What if children choose the families into which they are born? This children’s picture book, Annabelle: A Child on the Way, ponders that possibility. Annabelle is a girl-spirit who wishes to be reborn. She calls on her spiritual guide,... Read More

In this charming book, Benny the Bird leads the way through the neighborhood of the emotions and a variety of characters who portray them in singsong rhyme. The hovering Bird points out each character and lets young readers know that... Read More

“At dawn, sunshine fingers slip through my window and tickle my face.” So begins the day of a young Chinese girl who visits her aunt in Shanghai. The little girl is not named, but the author’s notes explain that her family is from... Read More

Arching elms line a plantation road; a gentleman farmer offers cigars and pours brandy; a lady in rich velvet nods at the Yankee officer sent to protect them. These romantic images fill Robert Grede’s debut novel. Yet this story also... Read More

A Marlboro man, living in a world of bulldozers and concrete mixers, has switched his brand of cigarettes to American Spirit. They have fewer chemicals, taste better, and last longer; they also indicate the leanings of a modern cowboy,... Read More

“[L]onliness selects the sensitive people.” All of the Sonia Sanchez plays collected in this volume reflect this feeling of being lost, lonely, shouting in alter-nate bursts of anger, despair, and a type of maniacal, make-believe... Read More

“Her heart beat through her skin and the skin jumped, the hard bone of a child’s elbow or knee in its womb.” Michelle Hoover documents the difficult lives of two farmwomen who raise crops and families and even assist each other in... Read More

While the idea of imperial domination, as opposed to democracy, is not one with which many Americans are comfortable, the US, in fact, has always been an empire. That is, it has always proceeded toward expansion as an empire for liberty.... Read More