seed saving, as well as the remarkable people who have used grafting practices and hand-by-hand trading to keep alive varieties that would otherwise have been lost. As local efforts to preserve heirloom seeds have become part of a growing national food movement, Appalachian seed savers play a crucial role in providing alternatives to large-scale agriculture and corporate food culture. Part flavor guide, part people’s history, Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste will introduce you to a world you’ve never known — or perhaps remind you of one you remember well from your childhood.

View Details >>

The Smartest Kid in the Universe

Chris Grabenstein

Twelve-year-old Jake's middle school is about to be shut down--unless Jake and his friends can figure out how to save it. When Jake spies a bowl of jellybeans at the hotel where his mom works, he eats them. But those weren't just jellybeans, one of the scientists at his mom's conference is developing the world's first ingestible information pills. And THAT'S what Jake ate. Before long, Jake is the smartest kid in the universe. But the pills haven't been tested yet. And when word gets out about this new genius, people want him. The government. The mega corporations. Not all of them are good people! Can Jake navigate the ins and outs of his newfound geniusdom (not to mention the ins and outs of middle school) and use his smarts to save his school? BONUS! Includes extra brainteasers to test your smarts!

View Details >>

Merci Suárez Changes Gears

Meg Medina

Merci Suarez knew that sixth grade would be different, but she had no idea just how different. For starters, Merci has never been like the other kids at her private school in Florida, because she and her older brother, Roli, are scholarship students. They don’t have a big house or a fancy boat, and they have to do extra community service to make up for their free tuition. So when bossy Edna Santos sets her sights on the new boy who happens to be Merci’s school-assigned Sunshine Buddy, Merci becomes the target of Edna’s jealousy. Things aren't going well at home, either: Merci’s grandfather and most trusted ally, Lolo, has been acting strangely lately — forgetting important things, falling from his bike, and getting angry over nothing. No one in her family will tell Merci what's going on, so she’s left to her own worries, while also feeling all on her own at school. In a coming-of-age tale full of humor and wisdom, award-winning author Meg Medina gets to the heart of the confusion and constant change that defines middle school — and the steadfast connection that defines family.

View Details >>