Boswell bestsellers for the week ending September 12
Hardcover Fiction:
1. Saving Ruby King, by Catherine Adel West (Register for September 29 event here)
2. Crooked Hallelujah, by Kelli Jo Ford
3. Anxious People, by Frederick Backman
4. All the Devils Are Here, by Louise Penny
5. The Lying Life of Adults, by Elena Ferrante
6. Transcendent Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi
7. The Invention of Sound, by Chuck Palahniuk
8. What Are You Going Through, by Sigrid Nunez
9. The Pull of the Stars, by Emma Donoghue
10. The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett
Frederick Backman has his best first-week sales pop in some time with Anxious People, also the #1 Indie Next Pick for September. Boswellian Kira McGrigg notes that "Anxious People and all of the ridiculous, complex characters within hold that truly perfect blend of depth and levity that Backman has perfected in his novels."
New releases this week include Chuck Palahniuk's The Invention of Sound, his fist novel at Grand Central Publishing. We have a few signed tip-in copies.
Sigrid Nunez wins praise from Dwight Garner in The New York Times: "What Are You Going Through is a short novel, set roughly in the present. It’s as good as The Friend, if not better. The primal question it asks is this: If a terminally ill friend asked you to be with them, in another room, while they took the pills that would end their life, would you say yes or no? Either answer has its moral hazards.
Ron Charles on Michael Cohen in his Book Club newsletter: "Within 24 hours, Disloyalhad been soundly drowned out by actual revelations in Bob Woodward’s Rage. Such is the fickle world of book publicity — a crook can barely make a buck these days.
From Basic Books comes a timely history from Professor of History at Johns Hopkins Martha S Jones, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. Ibram X Kendi writes: ""Martha Jones is the political historian of African American women. And this book is the commanding history of the remarkable struggle of African American women for political power."
Paperback Fiction:
1. If They Come for Us, by Fatimah Asghar (Register for September 17 event here)
2. Dune, by Frank Herbert (two editions, Jason says the trailer looks great)
3. The Overstory, by Richard Jones
4. Late Love, by Paula Goldman
5. Scorpionfish, by Natalie Bakopoulos (Register for September 21 event here)
6. The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead
7. The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio
8. The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton
9. The Fate of a Flapper, by Susanna Calkins
10. American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson
My rec for Scorpionfish: "Her parents killed in an accident, Mira takes a leave from her teaching job in Chicago to return to the Athens of her birth. Hoping to take up with her long-time, long-distance lover, she learns upon arrival that he has left her for a well-known film actress. Her voice alternates with her new neighbor, a sailor now separated from the seas and also disengaging from his marriage. The story might dissolve into introspection were it not for Athens, equally lush and tranquil and dirty and chaotic, almost a character itself, and certainly the impetus to awaken these souls from their mournful slumber. If your Greek vacation was cancelled this year, reading Scorpionfish might just be the next best thing."
Paperback Nonfiction
1. For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood, by Christopher Emdin
2. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
3. Our Malady, by Timothy Snyder
4. Stamped from the Beginning, by Ibram X. Kendi
5. Walking Milwaukee, by Royal Brevväxling and Molly Snyder
6. Home Cooking, by Laurie Colwin
7. Christ in Crisis, by Jim Wallis
8. White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo
9. The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
10. Million Billion, by Michael Perry (Register for September 24 event here)
Are you doing a lot of walking during COVID? Maybe Walking Milwaukee is the book for you. Here's Bobby Tanzilo's profile in OnMilwaukee.
Books for Kids:
1. Darius the Great Deserves Better, by Adib Khorram
2. Darius the Great Is Not Okay, by Adib Khorram
3. Dear Martin, by Nic Stone
4. Skunk and Badger, by Amy Timberlake (Register for October 12 event here)
5. Grime and Punishment V9, by Dav Pilkey
6. Kamala and Maya's Big Idea, by Meena Harris, illustrated by Ana Ramírez González
7. You Matter, by Christian Robinson
8. Superheroes Are Everywhere, by Kamala Harris, illustrated by Mechal Renee Roe
9. The Assignment, by Liza Wiemer
10. Antiracist Baby Board Book, by Ibram, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
Two books featuring Kamala Harris are in this week's top ten, the multi-week bestseller Kamala and Maya's Big Idea, and 2019's Superheroes Are Everywhere, one of several books that are slowly being reprinted. Jason told me he's seeing a number of books pushed back because publishers can't get press time. If you haven't heard this before, we need to repeat it now - buy early for the holidays.
Jim Higgins at the Journal Sentinelreviews Homeland Elegies, the second novel from Ayad Akhtar: "Anyone who has seen both Disgraced and Junk will be prepared for the content of Ayad Akhtar's new novel, Homeland Elegies. But even those hard-punching, argumentative dramas don't completely prepare a reader for the high-bandwidth ferocity of Akhtar's book about the unease of being a brown Muslim in the United States and about the destabilizing effect of unfettered greed on this country."
Boswell bestsellers for the week ending September 5, 2020
Hardcover Fiction:
1. All the Devils Are Here, by Louise Penny
2. Transcendent Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi
3. The Lying Life of Adults, by Elena Ferrante
4. Payback, by Mary Gordon
5. Squeeze Me, by Carl Hiaasen
6. The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett
7. American Dirt, by Jeanine Cummins
8. The Boy in the Field, by Margot Livesey
9. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
10. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
Welcome to the first week of meterorological fall. It's also a week with three big sales pops for new releases. First up is Louise Penny's latest, All the Devils Are Here. In this 16th mystery in the series, Inspector Gamache visits his kids in the City of Lights (Paris) and investigates who didnt put an Eiffel Tower on his book jacket. Just kidding! Of course there is one. Kirkus Reviews gave the newest a star and wrote: "If you're new to Penny's world, this would be a great place to jump in. Then go back and start the series from the beginning."
Transcendent Kingdom, per Ron Charles at The Washington Post, suffers no sophomore slump: "When she was just 25, Gyasi reportedly sold her debut novel, Homegoing, for $1 million. It was the kind of financial windfall that whips up fawning publicity and — despite the book’s success — skepticism. If there are any skeptics left, they can stand down now. “Homegoing” wasn’t beginner’s luck. Gyasi’s new novel, Transcendent Kingdom, is a book of blazing brilliance. What’s more, it’s entirely unlike “Homegoing.” That debut, as many fans know, is a collection of linked stories that sweeps across four centuries with a vast group of characters in ever changing settings. In a completely different register, Transcendent Kingdom is still and ruminative — a novel of profound scientific and spiritual reflection that recalls the works of Richard Powers and Marilynne Robinson.
Expectations were high for Elena Ferrante with The Lying Life of Adults, her first major work following the completion of the Neopolitan Quartet. From Dayna Tortorici in The New York Times: "What a relief it is when an author who has written a masterpiece returns to prove the gift intact. Was it ever in question for Elena Ferrante, the pseudonymous Italian author whose four-volume novel known as the Neapolitan quartet made her one of the most celebrated writers alive? Maybe not, but success has a way of spoiling things. Since the 2002 publication of The Days of Abandonment (translated into English by Ann Goldstein in 2005), Ferrante has been known for her portraits of intense and intelligent women as they stare down the ugly side of female experience: infidelity, reluctant motherhood and the push-and-pull of competitive friendship."
Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Well-Plated Cookbook, by Erin Clarke
2. How to Lead, by David M. Rubenstein
3. Vesper Flights, by Helen Macdonald (register for September 17 ticketed event here)
4. How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi
5. Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson
6. Donald Trump V. the United States, by Michael S. Schmidt
7. When the Words Suddenly Stopped, by Vivian L. King
8. Twilight of the Gods V3, by Ian W. Toll
9. Untamed, by Glennon Doyle
10. Melania and Me, by Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff
Ian W. Toll's third book in the Pacific War Trilogy following Pacific Crucible and The Conquering Tide had a modest bestseller pop this week. Jonathan W. Jordan writes in The Wall Street Journal: "Though Twilight of the Gods spans a little over a year, this is the longest volume of Mr. Toll’s trilogy. In some ways its story is the most morally complex, treating life-and-death decisions made on the cusp of victory and defeat. In Mr. Toll’s view, both sides dipped their hands in blood. Holding aside Japan’s penchant for mass slaughter of civilians, a staple of most Pacific War narratives, the American bombing of Japanese cities poses lingering moral questions—as does Japan’s refusal to surrender when all knew the war was lost."
Paperback Fiction:
1. Late Love, by Paula Goldman (register for this September 10, 7 pm event here)
2. The Professor's Daughter, by Emily Raboteau
3. The Need, by Helen Phillips (register for this October 5, 5:30 pm event here)
4. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. When No One Is Watching, by Alyssa Cole
6. The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
7. Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse
8. Poems of Resistance, Poems of Hope, edited by Joy Harjo
9. The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood
10. Sea Change, by Nancy Kress
Our buyer Jason mentioned to me that he's seeing a lot of paperback reprint postponements, but the spigot hasn't been turned entirely off. The Testaments, Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaids Tale and one of the big books of 2019, was released on September 1. It was announced (here's more info on RadioTimes) that the fourth season of the Hulu sereies would be pushed back to 2021, due to the pandemic. For the book's publication, Atwood spoke to Robin Young and NPR's Here and Now about parallels ("creepily similar" is the quote) between the book and contemporary life.
Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Enrique's Journey, by Sonia Nazario
2. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
3. The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel Van der Kolk
4. A Is for Asylum Seeker, by Rachel I. Buff, translated by Alejandra Oliva
5. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
6. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls
7. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
8. My Grandmother's Hands, by Resmaa Menakem
9. Seeds and Stems, by Simon Handselman
10. The Great Influenza, by John M. Barry
Congratulations to Resmaa Menakem, whose depiction of the body-centered approach to racialized trauma in My Grandmother's Hands is one of several books that moved to bestseller status in 2020. We hosted Menakem at Boswell when the book came out in 2017 (October 10!) as he grew up in Milwaukee. Here's the transcript from his podcast conversation with Lesbie Langbert at University of Arizona.
Books for Kids:
1. Be the Change, by Arun Gandhi
2. Grime and Punishment V9, by Dav Pilkey
3. Majesty V2, by Katharine McGee
4. The Assignment, by Liza Wiemer
5. Every Night Is Pizza Night, by J. Kenzi Lopez-Alt
6. I Am Every Good Thing, by Derrick Barnes
7. You Matter, by Christian Robinson
8. Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure, by Jeff Kinney
9. Antiracist Baby board book, by Ibram X. Kendi
10. Knight at Down V2: Magic Tree House, by Mary Pope Osborne
This is what I've got on the new Dog Man, Grime and Punishment: "The Supa Buddies bamboozled the baddies, but all's not right in the world. Dog Man has a new problem to pound, and he's going to need his entire pack to help him. Will he go barking up the wrong tree?" I think I could have written this copy for any book in the series, right?
Okay, let's try a sequel that's only on #2, not #9 - Majesty is the follow up to American Royals, from Katherine McGee. Royal Central (yes, there is such a thing and a team of four contributes) interviewed McGee in advance fo the new book's publication: "Majesty is filled with more of everything you’ve come to expect from American Royals. More drama, more romance, more intrigue, more secrets coming to light. It’s also got some fun new characters and explores new corners of the American Royals world. I feel like the ending is going to surprise a lot of readers! But all I can say about that is to quote Oscar Wilde, and remind you that 'the good ends happily and the bad unhappily.'"
Over at the Journal Sentinel, Matt Damsker of USA talks up Vesper Flights, the latest from Helen Macdonald: "At its height, MacDonald’s writing captures the inexpressible rhythm of being. She observes, as we all have, the way starlings will move in astonishing, hyper-calibrated unison, making sudden patterns that ink-splash the sky. " Register for the ticketed event on September 17 with Schlitz Audubon Nature Center here.
It seems weird now that it took a pandemic for us to start taping events for later viewing. It seems just as crazy that we didn't immediately pivot to virtual events when it became clear that our in-store appearances would be cancelled. When we finally figured out how to do a virtual event, we didn't tape it, and that's too bad, as our conversation between Emily St. John Mandel and Lauren Fox for The Glass Hotel was a good one. If you'd like to see Lauren Fox's interviewing skills at work, we were able to tape her conversation with Christina Clancy for The Second Home.
Clancy's launch event was particularly dear to us. She'd been talking about reading at Boswell since she was in the graduate creative writing program at UWM. Like several other cancelled events, some of which were not scheduled for virtual, a lot of planning went into it. So it's great to see that folks responded to the book's release. One of my friends in Massachusetts, who received The Second Home as a gift, recently wrote to me and asked if I had more recommendations like Clancy's novel. High praise indeed!
Now our default is that we tape them unless the author is giving a talk that will be repeated or a kids author is doing a complete story time reading. The long reading not only has rights issues, but it can also be pretty static, which is why most events now are conversations. We've been keeping copies of most of our events on our virtual event page. We'll try to keep every event on the page for a good amount of time (to be determined), and then we'll look at viewing numbers to figure out which ones should stay longer. So far, if you look at our YouTube numbers, our top number of views are for Joyce Carol Oates for Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. with Bill Young. My sister Claudia is making her way through this 800 page novel and loving it!
I didn't realize what a gift these taped interviews would be. When Chris recommended I read If I Had Two Wings, the newly released story collection from Randall Kenan, he had no idea that I'd been waiting for this book for 28 years. I went home to my bookshelf and pulled out his first short story book, Let the Dead Bury the Dead, which has held its place on my bookshelf when many other titles had found other homes. (Translation - I got rid of them. Sigh).
We mentioned Kenan's book somewhere - I don't even remember the circumstances. And our friend Kim Suhr at Red Oak Writing mentioned that she was one of Kenan's former students and would love to do a conversation. We wrote a proposal to Kyle at Norton asking if we could put something together for If I Had Two Wings. And we wound up with a lovely evening celebrating a special book.
Less than a month later, Kenan had passed away. The initial notice did not have cause of death, but this Shelf Awareness piece noted he had heart issues and had suffered a stroke several years ago. Ed Southern noted: "He remained deeply rooted in North Carolina" while Daniel Wallace called him "a brilliant writer and a mentor to so many writers who came behind him - particularly young, Black gay writers who looked at him as a hero." I should note that highlighting Kenan's event was my original impetus for this post, which then took a life of its own.
In addition to hosting writers who were unlikely to visit Milwaukee, pivoting to virtual events have allowed us to host authors who definitely weren't going to visit Milwaukee. After a lovely event with Gail Tsukiyama for The Color of Air, I asked Jane Hamilton who she'd like to speak with. The truth is that we weren't able to get the first event together, but when she started singing the praises of Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet, everything fell into place. I forwarded the interview to one of my friends who I thought would like the book and author, and he wrote back saying, "I'm in love."
The thing about Hamnet is that it really is a good hand-sell for independent bookstore customers. I feel like anybody who read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and it's follow-ups is a natural target. That's right - I am shooting the literary arrow of enthusiasm at you, as well as folks that love Shakespeare Books, people who read Geraldine Brooks, and well, I can probably think of a few more comparisons.
Because Jane is now the official ambassador to Inklink Books in East Troy, it made sense to work together on this. I like coining series - this one, assuming we have another - is Ink/Well. We've got another series going on with Books & Company in Oconomowoc called Readings from Oconomowaukee. We've now had two of these, most recently for Peter Geye and Northernmost.
This was an example where publishers were thinking about the virtual tour exactly as they'd plan out an in-person one. Not unusual - we just hosted an author where the publisher kept every date on the original schedule. The problem for us is that by the time our event came up, even the locals had gone elsewhere and the author did not get the audience we thought they deserved.
Dual interviewers can be a tricky thing, particularly in terms of flow. But I'm particularly happy about how this Peter Geye event with Lisa Baudoin came up. Lisa and I read the book in somewhat different ways and we each pulled different things out of the story, a tale that is one of three family sagas (the others are The Lighthouse Road and Wintering) about the Eide/Hansens of Norway and Minnesota. Northernmost is the both the beginning and the end of the story - Lisa had read all three books, while Northernmost was the first I had read to completion. To my thinking, they are more companion novels that a sequence, much like the Gilead novels of Marilynne Robinson.
With virtual events, we're able to turn the selection process on its head. We write lots of proposals, but for the most part, in-person events follow the formula, here is this author, do you want them? (I like that I can now use them as first-person singular without a warning from the grammar police). The problem is that you say yes and then realize there's no champion for the book in the store. I would love to read every book myself, but I'd also like to keep the store open.
But when I do read a book and I like it, I can pitch the idea of being in conversation with the author. I can also do the same for Chris. For him, we've written proposals for Emma Jane Unsworth's Grown Ups and Steven Wright's The Coyotes of Carthage. In the case of Wright, Chris convinced me to read it and it is contention to be one of my top 10 books of the year.
This is certainly one of my top ten favorite interviews. Wright is such a great writer and his influences are so varied. And I love that he's teaching law and creative writing and is co-directing Wisconsin's Innocence Project. And I love that the book is a hybrid of several different kind of books. I don't understand why this book hasn't exploded. I'm hoping that come awards season, it will get some nominations.
Chris also led the charge for us to interview Emma Jane Unsworth. This is one of those books that's had a few title changes, though I should note that Grown Ups, the American title, was the original title. In Great Britain, they worried that Marian Keyes's novel of the same name would be confusing, so they retitled it Adults. But in the USA, there were more titles incorporating "adults" making a wave, including Emma Straub's All Adults Here. So they changed it back. But the problem is that in the virtual world, there are no borders and having a book with two titles in English is very confusing. Here's a twist - Keyes novel Grown Ups hasn't had an American release, but Unsworth did. In the day, we used to sell her pretty well at Schwartz, so that's surprising. (Editor's note - our rep Jason noted that Keyes did have American distribution, through Doubleday Canada. I assumed when I saw that colophon that there were rights issues. It turns out we were offered it, we bought it, and we even sold one). But it didn't convince the American publisher to stick with the British title.
We've had four great reads on Grown Ups, which using the tools of market research, allows me to conclude that there are many potential fans out there. Unsworth's novel about a heroine twisted into anxiety by social media - you see "her brain explode on the page," as Unswroth notes. I also like when the author noted that "Twitter is like the worst karaoke bar in the world." If you like neurotic comedy, this book is for you
It's hard for me to pick a conversation that I loved to feature here, so what the heck - I'll write a little more and include a few. My nonfiction pick has got to be Miles Harvey's The King of Confidence. It's such great narrative nonfiction - perfect for Erik Larson fans. And it's grounded in localness. James Strang, the iconoclast who started a religious offshoot of the LDS church, first set up in Burlington, Wisconsin before he relocated to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan.
Harvey is just a great interview subject, and I will recall that this is my first event where I learned how to share screen. It was also one of those events where we had some great celebrity attendees, something that rarely* happens at in-store events. And I should note that more often, the famous (to me) person registers, but winds up not attending. But Charles Baxter did attend Harvey's event and now we're hosting him for his new novel, The Sun Collective, on November 19.
Harvey actually converted from an in-person event, as he lives in the Chicago are, but for Kelli Jo Ford, I just reached out to the publicist, as she was definitely not expected to come to Milwaukee. We had hit it off at Winter Institute in Baltimore (forever known as the last time I took a plane before coronavirus) and while I was concerned that I wouldn't do Crooked Hallelujah justice, I took on the interview myself. This is where I note that my advice to all conversation partners that enthusiasm can cover a multitude of interviewing flaws.
After the event, I asked Ford if she would be amenable to an encore event, as we've been putting together programs for UWM ACCESS and this book fit the criteria for their program quite well. So on September 9, she'll have be part of a circle of women, with Deb Lyonsdove, Megan Anderson, and Elisabeth Lambert.
One novel I'm championing for the holidays is The Paris Hours, by Alex George. George's third novel is set in 1927 and features four interwoven stories about characters searching for some lost object or person, with the most memorable strand being about Marcel Proust's housekeeper. Proust asked her to destroy his notebooks, but she secretly set one aside. Alas, her jealous husband sold it. Until the interview, I didn't know that George originally used the real housekeeper's name, but when he diverted enough from reality that he decided to fictionalize her, much like Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk.
Alex is super charming here, and I love the way the book ticks so many boxes, with so many interesting themes interwoven together to make a very powerful story. It's like The Illusion of Separateness crossed with The President's Hat, too books that were not huge successes on the national stage but were enormously popular with Boswell's customers. If you've liked Van Booy's work (we also did well with Father's Day), you'll see that my comparisons between George and Van Booy's writing style are fitting. I should also note that two of us have read Antoine Lauraine's new book and we're working on trying to put together a virtual event for The Readers Room.
One last interview! Quan Barry's We Ride Upon Sticks is sure to make at least one Boswell Top 5 list, which our buyer Jason annually puts together. Barry, like Steven Wright, teaches at UW-Madison, and was originally scheduled for an in-person event. Like Wright, it took me a while to reschedule. But I'm so glad I did. Talk about a pivot. Barry's first novel, She Weeps Each Time You're Born, is a beautiful and poetic book that I would recommend to readers of Ocean Vuang's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and I know there are a lot of you. Our event with Barry was similarly serious and beautiful.
But We Ride Upon Sticks is such a different novel, and I was wondering how different the event would be. Our original marketing still didn't include an author photo, so we substituted a design of cross-hatched hockey and broom stick. But when we reproposed the event as something virtual, Barry allowed us to tape the event, and I'm so grateful - it continues to be one of my favorites. Unlike many of our spring and summer releases, Barry actually had a little bit of a tour before the March shutdowns, including a visit to Danvers, Massachusetts, where the book takes place.
Milwaukee-based Clarke, creator of the healthy cooking blog Well Plated by Erin, presents her brand new cookbook, in which she creates comfort classics with a lighter spin using fast, budget-friendly, creative recipes, with a special virtual cooking demo and conversation! A cooking demo will be followed by Andi Sciacca. Register for this Zoom event by clicking right here, and purchase your copy of The Well Plated Cookbook for 20% off list price from Boswell Book Company today!
Known for her incredibly approachable, slimmed-down, and outrageously delicious recipes, Clarke’s blog has been a smash hit in the healthy-eating blogosphere, and with good reason: she never includes an ingredient you can’t find in a regular supermarket, and she hacks her recipes for maximum nutrition by using the “stealthy healthy” ingredient swaps she’s mastered so that you don’t lose an ounce of flavor.
In this essential cookbook for everyday cooking, Clarke shares more than 130 brand-new rapid-fire recipes, along with secrets to lightening up classic comfort favorites inspired by her midwestern roots, and clever recipe hacks that will enable you to put a healthy meal on the table any night of the week. As Clarke often hears from her readers, “My family doesn’t like healthy food, but they LOVED this!” Now she’s visiting with her homey guide to a healthier kitchen.
Erin Clarke will be returning to sign and even personalize books later this week. If you would like a personalization, ask us on your phone order, or put a note in comments on your web order.
Tuesday, September 1, 7:00 pm
Margot Livesey, author of The Boy in the Field
in conversation with Liam Callanan for a virtual event
Livesey, author of Mercury, The House on Fortune Street, and The Flight of Gemma Hardy chats about her a poignant and probing psychological drama that follows the lives of three siblings in the wake of a violent crime. Livesey will be in conversation with Callanan, author of Paris by the Book. This virtual event will be broadcast via Zoom, and registration is required – so click this link to register today! Purchase your copy of The Boy in the Field for 20% off list price from Boswell.
Livesey's latest novel has earned starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist, and Jenny Rosenstarch in The New York Times Book Review proclaimed The Boy in The Field "exquisite." She continues: "Livesey’s writing is quiet, observant and beautifully efficient — there’s not an extra word or scene in the entire book - and yet simultaneously so cinematic, you can hear the orchestral soundtrack as you tear through the pages."
One September afternoon in 1999, three teenagers are walking home from school when they discover a boy lying in a field, bloody and unconscious. Thanks to their intervention, the boy’s life is saved. In the aftermath, all three siblings are irrevocably changed. Written with the deceptive simplicity and power of a fable, The Boy in the Field showcases Margot Livesey’s unmatched ability to, as Lily King, author of Euphoria, says “tell her tale masterfully, with intelligence, tenderness, and a shrewd understanding of all our mercurial human impulses.”
Wednesday, September 2, 7:00 pm
Mary Gordon, author of Payback
in conversation with Mary Beth Keane for a virtual event
Boswell hosts Mary Gordon, Professor of English at Barnard College, author of novels like There Your Heart Lies and Final Payments, as well as several memoirs, for a conversation with with Mary Beth Keane, author of the New York Times bestseller Ask Again, Yes. They'll chat about Gordon's brand new novel, a story of #MeToo misunderstanding and the lifelong reckoning between two women. Click right here for the registration link for this Zoom event, and purchase your copy of Payback from Boswell Book Company for 20% off list price.
Gordon's new novel has already earned praise and starred reviews from Booklist and Publisher's Weekly, who said, "Excellent… Contrasts the 1970s world of upper-class women’s education with the #MeToo era… Gordon nails period details and vividly describes her characters’ worlds, whether they are restoring a work of art or raising a daughter. This mesmerizing novel hits hard."
Unbeknownst to her many fans, Quin, the revenge-loving queen of the reality-TV show PAYBACK, was once an angry teen named Heidi. Her true story may be known only to Agnes, who was her art teacher at a private New England girls’ school in the 1970s. Then a young woman herself, Agnes saw a spark of originality in the brooding Heidi. But when she suggests Heidi visit the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the girl returns with a disastrous account of having been picked up at the museum by an older man. Agnes’s stunned response will haunt both women for decades.
Mary Gordon is author of nine novels, including Pearl and The Love of My Youth, six works of nonfiction, including the memoirs The Shadow Man and Circling My Mother, and three collections of short fiction, including The Stories of Mary Gordon, which was awarded the Story Prize. She teaches at Barnard College. Mary Beth Keane is also the author of The Walking People and Fever, was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, and has received citations from the National Book Foundation, PEN America, and the Hemingway Society.
Boswell hosts a virtual event with author Buff, Professor of History and Comparative Ethnic Studies at UWM, and translator Oliva, Communications Coordinator at the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago. They will offer an introduction to their their clear and concise new A-to-Z glossary of keywords and ideas for people on the move that echos our current human rights crisis. Register for this Zoom broadcast by clicking this link right here. And purchase your copy of A is for Asylum Seeker: Words for People on the Move / A de Asilo: Palabras Para Personas En Movimiento from Boswell Book Company for 10% off list price now.
As millions are forced to leave their nations of origin as a result of political, economic, and environmental peril, rising racism and xenophobia have led to increasingly harsh policies. A mass-mediated political circus obscures both histories of migration and longstanding definitions of words for people on the move, fomenting widespread linguistic confusion. Under this circus tent, there is no regard for history, legal advocacy, or jurisprudence. Yet in a world where the differences between "undocumented migrant" and "asylum seeker" can mean life or death, words have weighty consequences.
A timely antidote to this circus, A is for Asylum Seeker reframes key words that describe people on the move and shape our understanding. Rendered in both English and Spanish, this book offers a unique perspective on the journeys, histories, challenges, and aspirations of people on the move. Note that Rachel Buff has signed our initial copies of A Is for Asylum Seeker. Personalizations not available at this time, but if you are patient, you can request this.
Milwaukee area author and speaker Hyler, author of The Stupendous Adventures of Mighty Marty Hayes, joins us for a virtual kids event, in which she’ll read and chat about her brand new book, which is about helping children navigate our world as we live through the once-in-a-century event that is the COVID-19 pandemic. Register for this virtual event with this link today! And don't forget to purchase your copy of Our Bodies Stay Home, Our Imaginations Run Free from Boswell Book Company with the link above.
Hyler helps children navigate their scary new world due to the coronavirus. Seven-year-old Maya is struggling with her feelings as she misses her classmates and teacher, her friends, her grandparents, and visits to her favorite places. And even worse, her 8th birthday is coming up during quarantine. How can she possibly have a party? With her family's help, Maya understands she needs to do her part to help her family and community. Practicing proper handwashing, wearing a mask, and social distancing are needed. She finds joy in making masks, watching nature, and creative play from afar. Maya is amazed when she has the best 8th birthday party ever.
Lora Hyler is founder of Hyler Communications, and for many years was a radio news reporter for WUWM and WISN in Milwaukee. Hyler is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Lora Hyler will sign and personalize your book - just ask by phone or request in coomments section of our event order page.
More event info here.
Boswell Bestsellers for the week ending August 29, 2020
Hardcover Fiction:
1. Lakewood, by Megan Giddings
2. Squeeze Me, by Carl Hiaasen
3. Summer, by Ali Smith
4. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
5. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
6. The Last Great Road Bum, by Héctor Tobar
7. The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett
8. You Have Arrived at Your Destination, by Amor Towles (Independent Bookstore Day exclusive - still a few left)
9. Grown Ups, by Emma Jane Unsworth
10. The Boy in the Field, by Margot Livesey (register for September 1 event here with Liam Callanan)
Wow, look at the new titles on this week's list - fall is here! Héctor Tobar's The Last Great Road Bum is the fictionalized story of Joe Sanderson, a young Illinois man who traveling the world looking for inspiration, wound up fighting with the guerrillas in El Salvador. From the Booklist starred review: "His life itself has inspired what is inarguably a great novel, a tribute to him that is beautifully written and spectacularly imagined."
Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. The Well Plated Cookbook, by Erin Clarke (register for August 31 event here)
2. Vesper Flights, by Helen Macdonald (tickets for September 17 event here)
3. Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson
4. Our History Is the Future, by Nick Estes
5. How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi
6. His Truth Is Marching On, by Jon Meacham
7. Five Minute Selling, by Alex Goldfayn
8. Untamed, by Glennon Doyle
9. Evil Geniuses, by Kurt Anderson
10. The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson
This week's sales for Vesper Flights were about 2/3 ticket-with-book and 1/3 book only. Just under half the ticket goes the raptor program at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center. The New York Times Sunday Book Review is the outlier on reviews for this book of essays, as it's mixed. All the others are raves, but sadly, I have noticed that NYTBR can sometimes carry more weight than two-to-three others put together. The daily New York Times review from Parul Sehgal is far more enthusiastic: "[Macdonald's] work is an antidote to so much romantic, reductive writing about the natural world as pristine, secret, uninhabited—as a convenient blank canvas for the hero’s journey of self-discovery."
Paperback Fiction:
1. The Parable of the Sower V1, by Octavia Butler
2. The Parable of the Talents V2, by Octavia Butler
3. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
4. The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton
5. Poems of Resistance, Poems of Hope, by Joy Harjo and others (another IBD exclusive - we're not sold out yet)
6. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
7. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
8. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
9. Normal People, by Sally Rooney
10. A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry.
The Jaws theme follows the Scribner edition of The Great Gatsby as the book moves into public domain in the United States in January 2021. It's been many years since we saw rights lapse on a book that still sold in these numbers. I remember Knopf positioning The Prophet for competition, but the Disney reprieve had them cancel the paperback. 25 years later, a lot fewer people were reading Kahil Gibran. Coming soon are multiple graphic novels, a Norton critical edition, classics versions with new intros from Vintage and HarperCollins, a mass market from Scribner, and a Dover thrift edition priced at $8. Dover has also got a Great Gatsby paper doll book. I won't be satisfied until we've got Gatsby Mad Libs.
Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook, by Matthew McKay (not selling off our impulse table)
2. Born Survivors, by Wendy Holden (info about the HERC event on September 10 here)
3. The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
4. Cultivating Genius, by Gholdy Muhammad
5. Policing the Planet, Jordan Camp and Christina Heatherington
6. My Journey from Boxing Ring to the Boardroom, by Héctor Colón
7. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
8. Unselfie, by Michele Borba
9. Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson
10. White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo
Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns continues to sell in conjunction with her new book Caste. A Netflix series based on the book is still in development by Shonda Rimes. It is being adapted by Anna Deveare Smith.
Books for Kids:
1. The Assignment, by Liza Wiemer
2. Stamped, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
3. Dragonwings, by Laurence Yep
4. Darius the Great Deserves Better, by Adib Khorram
5. Kamala and Maya's Big Idea, by Meena Harris
6. Our Bodies Stay Home, Our Imaginations Run Free, by Lora Hyler (register for September 5 event here)
7. Rite of Passage, by Richard Wright
8. Rescuing Mrs. Birdley, by Aaron Reynolds, with illustrations by Emma Reynolds (no relation)
9. Midnight Sun, by Stephenie Meyer
10. Everywhere Babies, by Susan Meyers
We've started doing virtual story times, but we're not sure Saturday morning is the right slot if it's not in the store. Aaron Reynolds guested on Saturday for Resucing Mrs. Birdley (bookplates to come - ask for one) and also talked about his forthcoming chapter book, Fart Quest. All the advance reviews were good, and I like the book because it reminds me of when I was in fourth grade and our teacher had to ask us not to follow her home. We really liked her!
The Journal Sentinel has a review of Tea Krulos's American Madness, which it calls "both a biography of (Richard) McCaslin and a disturbing tour of the power of conspiracy-mongering, from the JFK assassination to QAnon and the prevalence of crisis actor theories." He notes that there's a through line from McCaslin's thinking to the QAnon movement.
Here's what's going on this week virtually at Boswell.
Tuesday, August 25, 7:00 pm
Liza Wiemer, author ofThe Assignment
In Conversation with Boswell's Jenny Chou for a Virtual Event
Milwaukee author Wiemer chats about her brand new YA novel, inspired by a real-life incident, which explores discrimination and antisemitism and reveals their dangerous impact.This event will be broadcast via Zoom, and registration is required. Register right here for this event! And purchase your copy of The Assignment from Boswell for 20% off list price. This event is cosponsored by the Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
When an assignment given by a favorite teacher instructs a group of high school seniors to argue for the Final Solution, a euphemism used to describe the Nazi plan for the genocide of the Jewish people, Logan and Cade are horrified. Their teacher cannot seriously expect anyone to complete an assignment that fuels intolerance and discrimination. Logan and Cade decide they must take a stand. As the school administration addressed the teens’ refusal to participate in the appalling debate, the student body, their parents, and the larger community are forced to face the issue as well. The situation explodes, and acrimony and anger result. What does it take for intolerance, justice, and love to prevail?
The backstory - This is one of those events that's even more exciting because we've been talking to the author about this book for a long time. We watched her write it at the coffee shop. We celebrated when it was acquired by Delacorte. And now the day has come.
Wednesday, August 26, 7:00 pm
Peter Geye, author of Northernmost
in Conversation with Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin for A Virtual Event
Boswell Book Company and Books & Company of Oconomowoc welcome Minnesotan Peter Geye for a virtual Readings from Oconomowaukee chat about his latest, a thrilling ode to the spirit of adventure in which one man’s terrifying story of survival in an Arctic wasteland reverberates profoundly in the life of his distant descendant. He’ll be in conversation with proprietors Goldin of Boswell and Baudoin of Books & Co. Click this sentence to register for this Zoom event today! And purchase your copy of Northernmost for 20% off list price from Boswell Book Company here, or from Books & Company here.
Peter Geye is author of the novels Safe from the Sea, The Lighthouse Road, and Wintering. His latest braids together two remarkable stories of love and survival. In 1897, Odd Einar Eide returns home from a near-death experience in the Arctic only to discover his own funeral underway. More than a century later, Greta Nansen has begun to admit that her marriage is over. Desperately unhappy and unfulfilled, she makes the decision to follow her husband from their home in Minnesota to Oslo, but on impulse, she diverts her travels to Hammerfest: the town of her ancestors, the town where her great-great-grandmother was born and for some reason never returned.
The backstory: Lisa and I are hosting a monthly series called Readings from Oconomwaukee and for at least the first two events, our criteria were authors who were trying to book both stores in this market, and books that we thought we could both read and talk about. Geye, though truly a Minnesotan in all sense of the word, has Wisconsin connections such that we've hosted him for just abut every book. I finished it over the weekend - we're ready!
Thursday, August 27, 5:30 pm
Megan Giddings, author of Lakewood
in conversation with Taylore McBride and Markesha Hilliard for a virtual Event
UWM ACCESS presents a virtual conversation with author Megan Giddings, Features Editor at The Rumpus, who'll chat with Milwaukee educators Taylore McBride and Markesha Hilliard about Lakewood, Giddings's startling debut novel about class and race that evokes a terrifying world of medical experimentation. It's one part Handmaid’s Tale, one part The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.Register for this event by clicking this link now! And purchase your copy of Lakewood from Boswell Book Company today for 20% off list price!
When Lena Johnson’s beloved grandmother dies, and the full extent of the family debt is revealed, the black millennial drops out of college to support her family and takes a job in the mysterious and remote town of Lakewood, Michigan. On paper, her new job is too good to be true. All Lena has to do is lie to her friends and family about the research being done. As the truths of the program reveal themselves, Lena learns how much she’s willing to sacrifice for the sake of her family. Provocative and thrilling, Lakewood is a breathtaking novel that takes an unflinching look at the moral dilemmas many working-class families face, and the horror that has been forced on black bodies in the name of science.
The backstory - if you watch our schedule carefully, you'll note that this is officially our second event with Giddings, following an April virtual event in conversation with Dasha Kelly that we cosponsored. But there was something about this book that stuck with me, notably, that I thought it would resonate with both teens and educators. So when we started working with UWM ACCESS, I made the pitch, and yes, we're hearing back that lots of high school students are loving the book, as is our friend Kristina who is a programming librarian at Milwaukee Public Library. So excited to be working with Mareksha Hilliard and Taylore McBride. We're doing a test tonight if Zoom comes back online.
In conversation with Sharon Hudy for A Virtual Event
Colón, CEO and President of Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, shares his compelling story and an actionable and powerful approach to living and leading. He'll be in conversation with Sharon Hudy, LSSWI Director of Donor Relations and Communications. Register right here for this Zoom event. And purchase your copy of My Journey from Boxing Ring to Boardroom from Boswell Book Company today.
Héctor Colón chronicles his life, from a challenging childhood through his international boxing success to his current position as CEO of one of the Midwest’s largest nonprofit organizations. Far more than just a business memoir, Héctor’s book offers an actionable and powerful approach to living and leading. Entrepreneurs, leaders young and old, and anyone looking for hope in an ever-changing and challenging world will find inspiration in Colón's story. A true servant leader, Héctor shares the lessons and virtues he learned from his boxing career, his business career and his strong connection with God.
The backstory - Kira Henschel's HenschelHAUS works with a lot of locals who have platforms in the community. As the President and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, Mr. Colón certainly has that. And you might also recall we have worked with LSS on two previous events.
Join Boswell for an evening with Adib Khorram, who’ll chat about his new companion novel to the award-winning (William C. Morris Debut Award and the Asian/Pacific Book Award for Young Adult Literature) Darius the Great Is Not Okay. Khorram For this special event, Khorram is in conversation with Nic Stone, author of the New York Times bestseller Dear Martin. Spelman College Alum Stone was Morris Award finalist. Odd One Out was named an NPR Best Book of the Year.
This event will be broadcast via Zoom, and registration is required via Eventbrite. Click here to register right now! You can register for free, or select one of the book-purchase-with-registration options which come with an exclusive set of signed character cards - sidewalk pickup or media mail shipping. Please note, you must purchase a copy of the book through this Eventbrite page to receive the signed cards.
Darius now has it all: a boyfriend, an internship, a spot on the soccer team. It’s everything he’s ever wanted - but what if he deserves better? Since his trip to Iran, a lot has changed. Darius was just starting to feel okay, like he finally knew what it meant to be Darius Kellner. But maybe okay isn't good enough. Maybe Darius deserves better.
Boswellian Jenny Chou, a big fan of Khorram’s first novel, says, “I love the detailed and laugh-out-loud observations Darius makes of the world around him. And Khorram’s writing wields such a powerful impact that reading his work is both a joy and a journey back through the emotionally draining days of high school. Another shining star of a book.” And Kirkus’s starred review says, “This coming-of-age masterpiece packs a multitude of truth and heart.”
Saturday, August 29, 11:00 am
Aaron Reynolds, author of Rescuing Mrs. Birdley
A virtual storytime
Enjoy a virtual storytime with Aaron Reynolds, author of the Caldecott Honor book Creepy Carrots and Nerdy Birdy as he reads and chats about latest picture book, illustrated by Emma Reynolds. Reynolds will read his new story, talk a bit about the book, and take questions from the audience. Broadcast via Zoom, click here to register to view this event. And get your copy of Rescuing Mrs. Birdley for 20% off list price now! Please note the storytime part of the event will likely not be recorded for future viewing, so you'll want to be there live to catch the full event!
In this story, Miranda Montgomery, an animal lover who has learned from television the importance of returning creatures to their native habitat, spots her teacher in a grocery store and attempts to return her to the classroom through a series of Looney Toons-esque plans. This delightfully over-the-top picture book explores the weirdness of seeing a teacher outside of school and will have young readers laughing out loud every time they read. Reynolds's newest as a starred School Library Journal.
The backstory - We're trying to build a virtual storytime series. This is our second and I'm thrilled - Aaron Reynolds is a bigger-than-life personality whose energy will translate well to Zoom.
Milwaukee-based Clarke, creator of the healthy cooking blog Well Plated by Erin, presents her brand new cookbook, in which she creates comfort classics with a lighter spin using fast, budget-friendly, creative recipes, with a special virtual cooking demo and conversation! Register for this Zoom event by clicking right here, and purchase your copy of The Well Plated Cookbook for 20% off list price from Boswell Book Company today!
Known for her incredibly approachable, slimmed-down, and outrageously delicious recipes, Clarke’s blog has been a smash hit in the healthy-eating blogosphere, and with good reason: she never includes an ingredient you can’t find in a regular supermarket, and she hacks her recipes for maximum nutrition by using the “stealthy healthy” ingredient swaps she’s mastered so that you don’t lose an ounce of flavor.
The backstory - We've had amazing response to Clarke's event. Folks have been emailing us all over the country to get copies signed, often requesting personalization, which you, at least for now, can't get anywhere else. And yes, Clarke is coming back to sign and personalize books after the August 31, too. I brought a copy of Well Plated Cookbook home to try out some recipes.
Boswell bestsellers for the week ending August 22, 2020
Hardcover Fiction:
1. Everywhere You Don't Belong, by Gabriel Bump
2. The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett
3. The Second Home, by Christina Clancy
4. Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell
5. American Dirt, by Jeanine Cummins
6. Northernmost, by Peter Geye (register for August 26 event here)
7. Grown Ups, by Emma Jane Unsworth (not too late - register for August 23 1 pm CDT event here)
8. Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno Garcia
9. Home Before Dark, by Riley Sager
10. Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey, by Kathleen Rooney
RegardingCher Ami and Major Whittlesey, I haven't seen too many hardcover library editions from Penguin Random House the way we regularly see this option at HarperCollins, but we did find that for the event at least, we saw a decent amount of trade up to this edition. My guess is had we had an in-store event with a signing, we would have seen more. Also note that signed bookplates are finally coming. Ask for one.
It released on June 30, but this is the debut in our top 10 for Riley Sager's Home Before Dark, which per Brenna Erlich in Rolling Stone, is "A cross between Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places and ghost hunter heir Alexandra Holzer’s autobiography - Sager’s latest is a haunted house story - with a twist. . . . Sager is a master of the twist and the turn, and he does not hold back in his fourth book. Like any good thriller, you have to read to the very last page to find how who did what to whom and why.” Riley Sager is a pseudonym. A Wall Street Journal piece looks at why Todd Ritter used a name that might be perceived to be that of a woman for the psychological suspense genre, though I should note that this might be officially classified as horror. I should also note that the RS piece was a roundup, so you can't actually judge this as a review.
Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson
2. How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi
3. Reaganland, by Rick Perlstein (info about NO Studios event here on September 22, 4 pm - a promise you a continuous assortment of great conversations that day)
4. Me and White Supremacy, by Layla F. Saad
5. The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson
6. Evil Geniuses, by Kurt Anderson
7. Untamed, by Glennon Doyle
8. Too Much and Never Enough, by Mary Trump
9. Big Friendship, by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman
10. Becoming, by Michelle Obama
Could it be that our big pop in book sales from the DNC would be from Michelle Obama's Becoming over Kamala Harris' The Truths We Hold? Obama beat out Harris this week, at least.
We've got a link to the NO Studios event for Rick Perlstein and his just-released (August 18) Reaganland: America's Right Turn, 1976-1980. Publishers Weekly offered this starred review: "Perlstein masterfully connects deep currents of social change and ideology to prosaic politics, which he conveys in elegant prose studded with vivid character sketches and colorful electoral set-pieces....The result is an insightful and entertaining analysis of a watershed era in American politics."
Paperback Fiction:
1. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
2. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
3. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez
4. A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry
5. How Long Til Black Future Month, by N.K. Jemisin
6. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
7. The Guest Book, by Sarah Blake
8. Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey, by Kathleen Rooney
9. The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga
10. I Was Told It Would Get Easier, by Abbi Waxman
Our in May in paperback but new to our list is Sarah Blake's The Guest Book, which Elisabeth Egan in The New York Times described as "Thought-provoking and propulsive…Welcome to old money, new heartbreak, big secrets, and the kind of mouthwatering picnics nobody packs in real life (boiled eggs, tin of sandwiches, bottles of gin). But the North Star of Sarah Blake’s The Guest Book isn’t the Milton family - although they are fascinating, even the ghosts - it’s the Maine island cottage where they spend their summer." Once again, this is a roundup. I'm not sure what the journalist rule is on whether someone has to read all the books in a roundup or not. If you were a bookseller, you wouldn't have to.
Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Unselfie, by Michelle Borba
2. Winning the Green New Deal, by Guido Girgenti
3. I Knew Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
4. Teaching for Black Lives, by Dyan Watson
5. Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
6. White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo
7. For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood, by Christopher Emdin
8. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Malcolm X
9. What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker, by Damon Young
10. Stamped from the Beginning, by Ibram X. Kendi
What an interesting sales trajectory for Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants! Robin Wall Kimmerer's book has douobled in sales this year over last without a significant quantity order. It's actually increased in sales for us every year since its paperback release in 2014. No wonder Milkweed is doing an updated hardcover special edition on October 13, "bound in stamped linen cloth with a bookmark ribbon and a deckled edge" and with "five brilliantly colored illustrations by artist Nate Christopherson."
Books for Kids:
1. The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
2. Stamped, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
3. Black Boy, White School, by Brian F. Walker
4. Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds
5. Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson
6. Dark Sons, by Nikki Grimes
7. Sunny the Bunny Goes to Camp, by Jace Higgins
8. All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
9. Midnight Sun, by Stephenie Meyer
10. You Matter, by Christian Robinson
Our educators are finding gems on the backlist for school libraries and classrooms. Black Boy, White School is Brian Walker's YA novel about Anthony "Ant" Jones a kid who moves from his East Cleveland public school to an elite Maine prep school, and we should note that the author went from his East Cleveland neighborhood to an East-coast prep school, and wound up teaching at Massachusetts's Weston Academy for 17 years.
No local reviews in the Journal Sentinel book section (two USA Today reprints), but you can always find a roundup of recent pieces.
