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UPSTART

In the 1990s, China was a marginal player in world affairs, struggling to find a path to economic development. However, during the next two decades, it established itself as a major power with a thriving economy and a vigorous government determined to challenge the U.S. Mastro, who has won awards for her geopolitical research, undertakes a deep dive into China’s tactics. Her central thesis is an idea she borrowed from business thinking: that China has deliberately acted as a disruptive force, a

BLEEDING RAINBOWS AND OTHER BROKEN SPECTRUMS

This 66-poem selection includes an introduction by author Angela Yuriko Smith and artwork by erotic illustrator Martini. Early on, readers are invited to embark on a graphic journey through gay sex, love, and self-loathing. There’s no shortage of strong language, whether from a speaker who refers to himself as “a zombified fucktoy” (“Erased”) or another who struggles to reconcile thoughts that spring from “the darkest, most fucked up corners of my brain” (“Yellow Hands”). Repeated motifs of mus

THE LETTERS OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY

This installment, which covers two years of Hemingway’s letters in the mid-1930s, offers extraordinary insights into the author’s personal and professional life. The book includes a remarkable range of textual material, including cables, postcards, assorted jottings, and unsent correspondence. We follow Hemingway’s passion for fishing, increasing involvement with leftist politics, and ongoing dedication to the craft of writing. His keen observational skills and rhythmic expressiveness are abund

FARMER EVA'S GREEN GARDEN LIFE

Inspired by the scent of herbs at a local market, Eva Sommaripa started small by growing parsley, dill, and basil for her family on a parcel of land between the ocean and a forest. Martin’s lyrical verse describes the pleasure that Eva experienced: “Tending plants under the blue sky / soil on her hands, birdsong all around, / Eva’s best good time.” Eventually, she added other greens and herbs, with enough to spare for local chefs and her farm workers’ lunches. Eva’s curiosity about the life ben

ONE YEAR, ONE NIGHT

Twenty years following the bombing of her hometown, Annie returns to Millside, England, for a ceremony to memorialize the war, to grieve the loss of her “brother,” Ben (a young evacuee taken in by her family), and to visit the home of Mrs. Bassett, the generous widow who gave her family and soldiers refuge. She is devastated to learn that actress Suzie Bell, whose past is intertwined with Ben’s, will also be visiting their memorial. At Mrs. Bassett’s home, Annie finds her old diary and reflects

DANCEHALL REBEL

Denise, a Black girl born and raised in Ontario by Jamaican immigrant parents, is about to go away to college to study business. Her upbringing has been deeply entrenched in Jamaican culture, and she proudly possesses a deep love of the food and language—and especially dancehall and reggae music. She follows in her father’s footsteps as a DJ and branches out into online streaming. Denise realizes she may be entering a new phase of her life in more ways than one. During one of her frequent visit

LUSCIOUS LOVE

Mina is excited about starting work as a sales associate at Luscious Lingerie, but she soon discovers that her overly excitable boss is putting her through “a trial by fire.” Maybe Mina will do better in a different department? Another thing that makes the merchandising team much better than the sales department for bisexual Mina is the presence of her co-worker Lexie Hayes, a beautiful, popular girl she went to school with who gives her butterflies. Mina’s relationship with Lexie evolves as th

LOCKED IN

When a new escape room located in a half-empty mall puts out a call for testers, four teens apply: Tony Wells’ ambitious parents are pushing him to enhance his leadership skills, Bea Gonzalez loves puzzles and hopes to someday be a business owner running an escape room, Devin King ran away from his foster home and needs the offered compensation of $100, and Anna Blum wants some extra spending money for an upcoming trip to New York. The young people don’t know that they’ve been chosen by a man w

BABY BAT BEDTIME

At dawn, small brown bats in the rainforest prepare to sleep—all but one determined baby. She is not tired, not hungry, and definitely not in need of a bath. Luckily, experience and caring lead mother bat to supply a delicious beetle snack and a wash-up, and when Baby is “still not that tired,” Mama takes her on a “soft, warm,” swooping, rocking flight until, snug and (of course) comfortably upside down, Baby hears the night songs of other bats and abruptly falls asleep. The remaining third of

BEAR AT THE FAIR

A big, grumpy black bear goes berserk at a carnival: popping a fox kit’s balloon, upsetting the face-painting booth, failing at line etiquette. Though a raccoon clown tries to divert him, Bear is having none of it. Briefly, a scent seems to draw him, until a hare magician’s attempt to corral him with a rope renews his ire. Then a trap baited with food snares him, spurring an apology, explanation, and tears. As in the creators' Bug on the Rug (2022), a last-minute mediator identifies the problem

NO SCHOOL, MY RULES!

A little girl with auburn hair in a bun, light-colored skin, carrying a schoolbag sits on the school bus fuming: “It repeats EVERY SINGLE DAY! I can think of a million things that don’t have to go to school—so why do we? I don’t want to go to school!” The little, unnamed girl cycles through a list of things that make her anxious about formal education and a few things that avoid such travails. Birds don’t have to put up with bullies, so why should she? Sandcastles don’t have to stand in front o

ME AND THE MACHINE

Gaby Rhodes, a cadet at Moore Academy on the planet Amiens, hopes to become a war hero like her late brother, Jules. But while Jules had been an elite soldier, Gaby’s “genius-level” skills at mathematics make her more suited for the Intelligence Division. As such, an admiral invites her to join a training exercise aboard the spaceship Discordia, which Gaby quickly learns is essentially an experiment. The ship houses Passenger, an artificial intelligence that can fuse with a human consciousness

WHEN SHADOWS GROW TALL

Dactyli are elemental magicians who can access the “memories” of the Earth; as one character explains, “The earth is alive. It lives and breathes and hears and sees, just like you and me.” The group harnesses nature’s power and preserves its narrative as keepers of the sgeulachds, a compilation of objective truths. These mages have encoded and guarded living history for thousands of years, but time has eroded their strength, reducing them to relics of the very past they seek to protect. A deadl

LIARS

Jane, the narrator of this piercing second novel by poet-essayist Manguso, is an accomplished writer who’s fallen for John, a visual artist. From the start of their relationship, it’s clear that he has a competitive streak that manifests as jealousy: When Jane wins an esteemed fellowship in Greece that John lost out on, he sulks and judges. In the years that follow, Jane episodically tracks how her life with John tightens (marriage, a child) and then asphyxiates—John is constantly short on cash

THE PEARL WHISPERER

Pearl diver Miranda, who lost an arm to a rose-shark when she was 11, becomes utterly obsessed with finding the elusive eye stone, much like her long-gone parents and many others. Syrsa, a similarly abandoned child who’s also missing an arm thanks to a shark attack, tags along willy-nilly. At first, Syrsa only seems like an annoying obligation, but when the laughing, cheery urchin turns out to have a rare ability to hear the pearls (and perhaps the eye stone itself), their seagoing quest takes

GOAL IN PROGRESS

The author opens his account with his own personal spiritual awakening: in the autumn of 1974, he and a friend were taking in their beautiful view of the Catskills; he was watching the colors turn as his perceptions were “enhanced” by a hit of mescaline he’d taken 30 minutes earlier. “The drug prompted me to have an inkling of a transcendent mode of being – one that was not dependent on the drug itself,” he reports. “Mescaline was merely the catalyst.” That moment led Nyanadhammika on a quest t

BIG RIVER

Photographer and biologist Moskowitz and nature writer Pearkes survey, in words and images, the enormous Columbia River Basin, stretching from British Columbia to Nevada and from Montana to the Pacific Ocean, its many rivers now punctuated by dozens of dams. The book opens with an expansive essay by Pearkes on the Basin’s natural and human history, including the ancient geology and glaciology that forged its rugged landscape, the evolution of salmon and their epic upriver migrations from the se

THE MYSTERY OF MYSTIC MOUNTAIN

Becca, who’s nearly 13, had different hopes for her summer, ones that didn’t involve leaving Connecticut to bond with her mom at Get Away Ranch, a Montana resort that promises yoga and cooking classes, a spa and swimming pool, and more. Due to a mix-up, they end up instead at rustic Far Away Ranch, with its spotty internet and more down-to-earth facilities. Meanwhile, Jon, who’s almost 14, is working at the ranch with his dad. He’s heard stories from his great-grandmother about the founding of

VENGEANCE OF THE PIRATE QUEEN

In this stand-alone companion to the Daughter of the Pirate King duology, Queen Alosa asks 18-year-old dark-brown-skinned Sorinda to lead search efforts for a missing vessel in uncharted waters north of the Seventeen Isles. “I’m not who you send to save people,” reflects the austere assassin to herself in hopes that the request will prove to be a playful ruse. Though the queen’s invitation seems in conflict with her hitwoman duties, Sorinda accepts the risky endeavor and subsequently receives a

SOUTH OF SOMEWHERE

Unlike her two older siblings, 12-year-old Mavis has never questioned her lavish life—full of vacations and shopping trips, not to mention a home in one of Chicago’s richest neighborhoods. She also doesn’t doubt her position as the most-favored child, her wildly successful mother’s “mini-me.” Then one day, her mother disappears, and the FBI shows up. With their home seized and bank accounts frozen, Mavis’ stay-at-home dad is forced to beg for help from the once-close sister he’s ignored for the