People say you’re all wet. Maybe that’s not the nicest thing you’ve ever heard but hey! If something’s true, it’s true, right? Yep, you love being in a pool, lake, pond, the ocean, a puddle, it doesn’t matter. And in The Joy of Swimming by Lisa Congdon, you’ll meet like-minded people in swimsuits. At the…
Your father taught you how to take a decent picture. He taught you how to tie a tie, too. Because of him, you know how to create a good meal out of almost nothing, how to keep a car running, and how to avoid being a jerk. You know a lot of things, thanks to…
Some things, you never forget. You’ll never forget your first kiss, for instance. You’ll always remember your favorite teacher and lessons learned. The day you got your pet, a delicious meal eaten, a great vacation, all burned into your mind. And, as you’ll see in Boy Erased: A Memoir by Garrard Conley, you’d never forget…
There’s nothing special about you. You’re just an ordinary kid, nothing unique, except, there is. You have your own thoughts, passions, creativity and sense of humor. There’s nobody else like you; you’re ordinary and special and so is Jazz Jennings. In her new book Being Jazz, she writes about being an everyday kid, with a…
As long as your team wins. That’s all that matters, isn’t it – just that they win? You don’t care what they ate for breakfast. And, as in the new book Fair Play by Cyd Zeigler, you don’t care who they sleep with. Less than a generation ago, if a professional athlete came out publicly…
You could become whatever you want to be. A ballerina, a cowboy, a fireman, a teacher. The sky was the limit – or so you were told. You could grow up and become the person of your dreams and that was OK. Except sometimes, as in the new book A Murder Over a Girl by…
The jewelry you wear tells a story. A ring on your left hand, third finger, says to the world that you stood up once and vowed to love and honor. A brightly-colored stone says you were born in a certain month. Sparkles around your neck might tell of a vacation, an apology or a whim,…
What was the name of your favorite teacher? Even after all these years, you still remember the smell of chalk, the sound of her reading aloud, the way he pulled ideas from your head or music from your fingers. That teacher changed your life, and with The Battle for Room 314 by Ed Boland, you’ll…
You know your own mind. After thinking things through, you have your opinions and while you’re willing to listen to what others say, you’re also willing to defend what you believe in. And, as in the new book The Firebrand and the First Lady by Patricia Bell-Scott, your friends don’t necessarily have to agree with…
Vinyl is making a comeback. Those are five words that put a smile on a music aficionado’s face. A CD isn’t the same, they say. An MP3 is nowhere near as good. You don’t get the right sound unless you’re spinning a record, so vinyl is coming back – but, for people like Rashod Ollison…
