Fiona Alison Duncan’s "Exquisite Mariposa" is a funny, thought-provoking novel that levels pointed critiques at gender and class inequality and captures what it’s like to be a young person today. The novel’s narrator—a woman in... Read More

When hundreds of hamsters go missing, only a penguin, a ninja spider, a pigeon, two kids, and an elderly woman can interpret the clues left behind in a sleepy mountain town and crack the case. Alex T. Smith’s "Mr. Penguin and the... Read More

"Tree of Life" is a dynamic retrospective of Tim Biskup’s paintings, sculptures, and artistic philosophy. His art career balanced chaos with strategy before it veered from showing at galleries to working and interacting with people... Read More

Born in 1859 into wealth and political power—his father was a Supreme Court justice; he served in Congress—George Shiras III’s long life spanned the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, and the New Deal. James H. McCommons’s engaging... Read More

A dark and comic family drama, Ronit Matalon’s "And the Bride Closed the Door" takes place in Tel Aviv and begins with Margie making a big announcement through her bedroom door: “Not getting married.” The ensuing action takes a few... Read More

The accumulation of the small daily events and exchanges that make up a life are the focus of Glynnis Fawkes’s Persephone’s Garden, a collection of comics written from 2012 to 2018, some previously published in magazines, journals,... Read More

“The sky above us holds limitless wonder,” astrophysicist and television producer Sarah Barker declares. Technology may have made it easier to spot and understand heavenly bodies, but it will never explain away their magic. Barker... Read More

Bursting with enthusiasm at the first signs of spring, Miyuki ignores her grandfather’s reminders to be patient and wanders far from home in search of the purest water to entice a promising bud to blossom. The book’s springtime... Read More