This heart-wrenching World War II memoir reveals how Natālija Petrockis, a Latvian living under German occupation, fled with her family when, in the summer of 1944, the Russian Red Army reached the borders of their beloved city, Rīga. The sisters Natalija, Musīte and Vera planned their flight to ensure that their father did not again fall into Russian hands; an earlier imprisonment had almost resulted in his death. On Musīte’s instructions, Natālija–though the youngest–takes charge and, together with their parents and children, Natāljia and Vera board a train to Liepāja. Musīte and her husband Kārlis stay behind, promising to join them a day later. None of them realise that the parting is final. The train is diverted by the German troops and later bombed, and thus begins the travails of the family as they flee the Russians in hopes of reaching the American front and rescue.

Written in Latvian and translated by her daughter, Valda, the most striking quality of the memoir is the author’s eye for detail. In immersive, suspenseful scenes, she remembers not just physical characteristics like her surroundings or particulars of a journey, but also powerfully evokes the expressions on faces and her own in-the-moment thoughts and fears: “We watched the bombs fall to the ground like glowing candles, followed by bursts of loud explosions, and sending splashes of light into the vastness of the sky.” Her love for her family in the face of constant hunger and fear is stirring. Even when circumstances are dire, she feels thankful that they are at least together.

By reliving her terrible journey, Natālija demonstrates the incredible resilience of the human spirit in the face of hardship. Like other World War II and refugee memoirs, this will leave the reader shaken, convinced about the futility of war and the untold suffering it causes, most often to people who have no hand in its outbreak.

Takeaway: This World War II refugee memoir demonstrates the indomitable human spirit and the meaninglessness of war.

Great for fans of: Nella Last’s Nella Last’s War, Madeleine K. Albright’s Prague Winter, Eleanor Perényi’s More Was Lost.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: B

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Nazi-stomping spy Conor Thorn returns in Dyer’s The Unquiet Genius, the third book in the series, in another World War II mission. Accompanied by his lover Emily Bright, a cunning MI6 agent, and priest Sean Sullivan, Thorn must stop Hitler and company from securing the atomic weapon that could win the war for the Reich. Filled with gunfights, clandestine operations, and shocking family secrets coming to surface, The Unquiet Genius finds Thorn on the Western front in Italy, on a desperate race to locate a supposedly dead scientist.

Dyer excels at capturing this thriller’s pastoral backdrop, with farmers riding their livestock on the rural roads, cafes filled with colorful townspeople and enticing food, and a monastery housing secrets behind its ancient walls and between its men of God. Whether the action takes place out in the open or in a poorly lit backroom, readers will feel the tension as Conor and company try to locate the missing physicist before the Nazis do, even when, in the cloisters, intriguing conversations arise about humanity’s capacity to wield godlike power in the form of atomic weapons… and whether or not we have a right to such power.

From beginning to end the story enthralls with its crisp action, high stakes, and clever twists and turns. Dyer’s like a puppeteer pulling the strings of readers’ imaginations. The cast offers a welcome range of personalities, and each gets their fifteen minutes of fame. While some action/espionage tales fall short on their character development, Dyer does a fantastic job at keeping his spies, monks, and heroes well rounded without becoming Mary Sues. (Committed to getting the job done, Conor’s not above punching an assailant in the groin.) His people are sometimes flawed but not without their redeeming qualities, and they always rise compellingly to the challenge in whatever history-shaking danger they face.

Takeaway: This rip-roaring, Nazi-punching World War II thriller will keep spy fans on the edge of their seats.

Great for fans of: Alan Furst’s Under Occupation, Greg Iles’s Black Cross.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about The Unquiet Genius

From its title, readers might expect that this scruffy yet idealistic caper, Harrington’s debut, comes with the whiff of marijuana smoke. The politics and promise of weed are crucial to the story, of course, but you don’t have to know the differences between indica and sativa to appreciate the hook: After surviving a bomb scare, a public-spirited Massachusetts senator, driven by insights into leadership and problem solving he gleaned as a child from a diabetic neighbor, commits to getting out in front of the inevitable federal legalization of marijuana—and ensuring that the revenue weed generates gets targeted toward the country’s most pressing problems “before the graft and greed and all that other manipulation gets rolling.”

Good governance is the enemy of crime, though, so soon the senator’s team becomes the target of the same shadowy villain who planted the mysterious package at Senator Peter McGillicuddy’s Boston door. A chatty, upbeat espionage adventure follows, featuring a kidnapping, a likable field team, a genius computer engineer, and a heavy with a classically gargantuan bad guy lair, where weed is cultivated and the workers can be commanded to make out with each other. The feeling is loose, sometimes comic, with plot momentum sacrificed to loquacious characters–much of the story’s action, context, and laughs comes through dialogue (“He just threw a bottle down on the ground at the foot of that little sapling near the bus stop!” one cop says to another in the same car). That blunts the suspense but creates a hangout vibe, even in the sections in which a rookie cop faces corruption on his first day on the force.

The idealistic streak sets Reefenue apart, as Harrington envisions some political actors who truly strive to better our world and cut-and-dried villains trying to thwart them. Readers expecting a nuanced look at efforts to stymie corruption in the new world of legal weed won’t find that here, but this thriller’s big heart is refreshing.

Takeaway: This upbeat thriller about the politics of weed legalization dares to be idealistic.

Great for fans of: George V. Higgins, Christopher Buckley.

Production grades
Cover: B-
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B
Marketing copy: B

Click here for more about Reefenue

In this philosophical, nature-minded collection of free verse, poet Thompson (Whale Fall & Black Sage) opens up about her experiences channeling a wide range of beings whose voices she has discovered in meditation. Inviting readers to think of the work as “translations or as a created artifact or as pure fantasy,” she shares her renditions of conversations with and revelations from dolphins, bears, water, birds, faeries, and other, hazier sources (she calls some “vast non-embodied fields of intelligence”) that, together, build an image of the world as interconnected and peaceful. These voices encourage Thompson to write, remind her to find joy in the world around her, and push her to reconsider her sense of her self as isolated (“you still think as humans do, and this is by distinction of one thing from another”) and her body as secondary: “[m]ake your body the mistress of the household for a while and see how different you will feel.”

The poetry’s exuberance is a nice balance to its weighty themes. Thompson blends classical New Age ideals—“inside is just as real an experience as life around you”—as well as more contemporary understandings of interconnection and mindfulness: “Love ... is more a state of full awareness.” Sometimes the notions can be a bit puzzling, like Thompson’s channeling of Gaia, who views current environmental devastation as “just the playing out of choices” but has “no preference” for what happens, but the work can be viewed as prophetic statements that bear fruit from the process of trying to understand them.

Thompson’s channeled voices emit unique personalities. A laconic horse concludes a brief poem with “That’s all I have to say,” while the dolphins are more frenetic (“You make whoop-poems! Hahahahaha!”), and the dragons enigmatic beings of power who declare “[b]ut know that vastness is vastness is vastness! We are not bigger than you!” Readers open to paranormal insights will enjoy Thompson’s idiosyncratic, unconventional poems and her mind-bending exploration of what the world could look like with some creative reorienting.

Takeaway: This joyful collection of free verse poses challenging alternative views of nature and humanity in a compact, unique style.

Great for fans of: Sanaya Roman, Isabel Martin-Ventura; Matt Buonocore’s Lost In Wonder.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: B+

Click here for more about Quickwater Oracles: Conversations & Meditations

Alive with themes of rebirth and transformation, Gibson’s elegiac picture book offers a fresh, moving take on the season cycle. A young girl, Autumn, wakes up on a forest floor, the golden-leafed woods around her in sync with her name. Ellie, a chatty squirrel, fills Autumn in: She’s now a Guardian of one of the four forests, charged with taking care of it and its inhabitants. Ellie warns her not to wander to the forest’s edge, where some kind of evil lurks. Soon, though, after reveling in the beauty of fall and befriending a host of woodland creatures, Ellie gets lost and finds herself passing through the other three forests and meeting their guardians, diverse young women named Summer, Spring, and Winter.

The other forests vary from Autumn’s, of course, with Spring’s teeming with flowers and Winter’s laid over with snow. But the Guardians share a common trait: each grieves and fears the changes coming to her forest as time passes and the season she’s named for ends. Autumn senses that each Guardian is experiencing a cycle rather than an ending. “Your flowers are not dying!” she tells Spring. “They are being reborn!” Still, Autumn fears “the Rot” that has started to overtake her patch of woods, but the lesson about cycles of rebirth is made explicit in a dream by a wise woman of the forest: “These ‘Rots’ have a role: to clear the way for change.”

Autumn and the Forest Guardians invites young readers to perceive of seasonal change through a memorable, intuitive metaphorical framework that celebrates continual transformation. Nisa Tomak’s engaging illustrations capture the annual transformation of a forest, with detail worth poring over, colors that evoke each season’s feeling, and an emphasis on the smallness of humans in the face of nature. Gibson’s prose at times gets a touch wordy, with some text pages as dense as the illustrations are spare, but overall the book is a wise, rousing treat for budding nature lovers.

Takeaway: This inviting picture book offers young readers a wise new way to think about seasonal change.

Great for fans of: Kenard Pak’s Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn, Patricia MacLachlan’s My Friend Earth.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: B+
Illustrations: A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A

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Marx, the producer, director, and writer best known for the epochal 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams, offers this searching yet practical guidebook to living a more meaningful life, with an emphasis on two causes to which he has dedicated much of his life, teen initiation and “Mature Masculinity.” A teen initiation, in the parlance of the African Rites of Passage movement--which gets a thumbnail history in the book—is a transformative, ritualistic experience “that accesses and re-empowers the wisdom of Elders and unleashes and empowers the capacities of youth” while bringing teens “into the community of adults, to take their seat at the village table, to be honored, accepted and treated as equals.”

Mature Masculinity, meanwhile, flowers from the same idea: Marx notes that millions of boys “are not accomplishing the transition from adolescence to adulthood,” and calls for the initiation of boys into a manhood of integrity, accountability, emotional intelligence, and at harmony and in balance with the feminine. Of course, Marx believes all teens should experience initiations, though he notes (with an apology for indulging in sweeping generalities, “It’s arguably more important for men to have a sense of mission or purpose in life because they’re more dangerous without it.”

Marx brings considerable persuasive power and storyteller’s craft to his calls for initiation and mentorship, clear-eyed action steps for the short and long term, and a welcome willingness to acknowledge his own blind spots and generalizations. He often lets thinkers he’s interviewed make the case, quoting at length from Chike Nwoffiah (“Do we prepare our young people so that as they are moving from one stage to the next, that they understand that for every privilege there is a corresponding responsibility?”), Meredith Little (“we’ve grown up in a context that really doesn’t have community”), and others. The result is a warmly provocative endorsement of the Rites of Passage movement and the idea of guiding all people, young and old, through life’s great transformations.

Takeaway: An impassioned, well-argued call for initiating young people into adulthood through organized “rites of passage.”

Great for fans of: Li'a Petrone’s Rites of Passage for the Young Black Male in America, Maryanne Howland’s Warrior Rising: How Four Men Helped a Boy on His Journey to Manhood.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

Click here for more about Rites to a Good Life

In this lively and moving biography, a vital contribution to the history of LGBTQ life and activism in 20th century America, veteran reporter and broadcaster Steele memorializes the life of Jim Foshee, who first fled Idaho for California at age 15, in 1954 and went on to witness and experience the front lines of the nascent gay liberation movement. Eventually, Foshee (like Steele) would devote himself to researching and preserving gay history. Steele draws generously on interviews with Foshee and his contemporaries to tell the story, touching frankly on an abusive childhood, harassment by law enforcement, the occasional celebrity sighting, the secretive early days of the Mettachine Society, and Foshee’s choice, as a teenager, to be open about his homosexuality—easier in California than in Idaho, but still dangerous.

Foshee’s life fascinates, and his tales crackle on the page. Among the topics covered: hitchhiking; police raids of gay bars; 1967 in Haight-Ashbury; getting sentenced to five years at Huntsville for theft; finding love and happiness in Denver. For all the illuminating history that he and Steele have dug up, much of the book’s pleasure comes from Foshee’s voice: “I told myself, ‘I will not be embarrassed. I’m a grand queen, and I’m performing for all of my appreciative fans,’” Foshee says, recounting how he got through being forced to disrobe in front of other inmates. Despite moments of high drama, including Foshee’s stint on a chain gang, the book’s focus is on the everyday existence of gay Americans—and the development of community, independent media, and eventually a liberation movement.

The book is alive with personal and local stories. One especially welcome element: Steele and Foshee’s commemoration of gay magazines and newspapers, from Los Angeles and Denver and elsewhere, priceless chronicles of their era, from the late ‘50s to the era of AIDS and beyond. Banned From California, named for a nonsensical order a judge issued teenaged Foshee, documents a welcome sea change, over the course of one remarkable life.

Takeaway: This lively biography of a gay activist and historian captures an extraordinary life and a century of change.

Great for fans of: Michael Schiavi’s The Life and Times of Vito Russo, Mary Ann Cherry’s Morris Kight: Humanist, Liberationist, Fantabulist.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about Banned from California

The second edition of Eckard’s memoir is a thoughtful contemplation on the difficulties she has experienced in her adulthood. An ordained minister and the founder of Dragonfly Ministries, whose mission centers on the spiritual growth of women, Eckard discusses the key moments in her life that have informed her spirituality—such as a kidney donation, the complications in a pair of marriages, and building a ministry from the ground up. In personal and intimate reflection, writing to a Christian and mainly female audience, Eckard describes her loneliness, pride, and self-consciousness as a woman seeking to know her God and discovering that her heart bends toward obedience and surrender.

The dragonfly, she notes, is strongest when closest to the sunlight that is the source of its strength, and she describes her discovery that she is the same, with the source of her strength being God. Drawing on her own experiences, as well as her Southern Baptist upbringing, Eckard describes in detail her relationship with God throughout the different stages in her adult life. A major theme of Eckard’s writing is her spiritual insecurity (“How was I to discern between my big heart and God’s voice?”) set against the journey of her learning to trust in God. Her depiction of these uncertainties is juxtaposed by a steady belief that God is guiding her in decision-making, an ambiguity that speaks to the complexities of contemporary Christian faith, though she never addresses this directly.

In this second edition, Eckard has included a study guide at the end of each chapter: the tools include questions, prompts for reflection, action steps, and guidance for prayers. Some of these meditations prove repetitive, though many Christian readers, especially women, will find comfort in Eckard’s account of doubts and revelation. She is honest about the challenges of her Christian journey, and the effort and rewards of flying close to the light.

Takeaway: Eckard writes to Christian women about how God has guided her through the challenges of adult life.

Great for fans of: Wendy Pope’s Wait and See, Mary Katherine Backstrom’s Holy Hot Mess.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B
Marketing copy: B+

Click here for more about The Making of a Dragonfly

Disano’s debut highlights romance between a woman raising her younger brother and a CEO coping with his mother’s untimely death. Top-notch student Katie Williams left college before completing her degree, to raise her ten-year-old half-brother Tyler, after their mother died in a car accident. Katie secretly struggles with depression and regret over her decision to return home and take a job in banking. After her neighbor, Mrs. Stephens, dies from a brain aneurysm, Katie meets Matt, the son who comes to clean out his late mother’s apartment. While their relationship blossoms, both are wary of getting too serious—and their future is threatened when Tyler’s father decides to sue for custody if Matt, the CEO of a successful company, doesn’t pay him.

Disano crafts believable characters with a focus on their innermost thoughts and fears. Despite the “jolt of electricity” when they first kiss, the challenges Matt and Katie face in finding their way to each other come from the secrets that each wants to keep. Katie’s ambitions were thwarted by her mother’s death, leading her to raise her brother; despite her willingness to take on this responsibility, she faces worsening depression, which Disano describes with sensitive precision: “She still went to work, shopped for groceries, and took care of Tyler, but she didn’t want to do anything at all.”

Katie shoulders that burden, wary of the possible stigma of revealing it, in much the same way Matt, grieving his mother, initially hides his wealth and business success–his hesitancy stems from a former girlfriend who was more interested in his money than him. Disano slowly peels back the layers of these characters, revealing their wounds and desires, as they must find a way to total honesty if they want a chance at future happiness together. Readers of emotionally acute love stories will find an enjoyable balance of intimacy and action here.

Takeaway: A woman who dropped out of college to raise her younger brother considers risking her heart in this emotional romance.

Great for fans of: Colleen Hoover’s Ugly Love, Brittainy Cherry’s The Mixtape.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: B

Click here for more about Mended Hearts

In this ambitious and highly practical guide, Benaroya (Free Yourself to Work On Your Business) makes the case that it’s backwards to think “I’ll get my professional life in order first and then focus on the personal.” Instead, he argues, that “the very things you are putting off until you succeed are the ingredients necessary for success.” Drawing on the example of his own life, and a period in which he felt stuck and not in control, he calls for business leaders to “design” their lives, just as they would design a strategic plan. That process demands a willingness to ask themselves where they want to be—and how to build the route to get there. “Why do you want what you want,” he asks.

Throughout, Benaroya emphasizes “intentional” decision making, in life and in business, in both his clear and engaging passages of coaching and in the original anecdotes and examples (many from business leaders he’s dubbed the “Designers”) that regularly illustrate advice like “Grasp the difference between goals and intentions” and “If you don’t neutralize the entropy, the energy drains in your life, and you won’t have the room to welcome new energy for the intentional work ahead.” In inviting prose, he urges readers to identify their principles, find and stay in their “genius zone”s, and to come to a deeper understanding of what it means to take decisive action, right down to accepting fear, embracing patience, and moving with intention despite not knowing exactly how things will turn out.

Benaroya’ supplements his precepts and his many real-life tales with incisive exercises designed to help readers answer those pressing questions—what do they want, why, and how can they achieve it? At times, the advice itself can seem familiar from other leadership guides, such as a section on finding and inhabiting one’s “Genius Zone,” but Benaroya and his Designers always find a new insight, angle, or inspiring approach.

Takeaway: This practical, engaging leadership guide argues that designing your personal life will aid your professional life.

Great for fans of: Bill Burnett and Dave Evans’s Designing Your Life, Jane A.G. Kise’s Intentional Leadership.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about One Life to Lead

In Chan’s sweet picture book, a little boy named Jax meets a new friend when they bond over their love of food on the first day of school. Growing up with a family that loves to prepare meals together–and a grandmother who is an “expert chef”–Jax has “discerning taste,” which means he appreciates a lot of items pickier eaters won’t touch: “He fancied Camembert and spicy tofu stew. He also ate green hummus well before he learned to chew.” His grandma loads his lunchbox with her “greatest hits”: “asty lu rou fan, so good it made rice sing” and “a chewy cong you bing!” When mealtime rolls around, Jax can’t wait to enjoy these special treats.

Helpful lessons for readers come when Jax, at school, notices no one else has a meal like his and faces a brief lapse of confidence. The other children in the cafeteria munch on sandwiches, pizza, and juice boxes. Suddenly, Jax wishes his food looked like everyone else’s– especially when some nearby kids notice his assortment of goodies and say that his lunch looks weird. Then friendly, confident Meena sits down beside him and lays out a special homemade spread of her own–daal and rice, fragrant with “curry leaves and mustard seeds and spice.” The two talk animatedly about their favorite foods and become fast friends.

Basia Tran’s detailed, expressive illustrations make this book extra special, showing Meena and Jax cooking at home in well-appointed kitchens, sipping hot and sour rasam on the back of a scaly dragon, and playing at school in an expansive, colorful landscape where the trees look like gumdrops and the planets sit low and clearly visible in the sky. Ultimately What’s That? demonstrates the vital role food plays in how we connect to our families and our cultures–as well as how we come to know and love each other and our selves.

Takeaway: In Chan’s sweet picture book, a little boy who feels ostracized for his homemade food bonds with a new friend.

Great for fans of: Debbie Min’s The Yuckiest Lunch Box, Grace Lin’s The Ugly Vegetables.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-

Click here for more about What's That?

Hopkins (the Wear Chainmail to the Apocalypse series) pens a fantasy unlike any other, not by doing more, but by doing less, offering a meditation on a life, told out of order and without hurry despite the book’s brief length. In a land ravaged by war, Silbrey, a fey child of fish and tree, is taken in from the forest by a lax priest, until she's adopted by the abusive Dahlia, the guildmaster who controls the port city of Penderyn, and becomes her assassin. That is, until she meets Callis, and leaves that life. But can the past truly be left as that?

Silbrey's life story is not one of grand and moral heroes, but of adults who failed and are simply trying to get by. Instead of the usual magically overpowered embodiment of evil that has the world in its grip, this fantasy’s villain is a ruthless but ultimately human woman who holds nothing but a city and a child. The fantastical is treated as mundane in Penderyn and, in the end, the evil is not vanquished but instead proves more pernicious, leaving Silbrey to take what she can and go off to live a quiet life. That might sound like a spoiler, but Hopkins jumps back and forth in time, letting the end be known at the beginning, changing this story’s emphasis: rather than a familiar build to final conflict, A Slow Parade in Penderyn ruminates on how a life went awry, in prose distinguished by grace, clarity, and directness.

The short length means that at times Hopkins tells readers about developments rather than dramatize them, and some character motivations aren’t clear. Penderyn is refreshingly progressive, with many queer characters, an open-ish marriage, a lack of adherence to traditional gender roles, none of which is treated as anything out of the ordinary. Overall, this is a welcome, inventive, humane fantasy, set at the scale of a single fascinating life.

Takeaway: Fans of progressive fantasy on a small scale but with small stakes that feel large will relish this.

Great for fans of: Karin Tidbeck’s The Memory Theater, Donna Jo Napoli’s Zel.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A-
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

Click here for more about A Slow Parade in Penderyn

In this lively cozy mystery, travel writer Finley Blake uses an assignment in Tangier to meet with her Manila-based sister Whitt, and the pair find themselves navigating murder and romance when a member of a film crew sharing their hotel is bizarrely killed. Meanwhile, Finley has an awkward reunion with her former lover, Max, while Whitt is initiating a possible new romance. As they vacation and sleuth, a mysterious stranger follows the sisters, a vaguely sinister hotelier makes demands, and a police inspector pursues his own agenda, before the sisters untangle the many motives to bring a killer to justice.

Fielding's protagonists are delightful and engaging, and the warm relationship between Finley and Whitt comes across as very real. Also nicely presented are the various romances, especially Finley's on-off situation with Max, which builds to a satisfying and surprising resolution. The low-key Inspector Evans, who subtly woos Finley, also makes an enticing suitor. The film crew adds suspects and a dash of glamour to the escapades though they aren't as fleshed out as the protagonists; as a result, their motives, and some elements of the main plot, can at times be hard to follow. Still, the adventure moves along at a quick pace with plenty of local color.

Indeed, half the fun of the book is the Moroccan setting, which Fielding presents in lavish detail: "Men sat at tables that blocked half of the narrow alleys, drinking fragrant mint tea …The smells of mint and coffee and spices and ripe fruit made an intoxicating blend." The local cuisine is a consistent pleasure, and readers even get a visit to a recreated Rick's Café from Casablanca. Fielding also offers a welcome soupçon of history, which enriches Finley's exploits without overwhelming the plot. The appealing sister sleuths and the unusual setting guarantee that readers will want to finish the mystery in a single sitting.

Takeaway: Fans of the traditional cozy will find much to like between these sister sleuths and detailed North African setting.

Great for fans of: Anne George’s Southern Sisters series, A.R. Kennedy’s Traveler Cozy Mystery Series.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: B+

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“Volunteering is about connecting to people, being of service,” writes Gibson in this straightforward debut. Springboarding from her own extensive volunteer experience, including working in over 40 countries across the world, she walks readers through the step-by-step process of discovering volunteer opportunities that are “uplifting, rewarding, and life-changing,” focusing on partnering with NGOs (Non-governmental organizations) to deliver valuable assistance where it’s needed most. Gibson includes snapshots of her personal diary entries and family communication for levity as she organizes her clear-eyed advice around four main steps: “deciding to go on a volunteer trip, preparing to travel, adapting to a new country, and readjusting to life back home.”

Readers will appreciate Gibson’s succinct, easy-to-follow guidance. Her insights include a rundown of reliable methods of determining the legitimacy of NGOs and volunteer sites, a breakdown of fees volunteers should be prepared to pay for the experience, and different medical needs that can arise when traveling outside your country of origin. She emphasizes the importance of anticipating culture shock and offers advice on how to combat it, and readers will enjoy the travel stories she shares—such as her refusal to accept one flight’s offer of a full bottle of vodka with her plane ticket, or a colleague’s mishap with culturally inappropriate clothing.

Throughout this succinct guide, Gibson emphasizes the remarkable opportunities that volunteering overseas can provide, encouraging readers to “do with others, not for others.” She includes touching memories of helping one woman realize her lifelong dream of learning to write her own name, alongside more emotional recollections of impacting lives awash with trauma. Gibson’s packing lists and checklists for safety and common language phrases to learn are the icing on the cake. Anyone who enjoys travel and wants to add value to others’ lives will find this a satisfying place to start.

Takeaway: A highly practical guide that simplifies what it takes to volunteer abroad.

Great for fans of: William MacAskill’s Doing Good Better, David Nott’s War Doctor, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s A Path Appears.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

Click here for more about How to be an Amazing Volunteer Overseas

Structured as a workbook for Christians, Living a Parable blends memoir and religious instruction into a hybrid that’s most engaging as a portrait of a faith-based, middle-class Black family. With the fervor of a self-help coach, Silvia Davis urges Christians on the sidelines to get in the game with God. Each personal parable—such as the one illustrating the difference between punishment and discipline, or the distinction between praying for your will versus praying for God’s will for you—is followed by assignments to complete and reflect upon, Bible verses to contemplate, and a prayer to recite, along with blank pages for setting down one’s own thoughts.

Above all, Davis urges Christians to accept that they must do the work: “Faith is like a muscle, and it becomes more powerful the more we put it to use.” Mining her own experience for practical wisdom, Davis relates events from her childhood (the eldest of five, she grew up near Castle Air Force Base in Atwater, California) and as an adult who’s tried to replicate the close-knit and God-fearing family life of her youth. Her vision of a Heavenly Father is reinforced by her earthly one, a strict military man who espoused Christian principles but could also laugh—in this family, raucous kids snap to attention when parents speak, while individual foibles become the subject of shared jokes.

The strength of Living a Parable is Davis’s unequivocal faith in both God and in the rightness of her upbringing. She acknowledges the fault lines that crack American life, but avoids discussing them in detail, advising “Reconnect and start again, don’t be stubborn.” So, when she details the misery of hot combs, she doesn’t dig into what straightened hair signified in the 1980s. Instead, by focusing on conscientious Christians and what they can attempt to control in their lives and homes, Davis preaches to the choir, but always reminds them that everyone could use a little more practice.

Takeaway: A nostalgic portrayal of a Black Christian family and a call to prioritize worship, this self-paced guide extols the virtue of active devotion.

Great for fans of: Khristi Lauren Adams’s Parable of the Brown Girl, Michele Clark Jenkins’s She Speaks: Wisdom from the Women of the Bible to the Modern Black Woman.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: B-
Editing: B
Marketing copy: B

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The HOJO Girl, poet and Jacksonville historian Fletcher’s latest novel, reads like a satisfying scoop of Pistachio ice cream on a sweltering day. Readers meet protagonist Sadie Wainwright in June of 1968 on the first day of her summer job as a Howard Johnson’s waitress, or “HOJO Girl.” Nervous and naive, Sadie promptly spills a tray of ice water onto a table of customers. At the time, this accident is the worst scenario Sadie could imagine, as her primary concerns in life are trying all 28 flavors of Howard Johnson’s ice cream by the end of the summer and saving tips for college tuition.

As the summer goes on, however, her innocent worldview is challenged by her blossoming sexuality, an older brother wounded in the war, and racial tensions between her coworkers and peers. Sadie’s summer follows a pattern of conflicts that test her naivety and faith in human nature. Amidst these challenges and tests of courage, she proves herself a character who always sees the good in others.

Fletcher’s storytelling illustrates events and themes familiar in stories about the late 1960’s, but here they’re drenched in warm nostalgia rather than cliche. The milieu is evoked with power and specificity: “Once the restaurant was totally prepared for customers—coffee made, butter softening, jelly jars set out, ice chests filled with crushed ice and tables set—the waitresses sat in a booth up front and sipped coffee together.” Each character is richly drawn, with distinct narrative voices and clear goals that work in preparing Sadie for the real world. While Sadie and her love interest Allan agree that “people are generally crazy,” each challenge they face—from robbery to death—ultimately proves the wisdom of Sadie’s father to be true: “...there are good and bad people everywhere. You need to judge people in relation to how they treat you, not how other people want you to relate to them.”

Takeaway: This tender coming-of-age novel resonates with life lessons and a long-gone late ‘60s world.

Great for fans of: Elin Hilderbrand’s Summer of ‘69, Sherry Shahan’s Purple Daze.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

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