Bookshelf

(Livingston Press, 2026).

Selected as the 2025 Changing Light Novel-in-Verse Prize winner, this book combines poetry and flash non-fiction to create a narrative arc. According to the publisher, “It centers on a girl whose accidental conception irrevocably alters the life trajectories of her teenaged parents and who witnesses her parents’ inevitable divorce, her family’s subsequent fall into poverty, and her mother’s struggle to find a new partner in the disco era and cope with her life trauma and mental health issues. The girl comes of age amid these challenges and ultimately makes peace with the imperfect people who loved her.”

(Veritas Resurgence Publishing, 2025).

“When his beloved wife, Janice, dies after a long battle with breast cancer, Joe Mathers is angry with God — if, in fact, God actually exists. But then the ticket sends him on a journey to discover a spiritual realm he had never known existed.” That’s how the publisher describes this book, which “seeks to explore the intersection of grief, joy, tragedy, love, forgiveness, and grace in our lives, as well as the often-difficult path of coming to know and follow Jesus.”

(Bookgo, 2025).

The author describes his autobiography like this: “Born extremely prematurely and weighing just 2 pounds, the doctor told my dear mother Elsa, ‘Don’t even think you’ve had a child.’ Against those odds, I survived — and overcame many odds along the way. In school, struggling with dyslexia, I was in constant academic turmoil. Later, I was asked to leave Hamilton College for academic reasons, only to be drafted because of the war in Vietnam. I thrived in the Army and rose to the rank of first lieutenant, admired by my peers and decorated for combat action.

(Next Chapter Press, 2025).

This first book in the Mah Jong Mayhem series stars Kiki Coben, a food writer and aspiring investigative reporter, who leads her mahjong group in solving murders. As the publisher notes, “From sleepy Sherwood to a cruise ship at sea, Kiki and her Tuesday Mah Jong group have a habit of being in the wrong place at the right time, as Kiki follows the trail from a ‘Black Widow’ murder at sea to a suspicious death at a senior home charity event.”

(self-published, 2025).

“Step into my kitchen, slow down, and color your way through the simple joys of cooking.” That’s how the author invites readers to interact with this book that features over 35 handcrafted illustrations inspired by everyday kitchen moments — from fresh herbs and farmer’s-market finds to holiday baking, comfort foods, and table gatherings. All that’s missing is the color!

(University of Minnesota Press, 2025).

According to the publisher, this book highlights “the critical role of Midwestern farmers in the creation of the American century,” and that Simons “explores how, after decades of slipping to the margins of an urbanizing economy, these farmers assumed renewed strategic and cultural importance as they produced essential sustenance for overseas troops and food rations for a domestic population.”

(Veritas Resurgence Publishing, 2024).

First, the author asks, “What motivates a man to betray a friend? And not just any friend but the Son of God?” Then he goes on to imagine the answers not found in the Bible. This fictional “autobiography” imagines how Judas would have told his story, from his childhood under Roman occupation to his suicide on a tree outside Jerusalem as Jesus, the one he betrayed, died on another tree for the sins of all mankind.

(Next Chapter Press, 2025). 

Led by a tortoise named Tuck, a group of animals living in a lakeside Florida park confront such challenges as helping one another through a hurricane, organizing a surprise party, and even solving a mystery. This collection of seven stories for young readers helps impart social values in a fun, sometimes quirky, but always collaborative way.

(St. Martin’s Press, 2025).

In 2020, Congress voted to rename nine military installations that honored Confederate leaders who had waged war in the name of maintaining a slave republic. Five years later, the Trump administration reversed course, reinstating the original names. This book by two members of the Naming Commission tells the stories of the 10 American heroes whose names they had selected.

(Cambridge University Press, 2025).

According to the publisher, “Beyond Coercion offers a new perspective on mechanisms of social control practiced by authoritarian regimes. Focusing on the Chinese state, Alexsia T. Chan presents an original theory and concept of political atomization, which explains how the state maintains social control and entrenches structural inequality.