Books

With Bibsy Cross and the Bad Apple, award-winning author Liz Garton Scanlon launches a new chapter book series starring a lovable protagonist “with a whole lot to say.” Eight-year-old Bibsy loves school and learning (especially about science), and she has adored all of her teachers—that is, until third grade, when her teacher is stern Mrs.

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View

Once upon a time, we didn’t have cell phones. Emergency Quarters, written by Carlos Matias and illustrated by Gracey Zhang, takes us back to those days, while coming with a perfectly worded note for those young enough to not remember technology-free days. Emergency Quarters follows Ernesto through his first week of going to and from

Born into a family of readers, P.N. gained a love reading as a sort of herd mentality. This love of reading has remained a life long passion, resulting in an English Degree from The University of Houston in Houston, Texas. She normally reads three to four books at any given time, in the futile Sisyphean

I’ve had this post idea on my list of things to write for many months now, and I’m not sure it makes sense to anyone other than me, but I need to exorcise it out of my brain, so here we are. While I feel good about my taste in books — eclectic, specific, queer

Elisa Shoenberger has been building a library since she was 13. She loves writing about all aspects of books from author interviews, antiquarian books, archives, and everything in between. She also writes regularly for Murder & Mayhem and Library Journal. She’s also written articles for Huffington Post, Boston Globe, WIRED, Slate, and many other publications.

Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View

Wednesday, Random House Publishing Group announced it had agreed to buy Boom! Studios, a comic and graphic novel publisher. Boom! Studios was founded in 2005, and is responsible for titles like Keanu Reeves’ BRZRKR and Lumberjanes. With Random House’s acquisition, Boom! Studios is expected to maintain its editorial independence, and Disney is selling its small stake

Welcome to Thursday! As we look toward the weekend, I’d love to know: what are you reading this week? If you’re in a rut, you might appreciate this look at how to restart your reading habits. And it’s always nice to have something to look forward to, so about how the freshly revealed cover of

I have never been more tired. I have never been more productive. I’ve been writing almost exclusively about being a new parent in various Book Riot-shaped spaces because parenting infants is an all-encompassing thing. It requires many cups of coffee and some newfound superpowers like the ability to get shit done on very little sleep

January 7, 2025 would have been Zora Neale Hurston’s 134th birthday, and now it will be the publication date of The Life of Herod the Great, a novel Hurston was still working on when she died in 1960. Per a release, the novel “brings first-century BC Judea to vivid life, and portrays Herod the Great

Ah, here we are in May 2024, looking back on 1944 with an elegant European crime novel from Ben Pastor as her excellent Martin Bora series takes the German detective to Salò in search of a painting. We’ve also got the classic mystery approach remixed for the modern age in Ruth Wares latest; a batchelorette-party-of-death

Summer vacation has arrived, and with it the euphoric urge to pack a bag and hit the road (or skies. Or sea). But what is a well-traveled LGBTQIA+ person (or ally!) to do when the same old vacation spots have gotten a bit too-well trodden? Let Out in the World: An LGBTQIA+ (and Friends!) Travel

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View

Sun, sea, sand and slaughter. What more could a body want from a summer holiday? Well, perhaps a decent all-you-can-eat buffet, a prime pool-side position and a good book to while away the time with. Luckily, Murder Under the Sun has the latter requirement covered in comprehensive style, collecting as it does nine vacation-based short

Cat Sebastian’s latest queer historical romance is a love letter to resilience and the power of bravery. Set in 1960 New York City, the same midcentury journalism milieu of Sebastian’s 2023 novel, We Could Be So Good, You Should Be So Lucky tells the story of shortstop Eddie O’Leary and journalist Mark Bailey, both of

There are so many great queer books out this week that I had to split the new releases into two: the adult titles on Tuesday, and the YA/children’s ones today. But before we jump into those, I wanted to talk about an important project you can help with. Right now on TikTok, the Pass the

Well known for his series of mysteries set in 1920s colonial India, Abir Mukherjee has produced his first contemporary standalone thriller. Hunted is a fascinating exploration of what people will do when they think they have no choice, that sense of desperation which makes them feel vulnerable. It’s also a critique of unethical political leaders

Welsh author Carys Davies (West) is still breaking into American readership, but it won’t take her long. Her latest historical novel, Clear, which thoughtfully explores a passionate friendship set against religious and civic changes in mid-19th century Scotland, is bound to expand her audience. John Ferguson is a poor Presbyterian minister struggling to provide for

Patricia Elzie-Tuttle is a writer, podcaster, librarian, and information fanatic who appreciates potatoes in every single one of their beautiful iterations. Patricia earned a B.A. in Creative Writing and Musical Theatre from the University of Southern California and an MLIS from San Jose State University. Her weekly newsletter, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice offers self-improvement

Translated by Quentin Bates — Last year, Stella Blómkvist made their debut in English with Murder at the Residence and we discovered that the author’s identity is a mystery, even among the Icelandic writing community, which seems quite amazing. Now as second novel from this long running popular series, which has even been made into

Apples Never Fall Challengers was all about competition and the drive to be the best. Competing with lovers and friends is one thing, but what if the conflict was within your own family? Apples Never Fall stars a tennis dynasty, made up of two retired stars—Stan and Joy—whose four adult children also played professionally. When

Rachel is a writer from Arkansas, most at home surrounded by forests and animals much like a Disney Princess. She spends most of her time writing stories and playing around in imaginary worlds. You can follow her writing at rachelbrittain.com. Twitter and Instagram: @rachelsbrittain View All posts by Rachel Brittain Translated fiction provides a window

A few weeks back one of our readers asked us on Xwitter who we would recommend for serial killer thrillers. Everyone piled in and the name that consistently came up was Chris Carter. Bloody though they may be, his books are on the money, and that could be because the author has studied criminal behaviour

Pulitzer-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer) takes his first foray into children’s books with Simone, a thoughtful and emotionally intense family story set during the California fire season. Simone, a young Vietnamese American girl, is dreaming of floating in the ocean when she is awakened by her mother (whom she calls M&aacute, the only

Alice Nuttall (she/her) is a writer, pet-wrangler and D&D nerd. Her reading has got so out of control that she had to take a job at her local library to avoid bankrupting herself on books – unfortunately, this has just resulted in her TBR pile growing until it resembles Everest. Alice’s webcomic, writing and everything

If you enjoyed the TV series Bones, inspired by the Tempe Brennan books by Kathy Reichs, then this week’s report should be of interest. The show’s creator, Hart Hanson, has turned his talents to crime fiction with a new novel, but it’s a far cry from forensics with a priest and a stuntwoman as an

Sophia Henry Winslow and her neighbor Sophie Gershowitz are best friends with a lot in common. They both go by “Sophie,” love the color mauve, aren’t big fans of quesadillas and loathe gossip. And both Sophies, as readers learn in Lois Lowry’s lovely and moving Tree. Table. Book., embody the saying that “age is just