Veteran educator and author Margaret Stenerson announces the release of two powerful books that shine a light on the transformative power of knowledge, curiosity, and lifelong learning: My Noble Profession (Third Edition) and The Joy of Knowing: Everyday Wonders and Science Stories. Together, these titles offer a heartfelt tribute to teaching as a calling, and …
In these pages, McDonnell continues to recount his Hollywood adventures alongside his writing partner, Jim Carlson, spanning the 1970s to the 1980s. The author goes into great detail about each project, this time concentrating on children’s programming and entertainment. He describes the shows, puts them in context of the larger industry, breaks down the individual …
Mama opossum and her three joeys “awaken” as night falls. They “blink,” “clean” their teeth, “dress,” and “emerge” from their treehouse burrow. (While the majority of the text is presented in white font, the verbs are mauve-colored and bolded, catching the reader’s attention as the author proffers examples beginning with each letter of the alphabet.) …
In what could ostensibly be called a “space opera,” Van Shamrai’s novel gets off to a rip-roaring start as a shuttle carrying astrophysicist Gaag Zorb and cryobiologist Zara Espen suddenly crashes over Arabia. The two protagonists emerge from the wreckage to discover a putrid world of sand and fog inhabited by strange humanoid creatures whom …
Dolly Parton’s humble origins in a two-room Tennessee cabin in the Smoky Mountains with no electricity or running water were a surprising beginning for this global superstar. She was born in 1946 as the fourth of 12 children and her early years were characterized by minimal resources, but, as Parton says, they “were rich in …
Drawing much of his material from the annals of both the Nobel Prize and its real (much funnier) offspring, the Ig Nobel Prizes, Kallen dishes up a lively, if sometimes also revolting, smorgasbord of scientific highs and lows. Some of the latter are downright disturbing—such as 1950s CIA experiments that involved administering LSD to unwitting …
In an alternate version of the mid-2020s, global famine, mass extinctions, and the mysterious exhaustion of soil and water all threaten humankind. A corporate-run fascist American government concocted a profitable formula to increase crop production and now holds a world food monopoly—but cancers and birth defects have spiked both at home and abroad. In Minneapolis, …
It feels like it was only a few days ago that I reported on a Big Five publisher launching an imprint to target successful self-published authors. Indeed, I assumed that I was reading more about the same story I had reported on earlier this month. But it’s not. Earlier in July, Simon and Schuster announced …
It’s March of 1942. Ireland is determined to maintain its neutrality in the war, which the government refers to as the “Emergency.” But there’s dissension all around; some favor the Germans, believing that they offer the best road to a reunited Ireland. Others favor alliance with the Allies. Mixed into this chaotic cauldron is a …
“Like food, songs too can speak without words,” writes the Seattle-based author at one point in this offbeat memoir. “A melody stirs a memory as a dish summons nostalgia. Both speak the language of the heart.” This creative book isn’t merely about the author’s love of music, though, but also her love of cooking, and …
We hear a lot about BookTok’s positive influence on the creative world, especially among nascent young readers (alongside what we hear about its deleterious influence on the world’s youth). In a scenario as old as Socrates, we have booksellers crediting BookTok with rescuing an industry as legislative crackdowns and curfews the world over would have …