Billie was the outlier in 1979 when she was recruited by the Museum to become one of four elite Sphinxes: hired assassins who do good. Now as newly retired sexagenarians, she, Helen, Natalie, and Mary Alice board a luxury cruise, a thank-you-for-your-service gift that turns...
Just as he was in Andrew Sean Greer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Arthur Less is apparently still a “bad gay.” But that doesn’t mean he’s not delightfully lost in this highly anticipated second volume of Greer’s “Less” series. This time, Arthur is haphazardly traveling across the...
"I knew there was something I needed to understand, and perhaps share, about my brief, intense, joyful, devastating parenting experience," writes Rick Louis in the author's note to Ronan and the Endless Sea of Stars. Louis's heartbreaking experience of crushing loss is poignantly, lovingly illustrated by...
Culled from the 200-plus titles with November 2021 to October 2022 publication dates I’ve reviewed or judged, this is SLJ’s list of top 10 audiobooks. Two picture books, a family history in verse, remade fairy tales, an intertwined podcast, and a haven’t-ever-heard-that-before double recording are...
Woven of the World is a splendid mosaic of a picture book, lyrically written by Katey Howes (Rissy No Kissies) and lushly illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova (Russian Tales). "I listen, as I'm weaving, / to the rhythm of the loom," Howes writes. "I imagine skeins of...
Edmund White, arguably the godfather of gay literature, has published dozens of lauded titles over the last half-century. His autobiographical trilogy of gay identity – A Boy's Own Story (1982), The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988), and The Farewell Symphony (1997) – remains a classic. With this volume, the...
Will Betke-Brunswick alchemizes their beloved mother’s death into an affecting tribute to emotional resilience and everlasting love. For reasons not quite clear, Betke-Brunswick transforms their immediate quartet (two parents, two kids) into an adorable waddle of penguins, with extended family, friends, and acquaintances presented as...
Marco, Chiara remembers of her close friend, “was not afraid ...
*STARRED REVIEW Eleanor Brown’s (The Weird Sisters) latest is certainly good, focusing on a “Very Special Family” of four siblings and their three sets of adoptive parents committed to keeping the children together through Sunday dinners, holidays, and now an all-family, two-week vacation. And here’s where...
*STARRED REVIEW Both debut author Tracy Dawson and Kendra Hoffman, a narrator we need to hear more from, share notable improv experience, making them a superb pairing to inform and delight. Dawson highlights dozens of trailblazing women who dressed as men to gain access and opportunity. She...
Ignatz Award-winner Keiler Roberts (My Begging Chart) collates a decade of work from five previous titles – Powdered Milk (2012), Miseryland (2015), Sunburning (2017), Chlorine Gardens (2018), and Rat Time (2019) – in The Joy of Quitting, a summary of much of her life thus far....
"Ron was a part of almost every major event in my life, whether I liked it or not," writes Nate Fakes – syndicated cartoonist and creator of Break of Day – in A Fade of Light, his tender, intimate graphic memoir about his stepfather. Fakes's mother married...
*STARRED REVIEW Not a smidge of disrespect is intended toward the printed page, but with such an electrifying full-cast production available, audio readers are guaranteed an enthralling delight here. With a flair for the unexpected, Margarita Montimore’s (Oona Out of Order, 2020) latest provides compelling content...
*STARRED REVIEW Opinionated, peanut gallery-esque ghosts soothsay from Maple Street Cemetery in Evanston, New Hampshire. Former professor Clive’s feline hallucinations had him permanently removed from his classroom in the middle of a term; these days, Clive spends most of this time with (dead) Ernest Harold Baynes...
At 43, Lia is dying, likely to leave behind her adoring husband Harry, precious 12-year-old daughter Iris, best friend Connie, (finally) no-longer-estranged mother, and career as a children’s book illustrator. Fighting for a future means that Lia must confront the consequences of her past. She grew...
*STARRED REVIEW From Steven Salvatore’s warm dedication onward, Kirt Graves ignites the pages with kaleidoscopic talent and charm, fulfilling his self-described “passion ...
*STARRED REVIEW Inimitable Kevin R. Free returns for another happily ever after match with bestselling author F.T. Lukens. As the story begins, the hardest part is over – right? Arek and his BFFs have beheaded the Vile One, saving the realm of Chickpea. Until the rightful...
Any mention of glass slippers instantly conjures Cinderella. Here she’s Queen Ella, married six years to now-King Ciaran with two young royals of their own. Her two evil stepsisters were banished, but Ella kept her third stepsister, Tirza, close: “I’d hoped you were too young...
Leah Cypess debuted her middle grade “Sisters Ever After” series in 2021 with this enchanting retelling of Sleeping Beauty with maybe a bit of Rumpelstiltskin mixed in. The audiobook follows a year later, releasing simultaneously with the series’ second installment, Glass Slippers. Prolific, versatile Jessica Almasy...
Zibby Owens’s third book is also her third narrator credit, as well as her debut for children. She relies on a delightfully playful twist channeling one of the world’s most familiar fairy tales, cleverly revealed in the final three words (no spoilers). “Being a princess isn’t...
